Submachine gun: yesterday, today, tomorrow. Part of 8. Submachine guns 3-th generation. Innovations and Priorities
Last time, we stopped at the fact that already during the war years, soldiers of the warring armies began to distribute questionnaires in order to find out their opinion about a promising submachine gun. For example, 6 in May 1943, the Australian army sent out a questionnaire to a large number of soldiers with combat experience. The questionnaire was focused primarily on the design of small weapons. For example, there were such questions, where would they prefer to have a reloading handle, and did they think that a submachine gun needed a bayonet. The results of the survey were analyzed by Major Eric Hall, after which he, using the information received, designed a new submachine gun “Code”, very different from “Owen”. In principle, it was all the same "Owen", only the store on it was not installed on top, but was inserted into its handle. It turned out that most soldiers liked just such a system of ammunition. Improvements have been made to balancing weapons. But in the end we got a sample of a rather futuristic shape, obviously sinning with wartime minimalism.
Submachine gun "Kokoda" МCEM-1.
The test was held in the British Army in Pendin from 8 to 16 in September 1947, along with Patchett, BSA, British MCEM-3 and STAN Mk.V. machine guns. During the tests, "Kokod" received the MCEM-1 index (stands for "military carbine, experimental model"). In the process of firing, the sample heated up very quickly, and the welds that held the case and trigger together were cracked, that is, the welding turned out to be of poor quality! He lost outright to his rivals Kokod, but it is impossible not to notice that by its design it was a very advanced mechanism, which could well be attributed to the third generation of submachine guns. It was compact and had a second grip fixed almost at the very muzzle of the trunk. Its length with extended shoulder rest was equal to 686 mm, and the mass in the uncharged state was 3,63 kg. The magazine on the 30 cartridges was inserted into the pistol grip from the bottom, and there was a trigger in it. The rate of fire was at the level of 500 rds / min, the initial speed of the bullet 365 m / s, with the barrel length 203 mm.
Submachine gun "Kokoda" with extended butt and no store.
As you can see, many technical solutions of submachine guns of the future, including our Russian submachine gun Veresk CP-2, which probably took all the best from foreign and domestic samples of this type of weapon, were embodied in it. But about him the material on the VO was already (“Submachine Gun CP-2“ Heather ””, 14 March 2014). And if we compare it with other models of military and post-war time, then again we will see that ... they were usually created on the principle of "step by step" (step by step), when one designer came up with one thing, another with another, and then already a third person united their “steps” into something fundamentally new, and therefore caused everyone to admire.
CP-2 "Heather"
And again, many of the development was already ahead of its time, but, nevertheless, fell “not to the court”. Indeed, in the same 1942 competition to replace PPSH-41, the result of which was the appearance of a Soudaev submachine gun in our army, the submachine gun designer Shchurovsky test site Nikolai Rukavishnikov also participated, in which the store was located in the handle and ... there was a bolt incident on the barrel. By the way, an interesting article by Mikhail Degtyaryov “Who is the first?” Was published in the magazine “Kalashnikov”. Rukavishnikov's experienced submachine gun ”, in which his construction was described in great detail. That is, here too we were “ahead of the planet” throughout, and Rukavishnikov himself, in his conceptual vision of what a machine pistol should be, overtook the Czech designer Yaroslav Holecek with his vz. 48, and the lieutenant of the British Army Podsenkovsky, who presented the MCEM-2 submachine gun to the competition along with Kokoda as a replacement for STAN in 1944. It is hard to imagine that the British and Australians learned about what Rukavishnikov invented. They themselves realized that, in the case of Kokoda, the store in the handle was located exactly according to the demands of the workers. But, nevertheless, it is pleasant to realize that we had thought of this decision a little earlier, and in addition it was our designer who had combined this technical solution with another - a gate that was incident on the barrel. True, it is vz. 48 first in the world went into mass production. And, by the way, where did he then not fight, starting with Cuba and ending with the countries of the Middle East.
Msem-xnumx. The length of the 2 mm, the magazine on the 380 ammo is located in the grip. The submachine gun was well balanced, which allowed it to be fired with one hand. The shutter in the form of a half-cylinder has a length of 18 mm and almost completely closes the trunk. The shutter is retracted in the same way as on the American M216 - with the help of fingers. Holster is also a butt, like a Stechkin pistol. PP had a very high rate of fire, which is why, perhaps, he was not accepted for service.
Msem-xnumx. Front view.
Msem-xnumx. Oncoming shutter.
