Hudson's PPSh41

Post by Claymore


HUDSON PPSH

Out of the box the first thing you note is the weight of this gun, its heavy, the drum mag alone weighs 2lbs and that’s unloaded, the gun itself weighs in at around 7lbs so its a heavy gun.
The PPSH is an all metal gun, Obviously at this weight and the stock is full wood and solid, all the metal is a matt black and has a bit of a textured feel to it. The barrel is unfortunately blocked and also has no gas bypass which is a real shame as the gas bypass systems work really well.
Never having held a real PPSH in the flesh I have no idea how accurate this model is, but from pics I have seen its pretty spot on. The PPSH takes a 7.62mm round and the drum will hold 42 rounds the rounds are cp type and have the usual Hudson inners which have a small detonator pin and a hole through the middle, I bin these inners and change them for MGC as I just don’t get on with them for 2 reasons.
1st the small detonator pin on the inner allows the cap to stick to the piston and prevent blowback
2nd the hole through the middle can allow too much gas out which prevents efficient blowback
I know some people get on with these inners no problem and surprisingly my Sten works great with them but nothing else.


The ejection port is right on the top of the receiver so the rounds are ejected straight up which means it is more than likely a few of them will fall on your head and shoulders. The PPSH is semi and full auto and the selector switch is in front of the trigger, to use it you pull the lever down and push it forward for full auto or pull it rearward for semi, I always wondered looking at pics of the gun what the lever in front of the trigger was, it looked like a double trigger system but its not it’s the change lever.
The PPSH does have a safety and its positioned on the cocking handle of the bolt, it’s a simple push and pull system push the switch towards the gun for safe and pull back for fire.
The drum mag is simple to load same as the MGC Thompson if you have one, you take the back plate off the drum and simply place the rounds inside the drum head up, then wind the spring located in the middle of the drum replace the back plate and you are ready to go. The drum is sectioned off into 4 sections each holding 10 rounds but you can usually get another 2 in the first section as the spring pushes the rounds up to the feed ramp, so a total of 42, you can put less in but each section needs 10 rounds otherwise they will fall over and obviously jam but you can leave section’s empty if you want.
To place the drum on the gun is extremely simple, you simply push the drum up into its slot and it locks into place no force needed like some models. The mag release switch is a lever positioned on the bottom of the mag housing, to release the mag pull the lever down and the mag will drop out, careful though as the mag is heavy and if you are not ready the mag will drop heavily on to the floor. This lever can be in the down or up position when putting the drum on just make sure to push the lever up to secure the drum in place.


So how does it fire, it had worried me that no site I had visited had any info or vid on this model (the AK being another) and that makes you think maybe that’s because it does not work very well especially as it is a Hudson which have a reputation of being excellent models in the accuracy and looks stakes but not the best for firing. I had been informed though that this model was working great, so out of the box it came a quick squirt of oil a full drum and I was ready to go, I was really looking forward to firing this gun and had been warned to watch the rounds as they would come rocketing out and hit the ceiling. So precautions taken and I pulled the trigger, jam, OK happens clear the jam go again, fired the round the round topples out of the ejection port and the gun jams. This goes on and on sometimes I string of maybe 3 or 4 rounds but jam after jam and the rounds when they fired just about had the energy to fall out of the ejection port.
Anyway all the usual checks of rounds bolt detonator pin etc all seemed fine, 3 drums later and now it does not want to feed, annoyed, you bet. So strip the gun and check the gun, first the bolt and straight away there is the problem, the PPSH bolt has 2 small prongs that strip and feed the rounds the right hand prong had broken off so I needed a new one.
A few weeks later and a new bolt arrived and I tried again, jam, jam, fire a few, jam and stop feeding another bolt broke for the exact same reason, not good and I am not happy the Hudson is an expensive model to buy and you do expect the damn thing to work. So what do I do now another bolt, more than likely it will break again so I need a better bolt but how?
Well fortunately I live near another member of this forum Kickback who has already helped me out with a few other models, so around to his with the PPSH and he takes a look at the bolt, “no problem mate sure I can work something out, might take a while though”. Well time is not a problem as long as it can be fixed, so I expect to get a call in weeks maybe months, eh! No 2 days later kickback calls, “all done and the guns working great”, I am to say the least amazed I expected a lot of trial and error and that I thought would take time so 2 days that’s quick.
So what did kickback do and does it work, well he replaced the 2 feed prongs with a steel insert and he made a custom extractor (which considering he did not have the original to work from as that was elsewhere is amazing) and that was it. The steel insert was an obvious improvement but the extractor I had not realised was also causing a problem. The original drops too low and so when it hits the round it does not just slip over the rim but smashes into it and really dents and buckles the rim, this must cause a problem when it comes the efficient blowback and extraction. So Kickbacks is shorter and slips over the rim fine no dents caused and obvious improvement in blowback and extraction.



