Development small arms for several centuries it went at a snail's pace, for a long time limited to the improvement of the castle and changes in design. However, the scientific and technological revolution in the 19th century turned this leisurely process into a rapid cascade of successive inventions. Russia, with its lagging industry, did not immediately succeed in keeping up with the leaders, which was vividly demonstrated by the Crimean War. But by the end of the century, the emerging technological gap was overcome.
Development of small arms: from evolution to revolution
For almost four centuries, handguns have remained virtually unchanged. It was a metal tube-barrel, sealed at one end (the blind end was called the "breech") and attached to a wooden stock. A charge of gunpowder was poured into the tube, a ball-shaped bullet was placed, and so that all this would not fall out of the barrel, a rag or paper cork (wad) was hammered from above with the help of a ramrod rod.
When fired, a small amount of gunpowder was set on fire - the so-called "seed", which was located on a special shelf on the side of the barrel. Further, through a small hole in the wall of the barrel, called the seed, the fire was transmitted to the main powder charge. The seed was set on fire with the help of a special mechanism - a lock. Actually, the progress of firearms was initially limited by the development of locks - from a primitive wick, in which the simplest lever brought the tip of a smoldering wick to the seed, to flint, which in its late incarnation provided reliable and practically guaranteed ignition of the charge, could be kept cocked for a long time and operated practically in any weather, except for very very heavy rain.
It was after the invention of the so-called “battery” type of flintlock (this happened in France in 1610) that the design of small arms was “mothballed” for two long centuries. The materials from which the weapons were made became stronger and more durable, the production technology was worked out, but between the musket with which d'Artagnan went on the attack near La Rochelle, and the gun of the French soldier dragging his feet to the Berezina, the difference is mostly purely external, yes and it was small.
Changes to the established design were made only by the turbulent 19th century with its sharp jump in scientific and technical development. Almost simultaneously (by historical standards) two things happened that had the most direct impact on the appearance of small arms. First, "explosive mercury" was discovered - a substance that explodes on impact. For use as a propelling charge, it turned out to be too strong and capricious, but it was successfully able to replace the seed. To do this, it was placed in a small cap, called a piston or primer. Now the ignition of the gunpowder in the barrel was reliable, completely independent of the weather, and, most importantly, it was instantaneous - there was no pause characteristic of flint locks of about half a second, while the seed flashed from sparks knocked out of the flint, and the fire went through the seed hole. This, as well as the absence of a flash of burning seed that occurs right in front of the shooter's face, made it possible to significantly improve the accuracy of shooting, especially at a moving target.
The second factor that powerfully influenced the evolution of small arms was the development of metallurgy, sufficient for mass and relatively cheap production. rifled barrels. The idea of improving the stability of a bullet's trajectory by spinning it was not new. Back in the 16th century (and according to some sources, even at the end of the 15th century), samples of handmade firearms, in which the barrel bore had screw rifling, twisting the bullet when fired. The bullet, rotating around the longitudinal axis, flew more accurately and much further than the usual one. In addition, it could be given an elongated shape, more streamlined than a sphere - this further increased the range of the shot. The main problem was that if in a gun with a smooth barrel it was enough to roll a bullet into the barrel when loading, then in a rifled one it had to be driven in with a ramrod, turning in rifling, which took a lot of time and effort.
While rifled weapons remained an expensive toy of noble hunters, this was not a big hindrance: carefully load your gun, slowly aim, shoot, admire the result, slowly reload ... But in battle everything is completely different, and the price of a second is incomparably higher. And when it came to the use of rifling in mass army weapons, the question of increasing the rate of fire completely stood up. Many designs have been developed to overcome the problem. The most viable of them turned out to be based on the expansion of the bullet - in them the bullet had a diameter smaller than usual, and fell into the barrel freely without entering the rifling, and then it expanded, due to which it increased the diameter and entered the rifling. In some systems, the bullet was expanded when loaded with ramrod blows, in some it expanded already when fired, under the action of powder gases pressing on it.
However, all these designs were, by and large, only half measures. To completely overcome the problem, a transition to a fundamentally different loading system was required - from the breech, and not from the muzzle. This principle was also not something completely new - almost simultaneously with the first samples of firearms, the idea of \u200b\u200bloading from the treasury arose. They tried to put it into practice, but the technologies and materials were too primitive for the full implementation of the idea. Only in the 19th century was it possible to achieve sufficient strength of the metal and the accuracy of its processing to create reliable and massive breech-loading samples. They were no longer charged separately (gunpowder separately, a bullet separately and a wad on top), but with a unitary cartridge - that is, combining both a propelling charge, and what it was throwing, and a primer to ignite the charge. At first, such cartridges were made of paper, later cartridges with a metal sleeve appeared, the design of which has not changed significantly to this day.
This long introduction serves the sole purpose of showing as clearly as possible the complexity of the situation in which the leading powers found themselves in the first half of the 19th century. The gun - the main armament of the infantryman and cavalryman - which had not changed at all for several generations before, suddenly began to develop at a crazy gallop, and those who did not want to be in the position of catching up had to develop, adopt and launch with no less speed into production completely new designs.
Race for the Leaders
It was especially hard during this period. Russian Empire. Undeveloped production made it catastrophically difficult to introduce any cardinal innovations. Brilliant designers, in whom the country has never lacked, could offer brilliant solutions, but everything stalled at the implementation stage due to the fact that there were neither technologies nor capacities for their implementation. For example, for a relatively long time, when compared with European states, there was a transition from a flintlock to a capsule lock. In public official documents it was said that, they say, a soldier with his rough fingers would not be able to fit the capsule into place, he would lose it and in general he would be uncomfortable, so let him fight with the good old flint. The real reason for the delay was that for the production of mercury fulminate in the required quantity in Russia there was simply no chemical production of the appropriate level, and it had to be hastily developed from scratch.
