Future weapons from Italy
Immediately, I would like to make a reservation that in metal, or rather in metal and plastic, as long as there is only a pistol, but in a short time you can expect a workable version of a submachine gun.
New Edge future pistol
The vision of how to change handguns in the near future is different for everyone, there are many prerequisites for the fact that it will cease to be a gunshot altogether. The refusal to detonate gunpowder as the main way to disperse a bullet through the barrel borehole will come sooner or later, but the designers of Technostudio Engineering do not look so far into the future, but offer a gun with an unusual design, but with the most ordinary cartridges.
Before getting acquainted with this gun in more detail, it is necessary to give its comparison with other known models of weapons, in order to avoid premature criticism. They compared the gun with the Glock 17 and Beretta Px4.
He fired the same shooter, the distance to the target was 25 meters. The Glock 17 10 pistol hits fit into a circle with a diameter of 40 centimeters. From the Beretta Px4 pistol, all the hits fit into the centimeter 35 range. With the new gun New Edge, all ten bullets hit the circle a little more 5 centimeters. The cartridges used are the same 9x19.
It is hard to believe in such indicators, or rather it is not believed at all, nevertheless, such a statement was made and if the weapon is interesting for someone from major manufacturers, you will have to explain why something is not true. Therefore, we will pretend that we believe and try to figure out what exactly the designers invented in order for it to show such results.
One of the things that gives the New Edge a gun such high accuracy is its low set barrel. This decision is far from new, and almost all manufacturers of handguns have made or tried to make a pistol with the trunk axis as low as possible. The reason here lies in the banal principle of the lever, the lower the barrel in relation to the hand of the arrow, the smaller the shoulder is formed when the recoil energy is applied to the pistol handle, and accordingly the hand of the arrow. As a result, the gun during shooting does not lead up, it does not go away from the aiming line, and the shooter himself feels less recoil when shooting, as the force vector is actually directed into the palm of the hand holding the weapon.
However, such results can not be achieved only due to a low-set barrel pistol, there must be something else. Another option to reduce recoil when shooting is the use of automation, which allows to stretch the moment of recoil.
That's just about the automation system of weapons designers modestly silent, but, apparently, it is not so simple. It is not excluded, of course, that an automation system with a short stroke of the weapon was used, but it can be noted that there is no projection above the chamber that would engage in the clutch with the casing-gate. Perhaps the coupling is carried out with the inner surface of the casing of the bolt, but we will not see this without disassembling the weapon.
It can be assumed, and it is most likely that the designers have developed a balanced automation system, this would explain such a high accuracy when firing from this pistol. In favor of such an assumption is evidenced by a rather large “beard” under the barrel of the weapon at the pistol, which is already made, not drawn. You can, of course, assume that the laser designator is located there, but then why additionally made a seat for additional devices. In addition, built-in LCCs are typical for small-sized pistols, which are positioned as a means of self-defense, usually they are removable devices. There is still a hidden commercial component, since you can first sell the gun, and then to it also LCC.
In general, one can only guess and make assumptions about the automation system, since no one except the designers of truth knows. Voluntarily, they do not disclose the secret, and the Geneva Convention limits the ability to get some specific information from them.
But the designers are ready for a long time and with rapture to talk about the features of the weapon that catches the eye immediately - the lack of a trigger, in the usual presentation of this detail.
Despite the fact that the New Edge pistol is positioned as a weapon of the future, it is still impossible to fire it using the power of thought. The designers failed to abandon the physical controls in the weapon, so in this respect everything is classically in arms. However, the location of controls, in particular, the trigger lever is completely unusual.
In order to shoot a pistol from New Edge, no movements of the index finger are required; instead of the index finger, the thumb is used. On the left or right side of the weapon, depending on which hand of the shooter has, is a rather large lever, which can be taken as a fuse switch. In fact, this lever controls the descent of the firing mechanism.
For some strange reason, it is this innovation in the arms that is given a lot of attention (something similar could be seen in the same Italy at the end of the nineteenth century). Representatives of the company claim that it is thanks to this location of the trigger lever that high accuracy is achieved when firing. However, at the same time it is said about the presence of a pistol with a classic location of the trigger, which is not inferior in its characteristics.
This arrangement of the trigger lever raises many questions, because until you try it, you will not understand the advantages. And you need to try for a long time and not with a couple of hundred rounds. Perhaps after the shooter adapts to a new weapon, the result will actually be better. However, the drawbacks of such a control are visible almost immediately.
First of all, it is almost impossible to get rid of moving the weapon to the side while holding with one hand. Especially if when you press the trigger lever, you need not only to lower the trigger, but also to cock it. That is, when firing by self-platoon about any accuracy of speech can not be. The second negative point is the safety of the handling of weapons. A sufficiently large control will cling when the gun is removed and sooner or later the descent will work. If you make the trigger lever small and unable to catch anything, it will be problematic to shoot a pistol when necessary.
In general, the disadvantages are obvious, but the pros still need to look. In addition, if there is a pistol with a classic trigger and it is not inferior in performance to a weapon with a side descent lever, then what is the point of all these gestures?
An interesting point is also the fact that on the basis of this gun is planned to create a carbine. In fact, the new weapon will represent the same gun only with a longer barrel. All this will be dressed “kit” with a fixed butt.
In addition, designers are developing quick-detachable device for silent shooting. This device will be attached to the frame of the gun and will not be connected to the barrel of the weapon directly.
