"Arisaka" - a rifle aimed at the future
What makes a man - a man? Mainly upbringing - culture is not inherited. That is something, some abilities, inclinations, habits, even - are transmitted. But not a social person in general. In England, in one of the universities, an experiment was conducted: students entered the room one by one and had to put a vase with flowers on the piano. All put it in the middle. A Japanese student entered and put it on the edge. Also repeated in Japan and with the same result, only the proportion was inverse. That is, we are raised in the love of symmetry, they are asymmetries. But how to be then with the technique? What to pay attention to? And how did this, say, affect the creation of new samples? weapons?
A rifle based on the Arisaka 38 type rifle.
Well, with regard to weapons, the same Japanese initially had this: as soon as Western-style modernization began in the country, the Japanese military chose a Remington rifle with a crane bolt. She seemed to them more comfortable than the rest. But already in 1880 of the XIX century, through the efforts of Major Tsuniyoshi Murat, Japan received a rifle of his 11-mm caliber system under flange cartridges with smoky gunpowder. The rifle itself was a hybrid of the French Gra rifle and the Dutch Beaumont rifle, which received the designation "Type 13". This was followed by an improved Type 18 model and, finally, in 1889 the “Type 22” 8-mm caliber with an eight-shot magazine under the trunk of the Kropachek system - that is, again, the French “label” was taken as the basis. With this rifle, Japanese soldiers defeated the Chinese army in the Sino-Japanese War, but it turned out that the rifle has many shortcomings, so to speak of "foreign" origin. Like all rifles with an under-barrel magazine, it had a changing balance. In addition, the height of the Japanese soldier did not exceed 157 cm, and the weight was 48 kg, that is, they almost completely suffered from dystrophy, which means that it was much more difficult for him to deal with this phenomenon than the Europeans. In addition, the recoil during the shot was simply excessive for them, and the rifle itself was too heavy. Of course, you could force recruits to eat a lot of meat and build muscle with dumbbells, and navy they did so. But in the army it was much more difficult to do, so the new chief of the rifle division of the Tokyo arsenal, Colonel Naryakira Arisaka (he replaced Murat, who had already become major general by that time) decided to reduce the caliber of the future rifle to 6,5 mm. Again, they turned to the experience of Europe and found out that there the smallest and weakest in terms of recoil was the Italian 6,5-mm cartridge from the Manlicher-Carcano rifle. It contained only 2,28 g of Solemit brand smokeless powder, which made it possible to disperse its 10,45 grams (with a barrel length of 780 mm) to a speed of 710 m / s.
Arisaka rifle "Type 30".
Arisaka considered that this cartridge could be even weaker, and put only 2,04 g of nitrocellulose lamellar gunpowder in it. The sleeve had a length of 50,7-mm, which made it possible to designate its parameter as 6,5 × 50, as well as 6,5 × 51 mm.
The bayonet to the Arisaka rifle "Type 30". The rifle itself was shot without a bayonet.
At that time, many masters of the weapon case with foaming at the mouth proved to each other alone - the merits of a sleeve with a flange (flange), others - with a ring groove. Arisaka did not choose, and supplied his cartridge at the same time with the rim, however, small, only slightly larger in diameter than the sleeve itself, and the groove. The concepts of “big-small” are extensible, so it makes sense to cite data for comparison: the cartridge Arisaka has a flange on the 0,315 mm, while a Mosinskaya rifle on the 1,055 mm. The bullet was traditionally dull, had a nickel silver shell and a core of lead. The speed that she developed on the departure from the 800-mm barrel, was 725 m / s. Gunpowder from the liner with such a length of the barrel burned entirely, so the muzzle flame when fired almost did not arise, and its sound was low. This is how the 30 Type 1897 rifle of the year, with which the Japanese soldiers went to war with Russia, appeared. And immediately after its completion, namely in the 1906 year, a new rifle “Type 38” was adopted, improved according to its experience.
On the left is the cartridge for the Mosin rifle, on the right is the cartridge for the Arisaka rifle.
The bolt to the rifle "Type 38".
In that year, simultaneously with the Arisaka “Type 1906” rifle, a new cartridge was adopted by the imperial Japanese army, now with a pointed bullet of 38 g and a cylindrical bottom part, not with a blunt-pointed one. This bullet had a thickened shell at the head, but since nickel silver had a lower density than lead, the center of gravity of such a bullet shifted backwards, which positively affected its stability on the trajectory and simultaneously increased its armor-piercing properties. In 8,9, the nickel silver shell of the bullet was replaced with a bimetallic shell - Japan had serious problems with raw materials. A charge of smokeless powder with a mass of 1942 g allowed to develop pressure in the bore to 2,15 kg / m3200 and disperse the bullet to 2 m / s. Cartridges with a tracer bullet (which was designated by green varnish), with armor-piercing (black varnish), with a bullet having a steel core (brown varnish) were produced.