British soldiers during the Crimean War - photograph by Roger Fenton
Crimean War 1853–56 clearly demonstrated to the Russian military that the outgoing train of progress must be hastily caught up. If the Russian army still managed to switch to capsule ignition by the time it began, then the situation with rifled weapons was much worse - only a few selected shooters had fittings (rifled carbines), the bulk of the soldiers were armed with smoothbore guns. Accordingly, British and French soldiers, armed almost without exception with rifled guns, were able to accurately fire from distances at which the Russians had no chance of hitting back. Sighting range British guns "Enfield", for example, exceeded the aiming range of the Russian gun of the 1854 model in four times and was even more than the Russian guns!
The military did not wait long and ordered a rifled gun with an expanding bullet. Since an elongated bullet weighed more than a round bullet of the same caliber, and pushing it through the rifling required a larger charge of gunpowder than a smoothbore counterpart, the recoil increased significantly, and it became clear that it was necessary to reduce the caliber of the weapon. Instead of the previously standard 7 lines (17.78 mm), they decided to make the caliber 4 lines (10.16 mm) standard. However, it quickly became clear that for the production of such thin barrels, and even rifled ones, there are no tools of appropriate accuracy. After a series of discussions, they settled on a caliber of 6 lines (15.24 mm). The officer commission of the Artillery Committee developed the design of a new weapon, and in 1856 the “6-line rifled rifle” entered service. It was at this moment that the term "rifle" was first used in official documents. He was considered understandable and simply explaining to the soldier the principle of the device of a new weapon, and he really instantly took root.
Private of the Sofia Infantry Regiment and clerk of the Divisional Headquarters. The private has a rifle of the 1856 model.
army-news.ru
In the production of rifles of the 1856 model, they tried to switch from hand-made parts to machine parts, as well as to the use of steel instead of iron in the barrel, but neither one nor the other was completely successful. Machine tools for metalworking had to be purchased foreign, and they were very expensive, and then Russia simply produced too little steel, and it was not enough for rifles for the entire army.
The 1856 rifle of the year turned out to be extremely successful and significantly surpassed foreign counterparts, including British ones, which were considered the most advanced. The evil irony of fate turned out to be that while it was being developed and put into production, progress made another leap - into service foreign states breech-loading rifles began to arrive en masse. War Minister Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin said bitterly:
"... technology moved forward with such rapid strides that before the proposed orders were tested, new requirements appeared and new orders were made."
And it began what the same Milyutin called "our unfortunate gun drama". From 1859 to 1866, a specially organized commission tested more than a hundred and fifty weapon systems - about 130 foreign and more than 20 domestic. As a result, they settled on the design of the English gunsmith William Terry, modified by the master of the Tula Arms Factory Ivan Norman. It was adopted in 1866 under the name "Terry-Norman rapid-fire primer rifle".
The rifle was a remake of the 1856 model rifle - the breech was cut off, and a longitudinally sliding bolt was installed in its place. Having opened the shutter, the shooter put a paper cartridge into it and closed the shutter, after which he cocked the hammer and installed the primer. When fired, the primer set fire to the paper shell of the cartridge, and gunpowder ignited from it. A simple ingenious system made it possible to use huge stocks of old rifles instead of producing completely new weapons, so that the problem seemed to be solved. But that was only the beginning of the gun drama. The train of progress accelerated again, and suddenly it turned out that ignition with a separate primer had already become obsolete. Geopolitical competitors were already armed with "needle rifles" - they had a primer in the cartridge itself, behind the bullet, and it was broken by a long needle piercing the cartridge. The Terry-Norman rifle did not stand in service even for a year, after which it was removed with the wording "obsolete".
She was replaced by the system of Johannes Friedrich Christian Carle, a German who lived in England. It was also a conversion kit for an old rifle of the 1856 model of the year and was very perfect, surpassing similar designs. The Carlet rifle was adopted in 1867. At a large number of factories, both public and private, its production was launched. Several hundred rifles, made first, passed military tests in Turkestan and earned positive reviews, but ... Yes, yes, that's right - progress has managed to go ahead again. Paper cartridges were no longer in honor, they were replaced by metal ones. The metal cartridge was waterproof, could not be accidentally broken by hastily loading the weapon, and it did not clog the barrel with the remnants of unburned paper. The production of the Karle rifle was suspended - they did not remove it from service and withdraw it from the troops, but they did not make new ones.
First Russian weapons under a metal cartridge was a rifle designed by the American Hiram Berdan. She was adopted in 1868, but she did not receive much distribution. Around the same time, a rifle designed by the Italian Augusto Albini appeared, modified by naval officer Nikolai Baranov. She was considered as a candidate for adoption when the rifle of Sylvester Krnk, an Austrian citizen of Czech origin, appeared. The Albini-Baranov rifle was simpler, the Krnk rifle was cheaper.
As a result of comparative tests, the latter was chosen (according to a number of researchers, the commission was biased and deliberately "drowned" Baranov's system, but there is no evidence for this). Both went into production - in 1869, the Krnka rifle became the main armament of the army (receiving the expected nickname “lid” from the soldiers), and the Albini-Baranov rifle was adopted by the navy (it was produced a little - about 10,000 copies).
Krnk rifle sample 1869
It would seem that the goal has been achieved - rifles of a perfect design have been adopted, and you can calmly exhale. But, as in previous times, everything was by no means over. The fact is that the metal cartridge was, for obvious reasons, noticeably heavier than the paper one. Accordingly, the ammunition carried by the soldier decreased, there were difficulties with the supply, and others of the same kind. The solution was found - to reduce the caliber of the rifle again. Fortunately, over the past dozen years, technology in Russia has improved enough for the mass production of small-caliber barrels, so the same 4 lines that were not approved in 1856 were adopted as the standard caliber.
