Origin of a Flare Pistol: Shpagin's SPSh-44

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After finishing his work on the PPSh-41 submachine gun, Georgiy Semyonovich Shpagin was tasked with creating a simplified flare or signal pistol for the Red Army. They had entered the war with a 1930 pattern type, which was quite nice, but more expensive than really necessary. Shpagin first created the OPSh in 1943, which was made in 43 and 44 and then further simplified the design to this 1944 model. This example was made at the Molot plant (factory 356) where Shpagin was based either during or shortly after the war, as evidenced by its wooden grips and lack of date stamp. Later the design would be widely licensed throughout the Warsaw Pact region, and SPSh pattern flare pistols made in Poland and Czechoslovakia are widely available in the US today.
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[@comrademcsalty7676]

Gotta love the soviet; -Hey Shpagin we really like that submachine gun you designed. We've got an other job for you. ~Really new rifle? Anti-aircraft gun maybe? Oh I know, new heavy machine gun! -Here take this flare pistol and make it cheaper. ~Oh, ok.

[@eugeniuspirantel1086]

Love your comment!

[@daltonagre]

And Shpagin did a cheap and good signal pistol. I live in Brazil.

[@rogersheddy6414]

"... another job for you" could have been setting up a new Factory in the gulag... You never could tell with Stalin.

[@Outerwebs]

"Hi, I'm Georgy Shpagin! You might remember me from such weapons are the DShK and the PPSh-41, but today I'm here to talk to you about a flare gun..."

[@nicecupoftea7102]

I really love when you review old soviet weapons. There is something beatiful about those designs, they all seem crude and utilitarian at first but as soon as you look closer, you can see a lot of interesting and amazing engineering decisions. It really speaks about the sheer ingenuity of soviet people. And your pronounciation is alright, russian is not exactly the most prominent language, so it is understandable that you'll have trouble pronouncing all those names and sounds.

[@ВладимирГрачев-ы2и]

On behalf of your Russian speaking audience - thank you for that "sh" remark! We feel recognized :)

[@deptusmechanikus7362]

Владимир Грачев *But we do not forgive* 😈

[@Lowlandlord]

I only speak bad Russian and I appreciate that.

[@KriegZombie]

How do you guys say "Shhhh!!!", as in telling someone to be quiet?

[@ManOnTheRange]

@@KriegZombie you say "šššššššš" :D

[@Konter_Trom]

Ничего если я на русском пошпарю с земляками ?

[@ketsuekikumori9145]

Fun fact: English used to have letters with dedicated sounds, just like the Cyrillic sh, (I mean, that's how the alphabet works) but they became obsolete. Look up the ash and thorn letters. Thorn used to be used in place of th- sounds, but with the advent of the printing press, we had to start standardizing our spelling (still a mess, I know). However, the english had to import the presses from elsewhere, so they didn't include things like thorn. So they replaced it with other letters, and in the case of thorn it was y, hence the "ye olde" signs being a thing. So you actually pronounce those words like you would today, "the old".

[@hjp14]

I had fun with it haha

[@thomas316]

What is interesting however is that when you learn the Cyrillic alphabet you realise there is a fair amount of carry over between Germanic and Slavic languages. I found it much faster to learn a bit of Russian than Te Reo Māori for example.

[@FreeOfFantasy]

you would expect some carry over from adjacent languages. The latin alphabet does't have letters for some of the sounds used in Germanic languages. German,Swedish, Norwegian, ... have some extra ones for that.

[@pikeywyatt]

but we all sepk inglish......

[@cracklingvoice]

I always found an interesting level of overlap between Cyrillic-based languages and Greek. I haven't taken the time to learn Russian, much as I'd like to, but the little bit of Greek I remember has helped me figure out a few Russian words.

[@ВячеславСкопюк]

Looks like grammar KGB did his job

[@johnbrowning4886]

Soviet Flare Guns: is good for highlighting the deserters in the water and for Vadim’s kick ass bonfires

[@zachbrummett9672]

Hey jmb you forget about putting fist sized burning holes in the Huns chest

[@Guy_GuyGuy]

VADIM BLYAT

[@petman515]

Plays Russian national anthem

[@davidgreen40]

I guess Shpagin had a real flair for designing simple flare guns.

[@tripleog9557]

Ian is very considerate and well mannered, I think that’s part of the reason I love the channel. Apologizing to Russia for English not having a SH sound character... that’s great and also hard to find these days... thanks man

[@MlTGLIED]

2:36 Thank you for mentioning that, i very appreciate it 👍 Greetings from russian speaker from Germany

[@Kingstone1981]

It's a shame to see such picky people. I understand everyone wants that names in their language are pronounced how they want them pronounced but this is a gun channel, not a word pronunciation channel. I wonder, why doesn't Ian have to make such remarks regarding other languages?

