Swiss version of the design of Ludwig Vorgrimler (part of 3)
In the second part of the material about the Czech automaton vz.58, it was said that from 1946 to 1949, the German designer Ludwig Vorgrimler and his colleague Theodor Löffler managed to create three versions of the machine for different cartridges and worked for France and Spain, where Vrigrimler moved to 1950 year. And it was his StG 45 that served as the basis for the HK G3 automatic rifle, which appeared in Germany in 1959, and the HK MP5 submachine gun, and in Switzerland, made the SIG SG 510 rifle.
Rifle Stgw.57.
The fact that “Czech is excellent” was already discussed here, but everything that was done in Switzerland was also always of high quality. So there is a reason to digress from the topic of Czech weapons and talk about what the structure Forgrimlera turned on Swiss soil.
Rifle Stgw.57. (Army Museum in Stockholm).
By the way, this material is also a good reason to talk about small arms in general, the terminology used in our literature and a number of other interesting circumstances.
Rifle Stgw. 57. (Army Museum in Stockholm). This particular sample was used in the Swedish army between 1960 - 1964. on trials to select a promising model for its armament. But in the end, according to the test results, the Swedes still chose the Heckler & Koh G3 rifle. The photo clearly shows the carrying handle, short wooden forend, folded sights and a fire translator.
While the war was going on, the Swiss were actively studying the achievements of the military thought of the warring countries, rightly judging that they had nowhere to hurry. However, after its completion, it became obvious that the time requirements needed to be met by both them and the work on creating a new rifle, and, of course, the automatic were immediately accelerated. And now, after a number of intermediate samples in 1954 - 1955. at SIG, under the leadership of Rudolph Amsler, an automatic rifle Stgw.57 (SturmGewehr 57), adopted by the Swiss army in 1957, is being created. Her version of the SIG 510-4 was exported to Bolivia and Chile. Known variants of SIG 510-1 (Stgw.57 caliber 7,5 mm); SIG 510-2 - the same caliber, but somewhat lightweight; SIG 510-3 - made under the Soviet cartridge 7,62x39 mm, and with a magazine for 30 cartridges.
Scheme of the device.
It remains to add that at the heart of the design of this rifle lies the same development of Ludwig Forgrimler, which at the same time was embodied in the Spanish rifle “CETME”. However, if we try to learn more about her, then ... we will meet information surprisingly little. All-knowing Wikipedia in Russian gives it only four paragraphs. There is this and this, albeit clumsy, but informative phrase: “The developed AM 55 assault rifle (also using the SIG 510-0) was modeled on the German experimental StG45 (M)”. And a very clear work of Google translator - “The rifle was shot by Swiss 7,5 x 55 mm GP11 ammunition.”
GP11 cartridges.
Then there is a link to the materials of the site weapon.at.ua, where such an interesting description of the automatic operation of this rifle is given, that I simply cannot deny myself the pleasure to bring it in its entirety: “For cocking the weapon it is necessary to take back and release the T-shaped handle, with the bolt going forward, sending the cartridge into the chamber. The cock is cocked and held by the sear. The shutter consists of two parts: the stem and the larvae. On the larva, rollers of unusual design are mounted: on the cylindrical roller itself, small figured details are hinged. When the cartridge enters the chamber, the larva stops, and the stem of the gate continues to move and passes between the rollers. The mirror has a wedge-shaped shape, and the rollers are forced into the grooves of the receiver.
Here it is - the shutter rifle SIG 510-4. The extractor hook is clearly visible at the bottom. To the right is the extractor lever, which, when the bolt moves backward, shifts the sleeve to the right and throws it out of the receiver window. The locking roller protruding from it is also clearly visible.
When fired, the cartridge case moves backwards. The inner surface of the chamber has longitudinal grooves, which allow the powder gases to pass to the mirror gate. It has two openings through which gases pass through the larva and press on the stem of the bolt. The pressure of the liner and the powder gases causes the rollers to move inward along the inclined surfaces of the stem stem. Due to the angles of inclination of the wedge-shaped surface, the stem of the shutter is forced to move back and detach from the larva.