The rifle for the new caliber was offered by Khayram Berdan, already familiar to us. Unlike the previous model, it did not have a hinged, but a longitudinally sliding shutter and a number of other improvements. It was put into service in 1870 under the name "Berdan's rapid-fire small-caliber rifle No. 2" (and the previous model, accordingly, was henceforth called Berdan's rifle No. 1). It was this successful model in all respects that finally completed the “unfortunate gun drama” of the Russian army, becoming its main weapon for two decades. It was replaced only by the legendary "three-ruler" Mosin, which was put into service in 1891. But even after its appearance, the Berdan rifle continued to be in service until the beginning of the 20th century. She earned the nickname "Berdanka", which was heard, probably, even by those who are in no way interested in the history of weapons. There were a huge number of berdans released, and they are still found in the hunting version.
At the same time in Russia it was drawn Special attention on needle weapons; Dreyse and Carle systems were tested; this latter was given unconditional preference, since the main shortcomings of the Dreyse rifle had already been eliminated in it. The design of the shutter had a leather obturator, the needle was short, the bullet was guided along the rifling with its body, and not with a separate pallet.
In view of the extreme haste, the experiments were limited to a relatively small number of shots.
In 1867, a sample of a rifle and a cartridge was approved for the speedy conversion of 6-line rifles loaded from the muzzle into breech-loading rifles according to the Carle system (Fig. 74).
Rice. 74. Carle rifle.
The rate of fire reached 7 rounds per minute.
When issuing the first batches of rifles to the troops, however, significant shortcomings of the system were discovered, consisting in the incorrect flight of bullets and poor accuracy.
Studies of this issue found that the reason was not the shortcomings of the rifle itself, but of the cartridge. Since after the shot the unburned part of the paper sleeve remained in the channel, the bullets of the following cartridges, when they moved when fired along the bore, had this residue in front of them; the bullet flew along with the rest of the paper part of the cartridge, as a result of which its flight was incorrect, reducing the accuracy of the rifle.
It was necessary to change the arrangement of the cartridge and ensure that the rest of the cartridge case freely flew out of the bore without following the bullet.
All these studies led, during the installation of the production of a rifle, to the need to introduce changes both in the rifle, and mainly in the cartridge.
Hastily introduced changes, however, could not completely fix the issue. The troops continued to receive complaints about the newly issued weapons. The troops pointed to frequent shortfalls of bullets, gas breakthroughs into the bolt, and needle breakage. All these shortcomings, due to the slowness of the alteration, forced the abandonment of the Carlet system. A total of 200,000 of these rifles were made.
Carle rifle. The main data are as follows: caliber - 6 lin. (15.24 mm), weight with a bayonet - 4.9 kg, weight without a bayonet - 4.5 kg, length with a bayonet - 184 cm, muzzle velocity - 305 m / s.
The barrel is the same as the 6-line muzzle-loading rifle; when reworking, only the chamber was cut in it to accommodate the paper cartridge invested from the treasury. The barrel was screwed into the receiver ab(Fig. 75 and 76), a trigger spring was attached to it from below in with an upturned end that served as a combat platoon G.
Rice. 75. The position of the parts of the Carle rifle before the shot.
Rice. 76. The position of the parts of the Carle rifle after the shot.
A shutter served to close the barrel treasury when fired. dd(Fig. 77), representing a cylindrical tube with two racks LJ at the rear end and two lugs her; a handle was placed between the posts h(Fig. 78), rotating on the axis and passing through the racks; in its raised (Fig. 77) and lowered (Fig. 75) positions, the handle was fixed with the help of special leaf springs; combat ledges her intended to connect the bolt to the receiver; when the bolt was turned, they entered the corresponding recess in the receiver, holding the bolt when fired, just as it is done by the protrusions of the combat larva in a modern 7.62 mm rifle; in front of the shutter was placed a movable head to, under which there were several leather circles; they were aimed at eliminating the breakthrough of powder gases when fired, ( like that, as was done in the Chasspo rifle (see Fig. 76).
Rice. 77. Carle rifle bolt.
Rice. 78. Carle rifle bolt handle.
To break the cartridge primer, a striker with a mainspring and a clutch with a needle was placed in the bolt tube (see Fig. 75).
To fire a shot, the shooter pressed the trigger: the striker jumped off the cocking of the trigger spring and, under the action of a compressed mainspring, rushed forward, as a result of which his needle broke the cartridge primer.
The cartridge for the Carle rifle (Fig. 79) consisted of a paper sleeve, a Minié bullet, a charge of gunpowder and a pallet made from several circles of cardboard; a capsule was inserted into the pallet; when fired, the front part of the cartridge case broke off at the sling under the bullet and was carried away by it from the barrel; the rest of the sleeve with the pallet remained in the chamber of the chamber. The remainder of this moved forward when the next cartridge was inserted, and when fired, was ejected from the bore in front of the bullet.
Rice. 79. Carl rifle cartridge.
The cartridge, in comparison with the previous paper cartridges for flintlock and percussion guns, was quite complicated - the troops could only collect individual parts of the cartridge sent to them: primers, pallets, gunpowder, iron cups for Mignet bullets, which required more precise factory rather than manual fabrication in the troops.
The disadvantages of this unitary paper cartridge, in addition to the complexity of its device, was that the pallet, together with the leather obturator in the rifle bolt, did not always protect against gas breakthrough; the remaining part of the sleeve after the shot, in addition, contaminated the barrel. All these shortcomings forced us to turn to the introduction of cartridges with a metal sleeve.
A total of 213,000 rifles were converted; they entered service with the outlying military districts - the Caucasus, Orenburg, East Siberian, West Siberian and Turkestan. With this weapon in hand, the Russian soldier took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, in all the battles of the Caucasian Front, and partly in the conquest of the Central Asian possessions, undertaken since 1879.
