Automatic or assault rifle?
Continuing to reveal history creation of the AKM, we cannot help but make a small digression and tell about another brainchild of Mikhail Timofeevich - the automatic carbine (according to current foreign classification, an “assault rifle”).
As already noted, after the adoption of the AK-47, the rifle squad was armed with two models of individual weapons – the AK-47 itself and the SKS self-loading carbine. Moreover, most experts, relying on the experience of conducting military operations in the Great Patriotic War, considered this to be entirely justified. Opinions differed only in their quantitative ratio. The understanding of the influence of the maneuverability of weapons on the combat effectiveness of shooting and confirmation of this in practice occurred somewhat later. As a result, the classic "assault rifle" never appeared in service with the Soviet Army, but machine guns were adopted - shortened "assault rifles", and the carbine, as a type of individual weapon, ceased to exist.
But that was in the future. In the meantime, inspired by Korobov's efforts, Mikhail Timofeevich took an unconventional step - he tried to combine in one model the properties of both an assault rifle (the ability to fire in bursts and a large magazine capacity) and a carbine (increased shooting accuracy and better external ballistic characteristics). The customer, represented by the Main Artillery Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense, was interested in this proposal (after all, reducing the range of weapons promised considerable economic benefits) and, by his letter dated April 26, 1954, instructed the testing ground to conduct a preliminary assessment of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which was carried out from May 3 to June 7, 1954 by engineer majors V. G. Lugovoi and F. A. Blanter, and senior technician lieutenant I. A. Tishukov. All firings were conducted in parallel with serial AK and SKS. One sample of the assault rifle No. NZh-1470 was submitted for testing.
It is noteworthy that technical documentation (drawings, specifications, etc.) for the assault rifle was not presented, which contradicts the general rules for organizing tests (apparently, the GRAU's genuine interest in what kind of "miracle" this was had an effect). How did the experimental assault rifle differ from the AK-47?
1. The length of the barrel is increased by 70 mm.
2. The closed-type gas chamber (without venting excess gases into the atmosphere) was shifted back by 132 mm and had a gas outlet diameter of 2 mm (instead of 4,4+0,1).
3. Automatic system with a short stroke (8 mm) of the piston, then the stem with the bolt moves by inertia. The piston stroke back is limited by the projections of the rear part of the gas chamber.
4. The automatic release also acts as a rate of fire retarder, which is triggered after the barrel rebounds when struck in the extreme forward position (the operating principle is the same as that of the Korobov assault rifle). The automatic release axis is located behind the hammer and trigger axes.
5. The bolt stem has grooves for magazine loading and a lock (bolt catch) at the base of the reloading handle.
The bolt stem is fixed for loading the standard machine gun magazine by pressing the finger on the movable pin, which enters the corresponding recess on the right wall of the receiver.
Kalashnikov rifle
Kalashnikov rifle
Karabin Simonov
1 – bolt carrier frame of the machine gun, 2 – bolt stem of the machine gun carbine
To release the stem, you need to pull it back a little and release it.
6. Due to the location of the automatic trigger-delay device on the right wall of the receiver behind the trigger, the selector-safety lever is mounted on the left wall of the receiver.
7. The shape and dimensions of the fore-end and barrel pad have been changed.
8. Changed the mounting bayonet knife.
9. The stroke of the moving parts is 34 mm less than that of the AK, and is almost the same as that of the SKS, which is due to the same automatic operating scheme (the AK has a long piston stroke).
10. The movement of the bolt carrier when recoiling for the next cartridge is only 12 mm, while for the AK it is 63 mm and for the SKS it is 29 mm.
From the height of today's knowledge of weapons science, Mikhail Timofeevich's experiments and the customer's hopes seem like child's play. Such a "course" project is within the power of a modern ordinary student of a weapons university and would be rated at best as a C minus. In the early 50s, the research, theory and calculation of automatic systems were in their infancy. Along with the implementation of a huge number of research projects that generalized the entire experience of weapons science, intensive studies of various principles of weapon automation were conducted, statistical processing of the results of all stages (factory, acceptance, periodic, etc.) of testing of serial samples. Through the joint efforts of specialists from design bureaus, research institutes, universities, and manufacturing enterprises, the theory and calculation of small arms mechanisms acquired a modern look and covered all known principles of automation, periodically being refined and supplemented when non-traditional designs appeared.
