Submachine gun: yesterday, today, tomorrow. CH 4. Second-generation submachine guns. MP-38 vs. PPD-38 / 40 and PPSH-41
It is best to write about weapons, at least holding them in your hands. Although the author of this material could not be shot from the PCA, he managed to hold it in his hands. What exactly did this sample of the 1943 release of the year not like the most? Butt was short! The author's hands are too long ... And so ... everything else was good.
It would seem that the obvious things are written here, right? However, in the twentieth century, the realization that this was the case, and nothing else, reached the designers, production workers and the military (which is also very important!) Only by the 1938 year and came to the experience of two wars at once: “the wars of the Grand Chaco Between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932 — 1935) and the Spanish Civil War.
Mr-40 - rough and iron. It was necessary to hold it when firing for a textolite pad in front of the store receiver and nothing else. But only no one (even the Germans themselves, prone to pedantry and every kind of instructions) did not do that. Well, it was convenient to keep it for the store. Convenient, and that's it!
The latter, by the way, is not over yet, and a second-generation submachine gun developed by the Erma concern has already appeared in Germany. Also a descendant of MP-18, but very different from him. But not by design. Here everything was just very banal. He used the same cartridge from the "Parabellum" and the free shutter. But a completely different now was the manufacturing technology! In fact, the new PP, designated MP-38, became a kind of revolution in the mode of production. In the past, accurate and complex milling of parts remained, as well as lacquered wooden parts with high-quality coating, which gunsmiths were so proud of only recently. With the development of production technologies in the design of weapons, stamping and casting became widely used, and plastic replaced traditional wood. Coverage - the most primitive, and even then not always, but whenever possible. The MP-38 had no wooden butt at all. He was replaced by a folding metal, by the way applied for the first time, so that it would be convenient to use this submachine gun in a tight space, for example, inside an armored vehicle.
PPD-40 with a split box.
And it turned out that the receiver was now assembled from simple parts made by stamping, which could well be, if not done, then assembled in almost any workshop. The shutter required a minimum of machining. So the design as a result turned out to be coarse, but ... technological and cheap. The handle was placed on the left in a long slot, and it seemed that dirt could get in through this very slot. But ... it needed a lot to spoil the mechanism. And with a small amount of it he did an excellent job. However, such a construction did not preclude the disruption of the bolt from a combat platoon and a spontaneous shot when a submachine gun fell on something solid. Therefore, soon there was a model MP-38 / 40, which had a bolt-lock gate.
PPD-40 in the hands of a German soldier.
And in 1940, the Germans simplified the manufacturing process of the MP-38 even more and got the MP-40 model. Outwardly, it practically did not differ from the previous model, but it became even more technological. Then came the model MP-40 / 2, designed to use a dual store. But she was not very popular.
And this is a very interesting photo from the December issue of the Pravda newspaper. Senior Sergeant A. Gulenko is firing fire from PPD-34 / 38. That is, in the course went then everything that fired.
In conclusion, we note that the weight of the MP-40 was 4,7 kg, the length of the barrel was equal to 251 mm (and the overheated trunk could be changed!). The rate of fire was 500 rpm. This gave the trained soldier the opportunity to do even single shots, but the MP-40’s bullet speed was about the same as the French МAS 38 - 365 m / s. (By the way, you can read more about this weapon in VO in the material from July 21 of 2017 of the year).
As for the USSR - the main opponent of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Degtyarev PPD-38 submachine gun, although it was modernized according to the results of the “Winter War”, still remained the weapon of the first generation. Most of its parts had to be fabricated on machine tools, just like the German MP-35 and other types of similar weapons. That is, it was a good submachine gun that fired a powerful cartridge (bullet speed 488 m / s), rapid-fire (800 shots / min.), But not technological, like all the others. That is - "the son of his time." Moreover, the typical son!
Nevertheless, the production of PPD unfolded in the USSR extremely slowly. In 1934, at Kovrovsky Plant No. 2 (factory, not in the workshop!) Only 44 copies of PPD were made, in 1935 and even less - 23, in 1936 - 911, in 1937 - 1291, in 1938 m-1115, in 1939-m-1700, that is, just made them a little more than 5000.
