KS-23

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KS-23
Type	Shotgun/Carbine
Place of origin	Russia
Service history
In service	1970s-present
Production history
Designer	TsNII-Tochmash
Manufacturer	Tulsky Oruzheiny Zavod
Variants	KS-23M KS-23K TOZ-123
Specifications (KS-23M)
Weight	3.85 kg
Length	1.04 m
Barrel length	500 mm

Caliber	23 mm
Action	Pump action
Feed system	3 rd underbarrel tube

The KS-23 is a Russian shotgun, although because it uses a rifled barrel it is officially designated by the Russian military as a carbine. KS stands for Karabin Spetsialnyj, "Special Carbine". It is renowned for its large caliber, firing a 23 mm round, which in standard usage equates to approximately 6.27 gauge^[1], making it the most powerful shotgun in use today. By comparison, the Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannon uses a 23 mm round, as does the ZSU-23-4 self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons system.

1 History
2 Ammunition
3 Variants
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The KS-23 was designed in the 1970s for suppressing prison riots. It was created by TsNII-Tochmash, a key Russian weapons developer, for the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). The barrel for the KS-23 was made from 23 mm anti-aircraft gun barrels that were rejected due to manufacturing flaws. These rejected barrels were deemed to be acceptable for the lower stress of firing slugs and less-lethal rounds, and thus were cut down in length for use as shotgun barrels. The KS-23 began to see use during the mid-1980s by several MVD forces. During the 1990s, research was made into improving the original design to make it usable in confined indoor areas. Two prototypes were proposed, the KS-23M and KS-23K, although only the M version saw use. Today, both the standard KS-23 and the KS-23M are in use by Russian law enforcement.

[edit] Ammunition

The KS-23 was created with the capability to fire several different types of ammunition, listed below:

"Shrapnel-10" buckshot round with 10-meter effective range
"Shrapnel-25" buckshot round with 25-meter effective range
"Barricade" cartridge with solid steel projectile able to destroy the engine block of a car at up to 100 meters.
"Wave-R" rubber less-lethal cartridge
"Bird cherry" tear gas grenade with CN agent
"Lilac" tear gas grenade with CS agent
"Star" flash-bang round

Later, two add-on muzzle mortars were produced, the 36mm Nasadka-6 and 82mm Nasadka-12, bringing with them several new ammunition types:

Blank grenade launching cartridge to be used with muzzle mortars
36mm "Cheremukha-6" tear gas grenade
82mm "Cheremukha-12" "high-efficiency" tear gas grenade for use on open areas

[edit] Variants

[edit] KS-23

The original KS-23 was developed jointly by NIISpetstekhniki(MVD) and TsNIITochmash in 1981, it was accepted for use by the Russian police in 1985. ^[2]The gun has a barrel length of 510mm and an overall length of 1040mm. The KS-23 has an underbelly tubular magazine capable of holding 3 rounds, with one in the tube giving the gun a maximum round capacity of 4. The gun’s effective range is 150m.

[edit] KS-23M

The KS-23M “thrush” (Carbine Special 23mm modernized) was developed on the base of the KS-23. Development for it was started in October 1990. 25 carbines were submitted for testing on December 10, 1991. After which the winner, then designated S-3, became the KS-23M “thrush” and was accepted for use by the police and the internal troops of Russia. ^[3]The KS-23M includes a detachable wire buttstock and shortened barrel, as opposed to the fixed wooden stock on standard KS-23s. The gun is still cambered in 23mm. Its overall length with the buttstock is 875mm, without, 650mm,and the barrel is 410mm long. The gun’s effective rang is 150m.

[edit] KS-23K

The KS-23K is a redesigned KS-23 that features a bullpup layout. The KS-23K was accepted in 1998 for the use of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs(MVD)^[4]. Development and adoption of this carbine was motivated by the fact that in the earlier accepted configurations of the KS-23 and KS-23M a major noted deficiency was that the tubular magazine did not make it possible to rapidly reload or change the type of ammunition being used, because of this a major design change for the KS-23K is that it has an extended box magazine that holds 7 shells instead of the 3 shells seen on the other models. The gun has a mechanical safety located on the left side, above the pistol handle and open non adjustable sights. The gun’s effective rang is 100m.

[edit] TOZ-123

This civilian version of the KS-23 named the TOZ-123 “drake” is made by Tulsky Oruzheiny Zavod and features a smoothbore design, making it more similar to a traditional shotgun, and is chambered in standard 4-gauge. The gun maker’s website has this as the description for the shotgun.

“The shotgun is multicharged, with a tubular underbarrel magazine of 3-cartridge capacity. Reloading is provided with a removable fore-end. The presence of the special barrel rear projection on the frame combined with the rear sight gives the possibility of mounting an optical sight. The shotgun is intended for the amateur hunting with shot cartridges.”^[5]