VSS 'Vintorez' silenced sniper rifle

Once again, from World Guns.

Caliber: 9x39mm SP-5 and SP-6 subsonic cartridges
Action: auto, selective fire, gas-operated, striker-fired.
Length: 894mm
Barrel length: 200 mm
Weight: empty: 2.6 kg, loaded w. scope PSO-1: 3.41 kg
Magazine: 10 or 20 rounds detachable box

The VSS is a gas operated, selective fire weapon. The long stroke gas piston is located above the barrel. The rotating bolt has 6 lugs and locks into the receiver, which is machined from solid steel for greater strength. The trigger unit differs significantly from AK-47 type firearms, being striker-fired. The safety switch and charging handle are AK-style, but the fire selector is a cross-bolt button, located inside the triggerguard, behind the trigger.

The barrel at the front has a set of tiny holes, drilled in the rifling grooves, which lead into the integral silencer. The silencer is the integral part of the weapon, and while it could be easily removed for storage or maintenance, the VSS should not be fired with silencer removed.

Standard sighting equipment consists of side rail on the receiver, which usually accommodates the 4X PSO-1 scope, graduated for 9x39 ammo. Any other scope or night vision sight can be mounted on appropriate mount. backup iron sights consist of tangent rear and blade front. Rear sight is graduated up to 400 meters.

The wooden, skeletonized buttstock is fitted with rubber buttplate and can be removed for compact storage and transportation, the compact forend is made from polymer. Feeding is achieved from 10 or 20 round box magazines, made from polymer.

Comments

[9C]

Firing 9mm pistol rounds, it seems like a very broad definition of 'rifle.' A sight graduated out to 400 metres might best be described as ambitious.

[d]

I want.

What is its effective range for precision firing?

9c I cut a limb of a gum tree at 400 yards with an smg using only the flip out line of of sight sight: smg is 9mm: they are deadly, particularly when firing automatic. Cut a man in half with them.

[CB]

Perhaps I should have posted the start of the write up as well. The 9mm you probably know and detest is not this. The 9x19 Parabellum is designed primarily for small arms, where as this round is based on the 7.62 super-short pistol round the Russians developed for pistols. The remainder of the article is here. Note the bold type.

VSS (Vinovka Snaiperskaja Spetsialnaya = Special Sniper Rifle) was designed for special operations. Designed at TSNIITochMash (Central Institute for Precision Machine Building) by team lead by Petr Serdjukov, the new rifle was intended to replace some AK-47/AKM rifles, fitted with silencers, in the hands of various Special Operations (SpetsNaz) troops of Soviet Army, KGB and MVD. To achieve desired lethality against targets, protected with body armor, TSNIITochMash had to develop a new subsonic cartridge, based on the 7.62x39 case, necked out for 9mm bullet. The bullets used in new cartridges are long and heavy (about 16 gram), and of ball (SP-5) and AP (SP-6) type. The latter bullet features a hardened steel penetrator as the core, and can defeat most military issue body armors at ranges up to 300-400 meters. VSS is in use since late 1980s, and is widely used in Chechnya against separatists. VSS is quite popular among its users for its stealthy capabilities and great lethality of heavy 9mm bullets. The effective range of VSS is limited to 300-400 meters.

[Mike Jericho]

Damn. That's beautiful.

I hate being poor.

[9C]

CB

Thanks, that clears it up. A 9x39 round is much more serious round than the 9mm parabellum and would certainly be effective out to 400 metres.

[Pedro the Ignorant]

Gimme, gimme, gimme!

You have to love those Spetznaz weapons, functional, no frills, eminently suitable for the job at hand.

The Oz SMG F1 is/was a piece of shit. At its most deadly when swung around the head like a club.

[d]

Please, Santa, leave a Vintorez in my stocking this christmas.

[Rooster]

Too bad you cant pick one of these up in the states...

[Bazza]

Mind if I use your description of this magnificent weapon in a novel I'm compiling??? Will add your name to the credits list...
Just email me back with a name if there's no drama's!

[funnymike]

I have heard that the vintorez has a maximum effective range of 600m

[CB]

The main term here to use is 'maximum'. 600 metres with a silenced weapon would be highly ambitious, and I would doubt it's efficiency in taking down a target wearing any form of ballistic protection at this range. The requirements of a round to be fired through a silenced/supressed weapon mean that it's ballistic characteristics are already showing quite a low speed of movement. No point in utilising supersonic. Physics tells us that a round loses energy at a given rate, given initial speed, weight of the round and it's drag ratio. Just because it will drop someone at 400 does not mean that at 450 it will achieve the same result. In some cases, performance degradation increases markedly with only a small increase in overall distance.

[funnymike]

No, I have witnessed it...

[Duncan Bayne]

Sounds like the people who designed this rifle went down a similar path to SSK with the Whisper - i.e. they developed a special round based around a very massive bullet, given that the kinetic energy is equal to the velocity squared multiplied by the mass, and the velocity for subsonic ammunition is capped.

While the Vintorez isn't even halfway legal for your typical civilian in New Zealand, rifles chambered for the Whisper rounds are, and are in fact becoming more & more popular amongst hunters. There was a review of the range, including the .510, in NZ Guns & Hunting a while back.

[sonny]

wondering how much the VSS 'Vintorez' silenced sniper rifle goes for?

[sonny]

wonderin how much the VSS 'Vintorez' silenced sniper rifle goes for

[CB]

depends...legally, or through the Russian Mafia?

[smiffy]

tell me where to get one!!!

[Melo]

Rumor has it you can get one for cheap in the Soviet Union, but you've got to do it completely underground and very far from Moscow. With the right hookup you can get one for less than $1,000 but it's tricky to find a legit guy who'll sell it to you for that much.

[funnymike]

It is sort of funny how the russians have developed weapons that are capable of things the americans haven't yet come close to concieving...

[CB]

The MP5SD is an integrally silenced 9mm assault weapon and is the only capability that is similar in Western military/police armouries. It's main feature however is stealth, where the VSS adds range to the equation.

[SilentHunter]

You miss one thing about VSS. It able to fire in automatic mode, all clip in couple sec.

[CB]

Well, there's something you don't read about every day. A silenced full-auto sniper rifle. Nice.

[Lguy]

Well yeah, there have been some great Soviet era Russian weapons like the VSS or the Saiga shotguns, but there's also been guns with... dubious utility, like the APS underwater rifle. Can someone explain to me how useful a rifle that should only be fired underwater be?

[SilentHunter]

There are some special forces in russian Navy which act only in water against ships, docking facilities etc. So APS was developed for them only.

[s dog]

yeah, it would be great to have one... but even IF you DID obtain one, good luck getting the SP5 or SP6 subsonic cartridges that it takes!! Who sells 9x39mm cartridges outside of russia??