The Karle rifle in its design was one of the least perfect of the rifles that were in service with the Russian army, but nevertheless, the Russian troops inflicted a number of defeats on the Turkish army both in field battles and during the capture of the fortresses of Ardagan, Kars, Erzerum.
For the United States Second World War began on the morning of December 7, 1941 with a Japanese carrier-based air raid on 11 Earl Harbor. Six aircraft carriers were involved in the strike of the Japanese fleet. The main purpose of the strike was the destruction of battleships and aircraft carriers of the American Pacific Fleet in the harbor of Pearl Harbor. In terms of battleships, the number was a success - all the battleships that were in Pearl Harbor received damage, but the Japanese did not find aircraft carriers in Hawaii. With failure battleships, their place had to be taken by heavy cruisers.
Already in the very first year of the war, the most stubborn skeptics were forced to admit that the aircraft had become an integral part of combat operations, and its role in the war was steadily growing. The aircraft has already been used not only to correct artillery fire, reconnaissance or communications, but the aircraft has now turned into an independent weapon capable of fighting enemy aircraft.
The fighters of France and Germany are described (beginning).
Cadres decide everything. And at a turning point, in extreme situations, heroes decide everything, - the author of the book about Air Marshal A. I. Pokryshkin believes.
It was Pokryshkin who became the clearest spokesman of the changes that made our army of 1941 the army of 1945. He was the first of a cohort of those who broke the morale of the Luftwaffe. According to the well-known scientist Yu. N. Mazhorov, who during the war years served in the 1st separate radio brigade of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, only in three cases did the Germans switch from digital radio messages to transmission in plain text: “Akhtung, partisan!” (surprise partisan attack); "Achtung, panzer!" (breakthrough Soviet tanks) and - “Akhtung, Pokryshkin!”.
The famous pilot has never been a darling of fate. Yes, and it couldn't be. easy life from a man who, as one of his students, Colonel-General of Aviation N. I. Moskvitelev, says about him, “never lied anywhere, never told a lie.” Many ups and downs in the life of a pilot and military leader are first described in this book.
The rarest combination of various talents - an ace pilot, an analyst, a commander, a mentor - makes Pokryshkin's personality one of a kind. Our second three times Hero I. N. Kozhedub always said that he learned from him to fight and live, to be a man ...
The book is published for the 100th anniversary of Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin.
The first Bf.109B-1 left the Augsburg assembly line in February 1937. By this time, the oldest fighter squadron, JG.132 Richthofen, had been chosen to be the lead fighter squadron for equipping the new fighter. They planned to re-equip the 2nd group in Jüterbog-Damm first, and behind it - the 1st in Deberitz. However, the situation in Spain, where the I-15 and I-16 demonstrated complete superiority over the He 51, made it necessary, first of all, to re-equip at least part of the J / 88 in the Condor legion, which turned out to be an opportunity to test the aircraft in real combat conditions and at the same time develop suitable tactic. So after short course retraining personnel II / JG 132 was sent to Spain, where Bf.109B-1 arrived in April 1937. Here they replaced He. 51 in the 2nd Squadron J / 88.
Note: A complete set of illustrations arranged as in a printed publication, captions for illustrations in text.
In the second half of the nineteenth century a lot of breech-loading capsule guns appeared (Fig. 1).
The designs of the shutters of various types of rifles did not fundamentally differ from each other. The designers-gunsmiths were faced with the task of ensuring reliable obturation, that is, the tightness of the charging chamber. Capsule breech-loading rifles did not justify themselves, therefore, needle systems with a unitary paper cartridge were rightfully considered more promising at that time, among which Prussian needle guns made by S. Pauli's student Johann Nikolai Dreyse were especially popular. The first sample of such a gun was produced in 1827.
Fig.1. Perry primer breech-loading rifle
The sample, made by the master already in 1836, was a bolt-action needle gun, which used a unitary cartridge, the paper sleeve of which flew out when fired. At first, an egg-shaped bullet was used, later it was replaced by a Minié bullet. The percussion cake, replacing the primer, was in a folder tray under the bullet. The striker needle pierced the powder charge and ignited the primer with a blow. Obturation in the treasury was achieved by tight compression of the combat larva with a deep cup onto the conical edge of the barrel stump, so that the powder gases did not hit the shooter in the face. I. Dreyse offered his rifle to the French government, but his development was rejected there. Only after comprehensive tests that took place in 1841 in Prussia, the Dreyse gun was adopted by the Prussian troops. The 1862 pattern gun underwent minor design changes and was named the 1841–1862 pattern gun.
The gun had an iron barrel, caliber 15.43 mm, length 905 mm, as well as four grooves (6 mm wide, 0.76 mm deep). The length of the rifling stroke (thread pitch) is 732 mm, or 47.5 caliber. The sight is plate with 4 slots for shooting at a distance of up to 600 m. The weight of the gun without a bayonet was 4.65 kg, with a bayonet - 5.3 kg. Length without bayonet - 1424 mm, with bayonet - 1925 mm. The initial speed of the bullet is 295 m / s.
Cartridge sleeve - paper (1.5 turns), with a glued cardboard bottom - a circle; the mass of the powder charge was 4.8 g - the relative charge was 1:6.4. In front of the charge was a folder spiegel (bullet pallet) with a percussion cake behind and a nest for an egg-shaped bullet in front.
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Rice. 2. Dreyse needle rifle of the 1841 model
The bullet had a caliber of 13.51 mm, i.e. smaller than the caliber of the barrel itself. It was inserted into a deep nest of a folder pallet, which cut into the rifling, compressing the bullet and giving it rotation. Bullet weight - 30.42 g. Cartridge weight - 40 g.