So after these improvements how does it work, stormin that’s how both burst fire and full auto and the rounds come flying out with force and now do hit the ceiling, I have to give Kickback a huge thank you on this as the improvements he has done have turned this gun into the model it should have been out of the box. The rate of fire is pretty high and as said the rounds do come out with force and go straight up, the extractor now no longer damages the rounds however the ejector does.
Now the gun as I said works really well now but the rounds at the moment let it down this is because they were all very damaged from the previous extractor and from the ejector and yet even with the rims damaged as much as they are the gun still fires well, testimony to kickbacks efforts. Now the old extractor bent the rim but the ejector takes chunks out of the rims and slowly destroys rounds so this is an area that needs to be looked at to make the model perfect.
The PPSH makes a good noise the high rate of fire helps with this but it is not as loud as some other metal models and by that I mean the noise of the action not the cap, some models have a great sound come from the action of the bolt, the Sten for instance, now the PPSH sounds good but a little more noise would be better.
One thing you cannot do if you want to fire the gun is hold the drum mag to support the weapon when firing as this pushes the drum up and causes the rounds to misfeed and jam.


Dismantling the PPSH is simple, this has to be one of the easier models to clean and access to the bolt is amazingly easy. You simple push the top rear of the receiver (which is sprung) and the top of the receiver comes free from the lower, the top receiver and barrel are hinged to the lower so move in unison, once moved you have access to the bolt, super simple, pull the bolt backwards raise it up and out it comes and the inside of the gun and the bolt can be cleaned, really easy. The chamber is a bit longer to access but easy enough, take the heat shield off the barrel held in by three bolts, remove the 2 hinge pins held in place by C clips then undo the 2 screws holding the chamber in and that’s it so this model is one of the easiest to maintain.
So is the ppsh worth buying, I would say yes I did not think so straight away but with the repairs done its now worth every penny. There are older models of this gun, mine is a new model and there may be differences but I don’t know what they would be, as with all Hudson’s it’s a great looking gun and heavy one and now fires great as well. Its not cheap to buy and keep in mind the bolt problems and the extractor and the changes you need to make if you spend your money on one, this may not be necessary for everyone but would be a good upgrade anyway. You can see from the vid how well this model fires now and consider that the rounds I have are knackered around the rims, I had 35 rounds that still had rims but at least 10 of those have chunks missing so to still fire as well as it does says a lot and I am very happy with my improved ppsh, thanks Kickback.
One note on the vid the sound and quality are not as good as the original vid taken, that’s the price of free video hosting so take that into consideration when watching.
Sorry for the size of the some of the pics i dont seem to be able to get a happy balance they either come out to big or to small, i will keep playing and see if i can get it right but these will have to do for now.
https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v627/claymore/?action=view&current=ppsh.flv

Post by Mark

That's a nice and neat review claymore! But unfortunately, I am not at home at the moment so I cannot see the video. So, I will have to wait until I get home to see it It's a shame that the modelgun manufacturers can't make these modelguns stronger due to Japanese laws as that creates problems like the feed ribs on your bolt. Some of the problems are caused by designers trying to be tricky or not quite understanding some aspect of the guns original design. If I am not mistaken, the earlier Hudson PPSH did in fact have a gas bypass that the new version lacks. Why did Hudson change the design? Perhaps, they where just being cheap I don't know..

Nice work on the bolt components Kickback! Perhaps Hudson might do well to copy and change their bolt/extractor design to resemble your mods
_________________
Wanted to buy: MGC Sten MK3....trades?(still)

MGC MP40 Marushin MP40 Nakata MP40 TRC MP40

Modelgun manufacturers, past and present:CMC,CAW,Hudson,HWS,LS,MGC(R.I.P. 1960's~2007) Marushin,Marui,Kokusai,Shoei,Tanaka and Western Arms

Post by Madmike

Hello Claymore!

