JIANSHE GROUP INDUSTRIES QCW-05 - TYPE JS 5'8x21mm/9x19mm sub-machinegun system

- BACKGROUND -
The origins of the QCW-05 and JIG-JS submachine-guns are to be tracked back to the mid-1990s, when the PLA launched a request to all Chinese defense companies for a compact Personal Defense Weapon and combat sub-machinegun that had to fit the needs of non-combatant personnel, the needs of the military personnel which for one reason or another could not carry a bulky and heavy rifle (such as APC or Tank crews, Aircrewmen, pilots, etc.), and the needs of the Special Forces. The winner candidate would have replaced in service the long-time issued .7'62x25mm-TT NORINCO Type 79 and Type 85 sub-machineguns, in both their standard and integrally-silenced variants.
The mid-1990s were the time when the Defense and armaments sector in People's Republic of China was liberalized to a partial regime of market economy, with the State not being any longer 100% in control of all the manufacturers of armaments, particularly SALWs (Small Arms and Light Weapons). The very same "historic" Defense industry of China, NORINCO (North China Industries Corporation) became a Joint-Stock Company, open to partial private ownership, and so did CHINA SOUTH INDUSTRIES GROUP. Other major defense industries opened, focusing their production upon firearms, and these were 100% in private hands. Between them, there was JIANSHE INDUSTRIES GROUP CORPORATION, active since a very long time in the motors sector and only recently interested into the firearms activity through a business agreement with NORINCO itself.

The PDW caliber chosen for the new PLA PDW-SMG issue was the Armor-Piercing .5'8x21mm ammunition, a long-time Chinese-made spawning from the Belgian .5'7x28mm SS-190 cartridge used in firearms such as the FN P-90 sub-machinegun and the FN "Five-seveN" selfoading pistol. The ballistic data charts for the Belgian SS-190 and for the Chinese .5'8x21mm are virtually fully compatible.
Ultimately, the trial tests ended up in a competition between three candidates: a bull-pup, open-bolt sub-machinegun made by JIANSHE GROUP INDUSTRIES named the "Type 05", which was ultimately the winner; a classic-style sub-machinegun loosely patterned after the German HECKLER&KOCH MP-5 engineered by the Army itself via its "208 Research Institute" and due to be manufactured by NORINCO and CHINA SOUTH, which didn't completed the trial and faded; and a dual-feeding (grip magazine and top-mounted helical magazine "à la CALICO") sub-machinegun by CHANG-FENG Ltd., dubbed the CFQ, which was discarded due to its overly complicated design and which has been re-engineered to helical-magazine feeding only, converted to the .9x19mm Luger caliber and currently offered on the commercial export market.

