The Weapons of African Firestorm --- Pt 2: Pistols

Pistols have a role in African Firestorm --- easy to conceal, better in tight quarters and easier to use in short ranges. Below are some of the weapons used in the novel.

TT-33 Tokarev

By Michael Tsay (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

Country of origin: Russia
Caliber: 7.62x25mm Tokarev
Magazine: 8-round detachable box magazine

The Tokarev has been around since the 1930's, and like most Soviet-era arms, the pistol isn't pretty but is tough and does the job. It was replaced in the Soviet military by the Makarov pistol in the early 1950s, but is still manufactured in a number of countries under different designations, and is a common sidearm in Russian-supplied militaries, terrorists, and insurgent groups.

Heckler and Koch SOCOM

By Joe Loong (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Country of origin: Germany
Caliber: .45 ACP
Magazine: 12- round detachable box magazine

Officially known as the Heckler and Kock Mk 23, the pistol was adopted by SOCOM ( United States Special Operations Command) as the main pistol for the US Special forces in the 1990s. It is tough, reliable and the .45 caliber round is a heavy round. The .45 was originally chosen back in the early 1900s as a replacement for the .38 caliber round when the .38 proved unable to stop frenzied Moro tribesmen in the Philippines. The .45 caliber  M1911 was the US Army's main sidearm for most of the Twentieth Century.

The SOOCOM version is designed to be used with a silencer and a laser aiming module,

APB Machine Pistol

By Vitaly V. Kuzmin (Vitalykuzmin.net) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Country of origin: Russia

Caliber: 9x18mm Makarov
Rate of fire: 750 rounds/min
Magazine: 20-round detachable box magazine

The APB (Avtomaticheskij Pistolet Besshumnyj, Russian for "automatic silenced pistol") is a variant of the Stechkin automatic pistol (pictured above), It was used by the Soviet special forces in Afghanistan, and by Radio operators and heavy gun crews. The APB version comes with a silencer and a detectable steel-wire stock.

The most unusual thing about the APB and the Stechkin is that unlike most automatic pistols, the pistol has a full auto feature, allowing the user to fire bursts with one pull of the trigger, making it more like a submachine gun than a normal pistol.

So, that's the pistols in African Firestorm. What do you think?

If you want the E-book, the Kindle version is here: African Firestorm For the Nook version, go here: African Firestorm for the Nook.

Craig