This photo clearly shows the principle of the locking unit: the back of the bolt slides back out from the front, and the rollers hide in their sockets.
When the rollers come out of the grooves, the bolt, in a disconnected state, continues to roll back. The cartridge case is pressed against the shutter mirror with an ejector. It is fixed pivotally on the top of the combat larva; when the bolt rolls back, it rests against an inclined projection on the left side of the receiver, as a result the sleeve is ejected through the window on the right side of the receiver. This design provides a smoother operation of the mechanism in the process of ejecting the liner. "
Shutter device views from the top: on the left - in the collection, in the center of the back with a protruding locking rod, on the right - the shutter head, at the bottom - a return spring.
It is clear that this description is given in the typical Soviet tradition of describing the details of a weapon - “stem”, “larva”. However, it is well known that “all wars were due to inaccuracies of formulations” (a joke, of course, but there is a lot of sense in it!), Because if we consider the details of this rifle, then we will immediately have many questions. So - "the shutter consists of a stem and a larva" ... Let's look at it and see that it consists of two massive steel bars of almost the same size. The larva is something round, small. A larva with half a shutter is nonsense, just like the “stem” is its second part. The stem could still be called a locking rod protruding from it with a pointed front, because the massive part of this detail, by analogy with the world of colors, could be called a “bud,” but the whole “bud and stem” could be called simply a stem. In general, in this description, that the phrase is a pearl. And it is not clear where it came from. After all, it is obvious that if you write an article about weapons, then you should follow certain rules that are quite simple: if you yourself cannot hold on to the weapons described, then take instructions on how to use them, since there are such guides in every army. The rifle was exported, so there should be such an instruction in English.
Open it and read: “The breech heading is the heading for the breech and the firing lever. Breech head and director shaft shaft are connected by a cotter pin.
What can be translated as follows: “The shutter consists of a shutter head with an ejector, locking rollers with rockers and a liner extractor, as well as the back of the shutter with a locking rod through which the drummer passes, the springs of the striker and the lever of the striker. The shutter head and the back of the shutter are connected with a cotter pin. "
Details of the bolt, from left to right: a bolt head with rollers, a locking pin connecting the back of the bolt to the front, a drummer, a hammer spring, an L-shaped hammer lever, a hammer pin.
Why is it translated that way and not otherwise? Yes, because the English language on 20% more informative than Russian and when translating from English to Russian phrases should be lengthened, and when translated from Russian into English - shortened. The word combination “director shaft” is translated as a “locking rod” according to its functional meaning, since it is this “stem” that pushes the rollers and makes the locking of the shutter. Interestingly, the trigger when firing, located in the receiver on the left, first strikes the L-shaped hinge lever, and that one, in turn, hits the firing pin.
Now the scheme of the shutter from the "Manual ...". As you can see, no “openings for blowing the shutter” are shown on it, there is not even a hint.
And now a little more about the gases blowing the valve and falling through the holes in the larva. Holes on the shutter head really is. But nowhere in the text of the "Instructions ..." about "blowing" there is not a single word! But this is important, isn't it? But no, nothing in the English text is written about it. And there is literally the following: “When you pull the trigger, the trigger hits the lever of the striker, which feeds it forward and smashes the cartridge primer. The pressure of the bottom of the liner at the head of the bolt increases, but the rollers in its sockets prevent the bolt from moving back. It should be emphasized that this is “not a hard lock”, since the rollers are held only by the wedge-shaped surfaces of the locking rod at the rear of the gate, and the rollers are held only by the force of the return spring. When the bullet leaves the barrel and the pressure at the bottom of the sleeve reaches a maximum, it comes out of the chamber approximately one quarter of an inch, and the locking rollers retract inside and push the locking rod back, which allows the bolt head and the spent sleeve to retract. In this case, the locking rod stores enough energy to pull back both parts of the gate. During this movement, the protrusion on the receiver moves the extractor with an empty sleeve along the gate head mirror to the right, after which it is extracted through the window on the receiver. During the backward movement of the bolt, the trigger is cocked and the return spring is compressed. In the rear position, the shutter rests on the buffer. A compressed return spring causes the bolt to move forward. In this case, the cartridge from the magazine is fed into the chamber, and the locking rod at the rear of the bolt squeezes the rollers into their locking slots, after which the weapon is again ready to fire. ”
It seems to me that this is a more understandable description of the operation of the automation of this unusual rifle.