[@cracklingvoice]

I believe Ian has remarked before on not pronouncing names properly. Russian names and words are often a bit strange for English-speakers who don't speak Russian, at least in comparison to other European languages.

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

Oh no! Dont tell me Russia is invading Germany again!

[@MlTGLIED]

Matt Brine No, it's even worse. Islam is invading Germany since 2015. Over 2 million Muslims are already here. 99% of them illegal. We are lost. Thank you Merkel.

[@SergeiKotikov]

To be fair, he is remarkably correct all around for a "gun guy", so kudos to Ian. But anyway, I always thought that the "Sh" abbreviation is fairly standard for "Ш" and doesn't need any additional remarks...

[@scottdoran3112]

Paid 15$ for a 51 polish flare gun, I was walking out and he was like wait, I have a case, unused gun and case priceless!!

[@StrangerOman]

Never been offended as a Russian speaking person. Actually, 0:40 that was a good pronunciation. :)

[@tangero3462]

This is actually one of the best flare pistol designs I've seen in terms of safety. The internal mechanisms are incredibly well-thought

[@hornmonk3zit]

I have a Polish one right here next to me and it does have a spring loaded firing pin and the barrel lug isn't long enough to touch the firing pin. That's actually kind of a problem since the firing pin still has a tendency to stick out sometimes, but nonetheless it's cool to see even more tweaks were made later. Edit: Also should mention mine is 26.5mm chambered and you said that one is 25.4mm. Not sure if you misspoke or if they standardized on 26.5mm later.

[@Igor_TT]

ŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ :)

[@championknife]

In Soviet times, I had exactly the same signal pistol. I also had a titanium barrel for a 16-caliber cartridge, which was inserted into the barrel of a signal pistol. I hunted with such a gun in the woods.

[@parapotamus]

I'm writing from the late 2019, where Ian stopped resisting and started to pronounce "Sh" properly :)

[@petesheppard1709]

It's a bit off-topic, but thanks for explaining about the 'Sh' sound. I've seen where the PPSh was pronounced 'Pay-Pay Shah'; now I understand why. :)

[@lances4803]

I shoot mine every 4th of July. Neat gun.

[@DennyCigano]

I use it still in patrols. And its effective against wild bors

[@TheLoxxxton]

But can it be converted to full auto?

[@ADRay1999]

Has anyone ever seen a Japanese WW2 double barrel flare pistol

[@Celebmacil]

Pretty sure he's done a video on one.

[@CaptainGrief66]

Ian had both a single barreled on and a Navy/Air Force tripple barreled one, which was extremely neat. Forgot the model number, sorry.

[@TheGearhead222]

Great video, as always Ian! I have a very nice Polish Radom factory model of this flare gun and it's a work of art:)-John in Texas

[@Dekko-chan]

“BuT cAn yOu ShoVe a 12G iNTo iT”?

[@perfilievmark]

Сигнальный Пистолет Шпагина

[@MeshFrequency]

I speak Russian. All the offended by SH, need to have a shot of vodka and relax. This is a rare channel that gives a ton of respect and great information on Russian/Soviet weapons.

[@xpavpushka]

Your russian is much better now, good work! Thanks for the video.

[@brianreddeman951]

...when the top comments become a linguistics discourse :)

[@Regolith86]

0:50 Someone really didn't want vampires to be able to use that flare pistol....

[@Tr4wnet]

Ian, just fyi here's Hungary's rubberball-self-defence version of it made by Keserű Művek: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZasdpuvmd6sppo

[@badas45]

I got a polish one recently for $120 I think on Apex gunparts its very fun. I wish I would have picked one up 10-15 years ago when they were $50to $75

[@rogersheddy6414]

I have a Czech one, with the pouch. Paid too much. Flairs...VERY pricey.

[@tsartomato]

sh read as in short not as s h yes but you always use local pronunciation for all european names, disregarding how they are written in english. so it's only russian names which are unworthy?

[@bigDdavy]

Ian: *says "sh" Russians: *triggered*

[@Chetanoo]

Not really. Hes russian pronouncement is awesome :)

[@robertkalinic335]

Do you even need pistol grip on flare gun? I think if they needed to simplify this, they could make just barrel with simple firing mechanism.

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

Robert Kalinič You could just have a tube with a trigger button/switch on the side, and a pin in the bottom, easier storage and use. Just point the tube, press the trigger.