For these reasons, in the instructions for testing the assault rifle, the customer quite democratically states: "Upon receiving an improvement... it is necessary, if possible, to determine the factors that had a positive effect...". Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately (after all, the US Army approached "truncating" the assault rifle only 50 years later, already in the 120st century), no factors that had a positive effect on the combat characteristics of the assault rifle were found, despite the 2,5 g lighter (compared to the AK) weight and XNUMX% higher bullet speed.
The summary of the test site stated: "The characteristics of the bullet dispersion when firing from a carbine-assault rifle are within the dispersion limits of standard assault rifles. When firing both with normally lubricated parts and with dust, rain and dry parts, the carbine-assault rifle did not work reliably. All delays are due to the failure to feed a cartridge from the magazine." The reason was the insufficient advance of the bolt feeder behind the next cartridge with a "sluggish" (weak) reflection of the cartridge case. Thus, a stalemate was created: increasing the recoil speed of the moving parts to ensure normal reflection of the cartridge cases is unacceptable, since it leads to continuous failures to feed (missed feeding) of the cartridge from the magazine due to a lack of time to raise the next cartridge (to the feed line) into the magazine receiver. Reducing the speed of the moving parts is also unacceptable, since it leads to continuous delays - "sticking" of the cartridge case due to a weak reflection. That is, the automatic system is capable of operating reliably enough only in a narrow range of speeds of moving parts, which is unachievable in practice. All design features, from the point of view of shooting accuracy, have no practical benefits. It is quite obvious (quote from the original document) that "such a model cannot replace the Simonov carbine and the Kalashnikov assault rifle as a single individual infantry model, the expediency of which is quite obvious." Hurray! The concept has been rethought, which was facilitated by
and the results of firing at the "Vystrel" courses when practicing methods for determining and assessing combat effectiveness. The conclusion was even more specific: "Considering that the 7,62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle is a reliably operating model in all cases of military use and has high performance characteristics, military unit No. 01773 considers it appropriate
to conduct a broad test in the troops of the possibility of using this machine gun in a lightweight version with a bayonet as a single model of individual infantry weapon."
1 – cover of the receiver of the machine gun, 2 – cover of the receiver of the carbine machine gun
This conclusion became a death sentence for Simonov's carbine, the production of which was soon curtailed. Thus, in general, the unsuccessful design changed the further direction
development of domestic individual weapons. But even with the recommendation for the "further life" of the AK assault rifle, GRAU was somewhat tricky. At that time, the tactical and technical requirements for the promising assault rifle No. 006256-53 had already been worked out and a number of fairly well-known (in narrow circles) gunsmiths zealously set to work.
1 - automatic rifle barrel pad, 2 - automatic rifle-carbine barrel pad, 3 -machine gun shank, 4 - rifle machine gun shank
1 - automatic bayonet, 2 - automatic rifle bayonet
1 - piston and piston rod automatic rifle,
2 - automatic piston and piston rod
Main weight and linear characteristics of samples
Name of characteristics |
Kalashnikov rifle #1 |
According to the drawings and specifications on the Kalashnikov assault rifle |
According to the drawings and specifications for the Simonov carbine |
|
Total weight with accessory and magazine without cartridges, kg |
4,130* |
no more 4,250 |
no more 3,850 |
|
Barrel weight with receiver |
2,392 |
2,497 |
1,769 |
|
Weight of moving parts, kg |
0,665** |
0,569 |
0,483 |
|
Shutter stem weight, kg |
0,512 |
- |
0,235 |
|
The weight of the bolt body in the assembly, kg |
0,087 |
0,091 |
0,136 |
|
Weight bolt with stem, kg |
- |
0,436 |
- |
|
Weight of gas piston with rod, kg |
0,036 |
0,080 |
0,064 |
|
Weight of the receiver cover, kg |
0,086 |
0,190 |
0,103 |
|
Handguard weight, kg |
0,156 |
0,107 |
- |
|
Weight of the barrel pad, kg |
0,089 |
0,132 |
0,135 |
|
Bayonet weight, kg |
0,240 |
0,270 |
0,143 |
|
Bayonet sheath weight, kg |
0,100 |
0,100 |
- |
|
Length without bayonet (for SKS with bayonet in the stowed position), mm |
977 |
870 |
1025 |
|
Length with a bayonet, mm |
1162 |
1075 |
1264,5 |
|
Barrel length, mm |
485 |
415 |
520 |
|
Bayonet length, mm |
310 |
310 |
312 |
|
The length of the blade of the bayonet, mm |
200 |
200 |
228 |
|
Trigger force, kg |
2,7 |
1,5:2,5 |
- |
* – weight with a magazine from a Kalashnikov assault rifle is indicated
** - taking into account the weight of the piston with the rod
Information