- QCW-05 .5'8x21mm PDW -
The winning design was ultimately the JIANSHE GROUP competitor, dubbed the "Type 05" due to the year of awarding of the bid, and which was formally adopted by the Chinese government as the QCW-05 and first issued in limited quantities to Special Operations units of the PLA ("People's Liberation Army", the Communist-Chinese ground Armed Forces) and to SWAT-like teams of the PAP ("People's Armed Police", the Communist-Chinese National Police Service).
The QCW-05 was probably chosen due to its not overly-complicated design and to its similarities with another new weapon in PLA distribution (the QBZ-95 bull-pup assault weapons system) that is in service since the late 1990s and is due to replace all other long arms in active Chinese service and become the complete new standard within the turn of 10 years. In fact, the QCW-05 sub-machinegun utilizes a similar design in its polymer stock, which renders the gun very light in weight. Nonetheless, the technical layout of the weapon is fairly simple (and cheap to produce in big numbers) for an item of such futuristic design.
The QCW-05 sub-machinegun fires from the open bolt at a relatively low rate of fire (400 Rounds per Minute) which was a requirement of the PLA trial rules to achieve controllability in a firearm that had mandatorily to be of light weight; it is configured in Bull-pup layout, with compact aluminium receiver and separate polymer shoulder stock / housing and pistol grip / trigger units; despite the Bull-pup design (or maybe reprising the main drawback of most Bull-pup designs), the ejection port is located only on the right side and reversion of the ejection mechanism seems impossible, so that firing from the left shoulder is not feasible as it might be dangerous for the shooter.
The QCW-05 is a blowback operated weapon that fires in either fully-automatic or semi-automatic modalities. The firearm uses a grip safety at the upper rear of the pistol grip, which must be actuated by the operator's hand as a natural consequence of holding the weapon in a firing position, obviously mutuated from the design of the grip safety of the Colt M1911 pistol. The QCW-05 employs a very intuitive Safety/Fire selector switch located on the left side straight up from the grip, at thumb reach, which allows either single shot (position "1") or fully automatic (position "2"), in addition to a Safe position (position "0"). The cocking handle is located at the top of the receiver, protected by the un-removable the carrying handle; which by itself hosts the iron sights: front sight is fixed, the rear sight is of the flip-up peep type with two distances set (100 and 150 metres respectively). The carrying handle serves also as a mount for the attachment of optional optical sights and, when needed, of tactical rails (generally Chinese press and company literature show the QCW-05 equipped with a proprietary night sight).
The different sets of the flip-up peep back sight is due to the fact that the QCW-05 is made to use two different types of the .5'8x21mm ammunition.
The first one is the supersonic variant (known in Chinese service as the .5'8 DAP-92), primarily made for the .5'8mm variant of the new PLA service sidearm, the QSZ-92 semi-automatic pistol; the DAP-92 variant is a high-velocity ammunition (321 Metres per Second) due to use with short-barrelled and non-silenced firearms and generally for longer range shots;
The second one is the subsonic variant (known in Chinese service as the .5'8 DCV-05) which is slower (150 Metres per Second) and is purposed for the use on close distances and with silenced firearms.
This double-standard is applied due to the intention of making the QCW-O5 a general-issue PDW/SMG, even within those personnel who won't generally use the weapon silenced; the QCW-05 in fact comes equipped with a metallic, cylindrically-shaped screw-on sound suppressor.
As high ammunition capacity was one of the requirements of the original PLA trial, all competitors had magazines with a capacity of at least 50 rounds of ammunition (except for the army's own MP5-style project, hence why it was discarded). The QCW-05 employs for this purpose a curved proprietary magazine using a four-column and double-stack system that's mutuated from the magazine design of the Italian SITES M4 "Spectre" sub-machinegun of the early 1990s. This is possible while containing dimensions, weight and bulk of the magazine itself and of the gun overall due to the extremely small dimensions of the .5'8x21mm cartridges.

- TYPE JS .9x19mm SUB-MACHINEGUN -
An export variant of the QCW-05, called the "JianShe Type JS 9 m/m sub-machine gun" or simply JS, was introduced in the year 2006 at the MILIPOL expo in France. The JS sub-machinegun is totally conceived for foreign/international sales. The technical features and working mechanism remain totally the same of the QCW-05 model (blowback-operated, select-fire, open bolt). The frame features the typical foregrip borrowed from the design of the QBZ-95/QBZ-97 assault weapon system. The Safety/fire selector switch has been moved from the left side of the gun to the right side, as well as the cocking handle, moved from the top of the gun to the right side. The JS sub-machinegun has no carrying handle, featuring only an open sights block with fixed front peep sight and flip-up back sights; the sights block is mounted at the top of the receiver on a Picatinny rail, and it can be removed at will and replaced with any aiming equipment (optics/scopes).
The JS sub-machinegun is chambered solely for the .9x19mm cartridge (a.k.a. the 9 m/m "Luger", "Parabellum", "NATO"). A 30-rounds proprietary curved magazine is provided, yet the JS sub-machinegun is fully compatible with the magazines of the German Heckler&Koch MP5 SMG series; this to make the JS more commercially viable to the Police services and Armed Forces of those Countries, especially in South America and Asia, whom employ MP5 sub-machineguns for special duties while at the same time experiencing budgetary constraints. The JS sub-machinegun can use any kind of commercial and military 9 m/m ammunition; by the way, during its developmental phase in China, it has been specifically conceived for the new Chinese 9x19mm service cartridge, called the "9mm DAP-92". This is an armor-piercing .9x19mm variant loosely patterned on the Russian .9x19mm PBP armor-piercer round developed for, and employed in, the GSh-18 pistol. The Chinese 9mm DAP-92 (as well as the Russian 9mm PBP) is a light and fast ball bullet featuring a hardened steel core whose tip protrudes from the brass jacket and acts as a penetrator. This is combined to the fact that the load in this ammunition is very hot (roughly equivalent to +P+ or even +P++ in Western standards) providing the bullet with extremely high pressures and velocity (4.2 gram @ 600 meters per second, or 65 grains @ 1970 fps). This ammunition gives the best against mildly armored targets and at close ranges (such as 8mm steel plate or hostile personnel with bodyarmour up to protection Class 3 within a range of 20 metres), and while its pressure doesn't makes it easy to silence (the sound signature of the JS sub-machinegun equipped with sound suppressor is decisely higher than the one of the .5'8mm QCW-05), a weapon designed specifically to handle such hot loads in continued use gives safety of solid construction. Nonetheless, recoil is sensibly higher than the one of the QCW-05; a JS sub-machinegun will feature lesser recoil and noise signature when used with standard Western commercial or military 9mm ammunition.

