Police on Thursday said they were replacing US-made revolvers with pistols manufactured on the mainland to meet their operational needs, with officers expected to use the new handguns as soon as July 25.

The two Chinese-made pistols, CF98-A and CS/LP5, will replace existing service revolvers from the US firm Smith & Wesson.

The first batch of officers to receive training includes those from the tactical unit, emergency unit, quick reaction force and crime wing headquarters.

"We have our established procurement procedures. To review the police uniform, accoutrement, as well as equipment, is a regular [task] that the police force has been doing," said superintendent Ko Cheuk-hang.

"To choose a good equipment we rely on a couple of very important principles, first of all the effectiveness and the long-term sustainability. And apart of this major principle, we need to make sure all these equipment could serve the purpose as well as meet our weapon handling standard requirement."

Officers said the new pistol is equipped with a manual safety catch and can be reloaded faster compared with the existing revolvers.

Ko added the force would be trained to use the new handguns in phases, but did not comment on the timeline for a full transition.

Steve Vickers, the CEO of risk consultancy Steve Vickers and Associates, told RTHK that the move to replace the handguns was not unexpected.

"It's not surprising given that the old Smith & Wesson revolvers are no longer being manufactured, and it's actually quite difficult to get spare parts," he said.

"Obviously the US-China relations are pretty poor. There have already been restrictions on both the Americans and the EU countries supplying weapons to the Hong Kong police. So it made sense to, for both historical reasons and practical reasons and political reasons, to move to a PRC-manufactured firearm."

The former senior police officer added that the transition could take years, depending on the delivery and training schedules.