From the foregoing, we can make a very simple conclusion: the fact that the designers point out as the main advantages of the New Edge pistol does not give it significant advantages over the existing samples. Of course, the low-stem axis of the barrel makes the weapon more obedient, maybe even a side descent lever after several months of training will seem more comfortable, but in sum it does not provide those advantages that are mentioned in comparative shooting from the 17 Beretta PxXNNX and New Edge Glock. This means that the main feature of this gun is hidden from the eyes, that is, the whole secret lies in the automatic weapon system.
SMG15 and SMG25 submachine guns
These submachine guns have not yet been demonstrated in the form of full-fledged working samples. While they exist only on paper and in the form of plastic models, which, of course, cannot shoot, for this reason, it is not yet possible to evaluate the specific characteristics of the weapon. However, the main essence of the design of these samples is already clear and some conclusions can already be drawn.
In fact, the separation of these two models is conditional. Both submachine guns have a similar design and subsequently, they will be quickly renamed, making it impossible for one option to conduct automatic fire and use of expanded-capacity stores for the civilian market.
From the point of view of design, the main feature of the new weapon was the location of the store, which is located on top of the receiver, similar to the FN machine gun P90, which in turn is similar in this node to the little-known machine gun HILL15.
As is clear from the designations of these samples, one option is powered from a magazine with an 15 cartridge capacity, the other has a 25 magazine capacity of cartridges, while the Р90 boasts about fifty cartridges in a shop. In connection with this, a quite expected question arises: why was it necessary to complicate the design of a weapon for the sake of a relatively small gain in store capacity? After all, any complication of the design is not only an increase in the cost of the final product, but also additional weaknesses in reliability, and in this case also a complication of such a simple procedure as a store equipment. In addition, this store location has a fairly large effect on the accuracy of fire as the ammunition is exhausted due to the shift in the balance of the submachine gun. In general, this solution is interesting, but it has quite a few shortcomings and only one “plus” is the capacity of the store, but in this case this plus is not implemented.
However, the designers managed to do something that can not be repeated with the classic location of the store in the handle - the layout of the bullpup. What does this mean for a submachine gun. The first is the preservation of the maximum length of the barrel with the minimum length of the weapon itself. The second and, in my opinion, the most important point is the possibility of pulling out the handle to hold it as far as possible, which makes the weapon more stable when firing automatic fire, and makes it more effective to automatically fire when using only one hand.
It is also interesting in this weapon that the designers did not limit themselves only to the layout possibilities for reducing the overall dimensions of the weapon. No matter how hard you try, there must be a shutter behind the barrel, and there must be space behind it to allow it to move. Accordingly, in order to reduce overall dimensions, it is necessary to reduce both the bolt group itself and the distance it travels during firing. It is certainly possible to achieve minimal results with an automation system with free or semi-free valves, but this design will be short-lived even when using modern materials, since there will be great loads at the extreme points of moving parts. For this reason, an automatic system with the removal of powder gases from the barrel bore was used in machine pistols. Details about the specific implementation, even locking the barrel bore naturally not yet, but any of the options for implementation gives enough room for further development of weapons. For example, it becomes possible to use powerful ammunition without significant changes in the design of the weapon.
It is interesting that the release of spent cartridges will be carried out below the pistol grip. In this particular case, we can say that the bolt will periodically chew the shooter’s clothes if it is sufficiently free in the wrist area. This is how a small feature can turn into a specific flaw, crossing out all the advantages of a new weapon.
The second feature of the new submachine guns should be another innovation, namely the counter of the remaining cartridges, the output of which will be carried out in the form of numbers on small screens on both sides of the weapon.
This decision is more than controversial. First of all, it should be noted that with transparent magazines it is much easier and more convenient to control the rest of the cartridges by simply looking away from the sights than by rotating the weapon in your hands trying to see the numbers. Secondly, if the screens are highlighted, it may be unmasked by the arrow.
The location of the screens is really not the best. Even if you hold the weapon with one hand, both screens will be buried, on one side with the phalanx of the index finger, and on the other hand with the thumb. Perhaps the only successful implementation of electronic accounting of cartridges in the store can still be considered a dim LED from the back of the receiver, which changes its color from green to red when the cartridges in the store come to an end. In the end, the task of such a system is not to indicate the arrow how many cartridges it has left, but promptly warn of the need for recharging in the near future.
Сonclusion
Of course, Technostudio Engineering’s pistol and submachine gun are very interesting and deserve attention. Come up with, and in the case of a gun also implement, not everyone can do the same, so the work of designers can only be assessed positively. Nevertheless, it is necessary to soberly assess the situation and understand that such weapons are unlikely to be seen in mass production in the near future. Even if the characteristics of the same gun New Edge really correspond to the declared ones, then ultimately such a weapon will be much more expensive and not everyone will agree with the same price, since only units need an ultra-precise pistol.
Do not forget about the reliability of weapons. It's no secret that the more complex the device, the greater the likelihood of failure of its individual components. This may also include not the simplest maintenance, the complexity of which grows in proportion to the complexity of the design. It is possible that the probability of this is very small, that the company will receive an order for a very small batch of its weapons to meet the needs of personal protection of high-ranking officials or special units of the army or police, but we hardly know about this promptly.
- Mark Poddubny
- gunsweek.com, thefirearmblog.com
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