- COMMERCIAL VIABILITY -
As for all other JIANSHE GROUP INDUSTRIES firearms launched on the market since the year 2005 (JIG is offering for export, other than the Type JS sub-machinegun, a magazine-fed .7'62x54R/.7'62x51mm bolt-action marksman rifle and a 3-rounds bolt-action .12'7x99mm/.12'7x108mm anti-matériel rifle equipped with hydraulic recoil reduction system), the JS sub-machinegun is exported worldwide through NORINCO EQUIPMENT, Ltd.; it should be made clear that the two companies are not the same entity nor under the same property, as them only share a marketing agreement.

- TECHNICAL SPECS -

QCW-05 5'8mm PDW

CALIBER: .5'8x21mm DAP-92 (supersonic) or DCV-05 (subsonic)
CAPACITY: 50 rounds in proprietary four-column, double-stack magazine
WORKING SYSTEM: Blowback-operated, select-fire, open bolt
TOTAL LENGHT: 500 Millimetres (without sound suppressor)
BARREL LENGHT: 250 Millimetres
WEIGHT: 2,2 Kilograms, approx. (empty)
RATE OF FIRE: 400 Rounds per Minute approx.
EFFECTIVE RANGE: Up to 150-200 Metres, depending on ammo (whether DAP-92 or DCV-05) and depending on the use of silencer

TYPE JS 9x19mm SMG

CALIBER: .9x19mm (9 m/m "Luger" - "NATO" - "Parabellum")
CAPACITY: 30 rounds in proprietary curved magazine or HK-MP5 magazine
WORKING SYSTEM: Blowback-operated, select-fire, open bolt
TOTAL LENGTH: 450 Millimetres (without sound suppressor)
BARREL LENGHT: 250 Millimetres, rifled in 6 grooves, RH
WEIGHT: 2,1 Kilograms, approx. (empty)
RATE OF FIRE: 400 Rounds per Minute approx.
EFFECTIVE RANGE: Up to 100-150 Metres, depending on ammo (whether Chinese 9mm DAP-92 or Western commercial/military) and depending on the use of silencer

- MANUFACTURER CONTACT INFO -
Jianshe Group Industries Corporation
47#, Xiejiawan-Chongqing
Chongqing 400050 - People's Republic of China
TEL: 86-023-68843435
FAX: 86-023-68813457
URL (Chi): http://www.jianshe.com.cn/
URL (Int): http://www.jianshetrade.com
E-MAIL: market@jianshe.com.cn

- INTERNATIONAL EXPORTER/MARKETER CONTACT INFO -
NORINCO Equipment Co., Ltd.
12A Guang-An-Men Nan-Jie Beijing
P.O. Box 2932 - Beijing
100053 - People's Republic of China
TEL: (8610) 63542729 - 83919259
FAX: (8610) 83546306
URL: http://www.norincoequipment.cn
E-MAIL: equipment@norinco.com.cn

.5'8x21mm QCW-05 sub-machinegun, right side view: equipped with sound suppressor

.5'8x21mm QCW-05 sub-machinegun, right side view: sound suppressor removed

Particulars from the proprietary 4-columns magazine for the .5'8x21mm QCW-05 sub-machinegun

Outline drawing of the proprietary 4-columns magazine for the .5'8x21mm QCW-05 sub-machinegun

Metal follower of the magazine for the .5'8x21mm QCW-05 sub-machinegun

Jianshe .9x19mm Type JS sub-machinegun, left side view, equipped with sound suppressor

Jianshe .9x19mm Type JS sub-machinegun, right side view, equipped with sound suppressor

Photographs and information from: Pierangelo Tendas

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