And then a significant event happened for the Red Army: February 26 of the year 1939 7,62-mm self-loading rifle SVT-38 entered its armament. And then, in February 1939, the production of PPD was discontinued. And it is clear why: the price of SVT in mass production was 880 rubles, that is, it was less (!) Shorter and, in theory, simple in design of a Degtyarevsky submachine gun.
PPD-34 / 38
But spring, summer and autumn have passed. The war began with the Finns and the production of PPD had to be deployed again. Now, the price, and she for one PPD with a set of spare parts and accessories cost in 900 rubles in 1939 prices of the year, no one looked. Factories he was released, transferred to trehsenku. Urgently conducted a simplified design. Urgently, in one week, they developed a drum shop. And the original design, with a process in the upper part of the drum, like a short box store, so that you can have a new store adjacent to the old receiver. For the filing of 6 latest cartridges in this process served as a special flexible pusher. And although the design turned out to be not completely reliable (there were difficult problems with the supply of cartridges), it was better than nothing.
PPSH-41
In total, for the 1940 year in the USSR, 81 118 copies of PPD were released, which made the sample 1940 of the year the most popular and recognizable. The Germans also appreciated both of these samples and adopted them, since there was no shortage of trophies. PPD-34 / 38 received the designation Maschinenpistole 715 (r), and PPD-40 - Maschinenpistole 716 (r). We note a high, compared with the German MP-38, rate of fire - 800 spok. / Min. And also the initial speed of the "Mauser" bullet - 488 m / s. All this increased the flatness and accuracy of shooting, and the high rate of fire was beneficial because when firing at a target at a distance using the horizontal movement of the barrel, it was less likely to be in the fork of the trajectories.
PPSH-41 (the first material about PPSH on VO was also released on 22 June 2013). Before the trigger the translator of fire. Right "clasp" of the store. Pay attention to the sight. Usually they say and write that he was the simplest, loose-leaf, just two distances. However, in some factories at the PPSh, such frame sights were set.
Frame sight device on PPSH-41.
Reversible sight PPSH-41.
As for the famous "changer" PPD-40 - PPSh-41 submachine gun George Shpagin, this sample began to be created in the 1940 year. December 21 1940, he was adopted by the Red Army and until the end of the year 1941 produced in the amount of more than 90000 copies. In 1942 alone, the front received 1,5 a million of these submachine guns. The main advantage of it was high manufacturability. That is, it was “our response” to the MP-38. Moreover, its manufacturability was such that by the end of the Great Patriotic War, the PPSh was replicated in an amount of over five million copies, while the German MP-38 for all time produced only in the amount of about one million!
Year of manufacture 1943.
And now let's see what the same Christopher Shant writes about PPSH and what those who read his books read about him in the West. Quite emotionally, he writes that this is a "classic representative of the Soviet design genius." "All important parts are made perfectly." Absolutely admired his fiber damper shutter - it is necessary, it works even in the PPSH, which by 50 years! “Even a recruit who had never seen a single mechanism except a shovel could be trained in shooting from the PCA.” "When shooting, there is almost no return ... PCA is exceptionally reliable and durable." “PCA was the favorite weapon of the Germans, who appreciated his reliability and capacity of the store. Often they threw their MP-40 to take Soviet PCA. ” And the result - "PPSH-41 - one of the best samples ever invented small arms."
The original brake-compensator in the form of an oblique cut of the trunk - created a memorable and recognizable image of this weapon.
But this quote is just a real panegyric: “When the Red Army began to receive PPSh in sufficient quantities, they began to use it like no army in the world used: whole battalions and regiments armed with submachine guns. These units formed the vanguard of the shock units, which moved into battle on medium armor tanks T-34, from which they descended to the ground only for a foot attack, food or rest. Tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers with PPSh went through Western Russia and Europe, sweeping away everything in front of them. They were fearless troops, and their weapons - PPSh-41 - became a real combat symbol of the Red Army. " Even Bolotin didn’t write anything like that ...
Probably, in our instruction it was also written that we should not hold to the store. But for what then did this “automaton” have to keep in front?
To be continued ...
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
- Submachine gun: yesterday, today, tomorrow. Part of 1. First-generation submachine guns
Submachine gun: yesterday, today, tomorrow. Part of 2. Unusual first generation PCB
Submachine gun: yesterday, today, tomorrow. CH 3. Second-generation submachine guns. MAS 38 vs. MP-35 and MAV 38A
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