[Reichpapers]

I recently purchased one of these Bulgarian flare pistols to add to my collection. I didn't see any forum/internet traffic concerning these so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found the price a bit much for what it is, but I went for it anyways. As you can see in the first three pictures, the flare gun was wrapped in a heavy paper, then covered in a wax paper. Lastly, they stuffed it into a sheath of plastic with a piece of paper denoting the serail number. The flare pistol functions as any other following the Russian design. There were no distinguishing marks on the pistol to point to its Bulgarian origin, though the grips do have cyrillic writiing. The metal on this thing is attrocious. The manufacturing on this flare pistol was rudimentary at best. Mind you, it is new in the wrap, it just looks used and abused due to the terrible fit and finish. All in all, I am happy to add another flare pistol to my collection. I am also happy that I finally have something that makes my PHP MV9 look well made. My only dissatisfaction is the bore. I am not sure if it is pitted or more crappy steel with voids that appeared in machining.

Grips Markings:

ЦОР = ????

МВР = Министерство на вътрешните работи = Ministry of Interior

НРб = Народная Республика Болгария = Peoples Republic of Bulgaria

 

[Essex]

I have one too, Mine came with a holster. Did they have pouches for the extra flares?
If so, What do they look like and where can I get one?

 

[Richard in NY*]

Interesting. Where are they being sold?

 

[Reichpapers]

Interesting. Where are they being sold?

Numrich

 

[Reichpapers]

I have one too, Mine came with a holster. Did they have pouches for the extra flares?
If so, What do they look like and where can I get one?

Can you take a pic of your holster? I didn't get one.

 

[Richard in NY*]

Numrich

Thanks!

 

[SILENT]

You have managed to decipher the meaning of the acronyms well. One correction though, Народная Республика Болгария is the name of The People's Republic of Bulgaria in Russian. In Bulgarian it is Народна Република България. Unfortunately I can't say anything about the particular model of the flare gun, other that it was made during the communist era, which is obvious. МВР, as you have already discovered, stands for the Ministry of Interior, which controlled then as well as now, the various law-enforcement structures. The gun was intended for use either by the police, known at the time as милиция like in the USSR, or Вътрешни войски, the internal(domestic) troops - conscripts that spent their obligatory military service with the gendarmerie/riot police or the firefighters, etc - in other words, they pretty much had the same training like the rest of the conscripts in the People's army, except that they received orders from the Ministry of Interior instead of the People's Ministry of Defence that controlled the army.

 

[Reichpapers]

You have managed to decipher the meaning of the acronyms well. One correction though, Народная Республика Болгария is the name of The People's Republic of Bulgaria in Russian. In Bulgarian it is Народна Република България. Unfortunately I can't say anything about the particular model of the flare gun, other that it was made during the communist era, which is obvious. МВР, as you have already discovered, stands for the Ministry of Interior, which controlled then as well as now, the various law-enforcement structures. The gun was intended for use either by the police, known at the time as милиция like in the USSR, or Вътрешни войски, the internal(domestic) troops - conscripts that spent their obligatory military service with the gendarmerie/riot police or the firefighters, etc - in other words, they pretty much had the same training like the rest of the conscripts in the People's army, except that they received orders from the Ministry of Interior instead of the People's Ministry of Defence that controlled the army.

Thank you for the info. I wonder why they used a mix of Bulgarian and Russian on the grips?

 

[Reichpapers]

Just an FYI. I ordered two of these that ended up having pitted bores...Upon returning them for exchange, I received two with nice shiney mint bores...it's a crap shoot.

 

[raul]

I have the same model, bought at least 40 yrs ago, with the number 11 on the breech, I understand its a polish arsenal

 

[Reichpapers]

I have the same model, bought at least 40 yrs ago, with the number 11 on the breech, I understand its a polish arsenal

THis flare pistol and the Polish pistol you speak of are both based off ther same Russian design. THere were a few countries that used this design.

 

[SILENT]

Thank you for the info. I wonder why they used a mix of Bulgarian and Russian on the grips?

There is no mix. I meant that the translation that you've come across is the Bulgarian abbreviaton's meaning in Russian.