Why Russian Army Uses this Weird Close Combat Sniper Rifle

Hey fellow spare parts army, thanks for watching - please support the channel by going to buyraycon.com/taskandpurpose for 15% off your order with a special sale of $20 off for Fitness Earbuds! Brought to you by Raycon

If you can shoot several times with no one knowing where the hell it’s coming from, then there’s plenty of reason to not have to be km away. As stated, urban warfare is probably its home.

In Soviet Russia, the silencer has a gun attached.

"No stopping power" I think your under estimating the power of 9x39, they don't use the cheap FMJ shit you get in the US, they use BP (7N12) which is capable of penetrating type III body armor under 300m which is its effective range, add the fact that this rifle is about as loud as a suppressed .22 then you have yourself a very deadly weapon.

The VSS Vintorez is no joke. Had the pleasure of shooting one several times and although it looks weird, it’s a great rifle none the less.

The VSS Vintorez is actually a brilliant design. The click is quiet enough that the audible range is substantially less than the effective range, and you could easily dismiss it as something else even if you heard it. And the round is powerful enough to penetrate many types of body armor. It's therefore a great "urban sniper" weapon, where you may be engaging high value targets at comparatively close ranges. When you start to think of it as an urban sniper instead of a traditional sniper rifle, then it starts making a lot of good sense. Firing this thing from inside a building, the click may not even be audible 20 feet away outside.

The closest thing to the VSS the U.S was going to have was the honey badger for which was meant for SpecOps, it was chambered in .300 blackout which is a 5.56x45 casing accommodating a .30 cal bullet, it has better ballistics than the 7.62x39 and uses the same 5.56x45 magazine and bolt while keeping the same rounds count of 30 for standard mags. The idea was for the operator to use the subsonic ammo for silent engagements, and having the ability to switch to supersonic ammo when shit hits the fan to get extra velocity, range and penetration. It wasn't adopted by the military but it found its way in the civilian market.

There was a story I read on a newspaper. It was from a Ukrainian serviceman. It went; 'i was relaxing with my squad leader and my squad mate, then a shot hit just above me. We all dashed for the trench but my squad mate who was to my right was hit in the jaw which shattered killing him instantly while also mangling his face. No chance of a open coffin. Then my squad leader, who was behind me when we all started running for the trench, was hit in his forehead. His head was cracked open causing his head to split open. I was in the trench then peaked out and was hit in the shoulder causing me to pass out.' this was all done by a single soldier with a vintorez and none of them had any clue where the soldier was

Most soldiers couldn’t hit a target at 6,7,800m… but with practice many could be proficient at 300m it makes sense to put a rapid fire marksman rifle into lots of hands, especially special operations units. And that bullet is huge, so what gets hit stays hit.

I remember watching some old, I think 2016 or even older, video of clashes in Donbas an fights around some airport where a Ukrainian fighter claims he was surprised cos he didn't hear shots when Russians broke into the building and close fighting started. He said he could hear bullets hit the walls and stuff, he could occasionally see some muzzle flashes from down the corridor, but he couldn't hear the gun actually firing...

Not gonna lie, this rifle was something I always considered so freakin' cool!

A couple of days ago fired with VSS. I've got the target on the 50 meters and fired standing on hands, using 2x scoup. The bullet is so heavy that when you are trying to fire "in 10 score", you are getting only 6-7 score (near 10 centimeters down). It's very silent and it has no recoil by the way

First time I seen this rifle was playing metal gear solid 4. That game had so many real life guns and correct calibers was a awesome game to use as reference. Vss 9mm was mainly used for body armor penetration. Uses a armor piercing round I forget the make up of the round.

I remember playing an old game called "stalker: pripyat" and the vss was the most useful and OP weapon you could have

Some western armies do use weapons firing 300 Blackout ammunition for suppressed fire. The most significant silenced weapon used by the west has been the HK MP5SD for suppressed firing. 300 Blackout has similar performance to the Russian 9mm x 39mm super and subsonic ammunition. These calibers can come in subsonic and supersonic ammunition depending on requirements. Supersonic rounds can be used for extra power when suppression is not vital. .300 blackout has nearly the same caliber as the AK 7.62mm x 39mm commonly used with older AK rifles. Not all countries disclose the use of these rifles. The US and the Netherlands are known to have used 300BO rifles. They can provide accurate fire at over 200 meters. That is better than 9mm in suppressed sub-machine guns like the 9mm HK MP5SD. More powerful suppressed ammunition that be fired from AR-10 type rifles using 7.62mm NATO ammunition. They can fire much larger bullets at subsonic speeds over a longer range. Two rounds have been developed. the .375 Raptor and 8.6mm Blackout from Faxon. With subsonic and supersonic loads. They have superior performance over the 9mm Russian caliber. Like 300 BO they mainly require a barrel change for 7.62mm NATO rifles to fire these new calibers. And likely some minor modifications for more reliable action and use with suppressors. Such as increased gas pressures. This includes AR-10, M-14, HK G-3 and FN FAL rifles. Special forces have a much greater range of equipment they can use. .300 BO is also very useful as a PDW, personal defence weapon. They provide more accurate fire than 9mm sub-machine guns. This would be every useful for REMF soldiers and non riflemen in front line units. Sig Saure and Daniels defence offers a variety of .300 weapons. They would be distributed like .30 M-1carbines used during WW2 but .300 BO has significantly better performance. And can penetrate some body armor.

Serdyukov is pictured holding the sr1 pistol. Very cool and advanced for its time, even by today's standards tbh. Powerful and you can quickly swap barrels to fire a more powerful round.

Thank you, Task and Purpose, for yet another very detailed weapon system breakdown that is both info-dense and well-produced as well as entertaining.

I think the most sneeky-breeky thing the Russians made was the self-sealing cartridge. It utilized a plunger to expel the bullet through the barrel while keeping the combusted gasses inside the casing.

Some extra facts about the VSS and VAL and 9x39 guns in general are the VSS can be dissembled and fitted into a special suitcase, this was a feature meant for the KGB for covert operations. As the VSS and VAL are milled guns they are rather expensive so in the 90's the Russians produced the VSK-94 and 9A-91 which are stamped sheet metal with plastic furniture and their suppressors where also detachable, said guns fell out of use by the late 2000's and where only really used by the MVD and other internal units, the 9a91 also had two prototypes with a grenade launcher and a second with an under barrel shotgun which was based of the RMB-93 a top loaded tubefed forward pump action shotgun. They also only had 20rd mags that where not compatible with the VSS/VAL and where completely straight rectangular boxes made of metal. The VAL and VSS are also related the the SR3 and SR3M which where later designs with differnt features such as the SR3 being super compact with detachable suppressor while the SR3M was more a VAL with a foldable forgrip and detachable suppressor and said guns also had a new 30rd mag steel that can be used in the VSS/VAL, latter a plastic 30rd mag was made with the new VSSM and upgraded VAL. Both guns keep the VSS style fire selector behind the trigger while having an AK style safety that must be disengaged first.

VSS penetrates 4 mm steel sheet at a distance of 500 meters (depending on the ammunition), thanks to a special subsonic nomenclature of unique ammunition (SP-5, SP-6, SPP, BP). And now, during the Ukrainian conflict, the VSS became a common weapon complex in the Russian armed forces.