Weapons of the Afghan dushmans. Shotguns, single-shot and repeating rifles
The entry of troops into Afghanistan became one of the biggest geopolitical mistakes of the Soviet leadership, which led to an aggravation of the international situation and a fall in the prestige of the USSR in the world, as well as partial isolation.
The involvement of Soviet troops in the internal Afghan conflict led to the consolidation of anti-Soviet forces under the pretext of fighting the "occupiers" who invaded a neighboring independent state, which in the long term strengthened the positions of the opponents of the Soviet Union and exposed our country as an aggressor.
Now we can say with full confidence that the Afghan war cost us dearly and became one of the catalysts for the collapse of the USSR. And the point is not only in the next round of the arms race and military spending, which laid a heavy burden on the Soviet economy, but also in irretrievable human losses, which, according to official figures, exceeded 15 people.
State Soviet propaganda failed to convincingly explain to its citizens the need for the presence of a "limited contingent" in Afghanistan. The Soviet soldiers who were fulfilling their "international duty" did not understand why they should give their lives in a country where most of the local population had an absolutely alien mentality and was openly hostile.
At the initial stage of the Afghan war, government forces and the Soviet military contingent were opposed by scattered and poorly organized rebel detachments, most of them armed with frankly outdated light infantry weapons.
However, as the conflict escalated, the Afghan armed opposition groups received from abroad a variety of and often the most modern weapons. The main suppliers were Western countries, Iran and China. At the same time, some of the weapons received by the Afghan Mujahideen were Soviet-made, which the USSR had previously transferred to Arab countries as part of military assistance.
Shotguns and single-shot rifles
Afghanistan, being a very industrially backward agrarian country, has long been at the crossroads of trade routes, and traditionally the Afghans had a lot of small arms in their hands, made in different parts of the world and at different times.
In the early 1980s, the rebels used various smooth-bore guns in combat, both under a unitary cartridge and muzzle-loading flintlocks.
Sometimes, during the cleansing of villages, our soldiers came across 19-mm flintlock guns India Pattern, produced in the middle of the 1722th century, which had much in common with the British infantry rifle of the XNUMX model, which is also known as the Brown Bess.
British gun model 1722
With a barrel length of 939 mm, the India Pattern shotgun weighed 4,5 kg and was effective against a single target at a distance of up to 90 m.
However, much more often among the trophies were long smooth-bore (sometimes rifled) guns, known as "Jezail".
Shotgun "Jezail"
These guns, produced by local artisans, often exceeded human height in length and had a strongly curved stock. Caliber from 12 to 16 mm. Handicraft-made specimens were on average 2 kg heavier than the British model 1722 rifle.
A longer barrel compared to British guns provided a greater range. A good shooter could, with a fairly high degree of probability, hit a tall figure at a distance of up to 150 m.
It is clear that in the second half of the XNUMXth century, smooth-bore muzzle-loading flintlock guns were a terrible archaic. But at the same time, due to their primitive design, they had a high maintainability and availability of ammunition.
Another weapon rarity available in the Afghan armed opposition detachments was the single-shot 11,43-mm Martini-Henry Mk II rifle of the 1877 model of the year chambered for the 577/450 Martini-Henry unitary cartridge, which demonstrated satisfactory accuracy at distances up to 300 m.
11,43 mm Martini-Henry rifle model 1877
A lead bullet weighing 31,4 g left a barrel 844 mm long at a speed of 411 m/s. The weight of the rifle is about 4 kg. Length without bayonet - 1 mm. Rate of fire - up to 245 rds / min.
In addition to long infantry rifles, the Afghans had Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk II carbines with a barrel shortened to 543 mm.
The Afghan rebels also used a number of single-shot Russian 10,75 mm Berdan No. 2 rifles of the 1870 model.
10,75 mm rifle Berdan No. 2
The length of the rifle was 1 mm. Barrel length - 300 mm. The initial speed of a bullet weighing 830 g is 24 m / s. Rate of fire - 440 rds / min. In terms of ballistic characteristics, the Martini-Henry and Berdan No. 8 rifles were approximately equal.
Shotguns and rifles seized from Afghan rebels
I must say that, despite the use of charges with smoky (black) powder and the relatively low initial velocity of the bullet, at real firing distances, flintlock guns and single-shot rifles had a very high lethal effect when they hit parts of the body that were not protected by body armor.
Shop rifles
After the end of the First World War, several thousand 8-mm French Lebel Model 1893 repeating rifles with a tubular magazine for 8 rounds fell into Afghanistan. The Lebel rifle is famous for being the first mass-produced rifle to use smokeless powder cartridges.
Lebel Model 8 1893mm rifle
With prolonged firing, the combat rate of fire of the Lebel rifle is comparable to single-shot rifles. But with a pre-equipped tubular magazine, a well-trained shooter could fire an aimed shot every 1,5 seconds.
The weight of the rifle with cartridges was 4,41 kg. Length - 1 300 mm. Barrel length - 800 mm. A bullet weighing 12,8 g left the barrel with an initial velocity of slightly more than 700 m/s. Confident defeat of the chest target from the first shot was possible at a distance of 400 m.
