I've had a hankering for something new, and maybe a bit unusual, that wouldn't break bank.  I'm also a fan of mil-surps.  The PPS-34C scratched the itch.  This thing is fun and is a neat little piece.



It's semi-auto, adapted from open bolt by Pioneer Arms, of Radom Poland.  They come in 7.62 Tok or 9mm.  I don't have anything in 7.62 Tok so I went for it.  The receiver and some other parts are new, but you can tell it was built with a lot of new old stock surplus parts.  It smelled like a surplus store, and some parts had what was clearly decades of dust stuck to cosmoline.  The folding stock is permanently welded shut.  9.5" barrel, and I think it was 24'"overall.  The rear sight flips between 100 and 200 meters.  Rudimentary safety.  No bolt hold open feature.  This thing is heavy and is built like a tank and definitely has the ergonomics of a wartime-built gun.

It came with four 35rd mags.  One mag was in a bag labeled "fitted magazine" and the other three were in a bag labeled "non-fitted magazines".  It also came with a double oiler bottle and a handy folding-T-handle cleaning rod.  It only ran me 458.99 at Grabagun, which is about 90 bucks less than everywhere else.  The others I saw may be 9mm though...  Free shipping coupon code ftw.

I've had it to the range once so far and put 150rds through it with zero problems.  All four mags functioned perfectly.  Some internet posts had me worried about the mags, but maybe it's the 9mm version that gives some people trouble or maybe I got lucky.  Trigger pull is what you'd expect for something converted from a WW2 open bolt SMG.  I wouldn't call it mushy exactly, but there is no discernible breaking point, you start pulling the trigger and somewhere in there soon after, it fires.  Recoil was extremely small.  I suspected it would shoot high and it sure did:  about 18" high at 40yds by the time I worked my way out to that range after starting at 10yds.  For not being able to use the stock and shooting offhand while compensating for the 18" difference, it did surprisingly well in my opinion - I had all the rounds in a hand-sized group at 40yds.  Not bad considering I was aiming at a spot in the air about 6" below the paper target.  Something I did notice was that the first round out of each mag would often have a different report than the subsequent rounds.  The first round would have the "puh-sheww" sound like a .22lr rifle, and the rest would have the pop of a center-fire handgun round.  As far as I could tell the bolt was closed all the way on that first round, but I'm going to try racking it with purpose on the next range trip and see if that makes a difference.

Next steps; I'm going to pick up a spare rear site (readily available online) and mod one up to zero it for shorter distance.  There are plenty of parts kits available and some guys get them for the functioning folding stock and then SBR them, but I'm not sure it is worth that...

Overall a fun and interesting shooter.  Anyone else have one?  What are your impressions?

Neat gun, wear double ear protection, loud SOB

Looking at old sub guns make me want to do up my MP34 kit

Must be a WWII Soviet thing. I have shot .44's and .50 BMG that weren't uncomfortable but my SVT-40 feels like someone is taking a frying pan to the side of your head when you shoot.

Neat submachine gun OP!

I didn't think the PPS-43c was too bad at all.  There was a guy in the lane next to me with a gnarley brake on his 5.56 AR though, which was killing me, so maybe the PPS just seemed not as loud by comparison.

I had an SVT-40 at one time, that thing would rattle fillings!

Wood stocked sub guns are sooo sexy.

Yeah but its honestly a pipe dream getting that thing completed

Without a lathe, mill and tremendous amount of luck it wont ever get done.

The front trunion had threads for the barrel and is bored out. A large section of the receiver is missing. While not impossible it wont be easy as the handguard is braised on and would have to be removed to gain access to weld up the front trunion. Then it would have to be spun in a lathe and rethreaded or perhaps rebored for a bushing with matching threads to the bbl. The receiver isn't too much work. Its mostly a tube with some flats milled here and there.

But then theres the semi modifications since its an open bolt auto gun.

I suppose its my grail project

Wow, that's a lot of work.

