title: SPSh-44
text: # SPSh-44
  
  The SPSh-44 (26-мм сигнальный пистолет СПШ-44) is a Soviet signal pistol.
  
  ## History
  
  The gun was designed by G. S. Shpagin as a replacement for the previous models of the Red Army signal pistol.
  
  In 1943 he made first version of the gun - 26mm SPSh-43 flare (signal) pistol (26-мм осветительный (сигнальный) пистолет СПШ-43). In January 1944, The second version of this pistol was made - SPSh-2 (СПШ-2).
  
  After tests and trials, in 1944 SPSh-2 flare gun was officially adopted as the new standard Red Army signal pistol. In May 1944 it began mass production as SPSh-44 signal pistol.
  
  Later it became the standard flare gun in all Warsaw Pact countries.
  
  In the mid-1970s, experimental cartridges for immobilization of wild animals for SPSh-44 signal pistol were made and tested.
  
  ## Design
  
  The SPSh-44 is a single-shot break-action smoothbore flare gun.
  
  ## Variants
  
  * OSSh-42 (ОСШ-42) - the first test prototype with 140mm barrel (1.09 kg)
  * Pistolet sygnałowy wz. 1944 - copy of SPSh-44, made since 1948 by Zakłady Metalowe im. gen. "Waltera" in Polish People's Republic
  * Type 57 - copy of SPSh-44, made in the People's Republic of China
  * Keserű Muvek Rubber Protector - is a single-shot traumatic pistol manufactured by the Hungarian company " Keserű " by reworking the SPSh. It has separate loading with a 28-mm rubber bullet and a blank cartridge .380 Knall, and can be owned without lincense in Hungary
  
  ## Users
  
  * Soviet Union
  * Belarus
  * Poland
  * Russian Federation
  * Ukraine
  