However, the most common and popular magazine rifles among the Afghan Mujahideen were the British Lee-Enfield chambered in .303 British. These rifles, together with the German Karabiner 98 rifles, are rightfully considered one of the best in their class.
7,7mm Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III
Repeating 10-round rifle Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III, adopted by the British Army in 1907, had a sliding bolt with a twist. Loading was carried out in packs of five rounds or one round each. The weight of the rifle without cartridges is 3,96 kg. Length - 1 132 mm. Barrel length - 640 mm. A bullet weighing 9,7 g accelerated to 744 m / s. Rate of fire - 20-25 rds / min. An experienced shooter could hit the target with the first shot at a distance of up to 500 m.
Afghan mujahideen with rifle no. 4 Mk I
In 1941, a new rifle of the Lee-Enfield family, No. 4 Mk I, which featured a reinforced receiver, a heavier barrel, a modified stock, and a diopter sight. The weight of this modification has increased to 4,11 kg.
7,7 mm rifle Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I
During World War II, the Rifle No. 5 Mk. The I Jungle Carbine is a shortened carbine for fighting in the jungle. It differed from a standard rifle by a shortened forearm and barrel, as well as the presence of a conical flash suppressor on the barrel and a rubber nape of the butt. The carbine became more convenient to handle, and its weight decreased to 3,24 kg, but there were a number of drawbacks - the barrel shortened to 477 mm gave a strong flash, a loud sound of a shot and stronger recoil. To all this, the accuracy of shooting has deteriorated.
The most popular models among the Mujahideen were Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III and No. 4 Mk I, but carbines no. 5 Mk. I met often.
After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the Lee-Enfield rifles were the standard weapons of the Pakistani infantry, and a very significant number of them ended up in Afghanistan.
In the initial period of the Afghan war, British-made rifles enjoyed great success in the armed opposition detachments, second only to the Chinese clones of the Kalashnikov assault rifle in terms of prevalence. Moreover, taking into account the specifics of the hostilities, the Americans organized the supply of additional batches of Lee-Enfield rifles taken from British and Pakistani warehouses.
In the Soviet army, Lee-Enfield rifles were known as "Bur". There were legends among our servicemen that their high accuracy was due to Japanese-made optoelectronic sights. However, in preparing this publication, I was unable to find photographs of Mujahideen posing with Lee-Enfield rifles equipped with optics. If there were such rifles, then, apparently, in limited quantities.
Rifles captured from dushmans
In the second half of the 1930s, the Afghan government carried out military-technical cooperation with Germany. The German 7,92 mm Karabiner 98k and Karabiner 98b rifles were officially in service with the Afghan army. In the early 1950s, Afghanistan acquired an additional batch of used German-made weapons, as well as 7,92 mm cartridges.
Depending on the variant and year of manufacture, the weight of the K98k rifle was 3,8–4 kg. Length - 1 110 mm. For firing, a cartridge with a pointed bullet weighing 12,8 g was usually used. The initial velocity of the bullet was 760 m / s. The effective range of shooting at a full-length figure using open mechanical sights is about 500 m. The rate of fire is up to 15 rds / min.
7,92mm Karabiner 98k rifle
An integral box-shaped double-row magazine with a capacity of 5 rounds is located inside the box. The magazine is loaded with cartridges with the shutter open through a wide upper window in the receiver from clips or one cartridge at a time.
Also, the rebels were armed with Chinese clones of Gewehr 1888 rifles, which were fired with 7,92 × 57 mm cartridges.
7,92 mm rifle Gewehr 1888
Gew rifle. 88 weighed 3,8 kg. Length - 1 245 mm. According to the ballistic characteristics of Gew. 88 and K98k were about equal. However, Gew. 88 was not as easy to handle and had a lower practical rate of fire.
In Afghanistan in the 1980s, the 7,62 mm Mosin rifle of the 1891 model of the year (1891/1930) and its shortened versions (carbines) were very widely used.
The first "mosquitoes" came to Afghanistan at the beginning of the 1950th century. Very large batches of rifles and carbines were delivered to the USSR in the second half of the 1970s. Until the mid-1944s, carbines arr. 41, along with PPSh-XNUMX submachine guns, were the main individual weapons of the Afghan infantry.
After the April revolution of 1978 and the beginning of the civil war in Afghanistan, the Soviet-made rifles and carbines in the warehouses entered service with tribal militia units, whose leaders declared their loyalty to the new government, and in the territorial divisions of the tsarandoi.
Subsequently, a significant part of these weapons, including sniper rifles with optical sights, went to the Afghan rebels and were actively used against government forces and Soviet troops.
Given the fact that many Afghans are born shooters, they often managed to shoot very accurately from repeating rifles at long distances and without special optical sights.
Although the armies of the most industrialized states in the post-war period were mainly armed with automatic and self-loading individual small arms, in the specific conditions of Afghanistan, manually reloaded repeating rifles were in great demand.
During the fighting in the mountains, this reliable and powerful weapon, firing a heavy bullet, often showed better results than 7,62 and 5,45-mm machine guns. At distances up to 600 m, rifle bullets confidently pierced Soviet body armor. Cases of breaking through the side armor of Soviet armored personnel carriers were repeatedly recorded, they also posed a threat to helicopters.
To be continued ...
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