[@spudgunn8695]

Robert Kalinič umm.....ever heard of a naval lifeboat maroon flare? Simple tube, knock each end off, point upwards and hit the firing mechanism in the base? Been in use since the 1920's/1930's

[@АлексейЗапольский-и1м]

Soviet Army had such ones. RSP-30 "reactive flare cartridge"

[@ВячеславСкопюк]

I think, proper 'flare pistol' are just simpler to use and make. You need to reload them, remember?

[@freshcancer713]

Because a pistol looking flaregun is something people regard highly and take care while if you make a zipgun nobody is going to be intrested in cleaning it

[@ioele1000]

I bought 2 of these from a coworker of mine, but I think they are polish. I also got an H&K one too.

[@Gilgashodin]

Always love the history part of your vids 👍

[@itsmannertime]

Oh Shpagin, if only you had lived long enough to work on Soviet satellite cannons.

[@shibbidydoowop]

You dont see a lot of the original russian ones from what I gather. Nice collector item.

[@cjrogers1524]

I have one of those that I have absolutely bastardized

[@shaunn7778]

I should carry it. 8 gauge shotgun slug, kinda thing

[@corwinhyatt519]

The chamber might not be able to handle pressure from firing a cartridge other than a flare. Those side walls looked fairly thin.

[@zachbrummett9672]

Connvert to 410/45 colt

[@shaunn7778]

Joe Ç yeah. Id be surprised if i didnt get hurt

[@Treblaine]

The walls may be thin, but that's Pure Stalinium, comrade!

[@shaunn7778]

Treblaine you could run it like a blunderbuss... fill it with random giblets from home depot and gravel from the driveway. Haha

[@radoslawpiotrowski9480]

I adore this channel. Never thought that flare gun from Soviet Republic WW2 era would be interesting, but when you talking about it is a game changer. And on that note: Ian, seriously, you should advise all video game producers on weapons and their characteristics. Walking, talking encyclopedia of firearm knowledge. Personally I believe that even crappiest game with outrageous gameplay would have the best arsenal at gamer's disposal. BTW, you did a bit regarding Battlefield 1, any plans for Battlefield V??? I know, not the time period of your choice but, come on! MG42 with the front grip???

[@andrzejwitowiak1353]

As far as I know Forgotten Weapons has been acknowledged by DICE as a source of information for BF1 arms, so kinda sorta maybe, but I totally agree realism would go up if devs would have realistic input for what they do :)

[@Feiora]

Yea but if you screw up weapon stats on a made-up weapon, you can get away with it alot easier than with a real world weapon...

[@radoslawpiotrowski9480]

Feiora Agreed. That's why BF series stopped (for me) at BF3. Whatever was released after that was overhyped and not thoroughly tested. In a sentence: no Ian, no good game.

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

Just bought one of Czech origin and am psyched to shoot it off the first time!

[@1389ultrasrbin]

i made shotgun pistol from it 16gauge,i did not now it is soviet gun...

[@bastardforgetanner8762]

International flare co. Ww2? Tippecanoe ohio?

[@ZZizitt]

I heard a lot of stories about how post-soviet mobsters used this gun for their business approximately twenty years ago or something. The thing was, this gun was easy-to-buy and ... the energy of a projectile is more than enough to kill an "enemy" in one shot.

[@myvenusinuranus]

I thought these were 26.5 mm.......not 25.4 mm (one inch)

[@MerrimanDevonshire]

Ad for 3M air filters on 14jun18

[@Awoken_Remmuz]

Like always whenever I see one of these older flare guns made of actual metal part of me can't help but wonder how it feel firing a live round instead of a flare.

[@myfavoritemartian1]

There was a youtube video by a European guy who made an adaptor from a 3/4" pipe. He fired a 12Ga shotgun shell in it. The recoil broke a vein in his hand. It swelled up and he said it hurt very much!

[@petermilsom1109]

style is as style does. if you get two utilitarian items for the cost of 1 deluxe, then governments (who pay for most armies, and the cost ultimately comes from folks' taxes) usually buy the two utilitarian. the "Grease Gun" was a US "utilitarian design", because Thompson SMGs were rather expensive. Ian's video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJrZo2eHmc2Jqrc extreme example: I was watching a video from the tank museum in bovingdon UK. The presenter says that 1 tiger II tank cost the same in early '45 as 9 sherman tanks (and i'd be willing to bet you'd get even more T-34/85s for the cost). kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6anpnWtds2Fl5Y the war was won with utilitarian stuff. even the over-engineering germans did it - the most produced ww2 german "tank" was a stug! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmgesch%C3%BCtz_III

[@Lestercrest1956]

What if bolt action flare gun?

[@kabukisyneri296]

Shpagin. The original Shimplifier.