Sights to the rifle "Type 38".
Sights and emblem of the manufacturer's arsenal.
But this is something that no other rifle in the world had: the receiver's lid, which opened it simultaneously with the movement of the bolt. That is, neither dirt, nor sand, which fell on the heads of the soldiers when shells exploded, could not get into the mechanism.
The shutter is closed.
Open shutter. The feeder of cartridges from shop is well visible.
For light machine guns, special cartridges were made with a charge of gunpowder, reduced to 1,9, which helped the Japanese machine-gunners to carry a large supply of cartridges. Cartridges with a smaller charge from the usual did not differ, but had a special identification mark on the box. Accordingly, a cartridge with a short and light cylindrical bullet with a tompak shell and an aluminum core was used for training shooting. For idle firing used cartridges in which the bullet was twisted out of paper, and the same machine-gun cartridge had a bullet from the tree. In addition, special cartridges were used for throwing grenades from grenade launchers attached to the barrel. The holder of the Japanese rifle also had five rounds, as in the Russian.
The shutter handle is raised up. The shutter is open with the cover.
] The shutter is open, the sight is raised.
During World War I, the release of "Japanese cartridges" was organized not only in Japan itself, but also in England, where it was produced under the designation 6,5х51SR and exported to Russia, which bought Arisaka rifles in Japan. Under him, the cartridge was made and the first in the world machine Fedorov.
In 1915-1916 Type 38 cartridges were also produced in Russia at the St. Petersburg Cartridge Plant for 200 thousand units per month. Of course, this was not enough, but it was better than nothing.
[/ Center
Once again, a large image of the logo on the trunk. Well, the Japanese loved the image of multi-petal chrysanthemums, no wonder it was the emblem of the emperor himself.
So, what was the Arisaka 38 Type rifle of the 1905 model of the year? Its shutter was designed on the basis of the German Mauser 98 rifle shutter, but the Japanese managed to make it more technologically advanced, so according to this indicator the Japanese rifle corresponds to the American springfield M1903. The rifle, despite the reduced caliber, turned out to be quite powerful. Moreover, from the experience of the war, it was concluded that her bullets have a good punitive and lethal effect. Due to the lower weight of the cartridges, the Japanese soldier could take them more than the soldiers of other armies. In addition, the 6,5 × 50 mm Arisaka cartridge had a reduced recoil momentum, which had a positive effect on shooting accuracy. True, Russian newspapers after the war wrote that “our gun is stronger than the Japanese,” but the concept of “stronger” does not mean more deadly, but according to this indicator, as determined by doctors who studied injuries in hospitals, both rifles were almost identical. More comfortable was the Japanese patron. Due to a small welt, it was fixed in the chamber through the official section of the barrel, which required lower tolerances in the manufacture of barrels and cartridges, which is especially beneficial in conditions of total war. But at the same time, a small welt did not interfere with the location of cartridges in the store, as well as sending them to the barrel.
[Center]
Fly with namushnikom (1).
Fly with Namuchnikom (2)
The handle, located in the back of the bolt, allowed the rifle to be reloaded without taking the butt off the shoulder, so that the target was not lost in sight. Hidden inside the lodge, the shop was well protected from mechanical stress and deformation. The rate of fire was 20 shots per minute, that is, it was more than enough.
Purely subjectively, the rifle seemed convenient and light, although its weight was 4,12 kg. However, there was no feeling that you were given a heavy iron "drin" in your hands, which immediately pulled them away. It was not difficult to transfer its grip in the area of the store and the shutter, that is, in the very center of gravity, and also direct it to the target. The semi-pistol neck of the butt is of a very convenient shape and makes it possible to reliably fix the rifle in your hands when aiming. It was argued that the bolt cap knocked loudly, unmasking the soldier, and that the Japanese soldiers even took it off because of this. Yes, it clicks a little, but not louder than the distorted shutter itself, but the advantages of such a solution are indisputable. Of course, it would be desirable to shoot from it, but what’s not, that’s not it! However, I can not fail to note that of all the rifles described here earlier (except for Martini-Henry!), This turned out to be the most “applied” one, and the worst in this indicator is the Manliher-Carcano carbine.
In 1914, the colonel of the Russian Imperial Army V.G. Fedorov carried out a full cycle of tests of the Japanese rifle "Type 38", which showed that it was very rationally designed, that is, the very best was really taken from different types of weapons. Further, in his response to the rifle, he noted that, although it possesses excessive measures of accuracy (that's how!), Its production is cheaper than the Mosin rifles. Logically, after this, it would seem necessary to replace our caliber with a Japanese one and adopt a Japanese rifle and Japanese ammunition, but it is clear that it would have been impossible to do this during the war, but after the 6,5-mm caliber we “went”, it again occurred to our new military that “our gun is stronger than the Japanese” and to convince them of VG Fedorov failed! However, subsequent events in the arms world have shown that reducing caliber is a necessary thing, so the Japanese in the right trend, as they say, were, it turns out, more than 100 years ago!