I would add to this text just one phrase, which is absent in the original: "The Revelly grooves (total 8) were made in the chamber starting from the pool entrance, designed to facilitate the movement of the sleeve at the initial stage of extraction when the pressure of gases in the chamber is still too high.". But this is nothing more than an explanation, but otherwise, it is a fairly accurate translation of the text from the “Manual ...”
This photo clearly shows the attachment of the butt to the receiver. The latch is at the bottom.
And now it is worth thinking about the following: should we try to reduce everything to our old terms when describing foreign types of weapons or, on the contrary, to strive to convey the terminology used by the creators of this or that sample as accurately as possible? For example, it is difficult for me to see a “larva” in a massive metal bar, or a “stem” in a rectangular protrusion of another of the same bar. Moreover, together these two bars just form the bolt of the rifle and it is hardly worth disputing.
And here is clearly visible "arctic" trigger in the form of a lever, laid along the receiver.
Well, now let's note some more interesting moments. It turns out that it was the “Mauser system” of StG45 that had the strongest impact on the entire post-war development of weapons business in Europe. The Garand system was not accepted by the Europeans, and in all of their automatic rifles in Belgium, in Spain, and in Germany, and in some other countries, in particular, in the same Czechoslovakia, they used a roller locking mechanism for the barrel. The experience of operating a Swiss rifle has shown that it is a very reliable weapon, which, because of its rather large mass, has less recoil than similar rifles from other countries, and if it also has bipods, it provides very high marks for shooting. Moreover, this was achieved with the use of a powerful rifle cartridge - the standard NATO cartridge 7,62x51!
Arm together with USM and the trigger pulled down.
Well, the design of the rifle as a whole is simple: the receiver is made of pressed steel parts connected by welding. The barrel has a perforated metal casing. The trigger mechanism in the same assembly with a pistol grip and trigger guard is made as a separate module. The fuse, also known as the translator of the fire modes, is located on the trigger box on the left, above the trigger guard. An original feature of the rifle, which it would not be a sin to borrow to our gunsmiths, was the presence of an additional “winter” elongated trigger trigger, which facilitates the shooting of warm gloves. The bolt handle has a large barrel-shaped T-head traditional for Swiss rifles. It is located on the right and remains unmovable when firing.
Diopter sight.
The sight has a diopter adjustable sight with a micrometer screw, which is set from 100 to 650 meters. The rear sight and front sight are enclosed in a ring headphone and mounted on folding grounds. On all rifles Stgw.57 it was possible to install an optical sight Kern of multiplicity 4X or infrared night sights. Rifles of the SIG 510-4 series, the sights of a different design could not be folded, but in the same way they had a diopter-trimmed rear sight.
Rifle with a mounted sniper scope. Bipods on the rifle could be fixed at the base of the trunk, and at the front sight. Near bayonet and carrying belt.
The rifle is equipped with a muzzle brake-flame arrester, which also allows you to fire rifle grenades with idle ammunition. For the latter, in order not to be confused, are shops of white color with a capacity of six rounds. Under the muzzle of the barrel it was also possible to fix the bayonet, which was put on the flame arrester and had a latch on the casing.
"White Shop" and next to it a cartridge for firing grenades.
And finally: data on the number of rifles produced. In Chile, 15 000 was sold around 5000 copies to Bolivia. All in all, in other versions, SIG produced some 585 000 rifles Stg 57 and roughly 100 000 rifles SIG 510. The decision to stop its production was made by 1983, but the last rifles were made in 1985. She was replaced by a SIG SG 550 rifle in the Swiss Army. But this is completely different. story.
TTX rifles SIG 510:
Patron - NATO 7,62X51.
The principle of operation is the recoil of a semi-free shutter, with the choice of the type of fire.
Food - box store on 20 cartridges.
Weight of rifle without cartridges - 4,25 kg.
Overall length - 1016 mm.
