Automation system with a short barrel.
Many now share automation systems with a short barrel stroke into several completely independent ones, which I personally disagree with, since the principle of slowing down the automation is always the same, based on the short course of the barrel. The differences lie only in the method of coupling the barrel to the shutter-casing, which gives some differences in the final results when shooting, and also seriously affects the cost of production, and, of course, reliability, of course. In general, there are many variations, the essence is the same, we will try to go over what has gained the greatest distribution.Automation system with a short stroke with a swinging larva.
To begin with, what was once suggested Browning and with what you can get acquainted in the pistol of the TT, that is, with the automation system with a short stroke of the trunk with a swinging larva. First of all, you need to understand how the casing-bolt, the upper movable part of the pistol, which is pulled and released in order for the cartridge to fall into the chamber, enters the grip with the movable barrel of the weapon. That is, how the barrel bore is locked. And for the TT, and for the Colt M1911, and for at least a thousand more pistols, this moment is the same. Coupling the barrel with the bolt cover is carried out by means of tides in the upper part of the barrel, roughly speaking protruding elements on the outer surface of the barrel of the weapon in the form of U-shaped teeth and the same grooves on the inner surface of the shutter housing. Thus, if you combine the protrusions and grooves, then the barrel and bolt will be connected with each other and will move together. Remember this moment.
In order to remove the cartridge case from the chamber and insert a new cartridge, the barrel and the bolt cover must be disengaged, and this is already the second time that the automation systems with a short barrel stroke can differ. In our case, in order for the shutter-casing and the barrel to be unhooked, we need to either raise the casing-shutter itself, or lower the barrel of the weapon. Both are difficult to do, leaving both the barrel and the shutter parallel to each other, but there is a simple solution for this. If the protrusions on the trunk are placed closer to the chamber, and the breech breech, closer to the shooter, then you can simply lower the breech, as a result, the barrel of the weapon will twist and the protrusions on the barrel will come out of the clutch with the grooves in the cover-gate. It is precisely this raising and lowering of the trunk that the swinging larva is carrying out.By itself, the swinging larva can be of the most varied form and execution, there’s already enough of the designer’s imagination, but in any case, its main task remains the same - to lower the breech block while the shutter-housing moves back. In the video attached to the text, you can clearly see how it all works on the example of the Colt M1911, attention should be paid to the part that is located under the barrel, behind the return spring, it is difficult to make a mistake there. It all works as follows:
1. Powder gases push the bullet forward and tend to push the sleeve back.
2. Since the sleeve is locked in the chamber by a bolt connected to the barrel, both the bolt and the barrel come into motion.
3. In the process of moving the barrel of the weapon, the larva turns, causing the breech to fall, which means the barrel begins to come out of the clutch with the bolt.
4. The barrel of the weapon stops, and the shutter-casing continues to move backward, removing and throwing out the cartridge case and cocking the trigger (with single-shot and double-action firing mechanism).
5. Having reached the rearmost point, the cover-shutter stops and begins to move already forward under the action of a return spring.
6. Moving forward, the shutter casing pushes a new cartridge out of the store and inserts it into the chamber.
7. Resting in the breech (rear) part of the trunk, the cover-bolt pushes it forward, due to the rotating larva, the breech breech rises again and the protrusions on the outer surface of the trunk engage in cut-outs on the inner surface of the gate-casing. That is, everything returned to its original position.
Separately, it is worth noting that the automation system with a short stroke and a larva can be used with other variants of coupling the trunk and the housing-bolt. For example, the method of coupling a bulge above the chamber and a window for ejection of spent cartridges has become widespread. This greatly simplifies the procedure for manufacturing parts, and consequently, reduces the cost of manufacturing weapons, which affects the final price, but not always.
Automation system with a short stroke and cut in the tide under the chamber.
Like any invention, the automation system proposed by Browning had a further development. In order to simplify production, exclude small parts from the design, as well as improve reliability, a simpler version was developed to reduce the breech breech for the casing-bolt to exit the coupling with the barrel. The swinging larva was replaced with a figure-cut in the tide under the chamber, which interacts with the cross pin, threaded through the frame of the weapon, the role of which is often performed by the axis of the slide gate lever, back to reduce the number of parts of the weapon.An example of this disgrace can serve as a beloved Glock, although there may be some minor nuances in various weapon models, but in general the principle of operation is the same. Everything works in exactly the same way as in the previous automation system with the only exception that now when moving the barrel of the weapon back, the breech is lowered due to the fact that the figure cutout at high tide here by the chamber through the usual slip interacts with the pin. Everything happens as follows.
1. Powder gases push the bullet forward and tend to push the sleeve back.
2. Since the sleeve is locked in the chamber by a bolt connected to the barrel, both the bolt and the barrel come into motion.
3. In the process of movement of the weapon barrel, a pin enters the shaped notch, forcing the breech breech to fall, which means the barrel starts coming out of the clutch with the bolt.
4. The barrel of the weapon stops, and the shutter-casing continues to move backward, removing and discarding the shot.
5. Having reached the rearmost point, the cover-shutter stops and begins to move already forward under the action of a return spring.
6. Moving forward, the shutter casing pushes a new cartridge out of the store and inserts it into the chamber.
7. Resting in the breech (rear) part of the barrel, the housing-bolt pushes it forward, due to the reverse interaction of the figure cutout in the tide under the chamber and the pin, the breech breech rises again and the projection above the chamber enters the window to eject the spent cartridges.
There are also pistols in which the figured neckline is closed and the pin resides in it, in general, as mentioned above, there are many variations, but the essence is the same.
Automation system with a short barrel with separate locking elements.