A rifle based on the Arisaka 38 type rifle.
Well, with regard to weapons, the same Japanese initially had this: as soon as Western-style modernization began in the country, the Japanese military chose a Remington rifle with a crane bolt. She seemed to them more comfortable than the rest. But already in 1880 of the XIX century, through the efforts of Major Tsuniyoshi Murat, Japan received a rifle of his 11-mm caliber system under flange cartridges with smoky gunpowder. The rifle itself was a hybrid of the French Gra rifle and the Dutch Beaumont rifle, which received the designation "Type 13". This was followed by an improved Type 18 model and, finally, in 1889 the “Type 22” 8-mm caliber with an eight-shot magazine under the trunk of the Kropachek system - that is, again, the French “label” was taken as the basis. With this rifle, Japanese soldiers defeated the Chinese army in the Sino-Japanese War, but it turned out that the rifle has many shortcomings, so to speak of "foreign" origin. Like all rifles with an under-barrel magazine, it had a changing balance. In addition, the height of the Japanese soldier did not exceed 157 cm, and the weight was 48 kg, that is, they almost completely suffered from dystrophy, which means that it was much more difficult for him to deal with this phenomenon than the Europeans. In addition, the recoil during the shot was simply excessive for them, and the rifle itself was too heavy. Of course, you could force recruits to eat a lot of meat and build muscle with dumbbells, and navy they did so. But in the army it was much more difficult to do, so the new chief of the rifle division of the Tokyo arsenal, Colonel Naryakira Arisaka (he replaced Murat, who had already become major general by that time) decided to reduce the caliber of the future rifle to 6,5 mm. Again, they turned to the experience of Europe and found out that there the smallest and weakest in terms of recoil was the Italian 6,5-mm cartridge from the Manlicher-Carcano rifle. It contained only 2,28 g of Solemit brand smokeless powder, which made it possible to disperse its 10,45 grams (with a barrel length of 780 mm) to a speed of 710 m / s.
Arisaka rifle "Type 30".
Arisaka considered that this cartridge could be even weaker, and put only 2,04 g of nitrocellulose lamellar gunpowder in it. The sleeve had a length of 50,7-mm, which made it possible to designate its parameter as 6,5 × 50, as well as 6,5 × 51 mm.
The bayonet to the Arisaka rifle "Type 30". The rifle itself was shot without a bayonet.
At that time, many masters of the weapon case with foaming at the mouth proved to each other alone - the merits of a sleeve with a flange (flange), others - with a ring groove. Arisaka did not choose, and supplied his cartridge at the same time with the rim, however, small, only slightly larger in diameter than the sleeve itself, and the groove. The concepts of “big-small” are extensible, so it makes sense to cite data for comparison: the cartridge Arisaka has a flange on the 0,315 mm, while a Mosinskaya rifle on the 1,055 mm. The bullet was traditionally dull, had a nickel silver shell and a core of lead. The speed that she developed on the departure from the 800-mm barrel, was 725 m / s. Gunpowder from the liner with such a length of the barrel burned entirely, so the muzzle flame when fired almost did not arise, and its sound was low. This is how the 30 Type 1897 rifle of the year, with which the Japanese soldiers went to war with Russia, appeared. And immediately after its completion, namely in the 1906 year, a new rifle “Type 38” was adopted, improved according to its experience.
On the left is the cartridge for the Mosin rifle, on the right is the cartridge for the Arisaka rifle.
The bolt to the rifle "Type 38".
In that year, simultaneously with the Arisaka “Type 1906” rifle, a new cartridge was adopted by the imperial Japanese army, now with a pointed bullet of 38 g and a cylindrical bottom part, not with a blunt-pointed one. This bullet had a thickened shell at the head, but since nickel silver had a lower density than lead, the center of gravity of such a bullet shifted backwards, which positively affected its stability on the trajectory and simultaneously increased its armor-piercing properties. In 8,9, the nickel silver shell of the bullet was replaced with a bimetallic shell - Japan had serious problems with raw materials. A charge of smokeless powder with a mass of 1942 g allowed to develop pressure in the bore to 2,15 kg / m3200 and disperse the bullet to 2 m / s. Cartridges with a tracer bullet (which was designated by green varnish), with armor-piercing (black varnish), with a bullet having a steel core (brown varnish) were produced.
Sights to the rifle "Type 38".
Sights and emblem of the manufacturer's arsenal.
But this is something that no other rifle in the world had: the receiver's lid, which opened it simultaneously with the movement of the bolt. That is, neither dirt, nor sand, which fell on the heads of the soldiers when shells exploded, could not get into the mechanism.
