The Cosmonaut Survival "Pistol" - the TP-82

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grelmar

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Well, lets look at something fun, that none of us will ever be able to own, (and now that I know it exists, I really, really, want one) the TP-82 (TOZ-82), triple barrel survival pistol. 2x40gauge side by side, (I've also read 32 gauge) with a 5.45x39 under. The removable buttstock could also serve as a machete when unsheathed. Just the thing for when your capsule lands in the Siberian outback and it takes a day or two for the recovery crew to find you.

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From Wikipedia:

The TP-82 (Russian: ТП-82) was a triple-barrelled Soviet pistol that was carried by cosmonauts on space missions.

It was intended as a survival aid to be used after landings and before recovery in the Siberian wilderness. The TP-82 was the result of cosmonaut Alexy Leonov's concerns after being stranded in the Siberian wilderness when his Voskhod capsule malfunctioned. He was concerned that the 9-millimetre pistol that was provided in the survival kit would be ineffective against the Siberian wildlife, namely bears and wolves.[1]

The upper two smoothbore barrels used 12.5×70 mm ammunition (40 gauge), and the lower rifled barrel used 5.45×39mm ammunition. The pistol could be used for hunting, to defend against predators and for visible and audible distress signals. The detachable buttstock was also a machete that came with a canvas sheath.

TP-82s were carried regularly on Soviet and Russian space missions from 1986 to 2006. They were part of the Soyuz Portable Emergency-Survival Kit (Носимый аварийный запас, Nosimyi Avariynyi Zapas, NAZ). In 2007,[2] the media reported that the remaining ammunition for the TP-82 had become unusable and that a regular semi-automatic pistol would be used on future missions.
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I’m not bragging(well, I am...) but I actually have seen and even touched this thing! My dad’s close friend was the chief engineer of the Center for preparation to the flights( центр по подготовки к полетам) and he invited us couple of times to visit this place. I don’t remember much now but I remember two things- this big gun and lots of “space” food that we ate there. I was able to take some space food home to show to my friends even. Needless to say, I was the coolest guy for a few months after that!
 
In the event of terrestrial bears, you would just hide in the capsule. No, this is a Space Bear Defense pistol. It is obviously to protect the user while in space, against an opponent much more powerful than a human. Klingons, Xenomorphs and Space Bears with laser beams.
 
Although capsule space (and cargo weight) is limited on space flights, they would've been better served with a Krinkov AK, a full mag and a survival knife. This thing appears to be an "all-in-one" solution, but would perform poorly in real life survival emergencies (short barrels, small calibers, single shot, awkward meat-cleaver "machete" which can't pierce or stab)... is that supposed to take care of a pack of hungry Siberian wolves or a large pissed off bear? Not to mention the Khyber Pass workmanship on this piece, lol!

Cool gun, but an idea that definitely works best... on paper! It's typical of countries based on extremely top heavy bureaucracies. I bet you a team of Soviet engineers (and their superiors) took nice pensions for developing this "glorious space gun".


;)


Also, although they would never admit to it officially, the gun was most likely meant for craft defense a lot more than it was for actual survival against bears or other b.s. cover stories... in case they land somewhere they didn't intend to and an enemy unit attempted to capture the capsule (which would become a prized propaganda piece for the West). Again, a compact AK would've been the way to go over this toy gun, to maximize odds until an extraction team arrives.
 
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762mm said:
Although capsule space (and cargo weight) is limited on space flights, they would've been better served with a Krinkov AK, a full mag and a survival knife. This thing appears to be an "all-in-one" solution, but would perform poorly in real life survival emergencies (short barrels, small calibers, single shot, awkward meat-cleaver "machete" which can't pierce or stab)... is that supposed to take care of a pack of hungry Siberian wolves or a large pissed off bear? Not to mention the Khyber Pass workmanship on this piece, lol!

Cool gun, but an idea that definitely works best... on paper! It's typical of countries based on extremely top heavy bureaucracies. I bet you a team of Soviet engineers (and their superiors) took nice pensions for developing this "glorious space gun".


;)


Also, although they would never admit to it officially, the gun was most likely meant for craft defense a lot more than it was for actual survival against bears or other b.s. cover stories... in case they land somewhere they didn't intend to and an enemy unit attempted to capture the capsule (which would become a prized propaganda piece for the West). Again, a compact AK would've been the way to go over this toy gun, to maximize odds until an extraction team arrives.
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A Krink can't shoot flares, would make a mess of game birds and squirrels. A survival knife is absolute crap at cutting up deadfall to make a fire. Dealing with bears and wolves is rarely about killing them, but making a loud enough noise to startle them into being interested in other things.

In real world bush survival, the single most valuable firearm you can have is a flare gun to signal for help. This gun is a double barreled flare gun that serves other purposes. You seem to labour under some misunderstandings about the practicalities of surviving in the bush.
 