The Dreyse gun was the first breech-loading military gun to fire a unitary cartridge. At that time, the Prussian army, armed with breech-loading guns, was ahead of the armies of other states, equipped with percussion and flintlock guns, which were loaded from the muzzle.
The Prussian needle gun Dreyse received its first baptism of fire during a campaign in Denmark in 1846. In the victorious battle of Almine, in which two companies of the 12th Prussian regiment, armed with needle guns, took part, specialists noted their excellent fighting qualities.
However, for a long time there were doubts about the quality of the battle of needle guns, dispelled and finally refuted only 25 years later, after the campaigns of 1864-1866. during which the "new" rifle proved itself (especially in the Battle of Sadov) from the very best side. After that, all states hastened to arm their armies with breech-loading rifles. To do this, the specialists of some countries, following the example of Prussia, began to remake rifles loaded from the muzzle to loaded from the treasury, while others immediately switched to new breech-loading guns.
Fig.3. Minier bullet to Veltishchev's cartridge
The shortcomings of the Dreyse system compared to the new French Chasseau needle guns (model 1866) became apparent during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. Even before the war, the German inventor Back proposed an improved Dreyse rifle using a conical bullet built on the principle of "cork and needle" *. Such a bullet increased the range from 600 to 1200 steps, qualitatively changing the trajectory and enhancing the penetrating effect of the bullet. Back's proposal was not accepted, but it was remembered during the war of 1870-1871, when the advantages of the Chasspo gun were discovered.
But time was lost and this interesting development was never implemented. The Dreyse system lasted 30 years in Prussia, long enough for a time when new weapon systems were obsolete for 10 years.
As we remember, Dreyse offered his rifle to the French government, but was refused. And we must pay tribute to the French, they justified their refusal, though with a delay of 30 years. In 1866, the master of the arms factory A.A. Chasseau (1833-1905) offered the French government his 11 mm rifle, which was more advanced than the Dreyse gun. In the Chasspo system, all the details were well designed, for this the latest developments in gun mechanisms were used. The bolt of the gun is sliding, the locking of the barrel was carried out by turning the handle to the right, the bolt turned 90o and with its crest entered the cutout of the receiver. The trigger was not automatically cocked, but required a separate technique for cocking it. Under the trigger was a roller to facilitate the sliding of the shutter. Obturation was achieved using rubber circles worn on the front of the bolt, which is part of the breech breech.
These guns were chambered in paper cartridges, with the primer placed in the breech of the cartridge, which was behind the powder charge in the cartridge's cardboard tray. Thanks to this arrangement of the cartridge, the firing pin was much shorter than in the Dreyse rifle, and therefore stronger. When fired, the sleeve partially burned out, and partially flew out of the barrel. If the cardboard pallet remained in the chamber, then the next time it was loaded, it was pushed forward (in general, the ejector was not needed in needle guns).
The mass of the bullet was 23 g, the powder charge was 5.5 g. The maximum range of the bullet was 1800 m. The initial velocity of the bullet was 430 m / s. The sight had divisions up to 1200 m, the length of the sighting line was 690 mm. The highest rate of fire is 19 rounds per minute without aiming, with aiming - 8–10 rounds. The Dreyse rifle fired 5–9 rounds per minute, but had better accuracy. Chassepo shotgun barrel length - 825 mm; rifle length without bayonet - 1313 mm; with a bayonet - 1890 mm, the weight of the gun - 4100 g. The Chasspo shotgun proved to be excellent during the Franco-Prussian war (1870–71).
I must say that the losses from the fire of needle rifles in battles where one of the parties was armed with capsule muzzle-loading guns were 1: 9! That is why interest in the needle system has continuously increased. In Russia, perhaps the first needle weapon was a pistol made in 1835 in Reval (now Tallinn) by G.F. Bartner. In 1856, in Riga, Andrey Gunst manufactured the first needle gun, which had a very complex and unreliable bolt.
In the 60s of the XIX century. the weapons commission reviewed and tested a number of needle systems proposed by Russian gunsmiths: Adjutant General Totleben (1866), weapons master Lebedev (1860), engineer-captain Vyatkin (1867), mechanical engineer from Riga Ludwig Andre (1867), captain Kletochnikov (1868), captain Galindo (1868), gunsmith Trummer, staff captain Terentyev (1860), colonel Chagin (1865), lieutenant Tishcheninsky (1865 ), Andreev (1867, with a sliding bolt), Averyanova (1868), Norman (1868), Konchevsky (1868).
For one reason or another, some systems were rejected, while tests of others were constantly postponed. In 1866, the Englishman I. Karle proposed his needle system. Comprehensive tests were carried out under the guidance of a prominent gunsmith, Colonel N.I. Chagin. During the tests, many shortcomings were revealed. Carle's rifle needed a radical overhaul. I. Carle did not begin to remake his own rifle; a group of Russian gunsmiths, headed by the above-mentioned N.I., took up this work. Chagin. The masters of the Tula and Izhevsk arms factories worked on its improvement. Significant changes to the needle rifle were made by Taile, Zwickert and Fedor Nagel. Under the leadership of Chagin, the shape of the charging chamber was changed, seven different samples of a paper cartridge were tested, until, finally, they accepted a cartridge with a Minier bullet, proposed by the chairman of the selection committee of the Sestroretsk plant, Colonel Veltishev.
The pace of testing the rifle was amazing. Having barely made 2000 shots from it, on March 28, 1867, the needle rifle was adopted.
The great contribution of Russian gunsmiths to the creation of a needle rifle was also mentioned in the order of the GAU (Main Artillery Directorate): "... due to many inconveniences indicated by experiments in the original sample of Karl, significant changes were made to it, so that the real sample of the needle rifles adopted by us is no longer can be considered the same as the original Karl model.As a result of this ... rifles, converted and made according to the needle system, are given the name "quick-firing needle rifles."