The shutter is closed.
Open shutter. The feeder of cartridges from shop is well visible.
For light machine guns, special cartridges were made with a charge of gunpowder, reduced to 1,9, which helped the Japanese machine-gunners to carry a large supply of cartridges. Cartridges with a smaller charge from the usual did not differ, but had a special identification mark on the box. Accordingly, a cartridge with a short and light cylindrical bullet with a tompak shell and an aluminum core was used for training shooting. For idle firing used cartridges in which the bullet was twisted out of paper, and the same machine-gun cartridge had a bullet from the tree. In addition, special cartridges were used for throwing grenades from grenade launchers attached to the barrel. The holder of the Japanese rifle also had five rounds, as in the Russian.
The shutter handle is raised up. The shutter is open with the cover.
] The shutter is open, the sight is raised.
During World War I, the release of "Japanese cartridges" was organized not only in Japan itself, but also in England, where it was produced under the designation 6,5х51SR and exported to Russia, which bought Arisaka rifles in Japan. Under him, the cartridge was made and the first in the world machine Fedorov.
In 1915-1916 Type 38 cartridges were also produced in Russia at the St. Petersburg Cartridge Plant for 200 thousand units per month. Of course, this was not enough, but it was better than nothing.
[/ CenterOnce again, a large image of the logo on the trunk. Well, the Japanese loved the image of multi-petal chrysanthemums, no wonder it was the emblem of the emperor himself.
So, what was the Arisaka 38 Type rifle of the 1905 model of the year? Its shutter was designed on the basis of the German Mauser 98 rifle shutter, but the Japanese managed to make it more technologically advanced, so according to this indicator the Japanese rifle corresponds to the American springfield M1903. The rifle, despite the reduced caliber, turned out to be quite powerful. Moreover, from the experience of the war, it was concluded that her bullets have a good punitive and lethal effect. Due to the lower weight of the cartridges, the Japanese soldier could take them more than the soldiers of other armies. In addition, the 6,5 × 50 mm Arisaka cartridge had a reduced recoil momentum, which had a positive effect on shooting accuracy. True, Russian newspapers after the war wrote that “our gun is stronger than the Japanese,” but the concept of “stronger” does not mean more deadly, but according to this indicator, as determined by doctors who studied injuries in hospitals, both rifles were almost identical. More comfortable was the Japanese patron. Due to a small welt, it was fixed in the chamber through the official section of the barrel, which required lower tolerances in the manufacture of barrels and cartridges, which is especially beneficial in conditions of total war. But at the same time, a small welt did not interfere with the location of cartridges in the store, as well as sending them to the barrel.
[Center]
Fly with namushnikom (1).
Fly with Namuchnikom (2)
The handle, located in the back of the bolt, allowed the rifle to be reloaded without taking the butt off the shoulder, so that the target was not lost in sight. Hidden inside the lodge, the shop was well protected from mechanical stress and deformation. The rate of fire was 20 shots per minute, that is, it was more than enough.
Purely subjectively, the rifle seemed convenient and light, although its weight was 4,12 kg. However, there was no feeling that you were given a heavy iron "drin" in your hands, which immediately pulled them away. It was not difficult to transfer its grip in the area of the store and the shutter, that is, in the very center of gravity, and also direct it to the target. The semi-pistol neck of the butt is of a very convenient shape and makes it possible to reliably fix the rifle in your hands when aiming. It was argued that the bolt cap knocked loudly, unmasking the soldier, and that the Japanese soldiers even took it off because of this. Yes, it clicks a little, but not louder than the distorted shutter itself, but the advantages of such a solution are indisputable. Of course, it would be desirable to shoot from it, but what’s not, that’s not it! However, I can not fail to note that of all the rifles described here earlier (except for Martini-Henry!), This turned out to be the most “applied” one, and the worst in this indicator is the Manliher-Carcano carbine.
In 1914, the colonel of the Russian Imperial Army V.G. Fedorov carried out a full cycle of tests of the Japanese rifle "Type 38", which showed that it was very rationally designed, that is, the very best was really taken from different types of weapons. Further, in his response to the rifle, he noted that, although it possesses excessive measures of accuracy (that's how!), Its production is cheaper than the Mosin rifles. Logically, after this, it would seem necessary to replace our caliber with a Japanese one and adopt a Japanese rifle and Japanese ammunition, but it is clear that it would have been impossible to do this during the war, but after the 6,5-mm caliber we “went”, it again occurred to our new military that “our gun is stronger than the Japanese” and to convince them of VG Fedorov failed! However, subsequent events in the arms world have shown that reducing caliber is a necessary thing, so the Japanese in the right trend, as they say, were, it turns out, more than 100 years ago!
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