Russo-Ukrainian War: The VSSM Vintorez Suppressed Sniper Rifle

Source: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

     A soldier of the 46th. Airmobile Brigade posing with captured Russian VSSM Vintorez 9mm sniper rifle. VSSM is the romanized abbreviation for Vintóvka Snáyperskaya Spetsiálnaya Modernizirovat (Special Sniper Rifle Updated). Interestingly, the Ukrainian Army ceased using the original VSS (introduced in 1981) in 2014 due to the lack of ammunition but the VSS and VSSM remains in service with Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units.

     As mentioned, the VSSM falls into the 9mm caliber rifle class but it uses a uniquely Russian rimless 9x39mm round. The round is derived from the Soviet 7.62x39mm cartridge case. To put it simply, it is the 7.62x39mm case resized to fit a 9.2mm bullet. It is specifically designed to be subsonic and used in suppressed weapons, such as the VSSM. The VSSM is usually fired using the 9x39mm SP-5 subsonic round which uses either a hardened steel or tungsten tip in order to defeat body armor. The SP-5 round has a maximum muzzle velocity of 1,050 feet per second and can defeat NATO standard body armor at a range of 400 meters (.2 of a mile) which is the weapon's optimal engagement range. The integral suppressor of the VVS and VSSM works by having a dual-chamber arrangement where propellant gasses from the fired round are both cooled down and their pressure lowered within the chambers until the sound signature of the exiting gas is greatly reduced to the point that it does not have the sound signature of regular caliber battle rifles. Usually, the VVSM is fed from a 10-round box magazine but here in the photograph, it uses the 20-round box magazine of the similar AS Val (Avtomát Spetsiálny; Special Automatic). The VSSM is select fire with a 30 rounds per minute effective rate of fire in semi-automatic and double that in full automatic. Without a scope and ammunition, the VSSM has a weight of 5.7 pounds.

     The VSSM differs from the VSS in that the latter's wooden stock is replaced with a metal stock which has adjustable cheek and shoulder pads. Another difference is that the VSSM uses a integral picatinny-style rail for mounting optics whereas optics for the VSS need to be fitted using side mounts. Speaking of optics, the VSSM can use most of the Soviet/Russian military scopes to include the PSO-1, PSV, PSO-1-1, and PO 4X34 daytime sights or the MBNP-1 and NSPU-3 night scopes. Finally, it can mount the KOP-2 daylight/low-light scope. The night scope here, however, appears to be a civilian make rather than military issue. With a PSO-1-1 scope, the weight of the VSSM goes up to 7.5 pounds (without ammunition).