After World War II, the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the first full-fledged domestic automatic rifle, was created in the Soviet Union. It is this weapon that will determine the direction of development of the school of long-barreled small arms for many decades. However, despite all the success of the machine, Soviet designers will actively work in other areas. A large number of attempts will be made to create their own next generation submachine gun.
After the end of World War II and the appearance of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the question of creating the latest compact individual self-defense weapons for military drivers, pilots, junior officers, and also police officers was sharply raised before the Soviet gunsmiths. In the 1950s, in many European countries, as well as in the United States and even in Israel, a whole galaxy of the latest submachine guns was created, many of which remain in use to this day. The Soviet Union could not afford to lag behind in this direction, and therefore a number of projects were launched from the creation of the PP itself, to the creation of fully automatic pistols. For example, it was in the early 1950s that the famous APS was born - not the most popular pistol, which nevertheless remains one of the favorites of special forces soldiers.
By the mid-1950s, Soviet designers came up with the idea that a new PP should be made specifically for the 9 mm cartridge. The work on the creation of such a weapon was entrusted to Nikolai Fedorovich Makarov. This is how the TKB-486 project of the Tula Design Bureau was born. Makarov decided to use the same cartridge for the new PP that was already used in his pistol - 9x19 mm. However, in the future, the designer was transferred to another project and Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin had to complete the work on the 486th, who decided to use a bolt running on the barrel in the design of the weapon. He also equipped the submachine gun with a stamped folding stock.
The novelty was ready by 1955. TKB-486 turned out to be extremely simple. The weapon was so small and light that it was possible to fire from it even with one hand. When loaded, the PP weighed only 1.3 kg. The full length of the weapon was 612 mm, with a folded stock - 380 mm. If necessary, during transportation, the store could be turned along the barrel and worn in a semi-ready state. In the future, it was enough to pull it down by hand at 90 degrees in order to complete charging.
For its time, the TKB-486 had good fire characteristics. The rate of fire reached 550 rounds per minute. When shooting standing with two hands, the shooter easily put all the bullets fired into a circle with a diameter of 500 mm at a distance of 25 meters. At the same time, the effective firing range in the TKB was, in fact, "pistol" and was only 50 meters. The ammunition supply of the weapon was carried out from straight rectangular magazines for 30 rounds.
Despite the fact that the newest Makarov and Stechkin submachine gun, on the whole, showed itself well in state tests, the weapon never went into production. Why the commission specifically “wrapped up” the novelty is not entirely clear today. Some argue that the design commission and representatives of the law enforcement agencies decided that there was simply no need for such a weapon. Others argue that the TKB-486 simply could not compete with the dynamically modernizing and constantly improving Kalashnikov Assault Rifle.
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