As the general rule goes, you should never bring a knife to a gun fight… unless of
course that knife happens to be an NRS-2, a knife that also just so happens to have
a gun built into the handle.
Designed in early 1980s for Spetsnaz troops, the NRS-2 is still used today by some members
of the Russian special forces.
The origins of this peculiar firearm can be traced back to the 1970s when engineers working
at the Tula arms factory were tasked with creating “a close combat weapon for army
reconnaissance units“. Under the oversight of designer, R. D. Khlynin, an early precursor
to the NRS-2 known, interestingly enough, as the NRS, was developed that made use of
the recently created SP-3 ammunition. These are specialised “silenced” bullets that
had been developed during the Cold War period especially for spies and special forces units
operating either covertly or behind enemy lines.
Although noticeably weaker than conventional bullets, SP-3 ammunition was considered to
be acceptably powerful for single shot weapons like the MSP special compact pistol which
was also developed under the supervision of Khlynin.
But the NRS wasn’t just a knife with a gun in the handle, it also doubled as a screwdriver,
a saw and even had a tool built into the scabbard that could cut through wires up to 5mm thick.
The scabbard was also insulated so that the knife could be used to cut through live electric
cables, so long as the line wasn’t transmitting more than 380 volts.
A few years later when SP-3 ammunition was phased out in favour of the more powerful
and reliable SP-4 ammunition, the NRS was redesigned by G. A. Savishcnev, I. P Shedlos,
and V. Ya. Ovchinnikov to make use of it. Along with providing greater killing range,
the NRS-2 included a number of other notable improvements such as an attachment for crimping
primer caps and a sharper tip more suited for stabbing through thick cloth and thinly
armoured targets. This new and improved gun knife officially went into service in 1986.
So how exactly does the NRS-2 work you ask? Well, to put it simply, housed just inside
of the knife’s handle is a small gap, in which an incredibly rudimentary firing mechanism
can be found. This mechanism can store one round at a time and needs to be removed once
the round has been spent. The handle of the knife also features a safety switch to prevent
accidental discharge and a set of iron sights to help with aiming.
What could go wrong? What could go wrong?
Speaking of which, since the gun part of the NRS-2 is house inside of the handle, to aim
and fire the NRS-2 you need to point the knife end towards your own face. While this is looks
unthinkably stupid, firing the NRS-2 in this fashion isn’t considered overly dangerous
because it has “almost nonexistent recoil“. On top of this, the NRS-2 has virtually no
muzzle flash and the shot itself is relatively silent, making it an incredibly covert and
deadly weapon in the right hands.
In terms of range, while exact details are hard to come by since the NRS-2 is generally
only used by Russian Special Forces and this information isn’t widely available, it is
said to be deadly from up to 25 metres away. In the event the user misses with his one
shot, the NRS-2 is also specially weighted so that it can be used as a throwing knife.
While the NRS-2 has the potential to be an incredibly deadly weapon in the right hands,
it’s noted that it’s mostly treated as a curio by most of today’s Spetsnaz troops
who prefer to use the version without a gun hidden in the handle. This version, known
simply as the NR-2, instead of a gun has a number of survival implements like matches,
a compass and other goodies an enterprising soldier may need.
Nevertheless, the NRS-2 continues to stand as a testament to man’s ingenuity when it
comes to coming up with new ways for killing one another.
A common misconception about the NRS-2 is that the weapon actually shoots out the blade
of the knife instead of a bullet. While ballistic knives are indeed a thing that exist, they
are generally inferior to the NRS-2 due to the fact they’re only accurate and, perhaps
more importantly, deadly, at a fraction of the range. While it is rumoured that ballistic
knives were at one point developed for the Spetsnaz, there’s little proof they ever
used them outside of Tom Clancy novels and Call of Duty games. Not that they’d need
them anyway considering an integral part of Spetsnaz training is learning to use throwing
knives. The training is so in depth that even the standard issue shovel issued to all Russian
soldiers for digging trenches can be used as an impromptu throwing device in the hands
of a trained Spetsnaz soldier. Spetsnaz troops are so well trained at throwing objects with
deadly, unerring accuracy that when putting on a show, you can see them hurling shovels,
knives and even hatchets at targets while performing such acrobatics as backflipping
through
the air, as depicted above.