[@sambaggins2798]

So that explains the PPSh lol. Thank you Sir! That’s not meant to be funny actually. Always wondered how it got named. I’m ignorant sue me 😎.

[@johnyricco1220]

This flare pistol probably killed more Germans than all other handguns of WWII combined

[@lewiscaine8330]

Are you sure the bore size isn't 26.5 millimetres. I thought the Czech Vz44 as well as the polish and german variants were all copies of this design

[@valerystpnv1180]

Thanks for video Was read a story from old aviation technician about attempt to hunting ducks with BBs by means of this funny gun. No one was killed including shooter:)

[@rogersheddy6414]

It's really funny, Ian, now that I think back. When I was in elementary school, and they started teaching us how to read, they had little pictures that were very nicely printed back in the 1940s. They would show us the picture on a huge flip chart, say what the picture was, and then tell us what the sound was. Like "C" for "cherry." Then they would superimpose the letter on the picture, which was printed to look in shape like the letter. The next flip was the letter itself, alone. I will never forget the image they showed us of a ship sailing towards the viewer that looked just like an image of the Normandie. That stood for the word "ship." What was the overlay? The letters, "sh." Later I asked the teacher why we did that for "sh" when there was no single letter for that in our alphabet like all the rest of those...

[@TheMiseriaCantare]

Why in early days of firearms it was common to use hexagonal barrels? It it easier to make?

[@matejmatej3554]

Love you Ian not in the gay way love you in gun way you are the best much love from sLOVEnia slava Slavic people

[@axelschult2439]

What would realy nice where a Video about the German Grenade Pistols ! ore "Kampfpistole" as they called them

[@mustafankamil1973]

I had one of these with black plastic grips, it kicked like a mule lol

[@himlowodinmire1333]

Wait so its 25.4mm? Why did they change it to 26.5mm for the later eastern bloc ones?

[@mudnugget7801]

Hey ian, would you mind reviewing a 1917 spanish mauser if you ever get your hands on one? I've been a fan of your videos for quite some time now and would love to learn the history behind this gun that i own and love.

[@A.lasdair]

Praise be Gun Jesus

[@dannyleung9448]

it's 26.5 mm......not one inch

[@nicolasarnold7210]

This is decent enough, but I think that it is definitely not Shpagin's best design. PPSH is better.

[@anvior45]

Oh! I remember using a flare gun during my training. Always have to remind everyone to not look at the good damn flare! With the sound and the light your natural reaction is to look up at it.

[@modestasbieliauskas4206]

i got one of these how much is it worth?

[@ByzAsian45]

so flare pistol back in ww1 absolutely myth ?

[@RidhRidh]

That really BLYATIFULL gun

[@s.foostenveld29]

You should do a video on German flare pistols and their developement

[@imSkyzWRLD]

Flaregun

[@Treblaine]

Who wants to bet this will appear as an equippable weapon in Battlefield V?

[@SinaelDOverom]

About sounds : English does have proper phonetics and phonetic symbols (which you learn in school). There is a reason It is written as "Sh" [ ʃ ] and not as "SH" [ eseɪtʃ ] - to signify it being a single sound and should read as phoneme [ ʃ ] by the rules of pronounciation of abbreviations. You know how to pronounce it right, but you don't and that gets people angry.

[@SinaelDOverom]

IIRC there's an actual rule in english about the scenario which is what I am talking about, and why it is written Sh and not SH in abbreviation is to indicate that the rule must be used. Also im not picking abone with anyone, Im just saying why people anger is justified.

[@itsconnorstime]

That earlier flare pistol looked like a S&W no.3.

[@дроу]

isn't this gun that used in IL-2 Shurmovik?

[@MrSharpClaw]

I always wondered about flare guns...couldn't you just load it with a shotgun shell and circumvent a couple of weapon laws ?

[@myfavoritemartian1]

You would need an adaptor, but then you would have an AOW which needs a tax and long wait.

[@professionalfire3902]

Do a weapons of battlefield v video!

[@joshkiper1773]

Hope he is having a good time in France.

[@ФомаАквинский-и9ф]

good russian name pronounce

[@derpnip]

Is that the gun from Fallout 2?

[@andrewmason8504]

Do one on Us ww2 Flare pistols!!

[@VegasCyclingFreak]

So do you have to register this like it's a handgun or does it fall into some other special category?

[@crack1666]

Just don't get caught with the insertable sleeves that are made for these in varying calibers. Someone who isn't me had fun with a sleeve that takes 12 gauge, they used mini 12 gauge shells just in case... But if you had a sleeve in several calibers.. it could be a valuable resource, even though it fires one round at a time, obviously.