As you can see, in the previous automation systems, the barrel of the weapon is warped when it is unlocked, which is naturally not a good solution for systems with very high operating speeds and heavy loads. In addition, this bias may affect the accuracy of firing in the case of using ammunition with characteristics different from those under which the gun was created. For example, 9х19 is only a metric symbol, but in fact, this symbol hides a huge number of very different ammunition with very different characteristics, but not about that now.In order to avoid distortion of the barrel when it is disengaged from the shutter casing, it was thought up to use a separate part for locking the barrel bore, the most striking example of this being the Beretta 92. In this gun, the barrel of the weapon also has the ability to move backwards, but the coupling and disengagement of the barrel and casing-bolt occurs due to a separate wedge-shaped part under the barrel, which has lateral projections. This locking wedge, if it can be called so, is immobile in its front part, its larger part with lateral protrusions can move up and down, entering into engagement with the casing of the bolt. It happens as follows:
1. As usual, powder gases push a bullet and a sleeve in different directions.
2. The energy from the powder gases is transferred to the sleeve, from the sleeve to the bolt, which is engaged with the barrel, since the wedge-shaped swinging part under the barrel is raised and its lateral projections enter into the shell-bolt. Accordingly, the shutter casing and the trunk begin to move back.
3. In the process of moving the barrel back, the locking wedge begins to fall with its rear part, its protrusions come out of the clutch with the shutter casing and take place in the slots of the shutter-casing guides in the frame, the trunk stops.
4. The shutter casing continues to move by throwing out the cartridge case and cocking the gun.
5. Having reached its rearmost point, the shutter-casing begins to move in the opposite direction, as it is pushed by the return spring.
6. In the process of moving forward, the shutter casing pushes a new cartridge out of the store and inserts it into the chamber.
7. Facing into the breech breech, the shutter-casing pushes it forward, as a result of which the locking wedge begins to rise back in its upper part as it bumps into the return spring guide rod. Consequently, the locking side protrusions are engaged in adhesion with the casing-gate.
The second no less well-known example of such an automation system is the recently released Strike pistol or Swift. This sample has a moving in the vertical plane part, which in the same way causes the shutter casing and the barrel to interlock. The reduction of the locking part is ensured by the same shaped notch and pin threaded into it. It is for this reason, when they talk about a unique, new system of automatic Swift, I smile at all 32 teeth. And after all, people eat information about the “new” “unparalleled”, they do not even choke. They even manage to argue. And from the new one, only one detail was replaced with another, leaving the principle of operation unchanged.
Automation system with a short barrel with locking when turning the barrel.
This version of the automation system with a short stroke is not the most common, but since it is based on a fairly well-known GSH-18, it is impossible to pass by it. The main point this time is that the barrel has a protrusion or projections on its outer surface, these protrusions enter into engagement with the casing of the bolt through grooves on its inner surface or other protrusions. In the process of movement of the trunk back, it turns and leaves the clutch with the casing-bolt. For clarity, you can simply take any two gears. In the case when their teeth coincide, they can move freely relative to each other along their axes, but if they are turned so that the teeth are not correlated with each other, then one gear clings to the other. In the case of the GSH-18, everything happens as follows.1. Powder gases push the bullet forward and set the casing-slide in motion, transferring energy from the powder gases through the sleeve. Since the shutter casing is engaged with the barrel, the barrel also comes into motion.
2. In the process of moving backwards, the barrel of the weapon turns, as in the breech breech there is a protrusion that enters the slanting slot in the frame of the weapon. That is how the trunk comes out of the clutch and stops.
3. The bolt continues to move backward, removing the cartridge case and discarding it.
4. Having reached its extreme rear point, the shutter stops and begins to move already forward, under the influence of a return spring.
5. In the process of moving the bolt forward, the new cartridge is removed from the magazine and inserted into the chamber.
6. When the shutter casing rests against the breech breech, it begins to push it forward and, due to the interaction of the protrusion in the breech bore and oblique cut in the liner in the frame of the weapon, the barrel begins to turn back and engages with the casing shutter.
Automation system with a short barrel with locking crank pair of levers.
Since we have gone not only by the popular automation systems, but also by those used in the well-known samples, we cannot miss the automation system with a short barrel stroke that Hugo Borchardt proposed at one time, and later used Luger in his weapon with some changes . The main essence of this principle of locking is in the elbows of the levers, freely bending in one direction and locking when trying to bend from to the other. In particular, the lever system can freely bend upwards, which allows the shutter to open, but the frame of the weapon does not allow it to bend downwards. And although in this gun it’s rather a short stroke not of the barrel, but of the receiver, but the basis is still the same. It works as follows.1. Powder gases push a bullet through the barrel and try to push the sleeve.
2. Under the influence of energy recoil of the barrel with the receiver begin to move back, while the rollers at the bend of the lever system rolls on the protrusions of the weapon frame, respectively, the connection passes dead center and gets the opportunity to bend upwards.
3. In the process of bending, the spent cartridge case is removed and the strike mechanism of the weapon is cocked.
4. When the lever system is fully bent and stops, it begins to feel the effect of the return spring located in the handle of the weapon and acting on the moving elements through the lever. Thanks to this effect, everything starts to move in the opposite direction.
5. With its straightening, the lever system pushes the bolt forward, which removes the new cartridge from the magazine and inserts it into the chamber and the weapon returns to its original state.
At this, I think, about automation systems with a short stroke of the barrel, you can stop talking. Few systems are left “overboard”, but the one described is quite enough to understand how 99% of all weapons built using this system work. The following articles will be more, it will be more interesting.