The MP-443 ''Grach'' () or "PYa", for "''Pistolet Yarygina'' ("Yarygin Pistol"), following traditional Russian naming procedure (), is a Russian 9mm

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

Development

The development was headed by the designer . It was developed under designation "'' Grach''" in response to Russian military trials, which began in 1993. In 2003, it was adopted as one of the standard sidearms for all branches of Russian military and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

, alongside the Makarov,

GSh-18 The GSh-18 (Cyrillic: Г Ш-18) is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol developed by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau in Tula during the 1990s. History The GSh-18 entered service in 2000 with the Russian Ministry of Justice. It was only in 2003 that th ...

, and SPS. Mass production of PYa pistols started in 2011.

Design

The PYa is a high-capacity,

double-action Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. * Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action ...

, short-recoil

Composition

Even though the grips of the pistol are

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

, the weapon is largely made of metal (

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

for the barrel,

carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

for the frame and slide).

Operation

Its barrel/

slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glee ...

locking is a simplified Colt– Browning design, similar to that found in many modern pistols (e.g. the

SIG Sauer SIG Sauer is since the 1970s a combined brand name of several Firearms manufacturing companies, with SIG referring to ''Swiss Industry Group'' originally founded 1853, while the latter part comes from Sauer & Sohn, founded in 1751 in Germany a ...

and

Glock Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

families of pistols). The breech end of the

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

is rectangular in shape, rather than rounded, and fits into matching locking grooves within the slide, near the ejection port. The slide stop lever can be mounted on either side of the weapon to accommodate both left- and right-handed users.

Safety

The manual

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

is ambidextrous, with safety catches on both sides of the weapon, where it is manipulated by the thumb. The safety is mounted on the frame, below the rear slide grooves, and directly behind the slide stop lever. The

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

is partially concealed at the sides to prevent catching on clothes and equipment. The

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

release catch is located in the base of the trigger guard on the left side, where it can be manipulated with the thumb (right-handed users) or index or middle finger (left-handed users).

Sights

The front

sight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

is formed as a fixed part of the slide and is non-adjustable. The back sight is drift adjustable for windage (dovetail type), but this requires a tool. Both feature white contrast elements to ease aiming in low-light conditions.

Magazine

The standard magazine capacity is 17 rounds, fed from a double-column, two position feed magazine. Magazines with an 18-round capacity were produced after 2004.

Ammunition

It is chambered for the 9×19mm 7N21 cartridge, the Russian loading of the ubiquitous 9mm NATO pistol cartridge, which is broadly equivalent to NATO standard loadings, loaded to comparable pressure specifications. The 7N21 features a semi-

armour-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the t ...

bullet with a tempered steel core.
Jane's Infantry Weapons. The weapon can also use standard 9×19mm Parabellum, 9×19mm Parabellum/9mm Luger/9×19mm NATO cartridges, including civilian loads such as hollowpoints for law enforcement (only

full metal jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel '' The Short-Timers''. It stars ...

bullets are permitted for use in military weapons).

Accessories

Adoption

Military

In 2003, the PYa was adopted as a standard sidearm for all branches of

Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

. As of 2008, it was supplied only in small numbers to selected special forces units, presumably those in the North Caucasus. The massive deliveries of PYa pistols to the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

started in 2012. Scouts of the intelligence compound, belonged to the Central Military District and stationed in Siberia, fully rearmed on Yarygin pistols in early 2015. As of 2015, it is the service pistol of the

Russian Airborne Troops The Russian Airborne Forces () is the airborne separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It is a rapid response force and strategic reserve that is under the President of Russia, reporting directly to the Chief of the General Staff, an ...

. Since 2018 it is supplied to the

National Guard of Russia The Federal Service of Troops of National Guard of the Russian Federation (), officially known as the (),#Official website, Official website is a federal executive body which is responsible for law enforcement, internal security, counter-terro ...

. The fielding of PYa pistols continues as of 2021.

Law enforcement

Since September 2006 used as a pistol in law enforcement, though it never fully replaced the Makarov PM. It is adopted as a standard sidearm for

special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer * Special police forces ...

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

units (

SOBR The Special Rapid Response Unit or SOBR (), from 2002 to 2011 known as OMSN (''Otryad Militsii Spetsial'nogo Naznacheniya'', Special Police Unit), is a spetsnaz unit of the National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardiya).With their military equipmen ...

) and rapid response units of

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

(

OMON OMON is a system of military special police units within the Armed Forces of Russia. It previously operated within the structures of the Soviet and Russian Ministries of Internal Affairs (MVD). Originating as the special forces unit of the So ...

). In October 2008 the Russian interior minister planned to equip more

Russian police The Police of Russia () is the national law enforcement agency of Russia, operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs from . It was established on by decree of Peter the Great, and in 2011, it replaced the Militsiya, the former police s ...

with PYa pistols. But due to financial problems and the fact the

Makarov pistol The Makarov pistol or PM ( rus, Пистолет Макарова, r=Pistolet Makarova, p=pʲɪstɐˈlʲet mɐˈkarəvə, t=Makarov's Pistol) is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it beca ...

is so plentiful in Russia, the Makarov remains as primary police service pistol in Russia.

Variants

MP-446 Viking

Civilian version of the Grach with a magazine capacity of 17 or 18 rounds.Галина Валеева. Ещё раз о пистолете Ярыгина. // «Калашников. Оружие, боеприпасы, снаряжение», № 1, 2013. стр.52-54 10-round magazines are available. It is identical to the Grach, except it is not designed to take high-powered +P and +P+ rounds like the 9×19mm 7N21.

MP-446C Viking

Civilian version designed for competition.

MP-353

Civilian version. Non-lethal pistol which fires only ammunition with

rubber bullets "Rubber Bullets" is a song by the English band 10cc from their self-titled debut album. It was written by Lol Creme, Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman. Recording and impact The song features a double-speed guitar solo, guitarist Eric Stewart ...

MP-472

Non-lethal pistol.

Users

* ** Since 2007 used as service pistol in private security companies."''Регистрационный номер: 3.1/017 Пистолет служебный МР 443 ГРАЧ''"
Постановление Правительства Республики Казахстан № 1305 от 28 декабря 2006 года "Об утверждении Государственного кадастра гражданского и служебного оружия и патронов к нему на 2007 год" *

In popular culture

The weapon is featured in the videogames '' Call of Duty: Ghosts'', ''

Squad (video game) ''Squad'' is a realism-based military tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Canadian indie developer Offworld Industries exclusively through the Steam distribution platform. It is a spiritual successor to the '' Pr ...

'' and ''

Escape from Tarkov ''Escape from Tarkov'' is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game in development by Battlestate Games for Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the fictional Norvinsk region in northwestern Russia, where a war is taking place b ...

''.

References

Notes

Sources

* Оружие, которое нам выбирают. // журнал "Мастер-ружьё", № 54, 2001. стр.54-58 * Ireneusz Chloupek. Następca Makarowa. // „Komandos”. nr 11 (109), 2001. str. 71-75. * Ю. Пономарёв
Новобранец «Ярыгин»
// журнал «Калашников. Оружие, боеприпасы, снаряжение» № 6, 2003. стр.6-14

External links

Instruction manual (MP-446 Viking)
Semi-automatic pistols of Russia 9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols Izhevsk Mechanical Plant products {{Personal defense weapons