V. Buyanovsky and P. Belderling, who took part in the creation of the needle rifle, noted the originality of its design, and D.A. Milyutin (Minister of War 1861-1882), comparing it with the then considered the most advanced French Chasseau rifle, wrote on January 6, 1869 in his report to the Tsar that Chasseau rifles "in all respects should be recognized as lower than our needle ones." The needle rifle of the 1867 model had a caliber of 15.24 mm, a mass of 4.5 kg, and a length of 1340 mm.
The Minier bullet weighing 34.64 g developed an initial speed of 305 m / s. The effective range of an infantry rifle was 600 paces (427 m), a small rifle was 1,200 paces (853 m), and the rate of fire was 9–10 rounds per minute.
The haste with which the army was re-equipped with needle rifles (the reasons are clear - the results of the Crimean War) led to the fact that those proposed in 1867-1868. samples of needle rifles of Russian gunsmiths were rejected by the Armory Commission, despite the fact that they were recognized as "excellent" in comparison with the "quick-firing needle rifle" of the 1867 model adopted for service.
Many Russian gunsmiths offered their developments of needle rifles, among them Staff Captain Terentyev (1867), engineer-captain Vyatkin (four-ruler chambered for Potte with pyroxylin (smokeless) gunpowder (1867), gunsmith Vasily Lebedev.
Needle Rifles were the fastest rifles chambered for paper cartridges. Their rate of fire was 9-10 rounds per minute. They passed military tests, during which all noted shortcomings were identified and then eliminated. After lengthy testing in Russia, the production of Veltishchev cartridges was also established, and 215,500 quick-firing rifles themselves were produced.
They entered service with the troops of the Caucasian, Turkestan, Orenburg, West Siberian, East Siberian military districts. The rearmament of these districts ended in 1874. With these rifles, Russian soldiers fought on the Caucasian front during Russian-Turkish war in 1877–1878 and they took Kare and Ardagan, Erzerum and Bayazet.
In the late 60s - early 70s of the XIX century. the armies of some states were armed with repeating rifles chambered for a metal cartridge (Spencer, Henry-Winchester in the USA, Vetterli in Switzerland), and the needle rifle with its unitary paper cartridge has already become an anachronism. YES. Milyutin wrote on this occasion that such a rifle could only be adopted "until the introduction of another, more advanced weapon."
The paper unitary cartridge used in the needle rifle was replaced by a unitary metal cartridge, which opened a new page in the history of small arms.
Needle gun
paper cartridge
Comparison of Dreyse and Chassepo paper cartridges
Needle gun- the first type of breech-loading rifled gun (rifle) loaded from the breech with a paper cartridge. When the trigger was released, the bolt needle pierced the bottom of the paper sleeve of the cartridge and ignited the percussion cap located on the bottom of the bullet. The bullet easily entered the rifling, and the paper sleeve burned out along with the powder gases, and its remnants were ejected through the barrel. The gun was proposed in 1827 by the German gunsmith I. N. Dreyse, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to fire a unitary cartridge from muzzle-loading guns. The first sample was introduced in the Prussian army in 1840. The Prussian military highly valued the qualities of the new weapon and kept its data secret, designating in the documents with a vague “light primer gun of 1841.”
The appearance of unitary cartridges with a metal sleeve in 1860 led to the displacement of needle rifles, the shortcomings of which were no longer tolerated. And the shortcomings were serious - the needle that ignited the primer was in the chamber during the shot, which did not contribute to its durability. The Prussians considered it normal to have three needles for 60 rounds of ammunition - so often they failed. Scraps of paper sleeves that did not burn out completely when fired clogged the barrel, leading to increased wear. The rotary sliding bolt (which gave rise to the most common bolt design) often crushed the paper sleeve when filling. The problem of obturation of powder gases has not been solved.
Dreyse rifle
The Dreyse gun cartridge consisted of a paper cartridge case with a powder charge, a folder spiegel with a percussion cake pressed in at the back and a recess in front, and an egg-shaped bullet that was inserted into this recess and held in front by the crimped edges of the cartridge case. To ignite the primer, a needle was arranged, passing through the bottom of the channel, which was first hit by an ordinary rifle lock trigger, and then the latter was replaced by a sliding lock with a spiral spring. Since before loading, first of all, it was necessary to cock the trigger, that is, pull the end of the needle back from the channel, otherwise a shot was inevitable during loading, and since it was always expected that the shooter in battle would forget to cock the needle first before driving the cartridge from the muzzle, then Dreyse proposed to do without a ramrod, making a cartridge with a gap, so that under the influence of weight it easily reached the bottom of the channel when loading; but this resulted in poor accuracy, the possibility of partial misfires and the frequent loss of a cartridge from a loaded gun. Thus, Dreyse inevitably came to the need to load from the treasury. They developed a sliding shutter; the diameter of the folder spiegel in the cartridge was slightly larger than the diameter of the barrel along the margins; when the trigger was pulled, the needle pierced the bottom of the cartridge case, passed through the charge and ignited the primer; when fired, the spiegel cut into the rifling and, tightly squeezing the bullet, told it to spin.
Proposed in Prussia in 1836, the 4.8-linear Dreyse gun, after careful testing, was adopted for the infantry under the name arr. 40 g., The use of a unitary paper cartridge and a sliding bolt increased the rate of fire by 4-5 times, but did not cause imitation in other armies for a long time, since many military authorities recognized the rate of fire of a gun even as harmful and dangerous from the point of view of wasting cartridges and difficulties in in combat, keep fire control in the hands of the commander; loading from the treasury and a unitary cartridge were considered useful only in view of the convenience of loading when firing prone, from a horse, through loopholes, when using a ramrod was inconvenient; nevertheless, attention was drawn to a completely satisfactory obturation. Therefore, in France, where Dreyse began his work before turning to Prussia, his gun was not accepted. In Russia, after being tested in the 1850s, Dreyse guns were also found to be inconvenient. Only after civil war in the USA (1861-1865) and especially after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, especially at the battle of Königgrätz, when the Prussians easily outplayed the Austrians, the success of the Prussians was entirely attributed to their gun and the needle gun attracted the attention of other states.
