The Gurevich noiseless revolver is, probably, the first internally suppressed, captive-piston firearm to be produced in any significant numbers. It was developed by a Russian gun designer Gurevich at the Tula TsKB-14 design bureau in 1943, and first tested in 1944. After several rounds of tests and improvements, Soviet military issued an order for 50 revolvers, which had a factory designation TKB-348, plus 5 000 rounds of 7,62mm captive piston ammunition, which was designated as TKB-347. This order was completed by mid-1945, and by that time the 2nd World War in Europe has ended. It is not known which units of the Red Army recon and NKVD received these weapons. Today, at least two surviving specimens are known in Russian museums and factory collections.
The Gurevich noiseless revolver, also known as TKB-348, from a collection of Artillery Museum in St.Petersburg
The basic idea of this weapon is to avoid any noise, generated by a muzzle blast, by capturing the powder gases inside a very strong cartridge case, made of steel. To keep high-pressure powder gases inside, a sliding piston is placed inside a cartridge case, above a small powder charge. A non-freezing liquid is placed between the piston and the projectile, to serve as a pusher. Upon a discharge, piston is propelled forward, pushing the liquid and the bullet forward with a considerable force. The forward end of the cartridge case is choked internally to capture a piston at the end of its run and hold all powder gases inside. This results in an extremely quiet and flash-less firing, completely undetectable at the range of just 50 meters. Early prototypes of the Gurevich cartridges were based on brass shotgun shells, and fired 5.6mm or 6.5mm projectiles from an experimental single shot, break open pistol. Final type of ammunition, known as 7.62x68R TKB-357, used a machined steel case, and was loaded with a standard 7.62mm bullet, originally intended for 7.62x25mm TT cartridge. Muzzle velocity was about 200 meters per second.
A diagram of the TKB-347 7.62mm captive piston cartridge, from a 1944-dated test report.
The TKB-348 Gurevich noiseless revolver was a rather simple, single action revolver with a fixed 5-shot cylinder. Loading and unloading was achieved via the hinged door at the left side of the frame, or by pulling out the cylinder after screwing out its axis pin.
When tested against a M1895 Nagant revolver, fitted with an experimental “Bramit” sound suppressor, Gurevich revolver proved to be more compact and more accurate. During the later decades, a very similar captive piston system was used to produce noiseless revolvers in USA (the S&W / AAI QSPR) and in Russia (the Ots-38)
TKB-348 Gurevich noiseless revolver, basic specifications
Encyclopedia of firearms and ammunition of the XX and XXI centuries
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