But then everything again turned out exactly the same as with us. There was a good PPD-40. Was! But ... he was not very technological, and therefore expensive to manufacture. And what did Shpagin do? Just simplified it in relation to the needs of mass production! Yaroslav Holechek combined two innovations in his development at once - the store in the handle and the shutter incident on the barrel. But ... its PP case remained traditional, cylindrical, and therefore sensitive to contamination. Production of the new model began in the 1949 year. Note that at first it was designed for 9 × 19 mm cartridges “Parabellum”, but in the same year the Czechoslovak army, under pressure from the Soviet Union, instead introduced this cartridge to our domestic 7,62 × 25 mm from TT. And, it is believed that this submachine gun from this only won. It was exported to Cuba, Chad, Syria and Libya, as well as Mozambique, Niger and Somalia.
Submachine gun vz. 48 (aka Sa. 23).
And here in Israel there was “his own Shpagin”, a young officer, Uziel Gal, who essentially repeated the design of Holecek (whether Gal was familiar with his submachine gun or not, experts still have heated debates) but in a more technological and adapted form for war in the conditions of the sandy desert. So, he provided in the walls of the bolt-box large stamped “pockets” for sand and mud that had gotten inside, and at the same time became stiffening ribs. The hinged lid improved the cleaning convenience by an order of magnitude compared to the one-piece and fairly long receiver of the Czech PP, which looked like a pipe. That is, it has always been and always will be who goes along the path of individual improvements, and someone manages to solve the problem in a complex and at a higher technological level.
A sample of the standard "Uzi" with a metal folding butt.
But the most important thing is that after the decades that followed, the layout of the vz. 48 (also known as Sa.23) and “Uzi”, put into service in 1954, became generally accepted for a whole family of small-sized submachine guns, which turned out to be many samples, for example: MAC-10, MPi 69, Steyr TMP, PP- 2000, MP7 and many others.
Msem-xnumx with a bayonet. Well, why the bayonet on such a short weapon?
And, oddly enough, the war showed that military experts of the 30s, who claimed that the PP was a police weapon, turned out to be right in the end. Already at the end of the war, the automatic rifles and assault rifles that appeared under the intermediate cartridge sharply narrowed the niche of submachine guns and practically drove them out of the army. This happened, for example, in the Soviet army after adopting the SKS carbines and the AK-47 assault rifle, while in the USA the automatic rifle became the dominant weapon. A similar situation took place in Europe with the CETME and FAL rifles, well, and the submachine guns remained to the border guards, gendarmes, police and special forces. In the army, they were now used very limitedly: for arming tankers, as well as technical personnel. And, again, in the US Army, even the experts of the water treatment service received the M16 rifles, and not the submachine guns. But various “security guards” became their main consumers, which caused a real boom among firms that were engaged in their production. A lot of PP within the framework of military aid went to the countries of the third world, where they fought against each other for a long time, and very often past allies now fought against each other. New concepts of pistol-machine guns, new ideas appeared, and all this, in turn, at the turn of the century gave rise to new designs.
To be continued ...
Submachine gun "Kokoda" МCEM-1.
The test was held in the British Army in Pendin from 8 to 16 in September 1947, along with Patchett, BSA, British MCEM-3 and STAN Mk.V. machine guns. During the tests, "Kokod" received the MCEM-1 index (stands for "military carbine, experimental model"). In the process of firing, the sample heated up very quickly, and the welds that held the case and trigger together were cracked, that is, the welding turned out to be of poor quality! He lost outright to his rivals Kokod, but it is impossible not to notice that by its design it was a very advanced mechanism, which could well be attributed to the third generation of submachine guns. It was compact and had a second grip fixed almost at the very muzzle of the trunk. Its length with extended shoulder rest was equal to 686 mm, and the mass in the uncharged state was 3,63 kg. The magazine on the 30 cartridges was inserted into the pistol grip from the bottom, and there was a trigger in it. The rate of fire was at the level of 500 rds / min, the initial speed of the bullet 365 m / s, with the barrel length 203 mm.
Submachine gun "Kokoda" with extended butt and no store.
As you can see, many technical solutions of submachine guns of the future, including our Russian submachine gun Veresk CP-2, which probably took all the best from foreign and domestic samples of this type of weapon, were embodied in it. But about him the material on the VO was already (“Submachine Gun CP-2“ Heather ””, 14 March 2014). And if we compare it with other models of military and post-war time, then again we will see that ... they were usually created on the principle of "step by step" (step by step), when one designer came up with one thing, another with another, and then already a third person united their “steps” into something fundamentally new, and therefore caused everyone to admire.
