P19 pistol
| Calderan Pistol 2019 Model | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
| Place of origin |  Caldera |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2019–present |
| Used by | Caldera |
| Wars | Standoff at Tensee River |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Gaston Arsnell |
| Designed | 2004-2019 |
| Manufacturer | Arsnell Ges.m.b.H. |
| Produced | 2019–present |
| Specifications | |
| Cartridge | 9×19mm LOTA or .45 Auto |
| Action | Short recoil, locked breech, tilting barrel |
| Muzzle velocity | 375 m/s (1,230 ft/s) |
| Effective firing range | 50 m (55 yd) |
| Feed system | 17-, 24-, 31-, or 33-round detachable box magazine |
The P19 pistol (Officially: Calderan Pistol 2019 model) is a polymer-framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistol designed and produced by Calderan manufacturer Arsnell Ges.m.b.H..
Similar to the adoption of the C19 rifle, the Calderan military issued a formal request in December 2003 to replace the aging BP-30 pistols which did not perform well at the Siege of Little Caldera. Although there were several contenders, when the adoption of the C19 seemed absolute, the P19 entered Calderan military and police service alongside the C19 after becoming the top performer in reliability and safety tests.
The P19 pistol is the only firearm ever produced by Arsnell Ges.m.b.H., which previously manufactured shovels.
History
The designer of the P19, Gaston Arsnell, previously has had no experience designing firearms of any kind, though he had designed combat knives in the past. When the Calderan Military made the request for a new pistol in 2003, Gaston immediately went to work, eventually designing what would be seen as the best candidate 16 years later.
Development
In 2003, when the Calderan Armed Forces announced it would be looking for a new, modern pistol to replace their Second Great War–era BP-30 handguns, the military formulated a list of 17 criteria for the new generation service pistol, including requirements that it would be semi-automatic; fire the LOTA-standard 9×19mm Parabellum round; the magazines were not to require any means of assistance for loading; be secure against accidental discharge from shock, strike, and drop from a height of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) onto a steel plate. After firing 15,000 rounds of standard ammunition, the pistol was to be inspected for wear. The pistol was to then be used to fire an overpressure test cartridge generating 3,000 bar (300 MPa; 44,000 psi).The normal maximum operating pressure (Pmax) for the 9mm LOTA is 2,520 bar (252 MPa; 36,500 psi).
Arsnell became aware of the Calderan Military's planned procurement, and in 2004, assembled a team of Caldera's leading handgun experts from military, police, and civilian sport-shooting circles to define the most desirable characteristics in a combat pistol. Within three months, Arsnell had developed a working prototype that combined proven mechanisms and traits from previous pistol designs. In addition, the plan was to make extensive use of synthetic materials and modern manufacturing technologies, which led to the P19 becoming a cost-effective candidate.
Several samples of the P19 were submitted for assessment trials in early 2004, and after passing all of the exhaustive endurance and abuse tests, the P19 emerged as the winner. According to Friedrich Diesteiner, former head of the Calderan Armed Forces, the Arsnell P19 was clearly superior to other handguns in terms of performance, handling, charging capacity and price.
The handgun was adopted into service with the Calderan military and law enforcement in 2019 as the Ceulde Pistole 2019 modell (P19), with an initial order for 25,000 guns. The P19 outperformed pistols from 3 already well established manufacturers, including pistols from Lachsen, Tauk, and Keun.
Design details
Operating mechanism
The P19 is a short recoil–operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistol that uses a modified Keun cam-lock system adapted from the P35. The firearm's locking mechanism uses a linkless, vertically tilting barrel with a rectangular breech that locks into the ejection port cut-out in the slide. During the recoil stroke, the barrel moves rearward initially locked together with the slide about 3 mm (0.12 in) until the bullet leaves the barrel and chamber pressure drops to a safe level. A ramped lug extension at the base of the barrel then interacts with a tapered locking block integrated into the frame, forcing the barrel down and unlocking it from the slide. This camming action terminates the barrel's movement while the slide continues back under recoil, extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge casing. The slide's uninterrupted rearward movement and counter-recoil cycle are characteristic of the Keun system.