Barrel length - 505 mm.
The grooves - 4 rifling (right-sided), mm 305 pitch.
The initial speed of the bullet - 790 m / s.
Rate of fire - 600 v / min.
To be continued ...
Rifle Stgw.57.
The fact that “Czech is excellent” was already discussed here, but everything that was done in Switzerland was also always of high quality. So there is a reason to digress from the topic of Czech weapons and talk about what the structure Forgrimlera turned on Swiss soil.
Rifle Stgw.57. (Army Museum in Stockholm).
By the way, this material is also a good reason to talk about small arms in general, the terminology used in our literature and a number of other interesting circumstances.
Rifle Stgw. 57. (Army Museum in Stockholm). This particular sample was used in the Swedish army between 1960 - 1964. on trials to select a promising model for its armament. But in the end, according to the test results, the Swedes still chose the Heckler & Koh G3 rifle. The photo clearly shows the carrying handle, short wooden forend, folded sights and a fire translator.
While the war was going on, the Swiss were actively studying the achievements of the military thought of the warring countries, rightly judging that they had nowhere to hurry. However, after its completion, it became obvious that the time requirements needed to be met by both them and the work on creating a new rifle, and, of course, the automatic were immediately accelerated. And now, after a number of intermediate samples in 1954 - 1955. at SIG, under the leadership of Rudolph Amsler, an automatic rifle Stgw.57 (SturmGewehr 57), adopted by the Swiss army in 1957, is being created. Her version of the SIG 510-4 was exported to Bolivia and Chile. Known variants of SIG 510-1 (Stgw.57 caliber 7,5 mm); SIG 510-2 - the same caliber, but somewhat lightweight; SIG 510-3 - made under the Soviet cartridge 7,62x39 mm, and with a magazine for 30 cartridges.
Scheme of the device.
It remains to add that at the heart of the design of this rifle lies the same development of Ludwig Forgrimler, which at the same time was embodied in the Spanish rifle “CETME”. However, if we try to learn more about her, then ... we will meet information surprisingly little. All-knowing Wikipedia in Russian gives it only four paragraphs. There is this and this, albeit clumsy, but informative phrase: “The developed AM 55 assault rifle (also using the SIG 510-0) was modeled on the German experimental StG45 (M)”. And a very clear work of Google translator - “The rifle was shot by Swiss 7,5 x 55 mm GP11 ammunition.”
GP11 cartridges.
Then there is a link to the materials of the site weapon.at.ua, where such an interesting description of the automatic operation of this rifle is given, that I simply cannot deny myself the pleasure to bring it in its entirety: “For cocking the weapon it is necessary to take back and release the T-shaped handle, with the bolt going forward, sending the cartridge into the chamber. The cock is cocked and held by the sear. The shutter consists of two parts: the stem and the larvae. On the larva, rollers of unusual design are mounted: on the cylindrical roller itself, small figured details are hinged. When the cartridge enters the chamber, the larva stops, and the stem of the gate continues to move and passes between the rollers. The mirror has a wedge-shaped shape, and the rollers are forced into the grooves of the receiver.
Here it is - the shutter rifle SIG 510-4. The extractor hook is clearly visible at the bottom. To the right is the extractor lever, which, when the bolt moves backward, shifts the sleeve to the right and throws it out of the receiver window. The locking roller protruding from it is also clearly visible.
When fired, the cartridge case moves backwards. The inner surface of the chamber has longitudinal grooves, which allow the powder gases to pass to the mirror gate. It has two openings through which gases pass through the larva and press on the stem of the bolt. The pressure of the liner and the powder gases causes the rollers to move inward along the inclined surfaces of the stem stem. Due to the angles of inclination of the wedge-shaped surface, the stem of the shutter is forced to move back and detach from the larva.
This photo clearly shows the principle of the locking unit: the back of the bolt slides back out from the front, and the rollers hide in their sockets.