CP-2 "Heather"
And again, many of the development was already ahead of its time, but, nevertheless, fell “not to the court”. Indeed, in the same 1942 competition to replace PPSH-41, the result of which was the appearance of a Soudaev submachine gun in our army, the submachine gun designer Shchurovsky test site Nikolai Rukavishnikov also participated, in which the store was located in the handle and ... there was a bolt incident on the barrel. By the way, an interesting article by Mikhail Degtyaryov “Who is the first?” Was published in the magazine “Kalashnikov”. Rukavishnikov's experienced submachine gun ”, in which his construction was described in great detail. That is, here too we were “ahead of the planet” throughout, and Rukavishnikov himself, in his conceptual vision of what a machine pistol should be, overtook the Czech designer Yaroslav Holecek with his vz. 48, and the lieutenant of the British Army Podsenkovsky, who presented the MCEM-2 submachine gun to the competition along with Kokoda as a replacement for STAN in 1944. It is hard to imagine that the British and Australians learned about what Rukavishnikov invented. They themselves realized that, in the case of Kokoda, the store in the handle was located exactly according to the demands of the workers. But, nevertheless, it is pleasant to realize that we had thought of this decision a little earlier, and in addition it was our designer who had combined this technical solution with another - a gate that was incident on the barrel. True, it is vz. 48 first in the world went into mass production. And, by the way, where did he then not fight, starting with Cuba and ending with the countries of the Middle East.
Msem-xnumx. The length of the 2 mm, the magazine on the 380 ammo is located in the grip. The submachine gun was well balanced, which allowed it to be fired with one hand. The shutter in the form of a half-cylinder has a length of 18 mm and almost completely closes the trunk. The shutter is retracted in the same way as on the American M216 - with the help of fingers. Holster is also a butt, like a Stechkin pistol. PP had a very high rate of fire, which is why, perhaps, he was not accepted for service.
Msem-xnumx. Front view.
Msem-xnumx. Oncoming shutter.
But then everything again turned out exactly the same as with us. There was a good PPD-40. Was! But ... he was not very technological, and therefore expensive to manufacture. And what did Shpagin do? Just simplified it in relation to the needs of mass production! Yaroslav Holechek combined two innovations in his development at once - the store in the handle and the shutter incident on the barrel. But ... its PP case remained traditional, cylindrical, and therefore sensitive to contamination. Production of the new model began in the 1949 year. Note that at first it was designed for 9 × 19 mm cartridges “Parabellum”, but in the same year the Czechoslovak army, under pressure from the Soviet Union, instead introduced this cartridge to our domestic 7,62 × 25 mm from TT. And, it is believed that this submachine gun from this only won. It was exported to Cuba, Chad, Syria and Libya, as well as Mozambique, Niger and Somalia.
Submachine gun vz. 48 (aka Sa. 23).
And here in Israel there was “his own Shpagin”, a young officer, Uziel Gal, who essentially repeated the design of Holecek (whether Gal was familiar with his submachine gun or not, experts still have heated debates) but in a more technological and adapted form for war in the conditions of the sandy desert. So, he provided in the walls of the bolt-box large stamped “pockets” for sand and mud that had gotten inside, and at the same time became stiffening ribs. The hinged lid improved the cleaning convenience by an order of magnitude compared to the one-piece and fairly long receiver of the Czech PP, which looked like a pipe. That is, it has always been and always will be who goes along the path of individual improvements, and someone manages to solve the problem in a complex and at a higher technological level.
A sample of the standard "Uzi" with a metal folding butt.
But the most important thing is that after the decades that followed, the layout of the vz. 48 (also known as Sa.23) and “Uzi”, put into service in 1954, became generally accepted for a whole family of small-sized submachine guns, which turned out to be many samples, for example: MAC-10, MPi 69, Steyr TMP, PP- 2000, MP7 and many others.
Msem-xnumx with a bayonet. Well, why the bayonet on such a short weapon?
And, oddly enough, the war showed that military experts of the 30s, who claimed that the PP was a police weapon, turned out to be right in the end. Already at the end of the war, the automatic rifles and assault rifles that appeared under the intermediate cartridge sharply narrowed the niche of submachine guns and practically drove them out of the army. This happened, for example, in the Soviet army after adopting the SKS carbines and the AK-47 assault rifle, while in the USA the automatic rifle became the dominant weapon. A similar situation took place in Europe with the CETME and FAL rifles, well, and the submachine guns remained to the border guards, gendarmes, police and special forces. In the army, they were now used very limitedly: for arming tankers, as well as technical personnel. And, again, in the US Army, even the experts of the water treatment service received the M16 rifles, and not the submachine guns. But various “security guards” became their main consumers, which caused a real boom among firms that were engaged in their production. A lot of PP within the framework of military aid went to the countries of the third world, where they fought against each other for a long time, and very often past allies now fought against each other. New concepts of pistol-machine guns, new ideas appeared, and all this, in turn, at the turn of the century gave rise to new designs.
To be continued ...
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