Firearms and Ammunition Designed by Santay Zhetesov

Santay Zhetesov (Сантай Жетесов) is an inventor and scientist from Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Among a number of other inventions, he has also developed a couple of firearms and caseless ammunition. In this article, we’ll take a look at Zhetesov’s firearm prototypes and ammunition patents.

PPZh-05 Caseless Submachine Gun

PPZh-05 is an abbreviation which stands for Zhetesov submachine gun (Пистолет-Пулемет Жетесожа; Pistolet Pulemyot Zhetesova). The number 05 in the designation means that it was made in 2005.

This SMG feeds from a detachable box magazine. The magazine well is a rather long one which is probably designed so to allow using it as a front grip without applying pressure to the magazine itself. The gun shoots from an open bolt. It is a fairly compact weapon.

This SMG uses a type of caseless ammunition where the bullet itself contains the powder charge and the priming compound and there is no cartridge case per se. The experiments with this kind of ammunition have been conducted throughout the history of firearms development. Similar ammunition was used in the Volcanic pistol, the Gerasimenko VAG-73 pistol, Benelli CB-M2 etc.

Here are a couple of videos showing the test firing of PPZh-05 SMG:

Caseless Ammunition

Santay Zhetesov’s caseless ammunition designs are described in the Kazakh patent #29642. The ammunition used in PPZh-05 SMG should be constructed similarly.

In the mentioned patent, it describes caseless ammunition which has a striker and primer built into the projectile/cartridge. Unfortunately, it is not specified how the cartridge will be aligned in the chamber to expose that built-in striker to the hammer. Possibly for this kind of ammunition, an annular primer could be a better idea.

There are two versions of these cartridges described in the patent. One of them has rifling-style flutes on the ogive of the bullet (see the above image) which is said to impart spin to the projectile. The second one (see the image below) has identical grooves inside the powder charge cavity. I assume these flutes are supposed to spin stabilize the projectiles when shot in smoothbore firearms because the inventor states in the patent text that this ammunition can be used both in rifled and smoothbore barrels. There should not be a need to have that flutes if the cartridges are fired in rifled barrels.

According to Zhetesov, such cartridges of 5.47mm, 7.62mm, 9mm and 10.2mm calibers have been tested and showed “promising results”.

SPZh-06 Grenade Launcher

The model designation of this firearm stands for Zhetesov Soldier Cannon (Солдатская Пушка Жетесова; Soldatskaya Pushka Zhetesova). The “06” means that the gun is designed in 2006.

This is a bolt action single shot grenade launcher. Its effective range is said to be 500 meters. Basically, this weapon is a standalone caseless grenade launcher.

The unusual stock configuration (separate pistol grip with a hunting rifle stock) is probably there because this is a prototype weapon and they just temporarily attached whatever stock they had.

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Both of these guns are made in single samples. Reportedly, they have been introduced to the military officials of Kazakhstan, but have been rejected.

As soon as there is new information concerning these firearms, we will report to our readers.

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Sources:

https://www.ktk.kz/ru/news/video/2009/04/06/3666

http://kzpatents.com

http://military-kz.ucoz.org/index/kazakhstanskie_izobretateli/0-43

Не в дружбу, но в службу. Отечеству

http://www.dogswar.ru/oryjeinaia-ekzotika/strelkovoe-oryjie/783-opytnyi-pistolet-pyl.htm

http://kelisim.kz/ru/news-region/id/307