Finalists of the contest "Abakan"
Automatic machine AN94, better known by the people as "Abakan", is weapons quite controversial, since along with the high combat characteristics of this machine there are also negative aspects. For example, in the form of a more complex procedure of maintenance and repair, in comparison with Kalashnikov assault rifles, as well as less stable operation in adverse conditions. The Nikonov machine gun itself is already a relatively old weapon, but, nevertheless, still interesting, but we will not talk exclusively about this model, quite a lot has already been said about it, but we will try to compare it with those samples that have he snatched victory in the final of the Abakan contest in 1987. In particular, we will discuss the Korobov G.A. (TKB-0111) automata, the Stechkin I. I machine (TKB-0146) and, of course, the Nikonov G. N. automaton (AS, ASM, AN94).
Let's start with the machine gun of German Alexandrovich Korobov, who, in my personal humble opinion, is one of the best domestic gunsmiths. Immediately explain why this model is the first. The fact is that TKB-0111 is completely different from the finalists. First of all, the machine does not have a cutoff on 2 or 3 shots, while TKB-0146 can shoot with a cutoff on 3 (2) of the cartridge, and AH-94 on 2. Both machine guns, both Stechkin and Nikonov, have a movable weapon barrel design, which allows you to sum up the return on 3 (2) and 2 shots and reduce its impact on shooting accuracy, but the Korobov machine gun has a more than classical design, but it has two reference rates fire about 500 shots per minute and about 1700. What is it for and what does it give? First of all, it should be noted that this is not the first German Alexandrovich machine gun with two firing rates, in the previous competition, in which Kalashnikov won again, a sample with a two-mode shooting regime was also presented. German Alexandrovich carried out work, the purpose of which was to calculate the optimal rate of automatic firing from different positions of the shooter. The result of this work formed the basis for the creation of a machine gun with two firing rates. So from the prone position, the pace in 450-600 shots per minute was the optimal tempo, and from uncomfortable positions the tempo in 1700-2000 shots per minute. Thus, the weapon represented by Korobov was superior to AK74 and all its modifications in accuracy of fire, provided, of course, that the required rate of fire was used in a given situation. However, Nikonov and Stechkin’s TKB-0111 could not withstand the accuracy of shooting with submachine guns. For this reason, he reached the final of the contest with the note “optional”, which in itself put a cross on arms and to be honest, there were only two finalists - TKB-0146 and AN94.
TKB-0146 was a machine with a movable barrel design, but in one stroke of the barrel back the machine produced the 3 cartridge, not the 2, unlike AN94. The stocky silhouette of the weapon got him because of the use of the bullpup layout, and in general the size and weight of the weapon is less than that of the other models. By the way, in the competition only this machine was not a classic layout. Immediately you can foresee the thoughts of supporters of the "classics" about the inconvenience of the machine. However, all the inconvenience lies only in the unusual location of the store, to which it is easy to adapt, and the close distance between the ejected gun sleeve and the face of the shooter. Last Stechkin decided simply and without technical bells and whistles, he just made a forced ejection of the sleeve forward. The extracted cartridge case is not ejected, but is transmitted to the channel parallel to the receiver, while the slide, when moving forward, not only delivers the new cartridge, but also pushes the cartridge case through the channel. In other words, Stechkin managed to get rid of the main weapon problem in the layout of the bullpup and, moreover, to solve the problem of using the machine gun when shooting with his left hand, which is necessary not only for left-handers. It is also noteworthy that the Stechkin machine gun has a fuse / fire mode switch with only three positions. So they are represented by the positions "Fuse", "Trim", "Single / turn". The most interesting is naturally the last position of the switch. Stechkin decided to save the fighter from the need to switch weapons from one mode to another, and the solution to this task turned out to be easier than ever. If you look closely, then behind the trigger you can see a protruding moving part, with which the trigger interacts when fully pressed. Thus, if you press the "trigger" to half, a single shot will occur, if you press the trigger all the way in, the weapon will fire in a burst. It should also be noted that in the latest version of the Stechkin machine gun the mode of firing with a cutoff of three rounds was changed to two rounds. Thus, we can conclude that the Stechkin machine gun combines a lot of fairly interesting design solutions, which by their simplicity and reliability simply amaze and at the same time solve a lot of weapon problems over which other gunsmiths fought for a long time.