Chasseau rifle
In France, in 1866, a 4.3-line rifle was adopted, the bolt of which, developed by the worker Chasseau, was better than that of Dreyse in terms of obturation, thanks to the rubber circles under the cap of the fungus inserted in front of the bolt, as well as the shortening of the needle, as a result of which she broke less often; the shortening of the needle was achieved by placing the primer in the folder bottom of the sleeve; the bullet of the compression system cut itself into the rifling, so there was no need for a spigel for the bullet. The cocking of the trigger was carried out not in two, as in Dreyse, but in one step when the shutter was closed. Thanks to good obturation and a more significant initial bullet speed (420 m / s instead of the then usual 300 m / s), the accuracy of the Chasspo gun was greater.
Carle rifle
The system proposed at about the same time by the Belgian Karl, in general very similar to the Chasspo system, was used in Russia to convert a 6-line rifle into a breech-loading one in 1867. In the Karlet shutter, the needle was even shorter, and in the obturator the rubber circles were replaced by leather ones. For his patron, Karle took the former and muzzle-loaded Russian 6-line guns with a Minier bullet with a cup in the bottom and placed it more than half into a paper sleeve with a folder pallet glued from three circles, with an average of smaller diameter , the primer was pressed in; and near this mug, the sleeve is crimped on the outside and tied with a woolen thread, which contributed to a better obturation. The shutter needle needed to pierce only the rear circle when fired. Several hundred converted rifles successfully passed combat tests in Turkestan. But in view of the high cost of conversion and the difficulty of manufacturing cartridges, as well as the general shortcomings of paper cartridges, further conversion of guns according to the Carle system was suspended, and the rest of the rifles were converted according to the Krnk system for a cartridge with a metal sleeve, proposed in 1868. Needle rifles in Russia were almost immediately replaced by the Berdan No. 1 rifle in 1868 (an episode of the "unfortunate gun drama").
Some peoples have what might be called a "cult of precision" when it comes to designing their rifles. And this applies to the Swedes in the first place. Other nations simply wanted their rifles to do the job they were made for, hitting a man quickly and easily at about 100 yards. Of course, all the sights on the rifles were calibrated for shooting at a greater distance, but it is simply impossible to really get to a distance of one kilometer in battle. And everyone understood this.
German Mauser M1892 chambered for 8x58R (Army Museum, Stockholm)
They also understood that a soldier in battle must ... work! Otherwise, he will simply go crazy from the horror that is happening around him. The easiest way is to give him the opportunity to shoot. Not too often - it is very expensive for the country, but not one cartridge at a time. It's too slow. Five rounds per magazine charge was enough.
Nevertheless, for some reason, some countries developed a real "cult of accuracy" in their own. This is, first of all, Switzerland (which we already talked about at VO) and Sweden (which we also talked about rifles, but now much more information will be given!), Trying to put a rifle into the hands of almost every soldier in their army for sniper shooting. And if for rifles of other countries at the beginning of the twentieth century the optimal distance for an accurate shot was a distance of 100 yards, then for rifles of these two countries - 300 yards! Even the United States, Germany and Great Britain, which produced extremely accurate rifles (especially in their sniper variations), did not achieve such results for rifles issued for ordinary infantrymen.
Swedish Mauser M1896, manufactured by Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori. Caliber 6.5x55 mm. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
So what made Sweden and Switzerland come to this? Perhaps this was a consequence of their culture. In fact, the topic of the relationship between culture and war is very interesting within the framework of the culturological tradition and it will be necessary to deal with it. In the meantime, the answer to this question, perhaps, lies in the great attention to mechanical precision and metalworking for which they were famous? But it could very well be a matter of choosing tactical priorities as well. These peoples had small armies that faced potential invaders who had a huge supply of labor, and therefore “cannon fodder”. They were at a disadvantage, but it was advantageous for them to "play defense" in difficult terrain. The troops of these countries will not be able to outdo their opponents in the jungle. But they will outnumber him in snowy fields or high mountains.
Imagine yourself as a Swiss soldier standing in front of a German occupier. You are in a hidden position on a snowy slope and your enemy is crossing the valley. If you don't have artillery, wouldn't it be nice if you had a rifle that could hit him from as far away as possible? And isn't it a wonderful idea that every person in your country, even the smallest unmobilized reservist, would have such a rifle at hand? And, most likely, the military experts of these countries just decided that their armies needed just such well-aimed and long-range rifles.
Carbine m/1894/96 for the Swedish engineering corps. Caliber 6.5x55 mm (Army Museum, Stockholm)
This was true in mountainous and neutral Switzerland, but it was also accepted in northern, mountainous and neutral Sweden. Not without reason, for today's collectors, Swedish rifles are real treasures ... beautiful, accurate and very accurate. And these are all Mausers, although this does not mean that the Swedes did not test rifles and other systems. Experienced! But they considered it the Mauser itself best rifle among all they have tested. The Swedish Mausers are very similar to the Spanish Model 1893 Mausers, except for a few minor details and... an amazing level of accuracy!
Mauser rifles were originally purchased from Oberndorf, but the Swedes insisted that superior Swedish steel be used in their manufacture. Later, the production of rifles was deployed at two Swedish enterprises: Carl Gustaf and Husqvarna. By this time, the crane-action Remington rifles of the Swedish infantry had already been converted to small caliber (8x58R) cartridges, but the cavalry carbines still used the old 12.17x42R ammunition. So it was decided that it was the cavalry who would receive the first new Mausers, and the infantry would wait a bit!