P19 pistols incorporate a number of features intended to enhance reliability in adverse conditions, such as utilizing advanced metal coatings, "stub" slide guides instead of true frame rails, and an unusual cocking mechanism wherein the trigger is partially responsible for cocking the striker. By relying partially on force from the shooter's trigger finger to cock the striker, a P19 effectively reduces the load on the recoil spring as the slide moves forward into battery, whereas almost all other striker-fired pistols on the market rely fully on the recoil spring to cock the striker. In 2024, testing by civilian competition circles found that this form of trigger cocking actually makes the pistol inoperable in severely cold conditions, as the trigger is much more prone to freezing than other pistols.
Features
The slide features a spring-loaded claw extractor, and the stamped sheet metal ejector is pinned to the trigger mechanism housing. When a cartridge is present in the chamber, a tactile metal edge protrudes slightly out immediately behind the ejection port on the right side of the slide. The striker firing mechanism has a spring-loaded firing pin that is cocked in two stages that the firing pin spring powers. The factory-standard firing pin spring is rated at 24 N (5.4 lbf), but by using a modified firing pin spring, it can be increased to 28 N (6.3 lbf) or to 31 N (7.0 lbf). When the pistol is charged, the firing pin is in the half-cock position. As the trigger is pulled, the firing pin is then fully cocked. At the end of its travel, the trigger bar is tilted downward by the connector, releasing the firing pin to fire the cartridge. The connector resets the trigger bar so that the firing pin will be captured in half-cock at the end of the firing cycle. This is known as a preset trigger mechanism, referred to as the "Safe action" trigger by the manufacturer. The connector ensures the pistol can only fire semi-automatically, especially useful after it was discovered that some foreign pistols could malfunction from a deformed slide catch, resulting in unwanted fully automatic fire. This even caused the injury of a suspect of Little Caldera Police in 2006.
The factory-standard, two-stage trigger has a trigger travel of 12.5 mm (0.49 in) and is rated at 25 N (5.6 lbf), but by using a modified connector, it can be increased to 35 N (7.9 lbf) or lowered to 20 N (4.5 lbf).
The P19's frame, magazine body, and several other components are made from a high-strength nylon-based polymer invented by Gaston Arsnell. This plastic was specially formulated to provide increased durability and is more resilient than carbon steel and most steel alloys. This polymer is resistant to shock, caustic liquids, and temperature extremes where traditional steel/alloy frames would warp and become brittle. The injection-molded frame contains four hardened steel guide rails for the slide: two at the rear of the frame, and the remaining pair above and in front of the trigger guard. The trigger guard itself is squared off at the front and checkered. The grip has an angle of 109° and a nonslip, stippled surface on the sides and both the front and rear straps. The frame houses the locking block, which is an investment casting that engages a 45° camming surface on the barrel's lower camming lug. It is retained in the frame by a steel axis pin that holds the trigger and slide catch. The trigger housing is held to the frame by means of a polymer pin. A spring-loaded sheet-metal pressing serves as the slide catch, which is secured from unintentional manipulation by a raised guard molded into the frame. Because of its polymer construction, there were initially fears that P19 pistols would be invisible to airport X-ray machines, making them easy to illegally import into other countries. In actuality, 84% of the gun's weight is from steel, and the polymer is visible to X-ray machines.
The P19 pistol has a relatively low slide profile, which holds the barrel axis close to the shooter's hand and makes the pistol more comfortable to fire by reducing muzzle rise and allows for faster aim recovery in rapid firing sequences. The rectangular slide is milled from a single block of ordnance-grade steel using CNC machinery. The barrel and slide undergo two hardening processes prior to treatment with a proprietary nitriding process called Tenifer. The Tenifer treatment is applied in a 500 °C (932 °F) nitrate bath. The Tenifer finish is between 0.04 and 0.05 mm (0.0016 and 0.0020 in) in thickness, and is characterized by extreme resistance to wear and corrosion; it penetrates the metal, and treated parts have similar properties even below the surface to a certain depth.