And finally, Nikonov's rifle. Describing the features of this weapon does not make sense, since it will be a repetition of well-known moments, but how this automaton changed on the way to victory can be told. Perhaps the most interesting point is that the first sample of this weapon was presented not only with a movable barrel, but also with a movable magazine. They even say that the idea of a moving trunk Nikonov peeped at Stechkin, but this is true or not, it is difficult to say. But it is safe to say that such a bold design of the machine, in which the store moves when fired, clearly could not be among the finalists of the Abakan contest. In general, during this competition, Nikonov's automaton has undergone changes even more than all models of weapons taken together, which is undoubtedly worthy of praise, since not every design can withstand the changes made to it and not suffer a deterioration in reliability and performance. Although speaking according to conscience, it is enough just to disassemble the machine in order to understand that they stuffed everything into it that was possible. Even the Stechkin machine, which is close by its construction, cannot compete with AN94 in terms of service complexity.
In general, it should be noted separately that it was precisely the operational change of individual units of the weapon of the Nikonov machine gun that became the guarantee of his victory in the competition. In general, at the start of the Abakan competition, all the models presented were quite raw, so any of them could become a finalist if the designers had the opportunity to quickly modify the weapon. A bright confirmation of this can be AEK machines, which never reached the final. If you call the reasons why two of the three finalists were overboard, then you can look at the situation from different angles. For example, the Korobov machine gun was much simpler in its design of Stechkin and Nikonov, its only drawback was the lack of cut-off on the 2-3 cartridge, naturally a disadvantage in comparison with rivals. On the whole, the weapons showed very good results in terms of reliability under adverse conditions and in terms of resources. There were also less significant problems that could be easily fixed, such as the not so convenient arrangement of the switch of fire modes, which could only be reached by releasing the handle of the machine gun. The Stechkin machine gun had its own "illnesses". Despite the original and simple solutions to individual problems, this machine was very capricious in terms of cleanliness, and if the automation was wedged, then it took a lot of time and effort to bring the weapon to life. The solution to this problem was, but the durability and accuracy of the weapon would suffer from it. Against the background of these models, the instantaneously evolving AN94 looked much better in all respects, however, as is well known, this did not help it to become the main weapon in the army. Although there are more likely causes of a financial nature, and the weapon is not to blame for anything, but this is already a separate topic for conversation.
Let's start with the machine gun of German Alexandrovich Korobov, who, in my personal humble opinion, is one of the best domestic gunsmiths. Immediately explain why this model is the first. The fact is that TKB-0111 is completely different from the finalists. First of all, the machine does not have a cutoff on 2 or 3 shots, while TKB-0146 can shoot with a cutoff on 3 (2) of the cartridge, and AH-94 on 2. Both machine guns, both Stechkin and Nikonov, have a movable weapon barrel design, which allows you to sum up the return on 3 (2) and 2 shots and reduce its impact on shooting accuracy, but the Korobov machine gun has a more than classical design, but it has two reference rates fire about 500 shots per minute and about 1700. What is it for and what does it give? First of all, it should be noted that this is not the first German Alexandrovich machine gun with two firing rates, in the previous competition, in which Kalashnikov won again, a sample with a two-mode shooting regime was also presented. German Alexandrovich carried out work, the purpose of which was to calculate the optimal rate of automatic firing from different positions of the shooter. The result of this work formed the basis for the creation of a machine gun with two firing rates. So from the prone position, the pace in 450-600 shots per minute was the optimal tempo, and from uncomfortable positions the tempo in 1700-2000 shots per minute. Thus, the weapon represented by Korobov was superior to AK74 and all its modifications in accuracy of fire, provided, of course, that the required rate of fire was used in a given situation. However, Nikonov and Stechkin’s TKB-0111 could not withstand the accuracy of shooting with submachine guns. For this reason, he reached the final of the contest with the note “optional”, which in itself put a cross on arms and to be honest, there were only two finalists - TKB-0146 and AN94. TKB-0146 was a machine with a movable barrel design, but in one stroke of the barrel back the machine produced the 3 cartridge, not the 2, unlike AN94. The stocky silhouette of the weapon got him because of the use of the bullpup layout, and in general the size and weight of the