Chinese police service revolver

[simonrichter]

I was surprised to learn that the Chinese (quite) recently, say: 2006, issued a new service revolver to their police, providing a basic armament for units previously unarmed but seemingly replacing older types of semiautos in other units as well.

The gun is of a rather anemic 9mm caliber (around 220 joules of ME) which is considered enough to stop the common petty criminal yet far to weak to penetrate a ballistic vest if fallen into the wrong hands. A rubber bullet for crowd control is also available.

While it is funny seeing a revolver issued in 2006, the concept makes sense, after all, since it suits the needs and is the best solution in terms of both handling by minimal trained personnel and stress-resistance.

Any additional information on that gun, anybody? And, by the way: Are there other agencies worldwide switching back to revolvers you know of?


http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Jan/156236.htm

 

[Blackwood]

I found that:

http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=...c7JUcvuGMXJ4ASO6YG4Bg&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAA&dur=354

Looks strange for a new revolver.

 

[James K]

Note that the police are being armed with revolvers even though revolvers were insufficient against criminals armed with auto pistols and AK-47's. (And how would crooks get those weapons in a tightly controlled society?)

Why do I suspect that the authorities in Beijing don't really trust the police with more effective weapons.

Jim

 

[carguychris]

Why do I suspect that the authorities in Beijing don't really trust the police with more effective weapons.

Ditto. There's a quote in Blackwood's link that I find very telling...

The ammunition, which is apparently based on old and rather anemic .38 S&W (9x20R) round, retains enough muzzle energy to pose a threat to any unprotected low-grade criminal at short ranges; and even if this gun will fail into wrong hands, any police body armor will be able to stop the bullet.

(emphasis mine)

Translation: "We deliberately used an obsolescent and underpowered cartridge because we know that these guns will wind up on the domestic black market, and when that happens, we want to ensure that (a) buyers will have trouble obtaining suitable ammo from military sources or neighboring countries, and (b) even if they do, they can't hurt our cops with it."

OTOH it does make one wonder if any Indian military depots had some ancient and dusty stockpiles of WWII British .38/200 ammo that have now mysteriously and inexplicably disappeared.

 

[Bart Noir]

Hey, that revolver is state-of-the-art.



It has a manual safety

Bart Noir

 

[SIGSHR]

That revolver looks like a cross between a Roehm, an Arminius, a Weirauch, and a Windicator. You'd think they'd at least copy an S&W, or a Ruger. Let us know how it shoots.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Most Chinese cops up to now used Makarov 9x18 simi-autos so a good revolver would not be a step backwards if it is powerful.

I think China is going to a simi-auto pistol in 9x19 for their military and they will use revolvers for their police (and AKs when things get out of hand.)

Deaf

 

[simonrichter]

It's not even the plain 9x19 for the military, they have a proprietary 5,8x21 PDW-caliber for military handguns.

And yes, the revolver reminds me of the Roehm, Reck and Umarex blank firing stuff that used to be quite common in the 80ies and 90ies here in Europe. A flashing new design would definitely look otherwise.