Zigana – The AK47 of Pistols

           

The Zigana pistol is a semi-automatic pistol manufactured by TİSAŞ, or Trabzon Silah Sanayi A.Ş. or Trabzon Arms Industry Corp. a Turkish firearm company. Unlike other pistols of Turkish origin that are usually copies of existing European pistols, Zigana pistol is a completely original design as claimed by the company. Zigana is sometimes called the AK 47 of Pistols due to the ease of use, fast, lightweight and swift action. All this make it an equivalent of AK 47 assault rifle, which is known for these exact qualities. The original version of the Zigana is the Zigana M16, which has a 5-inch barrel. Production of the Zigana pistol began in 2001.

The Zigana pistol is used by Turkish military units and security companies as well as few other countries. In addition, Zigana PX-9 model is produced in Malaysia in partnership with Turkey. Zigana is imported by American Tactical Imports in the USA and marketed under the FS9 and FS40 brand names. In addition, the Zigana K and Zigana F pistols are licensed, manufactured and sold under the name of Zəfər, Zəfər-K and Inam in Azerbaijan. The pistol got its name from Zigana, the name of a girl of Hungarian origin, which means gypsy girl.

The pistol is also used in Philippines, Malaysia. In Pakistan, unlicensed Zigana models are produced and sold by local workshops. The Zigana pistol is illegal and banned in India. It is brought here through illegal smuggling, and has been used in executing several high-profile crimes in India, including the murders of Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, Baba Siddique, and Sidhu Moosewala. 

Features of Zigana Pistol

• The Zigana has a locked-slide short recoil operating mechanism

• It has a modified Browning-type locking system, meaning the Zigana pistol barrel is attached to the slide through a single big lug that engages ejection port

• These pistols also have an automatic firing pin block

• It is an 8.6-inch semi-automatic pistol

• A 9 mm pistol fires 15 rounds (Zigana PX-9 fires 18) or 17 rounds

• Zigana M16 is the most well-known for its short underbarrel dustcover

• Bullet fired from Zigana covers a distance of 350 meters per second

• Zigana pistol is actually worth 4 lakhs but smuggled illegally into India its price goes almost double to 6-7 lakhs

• Zigana pistols are manufactured according to NATO standards

• The trigger unit has an exposed hammer and is equipped with slide-mounted safety

• Zigana pistols are also equipped with an automatic firing pin block, a mechanical block used in semi-automatic firearms. 

• The Zigana pistol trigger is a double-action mechanism with an exposed hammer and a slide-mounted safety

• The Zigana pistols also have an automatic firing pin block

• Zigana pistol doesn’t overheat at all

Zigana Variants

The Zigana pistol can’t be purchased directly and is made almost exclusively for limited use and sold only to security companies and the police and army units including Malaysian, Philippines Police, and the US Coast Guard in limited numbers. However, organized criminal gangs involved in gun smuggling have succeeded in smuggling these pistols in to other countries.

The original Zigana M16 pistol had a small underbarrel dustcover on the frame and a 126 mm (5") barrel. The Zigana T pistol has a heavier and slightly longer slide, an improved frame with a longer dustcover, and a barrel that has been increased to 130 mm. The Zigana K pistol is a smaller variant of the Zigana T, with a shortened slide and a 103 mm barrel. All three models use double stack magazines with a capacity of 15 rounds (regular) or 17 rounds (extended). The Zigana P06 was released to the market in 2009. In 2014, the Zigana PX-9 was launched, this model stands out for its cost, recoil and accuracy performance among its counterparts. 

The Zigana PX-9 model with a 9 mm calibre has a pin safety block, an ambidextrous thumb safety, a chamber indicator, a changeable magazine release latch and picatinny rails conforming to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) standards for accessory use. Picatinny rails are mounting platforms widely used in the firearm industry to attach accessories to firearms. 

The pistol is illegally imported into India through Pakistan. Local workshops in Pakistan create and sell Zigana models illegally. These Pakistan-made pistols are made exactly the same as the original, but sold at a much lower price. It may be known that Pakistan has a thriving gun market and gun production sites. Darra Adam Khel in Pakistan’s ‘Gun Valley,’ as it has been called, is a small and impoverished town with an estimated population of 80,000 people. It is home to around 2,000 weapon businesses, and there are claims that more than half of the population is occupied in the illegal manufacturing of weapons. 

 

It is said, the products made in Darra Adam Khel are of the highest quality and are practically impossible to differentiate from the originals. Everything is offered here at below-market costs ranging from mere Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000, including automatics and semiautomatics, 9mm pistol and Beretta pistol, and even anti-aircraft guns. In 2021, Punjab Police had seized 48 foreign-made pistols and arrested an arms smuggler allegedly having links with Pakistan-based terrorist outfits and pro-Khalistan elements based in the US, the UK and Canada; including 19 Turkey-made Zigana 9mm pistols.

Why is Zigana Preferred by Top Gangsters in India

According to 'Truth About Guns', “Zigana PX-9 is a very capable defensive firearm and a good, affordable choice for home defense. It handles quickly, is reliable and features a tritium front sight and accessory rail." Zigana is known to be highly accurate, weighs less than other pistols and its polymer grip makes it easier to hold and comfortable to shoot. Firearm experts say that

country-made pistols overheat and jam after firing about 5 or 6 rounds, but Zigana fires smoothly the entire magazine without any glitch. Nowadays Zigana is a preferred weapon for organized gangs in regions like Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab in India. Several variants of Zigana are available for purchase in India for Rs 6 to 7 lakh each. 

According to a senior police officer of Uttar Pradesh, Anshu Dixit, an undertrial criminal in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh jail used a Zigana pistol to fire several rounds of bullets in the 2021 shootout inside jail to kill 2 dreaded criminals of opposite gang namely, Muqeem Kala and Merajuddin. Though Anshu Dixit was himself killed in the subsequent shootout in prison, but his autopsy report didn’t show any finger burns despite firing so many rounds, suggesting that the Zigana pistol used didn’t overheat at all. This has made Zigana pistol a favored choice among criminal gangs in India, due to its ability to fire 15 rounds at once, its stability in the hand, and its reduced risk of malfunction. All this really makes the Zigana pistol the AK 47 of pistols.