Have you done an open bolt-to-semi conversion before?  You'll need to come up with a new FCG configuration won't you?

If you were to SBR it, would it be as simple as grinding a weld away to get the stock open?  Or is it hopelessly fucked?

No I have not

The idea would be to mill open a slot to insert a firing pin in the bolt for a hammer to strike

Then use a modified ar15 FCG with linkage back to the original trigger. There should be enough room in the stock to make it happen.

I've read where some just needed a minute with the dremel, and I've read of others that needed a complete folding stock replacement.  Parts kits are widely available and cheap ($99 and they come with three mags, + everything else) so I'll probably grab one while I can, I've seen too many mil-surp parts kits dry up in the past (haven't we all...).  Even if I don't SBR it, that will give me three more mags, sights to mod, etc.

I've had one for a few years. Works great fired from hip using sling. It loved hot tok ammo. But when the milsurp tok ammo dried up, I converted to 9mm. If surplus hot tok ever comes back, the switch back to 7.62 is simple.

Cool.  Did the 9mm barrel need any work to fit or was it a simple swap?

I missed the boat on surplus 762 Tok by years but it's just a range toy anyway and I have a dozen other projects I should be working on.

Sling is inbound.  

I found the 9mm barrel at sten.com or something like that. To install I had to turn down the area that slides into the barrel trunnion by 1.0mm. I used a lathe for that mod. The standard 7.62 tok mags feed 9mm with any issues. But there is a 3mm Gap at the front of the mag. Some recommend filling that area with a plastic spacer. I also cut about 1" from the recoil spring due to the lower power of 9mm Russian steel cased ammo.

I converted two of them to 9mm. There used to be Finnish smg barrels that would mostly drop in. The green mountain barrels I used worked great with some light lathe work.

If you plan it right you can leave some muzzle extending past the end and thread it for a suppressor.

Here's a dumb question - what gets engraved for SBR purposes, the top half or the bottom half?  All the parts kit pics I see have the top half cut up, but the FCG group is in the bottom half...  I'm not at home for a few more days or I'd go look.  Between my first post and this post I ordered the parts kit, so, maybe it's gonna get SBRed afterall...

Top half that's cut up. that's where the engraving goes.

Post pics of the fire control inside. I want to see if its close to my kp-44.

I'm traveling for work, but here's some I found online.  Happy to post some from mine in a few days if you'd like up close detail on something.

nice..



this is the KP-44.

Huh, neat, thanks.  Is yours full auto or semi?  They pretty different to me.

My next dumb question:  Do you know if I could use the 7.62 Tok bolt if I install a 9mm barrel?  I'm tempted to pick up a KP-44 barrel.

Only thing needed to get the PPS rolling in 9mm is a barrel swap. Bolts are the same

OP, if you like the PPS43 in 7.62x25 (I have one too and dig it), check out the Finnish KP44 in 9mm which was Finland's copy of it. Mine is a TNW semi "pistol", they take Suomi Drums and coffin mags too. Also have a Finnish M31 in 9mm as well that was made by TNW. Both are out of production but can be had from secondary sometimes. All 3 are great little shooters. I use the M31 as my main PCC for in door pistol ranges.


See how close they are....

M31, have since this pic got a real nice dark Finnish stock

^ the cool thing too IMO is the KP44 has Tikka stamps all over it and I love Tikka rifles having a 695 in 30-06.

another angle.



its a semi, the trigger group is based off the Remington 740 series.

Nice KP looks like TNW built it right unlike Wes lite arms. holy shit it was a shit show. But working now.. Thanks, C-4!!!

Damn, nice guns. Love the look of the pistol grip on your KP-44.

@Smash47. Form 1 your Suomi. It's worth it.



Aside from the looks, it balances noticeably better with a 12.4" vs. 16" barrel.

Only slightly related, but I ordered this kit in the afternoon yesterday and it will be at the house tomorrow.  Go Centerfire Systems!