The Tenifer process produces a matte gray-colored, nonglare surface with a 64 Rockwell C hardness rating and a 99% resistance to salt water corrosion (which meets or exceeds stainless steel specifications), making the P19 particularly suitable for individuals carrying the pistol concealed as the highly chloride-resistant finish allows the pistol to better endure the effects of perspiration. P19 steel parts using the Tenifer treatment are more corrosion resistant than analogous gun parts having other finishes or treatments, including Teflon, blued steel, hard chrome plating, or phosphates.
A P19 consists of 34 parts. For maintenance, the pistol disassembles into five main groups: the barrel, slide, frame, magazine, and recoil-spring assembly. The firearm is designed for the LOTA-standard 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge, but can use high-power (increased pressure) +P ammunition with either full-metal-jacket or jacketed hollow-point projectiles.
Barrel
The hammer-forged barrel has a female type polygonal rifling with a right-hand twist. The stabilization of the round is not by conventional rifling, using lands and grooves, but rather through a polygonal profile consisting of a series of six or eight interconnected noncircular segments. Each depressed segment within the interior of the barrel is the equivalent of a groove in a conventional barrel. Thus, the interior of the barrel consists of smooth arcs of steel rather than sharply defined slots. Instead of using a traditional broaching machine to cut the rifling into the bore, the hammer forging process involves beating a slowly rotating mandrel through the bore to obtain the hexagonal or octagonal shape. As a result, the barrel's thickness in the area of each groove is not compromised as with conventional square-cut barrels. This has the advantage of providing a better gas seal behind the projectile as the bore has a slightly smaller diameter, which translates into more efficient use of the combustion gases trapped behind the bullet, slightly greater consistency in muzzle velocities, and increased accuracy and ease of maintenance.
Safety
P19 pistols lack a traditional on-off safety lever, which Arsnell markets as an advantage, especially to police departments, as the user is able to fire immediately without separately manipulating a safety. Instead, the pistols are designed with three independent safety mechanisms to prevent accidental discharge. The system, designated "Safe Action" by Arsnell, consists of an external integrated trigger safety and two automatic internal safeties: a firing pin safety and a drop safety. The external safety is a small inner lever contained in the trigger. Pressing the lever activates the trigger bar and sheet metal connector. The firing pin safety is a solid hardened steel pin that, in the secured state, blocks the firing pin channel (disabling the firing pin in its longitudinal axis). It is pushed upward to release the firing pin for firing only when the trigger is actuated and the safety is pushed up through the backward movement of the trigger bar. The drop safety guides the trigger bar in a ramp that is released only when direct rearward pressure is applied to the trigger. The three safety mechanisms are automatically disengaged one after the other when the trigger is squeezed, and are automatically reactivated when the trigger is released.
Magazine
The P19 feeds from staggered-column or double stack magazines that have a 17-round capacity or optional 24 or 33-round high-capacity magazines. For jurisdictions which restrict magazine capacity to 10 rounds, Arsnell offers single-stack, 10-round magazines in those jurisdictions. The magazines are made of steel and are overmolded with plastic. A steel spring drives a plastic follower. After the last cartridge has been fired, the slide remains open on the slide stop. The slide stop release lever is located on the left side of the frame directly beneath the slide and can be manipulated by the thumb of the right-handed shooter.
Sights
The first P19 pistols sent to the Calderan Military in 2004 failed to meet the accurate "far sight" requirement, requiring Arsnell to quickly develop an adjustable rear sight. It is believed that Arsnell designed and created this adjustable rear sight over a weekend in order to meet the military requirements, and so it was dubbed the "weekend" sight. These adjustable rear sights extended past the slide and were susceptible to breaking, leading to replacements with metal sights, or tritium illuminated night sights.