The idea of a pistol capable of firing bursts was not new even in the middle of the 20th century. However, in the Soviet Union, for a long time, automatic pistols were treated with great skepticism. However, the army remained dissatisfied with most conventional pistols in terms of combat effectiveness and at the same time criticized the widespread use of submachine guns, which, due to their size, were not suitable for all situations without exception. And at the end of 1945, the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army prepared a technical assignment for a new type of weapon.
World War II allowed the Soviet army to gain valuable experience. Among other things, it became clear that officers and crews needed much more advanced auxiliary weapons than conventional pistols. It was decided to create in the country its own automatic pistol chambered for the popular 9x18 mm cartridge, created within the walls of OKB-44 under the leadership of B. V. Semin.
Stechkin, Voevodin and Kalashnikov proposed their designs of an automatic pistol. The design competition was very eventful. The Kalashnikov automatic pistol was first introduced in 1950. The weapon used an automatic blowback scheme. The pistol had a non-self-cocking firing mechanism, the perforator-translator of the fire modes was located on the left side. The agro-industrial complex was powered by an 18-cartridge magazine. Without ammunition, the pistol weighed 1.25 kg. With a holster and a cartridge, the weight increased to 1.7 kg.
The first tests of the agro-industrial complex made it possible to identify a number of shortcomings in the Kalashnikov design. As a result, Mikhail Timofeevich refined his creation until 1951. Sights were changed, the mechanism for switching fire modes, the Kalashnikov magazine was expanded by 2 rounds to 20. The pistol has become much better. A new round of field tests has begun.
And yet, Kalashnikov's design could not compete with Stechkin's design. Igor Yakovlevich was able to create a much better pistol, which was eventually adopted into service. But the Kalashnikov automatic pistol had to be sent to the shelf of the museum of the design bureau. I could not surpass Stechkin Kalashnikov, including due to the fact that during the creation of the agro-industrial complex, he worked, among other things, on the design of a new assault rifle and machine gun for the Soviet army.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about five best pistols according to American weapon experts.