Clip with cartridges for "Swedish Mauser", issue 1976
And so the famous "Swedish Mauser" was born - a family of rifles based on an improved version of the early model "Mauser" of 1893, but using a 6.5 × 55 mm cartridge and incorporating a number of unique elements at the request of Sweden. These are m/4 carbine (model 1894), m/96 long rifle (model 1896), m/38 short rifle (model 1938) and m/41 sniper rifle (model 1941). In 1898, their production was started at the Carl Gustaf gun factory in Eskilstuna.
The shutter of the rifle "Karl Gustav"
All Swedish Mausers were chambered for the 6.5×55mm cartridge, and all provided 455 MPa (65,992 psi) (55,000 CUP) pressure. The sight was also graduated for a 6.5×55 mm cartridge and was designed for firing from 300 to 2000 m in 100 m increments. The Swedish Mausers were manufactured by Waffenfabrik Mauser AG in Oberndorf in Germany, where 12,000 rifles were already produced at the end of 1896. In Sweden, the production of rifles began in 1898 at the Carl Gustaf and Husqvarna factory at Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag. Until 1918, 113,000 carbines were produced at the Karl Gustov factory, which had a characteristic tide in the lower part of the stock at the muzzle for attaching a bayonet. All Swedish Mausers made in Germany or Sweden were made using high quality tool steel alloyed with nickel, copper and vanadium, with high strength and corrosion resistance.
Carbine m / 1894 with a tide for the bayonet. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
In total, the following types of Mauser rifles were produced in Sweden:
1. m/1892 Rifle and carbine
2. m/1894 Carbine
3. m/1894/14 Carbine
4. m/1896 "Long Rifle"
5. m / 1938 "Short shooting"
6. m/1941 and m/1941B "Sniper rifle"
Note that the sample of the M1892 rifle presented to the Swedes and the carbine based on it was a motley mixture of elements of German (M1890), Turkish and Argentinean (M1891) Mauser rifles.
Short bayonet for m/94 carbine. ((Army Museum, Stockholm)
In 1914, the carbines were modified according to the model of the English No.1 Mk3 Lee Enfield rifle and received a mount suitable for two bayonets at once. The most common was the long m/1914 bayonet. The second secondary bayonet was an even longer bayonet and was intended for the sea (m / 1915). Modification m / 1894-67 was a carbine of 1894, adapted for the bayonet-saber m / 1867 "Yatagan".
A device screwed onto the barrel of a Swedish Mauser for firing blanks.
Also known was Skolskjutningskarbin (literally "school carbine") for military training in Swedish civilian schools. This model differs from the standard m / 1894 carbine, firstly, by marking, and secondly, by a straight bolt handle and the absence of a bayonet mount.
The production of rifles at the factories of Karl Gustov continued until 1925, but approximately 18,000 m / 96 were made at the factory in Haskvarna during World War II for military training of citizens. Mauser produced 40,000 m/96 "long rifles" between 1899 and 1900 and delivered them to Sweden, Carl Gustav 475,000 m/96 between 1896 and 1932 and Husqvarna 20,000 m/96 between 1942 and 1944. A total of 535,000 m/96 "long rifles" were produced. The short rifle 6.5 mm Gevär m/38 in 6.5 mm caliber was adopted in 1938 following the experience of the First World War, which showed that in the new conditions it was preferable to have a shortened rifle.
Rifle Gevär m/38. Short rifle m / 96 (modification 1938-1940). (Army Museum, Stockholm)
The original m/38 (Type I) rifles were derived from m/96 rifles by cutting their barrels to 139mm. Most of the specially made m/38 (type II) rifles had a handle bent down and were completed in 1944. Between 1942 and 1944, the gun factory in Husqvarna produced 88,150 new "short rifles" m / 38. A total of 143,230 copies were produced. The m/41 and m/41B sniper rifles are m/96 rifles equipped with a telescopic sight supplied from Germany. When, due to the deteriorating military situation, Germany stopped selling them to Sweden, the Swedes launched their own sights and converted 5300 specially selected rifles in 1941-1943 into sniper rifles.
Gevär m/41 sniper rifle. Caliber 6.5x55mm. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
In 1939, an unknown, but apparently quite large number of m / 96 rifles were transferred to the Finnish army, which were used during the "Winter War" against Soviet Union and most likely also during the war of 1941-1944. In fact, Swedish rifles have been withdrawn from service since the 1950s, although variants of sniper rifles continued to serve until the early 1980s. However, some units of the rear services were equipped with m / 96 even as early as 1983. The last division to use sniper rifles m / 41B, became the Royal Guard.
Rifle "Husqvarna".
Interestingly, for their "medium" and "heavy" machine guns, the Swedes developed a special cartridge measuring 8 × 63 mm m / 32. It was used from 1932 until the completion of the transition process to 7.62×51mm NATO caliber in 1975.
Cartridge 8×63 mm.
The fact is that the 6.5 × 55 mm m / 94 cartridge was not considered effective enough for firing at aircraft and armored vehicles, and the army needed something more powerful, but not too heavy. Bofors offered the m/32 cartridge the same length as the .30-06 cartridge, allowing it to fit into a standard Browning machine gun receiver, but with a case larger than the standard 6.5×55mm. The bullet weighed 14.2 g, had a high muzzle energy and had an effective range of about 3600 m (3937 m), at which the impact energy was 196 J. Maximum range was 5500 m (6.015 m). The cartridge was equipped with armor-piercing bullets, which had quite decent characteristics of action on armor.
Experienced rifle m / 40 with a muzzle brake chambered for 8 × 63 mm. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
To be continued…
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