When the rollers come out of the grooves, the bolt, in a disconnected state, continues to roll back. The cartridge case is pressed against the shutter mirror with an ejector. It is fixed pivotally on the top of the combat larva; when the bolt rolls back, it rests against an inclined projection on the left side of the receiver, as a result the sleeve is ejected through the window on the right side of the receiver. This design provides a smoother operation of the mechanism in the process of ejecting the liner. "
Shutter device views from the top: on the left - in the collection, in the center of the back with a protruding locking rod, on the right - the shutter head, at the bottom - a return spring.
It is clear that this description is given in the typical Soviet tradition of describing the details of a weapon - “stem”, “larva”. However, it is well known that “all wars were due to inaccuracies of formulations” (a joke, of course, but there is a lot of sense in it!), Because if we consider the details of this rifle, then we will immediately have many questions. So - "the shutter consists of a stem and a larva" ... Let's look at it and see that it consists of two massive steel bars of almost the same size. The larva is something round, small. A larva with half a shutter is nonsense, just like the “stem” is its second part. The stem could still be called a locking rod protruding from it with a pointed front, because the massive part of this detail, by analogy with the world of colors, could be called a “bud,” but the whole “bud and stem” could be called simply a stem. In general, in this description, that the phrase is a pearl. And it is not clear where it came from. After all, it is obvious that if you write an article about weapons, then you should follow certain rules that are quite simple: if you yourself cannot hold on to the weapons described, then take instructions on how to use them, since there are such guides in every army. The rifle was exported, so there should be such an instruction in English.
Open it and read: “The breech heading is the heading for the breech and the firing lever. Breech head and director shaft shaft are connected by a cotter pin.
What can be translated as follows: “The shutter consists of a shutter head with an ejector, locking rollers with rockers and a liner extractor, as well as the back of the shutter with a locking rod through which the drummer passes, the springs of the striker and the lever of the striker. The shutter head and the back of the shutter are connected with a cotter pin. "
Details of the bolt, from left to right: a bolt head with rollers, a locking pin connecting the back of the bolt to the front, a drummer, a hammer spring, an L-shaped hammer lever, a hammer pin.
Why is it translated that way and not otherwise? Yes, because the English language on 20% more informative than Russian and when translating from English to Russian phrases should be lengthened, and when translated from Russian into English - shortened. The word combination “director shaft” is translated as a “locking rod” according to its functional meaning, since it is this “stem” that pushes the rollers and makes the locking of the shutter. Interestingly, the trigger when firing, located in the receiver on the left, first strikes the L-shaped hinge lever, and that one, in turn, hits the firing pin.
Now the scheme of the shutter from the "Manual ...". As you can see, no “openings for blowing the shutter” are shown on it, there is not even a hint.
And now a little more about the gases blowing the valve and falling through the holes in the larva. Holes on the shutter head really is. But nowhere in the text of the "Instructions ..." about "blowing" there is not a single word! But this is important, isn't it? But no, nothing in the English text is written about it. And there is literally the following: “When you pull the trigger, the trigger hits the lever of the striker, which feeds it forward and smashes the cartridge primer. The pressure of the bottom of the liner at the head of the bolt increases, but the rollers in its sockets prevent the bolt from moving back. It should be emphasized that this is “not a hard lock”, since the rollers are held only by the wedge-shaped surfaces of the locking rod at the rear of the gate, and the rollers are held only by the force of the return spring. When the bullet leaves the barrel and the pressure at the bottom of the sleeve reaches a maximum, it comes out of the chamber approximately one quarter of an inch, and the locking rollers retract inside and push the locking rod back, which allows the bolt head and the spent sleeve to retract. In this case, the locking rod stores enough energy to pull back both parts of the gate. During this movement, the protrusion on the receiver moves the extractor with an empty sleeve along the gate head mirror to the right, after which it is extracted through the window on the receiver. During the backward movement of the bolt, the trigger is cocked and the return spring is compressed. In the rear position, the shutter rests on the buffer. A compressed return spring causes the bolt to move forward. In this case, the cartridge from the magazine is fed into the chamber, and the locking rod at the rear of the bolt squeezes the rollers into their locking slots, after which the weapon is again ready to fire. ”
It seems to me that this is a more understandable description of the operation of the automation of this unusual rifle.