weapon is less than that of the other models. By the way, in the competition only this machine was not a classic layout. Immediately you can foresee the thoughts of supporters of the "classics" about the inconvenience of the machine. However, all the inconvenience lies only in the unusual location of the store, to which it is easy to adapt, and the close distance between the ejected gun sleeve and the face of the shooter. Last Stechkin decided simply and without technical bells and whistles, he just made a forced ejection of the sleeve forward. The extracted cartridge case is not ejected, but is transmitted to the channel parallel to the receiver, while the slide, when moving forward, not only delivers the new cartridge, but also pushes the cartridge case through the channel. In other words, Stechkin managed to get rid of the main weapon problem in the layout of the bullpup and, moreover, to solve the problem of using the machine gun when shooting with his left hand, which is necessary not only for left-handers. It is also noteworthy that the Stechkin machine gun has a fuse / fire mode switch with only three positions. So they are represented by the positions "Fuse", "Trim", "Single / turn". The most interesting is naturally the last position of the switch. Stechkin decided to save the fighter from the need to switch weapons from one mode to another, and the solution to this task turned out to be easier than ever. If you look closely, then behind the trigger you can see a protruding moving part, with which the trigger interacts when fully pressed. Thus, if you press the "trigger" to half, a single shot will occur, if you press the trigger all the way in, the weapon will fire in a burst. It should also be noted that in the latest version of the Stechkin machine gun the mode of firing with a cutoff of three rounds was changed to two rounds. Thus, we can conclude that the Stechkin machine gun combines a lot of fairly interesting design solutions, which by their simplicity and reliability simply amaze and at the same time solve a lot of weapon problems over which other gunsmiths fought for a long time.And finally, Nikonov's rifle. Describing the features of this weapon does not make sense, since it will be a repetition of well-known moments, but how this automaton changed on the way to victory can be told. Perhaps the most interesting point is that the first sample of this weapon was presented not only with a movable barrel, but also with a movable magazine. They even say that the idea of a moving trunk Nikonov peeped at Stechkin, but this is true or not, it is difficult to say. But it is safe to say that such a bold design of the machine, in which the store moves when fired, clearly could not be among the finalists of the Abakan contest. In general, during this competition, Nikonov's automaton has undergone changes even more than all models of weapons taken together, which is undoubtedly worthy of praise, since not every design can withstand the changes made to it and not suffer a deterioration in reliability and performance. Although speaking according to conscience, it is enough just to disassemble the machine in order to understand that they stuffed everything into it that was possible. Even the Stechkin machine, which is close by its construction, cannot compete with AN94 in terms of service complexity.In general, it should be noted separately that it was precisely the operational change of individual units of the weapon of the Nikonov machine gun that became the guarantee of his victory in the competition. In general, at the start of the Abakan competition, all the models presented were quite raw, so any of them could become a finalist if the designers had the opportunity to quickly modify the weapon. A bright confirmation of this can be AEK machines, which never reached the final. If you call the reasons why two of the three finalists were overboard, then you can look at the situation from different angles. For example, the Korobov machine gun was much simpler in its design of Stechkin and Nikonov, its only drawback was the lack of cut-off on the 2-3 cartridge, naturally a disadvantage in comparison with rivals. On the whole, the weapons showed very good results in terms of reliability under adverse conditions and in terms of resources. There were also less significant problems that could be easily fixed, such as the not so convenient arrangement of the switch of fire modes, which could only be reached by releasing the handle of the machine gun. The Stechkin machine gun had its own "illnesses". Despite the original and simple solutions to individual problems, this machine was very capricious in terms of cleanliness, and if the automation was wedged, then it took a lot of time and effort to bring the weapon to life. The solution to this problem was, but the durability and accuracy of the weapon would suffer from it. Against the background of these models, the instantaneously evolving AN94 looked much better in all respects, however, as is well known, this did not help it to become the main weapon in the army. Although there are more likely causes of a financial nature, and the weapon is not to blame for anything, but this is already a separate topic for conversation.
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