The PSM was designed by the Tula Design Bureau

KBP Instrument Design Bureau

KBP Instrument Design Bureau is a Russian developer and manufacturer of high-precision weapons. It was established in 1927 in Tula, USSR. Arkady Shipunov has been the Designer General since 1962...

 in 1969 as a self-defense firearm for law enforcement and military officers of the USSR. The pistol entered production at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant in 1973.

The PSM is a blowback-operated handgun with a double action trigger and slide mounted manual safety without a slide stop. The grip panels are made from thin aluminum and new model with hard plastic. The weapon is made from steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

.

The PSM was designed around the newly developed 5.45x18mm

5.45x18mm

5.45×18mm MPTs is a Russian pistol cartridge.It is chambered in the PSM pistol and OTs-23 Drotik machine pistol.It was designed in the Soviet Union in the early 1970s by Antonina D. Denisova at the Precision Mechanical Engineering Central Research Institute...

 cartridge, which was developed for the weapon by Precision Mechanical Engineering Central Research Institute. The cartridge is capable of penetrating 55 layers of kevlar

Kevlar

Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...

 at realistic engagement distances. This cartridge has a bottlenecked case and a spitzer-pointed

Spitzer (bullet)

A spitzer, also commonly referred to as a spire point bullet, is an aerodynamic bullet design used in most intermediate and high-powered rifle cartridges...

 jacketed bullet, providing performance superior to the .22 LR

.22 Long Rifle

The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as .22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have...

 and .25 ACP

.25 ACP

The .25 ACP centerfire pistol cartridge is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled pistol cartridge introduced by John Browning in 1905 alongside the Fabrique Nationale model 1905 pistol...

 (6.35x16mmSR Browning) rounds.

The pistol was primarily intended for army high command staff. However, owing to its insignificant dimensions, especially small thickness (21 mm across the safety catch), it soon became popular with security (KGB)

KGB

The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

 and law enforcement (militsiya)

Militsiya

Militsiya or militia is used as an official name of the civilian police in several former communist states, despite its original military connotation...

 personnel. The PSM was also appreciated by higher echelon Communist Party

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

functionaries.

An export model designated the IZh-75 was produced in .25 ACP.