I would add to this text just one phrase, which is absent in the original: "The Revelly grooves (total 8) were made in the chamber starting from the pool entrance, designed to facilitate the movement of the sleeve at the initial stage of extraction when the pressure of gases in the chamber is still too high.". But this is nothing more than an explanation, but otherwise, it is a fairly accurate translation of the text from the “Manual ...”
This photo clearly shows the attachment of the butt to the receiver. The latch is at the bottom.
And now it is worth thinking about the following: should we try to reduce everything to our old terms when describing foreign types of weapons or, on the contrary, to strive to convey the terminology used by the creators of this or that sample as accurately as possible? For example, it is difficult for me to see a “larva” in a massive metal bar, or a “stem” in a rectangular protrusion of another of the same bar. Moreover, together these two bars just form the bolt of the rifle and it is hardly worth disputing.
And here is clearly visible "arctic" trigger in the form of a lever, laid along the receiver.
Well, now let's note some more interesting moments. It turns out that it was the “Mauser system” of StG45 that had the strongest impact on the entire post-war development of weapons business in Europe. The Garand system was not accepted by the Europeans, and in all of their automatic rifles in Belgium, in Spain, and in Germany, and in some other countries, in particular, in the same Czechoslovakia, they used a roller locking mechanism for the barrel. The experience of operating a Swiss rifle has shown that it is a very reliable weapon, which, because of its rather large mass, has less recoil than similar rifles from other countries, and if it also has bipods, it provides very high marks for shooting. Moreover, this was achieved with the use of a powerful rifle cartridge - the standard NATO cartridge 7,62x51!
Arm together with USM and the trigger pulled down.
Well, the design of the rifle as a whole is simple: the receiver is made of pressed steel parts connected by welding. The barrel has a perforated metal casing. The trigger mechanism in the same assembly with a pistol grip and trigger guard is made as a separate module. The fuse, also known as the translator of the fire modes, is located on the trigger box on the left, above the trigger guard. An original feature of the rifle, which it would not be a sin to borrow to our gunsmiths, was the presence of an additional “winter” elongated trigger trigger, which facilitates the shooting of warm gloves. The bolt handle has a large barrel-shaped T-head traditional for Swiss rifles. It is located on the right and remains unmovable when firing.
Diopter sight.
The sight has a diopter adjustable sight with a micrometer screw, which is set from 100 to 650 meters. The rear sight and front sight are enclosed in a ring headphone and mounted on folding grounds. On all rifles Stgw.57 it was possible to install an optical sight Kern of multiplicity 4X or infrared night sights. Rifles of the SIG 510-4 series, the sights of a different design could not be folded, but in the same way they had a diopter-trimmed rear sight.
Rifle with a mounted sniper scope. Bipods on the rifle could be fixed at the base of the trunk, and at the front sight. Near bayonet and carrying belt.
The rifle is equipped with a muzzle brake-flame arrester, which also allows you to fire rifle grenades with idle ammunition. For the latter, in order not to be confused, are shops of white color with a capacity of six rounds. Under the muzzle of the barrel it was also possible to fix the bayonet, which was put on the flame arrester and had a latch on the casing.
"White Shop" and next to it a cartridge for firing grenades.
And finally: data on the number of rifles produced. In Chile, 15 000 was sold around 5000 copies to Bolivia. All in all, in other versions, SIG produced some 585 000 rifles Stg 57 and roughly 100 000 rifles SIG 510. The decision to stop its production was made by 1983, but the last rifles were made in 1985. She was replaced by a SIG SG 550 rifle in the Swiss Army. But this is completely different. story.
TTX rifles SIG 510:
Patron - NATO 7,62X51.
The principle of operation is the recoil of a semi-free shutter, with the choice of the type of fire.
Food - box store on 20 cartridges.
Weight of rifle without cartridges - 4,25 kg.
Overall length - 1016 mm.
Barrel length - 505 mm.
The grooves - 4 rifling (right-sided), mm 305 pitch.
The initial speed of the bullet - 790 m / s.
Rate of fire - 600 v / min.
To be continued ...
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
- Czech: original and past long historical path. Part of 1
Czech: original and past long historical path. Part of 2
Information