That is a great review, thank you. I am very impressed by the video too. But as you already said an open barrel or gas bypass would highly improve the overall impression.
Kickback and you have done a great job on making this one a reliable modelgun. Congratulations!

Greetings from Germany

Madmike

Well done Claymore, another excellent review!
I have to say though that I fail to understand really why manufacturers like Hudson (in particular it seems) can't produce component parts strong or fit enough for the job intended.
There are so many complaints of failing bolts and extractors for example that it makes you wonder how people can charge hundreds of Pounds for a model gun that'll break after a handful of shots.

OK, if Japanese legislation or whatever makes it difficult for manufacturers to produce 'gun' parts that could arguably be converted into real firearms, then they're doing their best but surely the dealers that happily sell us these models should either drastically reduce prices or better still, make them work properly before sale?

If Kickback can sort your PPSH out in his garage as a hobby engineer then surely a dealer selling hundeds of these things for a living should be able to?

I would love a PPSH to add to my collection, as much a I'd like an AK47 but I certainly can't afford between £350 and nearly £500 for a model that'd break itself before finishing off a magazine.

I've a Marushin MP40 (abs) and a Hudson Grease Gun (again abs) both work superbly well and they're both at the less expensive end of the SMG range. No breakages, they only jam when I haven't cleaned them properly.

Ironic isn't it that the more expensive models which you would expect to be of better quality break so frequently!
And yet, Kickback can sort the PPSH out, why hadn't the selling dealer done it already?

Anything mechanical will break at some point, real guns need attention and constant maintainance by an armourer to keep them working properly afer all but we wouldn't put up with a car that kept breaking down would we?

Cerwyn
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Hobby collector of mainly WW2 era uniforms, headgear, field equipment and replica weapons.

Post by Mark

Cerwyn,

The main problem with the modelgun prices is the fact that we are buying them outside of Japan. The prices in Japan are far better (with the exception of the Rokken/Hobby Fix series of modelguns) than we get them due of course, to the middle-man. When we get them from shops outside of Japan their prices are higher as they have to make a living off of them to justify selling them to us. Really, most of the dealers don't make much of a proffit off of these modelguns..

As far as the manufacturers are concerned, they do try hard to make these modelguns within the sprit of Japanese laws. There is also something that the manufacturers do it is called "self regulation" they make the parts far weaker than the law(s) allows. Why? mostly they do it to avoid further attempts by the Japanese government to regulate the model/airsoftgun industry.

The manufacturers do take some time to see if their product does work but, they must not try very hard to shoot many rounds through them before finalizing their design. Some firearms designs translate into fine modelguns while other designs are much too weak as they are far more fragile when they are replicated in ABS,Zinc,HW etc. Hudson could have made the bolt for the PPSH far stronger with steel rails attached to the bottom like kickback did. However, it seems that Hudson didn't choose to do so for some reason.

Hudson has been doing far better lately on their modelguns as they have redesigned many of their older modelguns so the work much better (like their Tokerev pistol etc.) The Hudson AK series seem to be built really well with some very heavy components that break fairly rarely. In fact, the parts are too heavy on their older AK's so the functioning isn't good at all. That and the older cartridge design is horrible at best. The latest AK SE version is the best version that Hudson made and I am sure, that it would be worth it to buy one if you got the chance. I wasn't originally interested in buying the new SE AK due to the fact that Hudson had only offered it in the fixed stock version initially.
_________________
Wanted to buy: MGC Sten MK3....trades?(still)

MGC MP40 Marushin MP40 Nakata MP40 TRC MP40

Modelgun manufacturers, past and present:CMC,CAW,Hudson,HWS,LS,MGC(R.I.P. 1960's~2007) Marushin,Marui,Kokusai,Shoei,Tanaka and Western Arms

Post by Claymore

Thanks for comments Cerwyn. It amazes me that so many models are released with such bad problems, these models must be tested before release and i cannot believe they work well and dont break and not all these models are cheap even in Japan.

I understand Japanese legistlation will cause some problems but surely they must be able to make the small parts that seem to break out of stonger material as long as the rest of the gun is too weak to convert.

There seems to be a big market of after market products for these models which are made of steel and must be legal so why not make them from steel in the first place.

If the parts cannot be made from stronger stuff then why not change the design so the weaker parts are supported or strengthend or got rid of complety. The Guys in Japan must of come across these problems and sorted them and i am suprised they have not made complaints to the companies about the design, i know i would especially when it turns out to be a fairly straight forward fix.