While in Afghanistan we received the unique opportunity to examine a 9×18mm PM Makarov-patterned self-loading handgun that was produced in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (خیبر پښتونخوا, Land of the Pakhtuns) region of northeastern Pakistan (formerly known as the North West Frontier Province, NWFP). Small arms produced in this region have been colloquially referred to as “Khyber Pass Guns” in the West due to their point of travel into Afghanistan through the passage of steep mountain valleys between Torkham in Pakistan and Jalalabad in Afghanistan. Somewhat of a misnomer, the majority of these firearms are actually made nowhere near the Khyber Pass. Instead, a more correct and prominent center of gun making in the region is the small town of Darra Adam Khel (درہ آدم خیل), which lies approximately 40 kilometers due south from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Darraie
The STEN Gun: Darra & Khyber-Pass Edition
The British STEN 9×19mm submachine gun, is one of the iconic firearms of World War Two. The weapon’s name comes from the names of the weapon’s main designers: the ST from Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold Turpin, with the EN from the RSAF Enfield arms factory where it was developed. With over four million, of various patterns being made during World War Two, this was once a firearm which could be easily found. It was a cheap, simple and relatively reliable design, born of necessity rather than anything else. It was such a crude and rugged piece of kit that it was famously nicknamed the ‘Plumbers nightmare’ amongst others.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Region Modified 8mm M1 Garand Rifles
Due to the local economics of supply and demand, there is often a need to convert small arms to more available calibers in areas of the world where the supply of ammunition is a constant concern or has drastically risen in price. In the case of Pakistan, we see this very clearly with the popular use of 7.92 × 57 mm ammunition (colloquially known as ‘8mm’) among converted and rechambered firearms originating from the traditional gunmaking towns in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas adjacent to the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa region on the Northwestern borders of Pakistan (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province/NWFP, or abbreviated to KPK Region). One of the most interesting of these is the 8mm M1 Garand.