Nidar: India launches 'lightest gun' weighing 250g

[PAMedic=F|A=]

Two years after India launched Nirbheek, a handgun pitched as the country's "first gun for women", a state-run arms factory has launched a similar gun which it says is India's lightest gun.


The new .22-calibre revolver is named Nidar, it weighs a mere 250g (8.8 ounces) - that's half of .32-calibre Nirbheek's 500g (1.1lb); and it costs 35,000 rupees ($513; £357) - Nirbheek came with a steep price tag of 122,360 rupees ($1,990; £1,213).
Manufacturers say Nidar is made with an aluminium alloy which makes it very light, but has "strength similar to steel", it has a 40-mm barrel and is just 140mm in length which makes it "small enough to fit into a palm".
Both Nirbheek and Nidar are synonyms of Nirbhaya - the nickname given by the Indian press to Jyoti Singh, the 23-year-old victim of December 2012 fatal gang rape on a bus in in Delhi. All three words mean fearless in Hindi.

They are produced by government-owned factories, and their manufacturers say carrying them will make people more confident and "fearless".
Nirbheek, the gun for women
Image caption
Nirbheek, launched in January 2014, was a handgun pitched as India's "first gun for women"


An official at the state-run Rifle Factory Ishapore, near the eastern city of Kolkata (Calcutta), said Nidar was aimed at "professional Indian men and women".
"I believe our customers would be people who travel a lot, who have security risks. They will buy this gun for their personal safety," factory in-charge PK Agarwal told the BBC.
He said he expected the gun to be more popular with women.
"I think it will be ideal for women. If a woman takes a taxi at night, the driver will think 10 times before trying anything with her because he knows she has a gun in her purse," he added.
But can carrying a gun make people safer?
Not really.
Most places in India do not allow guns - even the licensed ones - and there are metal detectors at many offices, malls, cinemas, markets and other public places to enforce this.
So even if "professional Indian men and women" were to get a gun, it will be of little use to them because they will not be able to carry it around with them.
Anti-gun campaigners also say that arming citizens is never a good idea - and that the way to tackle women's safety and reduce crimes is by better policing and changing attitudes.
The manufacturers of Nidar, however, are confident that their product will succeed - Mr Agarwal told the BBC that he expected to sell 10,000 units of the gun this year.

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I well note even tho it is not inexpensive considering the average income in India, the last revolver I saw marked their cost well over 2 grand. This is a vast improvement.

[qmcorps]

Quite the Webley influence.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

The Comments on the BBC's Facebook page are funny, including a call for the NRA to open a branch in India because of their oppressive laws making carrying difficult.



http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/...0_1851438.html

Due to its light weight and small size, 'Nidar' can be easily carried inside purse, handbags or in pockets of trousers and jackets. It can fire with an accuracy up to the distance of seven metres and has a barrel lenght of 40.3 mm.

[alpacaheat]

$2000 for a .22 revolver? No thank you.

It can fire with an accuracy up to the distance of seven metres

That's maximum distance, right?

[PAMedic=F|A=]

$2000 for a .22 revolver? No thank you.




That's maximum distance, right?

It is only $513. The .32 cal was 2 grand.

[TheTailhound]

Honestly, we could benefit from an organization like the NRA in India. I will be an uphill battle as there are about a billion sheeple that need to be educated.

It would also eventually help mitigate stares at my dinner table (full of indians) when someone asks me what i did last sunday and my response being "blow shit up at the range".

[gummy jones]

Who cares about the weight when that thing is huge to only be a .22

[ungawa]

Indians normally have a very limited selection of firearms because the only ones available retail are made by government corporations. There is some other stuff people brought back from the US or stuff that came from military officers but that is the exception, not the rule, and very expensive. They can also have problems getting ammo for non-Indian guns.

At least most of them can carry, it's not quite Jersey or Britain.

[jakebrake]

I give them credit. it's closest that I can find is the smith 43c...about 2.2 ounces heavier.

I guess people in India are tired of being defenseless. Good for them. maybe the rest of the world should wake up and realize just how old this sitting duck crap is getting.

[ROCK-IT3]

Who cares about the weight when that thing is huge to only be a .22

The gun in the photo with the specs, and in the video posted by PAMedic is not the same gun in the woman's hand.