I remember reading a news story years ago that every Russian space flight packed these in their kit. It made the non Russians on the space station nervous, as the Russians were bringing weapons onboard... As far as I know NASA does not issue firearms to its astronauts.
 
grelmar said:
A Krink can't shoot flares, would make a mess of game birds and squirrels. A survival knife is absolute crap at cutting up deadfall to make a fire. Dealing with bears and wolves is rarely about killing them, but making a loud enough noise to startle them into being interested in other things.

In real world bush survival, the single most valuable firearm you can have is a flare gun to signal for help. This gun is a double barreled flare gun that serves other purposes. You seem to labour under some misunderstandings about the practicalities of surviving in the bush.
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A pack of hungry wolves will not "startle and run away from noise". Space capsules have locator beacons which makes flares pointless, because recovery teams already know where they are, plus they're tracked on radar upon reentry. A space capsule is not the Titanic and we're not in 1912 anymore.

Finally, a survival knife is 10x more practical in the bush than a meat cleaver machete; not everything is about chopping down foliage, especially in places like Siberia. Finer work and a solid knife point is often needed, which this thing can't deliver. Although a knife is perhaps worse at splitting logs, they're supposed to have enough firewood to survive 12 hours max, not to build a log cabin. It's perfectly feasible with a REAL 1095 carbon steel survival knife, like a good 6"+ Tops, Ontario, Ka-bar, etc. Tested those myself many times and guess what? They work exceptionally well.


But yeah... I have "misunderstandings". :rolleyes:
 
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762mm said:
A pack of hungry wolves will not "startle and run away from noise". Space capsules have locator beacons which makes flares pointless, because recovery teams already know where they are, plus they're tracked on radar upon reentry. A space capsule is not the Titanic and we're not in 1912 anymore.

Finally, a survival knife is 10x more practical in the bush than a meat cleaver machete; not everything is about chopping down foliage, especially in places like Siberia. Finer work and a solid knife point is often needed, which this thing can't deliver. Although a knife is perhaps worse at splitting logs, they're supposed to have enough firewood to survive 12 hours max, not to build a log cabin. It's perfectly feasible with a REAL 1095 carbon steel survival knife, like a good 6"+ Tops, Ontario, Ka-bar, etc. Tested those myself many times and guess what? They work exceptionally well.


But yeah... I have "misunderstandings". :rolleyes:
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Mmm-Hmm.. Again, your comments demonstrate a lack of knowledge and understanding.

TP-82 cosmonaut (space men) survival weapon was born out of experience, gained by the crew of the Soviet space mission Voskhod-2, which took place in 1965. The landing capsule of the Voskhod-2, with two cosmonauts (space men) onboard, made emergency landing deep in the winter taiga forest. Two men spent more than two full days in the middle of the freezing forests, armed only with Makarov PM pistol, which was close to useless for wilderness survival (defense against predatory animals and hunting).

One of two Voskhod-2 crew members, Alexey Leonov, remembered this experience, and later came up with idea of the dedicated wilderness survival weapon for space crews that made emergency landings far from populated areas...
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https://modernfirearms.net/en/shotguns/russia-shotguns/tp-82-eng/

Russia is like Canada. Very, very big, and mostly empty. Locator beacons have a limited range and battery life.

The gun was specifically designed around experience.

But hey, I'm sure you know much more about wilderness survival than a highly trained Russian pilot and Cosmonaut.
 
grelmar said:
Locator beacons have a limited range and battery life.
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Enough for an extraction team to find them, plus they're tracked on RADAR upon re-entry... their landing position is known to within a few kilometers at most. That's when the beacon comes into play: to pinpoint the final position. :rolleyes:



grelmar said:
But hey, I'm sure you know much more about wilderness survival than a highly trained Russian pilot and Cosmonaut.
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Highly trained? He was "highly trained" to hold his breath, endure G-forces and manipulate buttons and levers, not to survive in the wilderness. In fact, wilderness survival training for the Air Force in those days sucked. Ever seen how crappy their "survival kits" were back in the 60's? The next thing I bet you'll tell me is that every cop you meet is a small arms expert because he/she has a 9mm on their gun belt, lol!

This steampunk cosmo-pirate gun of theirs was a joke, and that's putting it mildly... plus there's a reason why NO OTHER popular survival-type firearm is made to emulate that hunk of junk. A few well-connected comrades probably drew the blueprints for it on the back of a napkin after clearing a few bottles of Moskovskaya, but that's about all the "engineering" and thought that went into it. Not to mention the Khyber Pass workmanship.

A Makarov PM is too tiny and underpowered for any useful function other than close quarter defense, so yeah... I agree it was a POS for survival. But then again, so was its' replacement. They never got to find out, because they didn't botch too many landings after that infamous one. I'd take a shortened Ruger 10/22 in .22Mag and a Mora Robust over that "survival gun" any day. They'd probably weight less too.


Come to think of it, Gerber should pick up the TP-82 idea and market it under the Bear Grylls trademark, lol! We could use more gun manufacturers, even when they make questionable and pretty useless products. ;)


prod-survival.jpg
 
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