Is The Russian Army's PL-15 Actually One Of The World's Best Handguns?

Charlie Gao

Security,

We take a closer look.

Key point: It's a quantum leap from the Russian military's prior service pistol.

The PL-15 is hyped up by Kalashnikov Concern to be one of the best pistols in the world. Said to be light, accurate, and soft-shooting, Kalashnikov Concern plans to start producing the gun in 2019. However, the Russian military has not yet expressed official interest in procuring the gun. But should they? Does the PL-15 represent a large step up from existing sidearms?

The short answer is, yes. The Russian military still predominantly uses the 9x18mm Makarov pistol, a single stack design from the 1950s. The PL-15 represents a quantum leap ahead of this ancient design, being a modern, striker-fired pistol. However, the Makarov is likely to soldier on for much longer in wide service.

The story of the PL-15 begins in 2014, when Dmitri Lebedev, the pistol’s namesake and primary designer, was recruited by Kalashnikov Concern to work on a new pistol. Lebedev had worked in small arms for many years prior, being an armorer and competitor for various Russian competition shooting teams.

He began work in a new pistol, called the PL-14 that would amalgamate the features of most successful foreign pistols into a domestic design. The pistol featured a low bore axis and long beavertail similar to Glock, Steyr M, and Caracal pistols, an internal double-action trigger similar to the original FN Five-seven, and low profile recessed controls suitable for duty use.

It was tested and evaluated, but many (including firearms expert Vladimir Onokoy) found the double-action trigger to have too long of a reset for proper rapid fire. Otherwise, the ergonomics and handling of the pistol were found to be excellent.