Pioneer Arms PPS-43C
Initial Draft: January 18, 2025
Second Revision: January 19, 2025
Caliber: 9x19mm
Barrel Length: 250mm
Weight: 3046g
Production Date: No idea.
Purchase Date: December 21, 2024
Price Paid: $402.96 ($359.99 + $17.98 Shipping + $24.99 Transfer Fee)
I'm a sucker for the PPS, Sudayev's submachine gun. I learned of it from Call of Duty 2 (where it was one of my favorite guns to use in multiplayer), I gained an appreciation of its simplicity when I got to see one torn apart at a museum, and I found a love for them when I got to shoot a transferrable example. I never thought I'd own one for the longest time. Turns out two things exist: Pioneer Arms sells cheap-o semi-auto converts in the US, parts kits not too long ago cost less than $100 each. I've now gone both routes, this page is about the former.
When it came to buying my 43C, I had a few things on my mind. I missed out on the early days of 43Cs, that $349.95 RTI price from 2012(*1) was long gone by 2024 (Atlantic Firearms asked $559 for a 7.62x25mm example on January 28, 2023(*2)), so GunBroker's $599.99 was the price to expect. 7.62x25mm has been getting pricey, the cheapest 50 rounds of S&B I could find on Ammoseek were $20.80 before shipping, so I just didn't want that caliber at all. New-produciton 9x19mm 43Cs have an extended ejector that requires magazines to have a special cut, I didn't want to deal with that. New-production 9x19mm 43Cs also have an extremely extended bolt which causes cycling issues, I didn't want to deal with that either. How the heck was I going to get an old 9x19mm at a reasonable price?
In a stroke of luck, guns.com was the answer. One quick search returned me with exactly what I wanted: A minimally-used PPS-43C marked "I.O. Inc" (an import from before Pioneer did it themselves and made the mods I didn't want) in 9x19mm. It was $240 under the average Gunbroker price, $359.99 + shipping + fees. Ain't that something? Usually guns.com is the last place I search because their prices are high, this time it was the place to go! I couldn't sit around and think about it for too long because I knew someone else would snag the thing at the listed price. I broke out the credit card, threw my info in, told them to ship it to my usual FFL, and got way too excited to sleep that night.
So far I've been loving the gun! In my first month of ownership it's gone to three range days and been fired 884 times. The trigger feels like an AK (because cheap AK guts make up the semi-auto fire control group), the recoil is slow and light, the sights are on, and maintenance is dead simple. There has been one notable kink in the system, magazines (doubly so surplus ones from Bowman) sit a bit too low, but as long as you grip the thing slightly upwards into the well then all 34 rounds clear without an issue. I say 34 rounds (despite the fact that magazines hold 35) because putting a fully-loaded magazine in on a closed bolt is basically impossible, they were meant to go into an open-bolt gun, but just taking one off the top fixes that.
Future plans for the PPS include getting a sling for the thing to add an extra point of stabalization, getting more magazines than the three I own that way I can just load say five then take 'em to the range and enjoy 'em, possibly SBRing the thing that way I can unfold the stock legally, and just shooting it a bunch more. Everyone including myself just gets a smile on their face when they get to have some range time with the PPS, I'd love to keep enjoying it far into the future.
Works Cited:
*1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8J8Dq_TVuc
*2 - https://web.archive.org/web/20230128060650/https://atlanticfirearms.com/polish-pps43-c-pistol
