How to recognise military pistols
9 military pistols in Spotrep’s field guide, each with a photo, where it comes from, who uses it and the details that tell it apart from the rest.
Practise in Classic- FN Five-seveNPistols · Belgium
Long, slim polymer pistol with a very small 5.7 mm bore and a slide covering almost the whole frame; looks oversized for its calibre.
- Glock 17Pistols · Austria
Square, flat-topped slide on a polymer frame; no hammer or thumb safety, only a small blade in the middle of the trigger.
- Makarov PMPistols · Soviet Union
Small, rounded pistol with a fixed barrel, an external hammer, a slide-mounted safety and a lanyard loop at the base of the grip.
- MP-443 GrachPistols · Russia
Large, slab-sided steel slide, external hammer and an ambidextrous frame safety; much bigger and blockier than the Makarov.
- Tokarev TT-33Pistols · Soviet Union
Thin, flat steel pistol with an external hammer, no manual safety and grip panels with a star.
- No photo yetBeretta M9 / 92FSPistols · Italy
Open-top slide that leaves much of the barrel exposed, an external hammer and a safety/decocker lever on the slide.
- No photo yetBrowning Hi-PowerPistols · Belgium
Classic all-steel pistol with an external hammer (spur on early guns, round on later ones), a slim slide and a frame-mounted thumb safety above a long grip.
- No photo yetHK USP / P8Pistols · Germany
Polymer frame with an external hammer, a combined safety/decocker lever and a slide that narrows to a squared nose.
- No photo yetSIG Sauer P320 / M17Pistols · USA
Polymer frame with a squared slide and angled front serrations; the US M17 is coyote brown with an ambidextrous thumb safety.