[@scottybeegood]

I want a full auto flare gun

[@javinplaski5028]

I truly envy you Ian. You have all the fun

[@andrzejwitowiak1353]

I'm wondering about the dislikes for this one. I can understand some people may have beliefs and values against weapons so it is sort of justified to dislike weapons related video. Also I disagree, all depends on context. However, flaregun is like a total antithesis of a weapon. Its a signaling tool, its not designed to kill, it can actually save lives so why dislikes? Why?

[@antongrahn1499]

Think of it as a sort of feedback to Ian regarding the videos the disliker wants. Maybe he (the disliker) wants "proper" guns? Maybe he thought it was not informative enough. Maybe he would have liked to see it used. There are many reasons to push the downvote button.

[@simonmunden5046]

Haters gotta hate, I guess?

[@adamforen7839]

Sh!

[@sjoormen1]

Š

[@OlujaDoTokija]

S

[@hanskc3302]

Ш! Gotcha!

[@jjtomecek1623]

Тихо!

[@BrowningThirty]

I have a buddy who owns one of these and uses an adapter to shoot 20 gauge shotgun shells.

[@myfavoritemartian1]

SHHH......AOW

[@BigFrakkinOgre]

Interesting subject

[@brvtalbeastboi5910]

Mom can I get a PPSh 41? "We have a PPSh at home." The PPSh at home:

[@seanmcgroty2248]

Is there anything inside the chamber or bore to prevent a shotgun shell from being fired?

[@crominion6045]

No, other than the fact that the bore is way too large for any shotgun shell. They make aluminum adapters for the more recent 26.5mm versions with steel barrel inserts in .22 lr, .38 Spl., and .45 LC/.410. The adapter is shaped like a flare. You just drop it into the barrel like a flare, then drop your cartridge in the adapter. So you can shoot .410 shotshells out of these. However, the only reason this is legal is because the barrel pressed into the adapter that fits .410 shells is also rifled for .45 LC cartridges. You could make a smoothbore adapter for larger shotgun shells, like 20 or 12ga, but then the pistol would be an SBS (short barreled shotgun) under ATF regs and require the proper paperwork and tax stamp to be legal. Actually, I think maybe the adapter itself would be the restricted device, since it would be removable and would fit into any 26.5mm flare gun. Not 100% sure, though. Edit: Also, a light 20 ga. field load might be doable, but I think just about any 12 ga. load would be brutal to shoot out of one of these. 😲😂

[@crack1666]

​@@crominion6045 the mini 12 gauge shells work for sure, or so I've heard..

[@johnhamill1127]

nice video

[@чесмотриш-ы5з]

Ш!!!!!

[@dolunay9087]

Sounds like an odd PPSh 41

[@dolunay9087]

Crispy Tenderloin yea... even more scarier to face with

[@bitchfacedmgee7433]

Can you do a video on the Chechen borz smg? I'm half chechen and find chechen weapons very interesting

[@SamuraiAkechi]

bitchfacedmgee I doubt that he would find any on the market. Because it's not that easy to find an obscure post-soviet smg, which was used mostly by chechens armenians and criminals.

[@bitchfacedmgee7433]

Edward Mass I don't think anythings to uncommon for him, he did a whole episode on the PA Ludy smg, this had a very similar and much more similar backstory behind it, he even showed an Irish avenger smg once, given what he's already done, its definately possible

[@SamuraiAkechi]

bitchfacedmgee he made Luty episode with the help of Ares institute collection, as I recall. In order to study K6-92 or Borz he would have to get in touch with russian officials and Ministry of Domestic Affairs in particular

[@bitchfacedmgee7433]

Edward Mass is Larry vickers can do it, I bet Ian can, like he even used the new ak and the 9x39 as val, it's not beyond the relm of possibility.

[@cracklingvoice]

I had never heard of this weapon before. It looks like a cross between a Sten and a M3 Grease Gun.

[@skoopsro7656]

I love my MOLOT vepr! I got mine when the first batch of post Robinson imports hit the US several years ago. Its a beast of an AK/RPK

[@muffy469]

Imagine having this shoot shotgun shells. It could be a secondary-sidearm for commanders, when the pistol is out of ammo and there is still the threat of being shot because the enemy is close he can just reach for his belt and grab this gun. It has such a short barrel so the spread would be very wide at a very short range so he could kill probably 2 people with one shot at a 10 meter range maybe. Would be very useful in building-to-building warfare or trench warfare.

[@robertkubrick3738]

You left out close quarters personal defense.

[@horstboellinger6880]

this pistol need a 12" inserts.

[@ae1aea363]

am I?