Sturmgever and plumbing
Dima Okhotnikov birthday.
- How difficult it is, Broom, how subtle it is!
- Still would!
- What is the clarity of thinking! And it's all?!
Erofeev, Moscow - Petushki
- How difficult it is, Broom, how subtle it is!
- Still would!
- What is the clarity of thinking! And it's all?!
Erofeev, Moscow - Petushki
In love psychiatry, a phenomenon is known when the subject of adoration is endowed with some positive qualities or supernatural properties that are not really present. A similar phenomenon is inherent in gun fetishism. For example, from the magical powers of “Escalibur” (King Arthur’s sword) to the “advanced ergonomics” of a sturmgever. About him and talk. Rather, about one detail, referred to in a particular environment as a "gas regulator".
One shooter from the sturgevever, among other advantages of this weapons, remembered the remarkable work of the "gas regulator", tested in various temperature conditions. The test program and test report, of course, are classified and mere mortals are not available. Let's try to figure it out for yourself.
For a start, take a look at the official "gebrauhsanlätung". Under the number 6b, this part is called “dichtungshrauben”, which in the terminology of domestic plumbers means nothing more than a “plug”. That is, the usual tube with a threaded connection for the blind overlap holes. In the sturmgever itself, there is at least a distance of at least 7 mm from the cut-off of the stopper to the “overlapping gas discharge” opening of the gas chamber, so that there can be no “regulation” by changing the section of the gas outlet. The sole purpose of this part is to provide periodic access to the cavity of the gas chamber for cleaning.
Obviously, the exaltation of the usual tube to the degree of "gas regulator" was played by its location, the presence of a visible threaded section, the hole for the rod for ease of loosening and the shadow of the gloomy Teutonic genius. But.
Any student who is not a student of a locksmith at the top three will immediately say that there should not be clean screw connections in mechanical engineering in principle. There must be a device for anti-loosening (kontreniya), at least in the form of Grover’s washer, and on such vibrodynamically tense products as weapons, no washers help. Most often, a device is made in the form of a spring-loaded pin - retainer, as is done in AK-74 for the muzzle brake-compensator. By the way, all the gas regulators on the weapon are discrete, that is, two-, three-position with rigid fixation. But the last question arises, if this is so, then where is the retainer for this part on the sturmgevere? Unfortunately, a difficult question for the current descendants of the representatives of the once most reading nation. Now for this you have to turn to plumber Uncle Vasya. He will answer with a shrug: "Normal tapered thread, GOST 6211-81". Yes, tapered threads have two remarkable properties - self-locking and sealing. This thread is used mainly only in plumbing, and its use on weapons is of academic interest, since it is not possible to check practically how it actually worked. Elongation on the cork serves only one purpose - ease of unscrewing. The tightening and initial loosening of the cork was done by an auxiliary rod - “lezdorny”, since the reliability of the contraction was ensured by a tightening force, and further unscrewing was done by lengthening the stub. Ergonomics. But how!
Remark.There is another interesting argument about the threaded connection. If the thread is not tapered, then micro gaps remain in the thread, into which gases with carbon particles are pushed. If you turn the cork back and forth, then over time the thread will be erased to such an extent that such a cork will be knocked out from the first shot along with the bullet.
I think everything is clear with Stg-44, although we will come back to it. But there is still Mkb-42 (H). Did it never occur to anyone that for a gas regulator or for a simple stub such a design - in the form of a pipe from the gas chamber to the base of the front sight - looks too cumbersome? For a weapon that doesn’t fit in with the requirements of the technical specification, the array of such a pipe looks ridiculous. By the way, here you are - the lock is in place.
In the technical description and the manual for Mkb-42 (H), which Handrich gives, the pipe between the gas chamber and the base of the front sight is called “dihtungsshraube”, i.e. ordinary plug. Here is such an interesting ending in the evolution of this detail:
It is possible, of course, to be ironic, but there is a moment of “respect” in it. The latest version of the plug was made by powder metallurgy!
Something became boring. Let's talk about the beauty of the engineering solution. But first about physics. Here is what happens in the gas chamber of Stg-44:
Gases from the gas outlet with great speed collide with a transverse barrier - the wall of the gas chamber. The speed of the carbon particles falls to zero. Since the movement of gases will be directed towards the moving piston, these particles will be emitted along with the pressure into the atmosphere. And those particles, which will be at the wall of the plug at point A, will gradually accumulate, forming a cluster on the surface of the chamber and the plug, which eventually closes the gas outlet, with all the ensuing consequences. But the solution in the Kalashnikov assault rifle:
Gases from the gas outlet hole meet with a barrier not at a right angle, which means that the velocity of the carbon particles does not fall to zero, and the settling on the walls occurs less. In addition, the impact of the gas jet is directed directly into the piston, and not into the chamber wall. This means that the energy of gases directed to the operation of automation is saved. When one answer solves several problems, this is a sign of the beauty of an engineering solution. That is, the designer has talent. Well, or genius, if you want.
Question. Did Schmeisser know about such an engineering solution, and why did he not use it in his sturmgevere? I can say with a high percentage of confidence that I knew. Justification of such reasoning a little later. Why not applied to Stg-44? Here is one possible explanation. At the request of the customer, the attacker had to be equipped with a mortar for throwing grenades. The energy for throwing grenades was developed by a special cartridge from the firm Polte.
Since part of the energy of the powder gases was spent on the work of the automation, it was proposed to use a two-position plug, which, when working with a grenade launcher, blocked the gas outlet.
The principle of operation of such a stub is clear from a photo courtesy of Dieter Handrich. Due to complexity, this technical solution was rejected.
Please note: the taper of the thread is clearly visible on the standard plug. Clearly. So, perhaps, only because of the customer’s desire to have a mortar on the sturmgever, the characteristic oblique profile of the gas chamber did not appear on it. Then the attacker would be even more like AK and (oh, mom!) Our brother would have taken extra care to wipe the foam from the mouth of zealous supporters of the Kalashnikov version of plagiarism with Stg-44.
so what? The merit of Kalashnikov is that he invented the inclined gas outlet in the machine? Not. This solution was found before Mikhail Timofeevich. Perhaps the first to use it was Vaclav Holek in the ZB-26 - sixteen years before the sturmgever.
But. In the Kholek machine gun, the barrel was drilled perpendicularly (and you try to drill with a drill at an angle at least a mop handle), and the inclination of the gas stream was made in the gas chamber itself. But the inclined drilling in the barrel at an angle, providing the direction of gases directly into the piston - it seems, for the first time, it was in AK. Although I do not presume to judge, maybe it was somewhere else. But the point is not the first time - not the first. This is not a sport. Here it does not matter to whom the first thought occurred, it is important who brought it to mind. And in order to bring this thought to mind, it was necessary to solve more than one problem. It was necessary to remove the drill bit when drilling on a round surface, it was necessary to bring the drill exactly to the bottom of the slit (it is impossible to cut into the slit field, it will shoot the bullet), it is necessary to ensure accurate fit of the chamber, ensuring alignment of the holes of the barrel and chamber. And it should be done in such a way that it all costs as cheap as possible. All these issues were resolved at the Izhevsk Motor Plant in 1948, in the manufacture of an experimental batch for military trials.
Just before this (feat?), You can silently take off your hats and simply and modestly pay tribute to the chief designer, under whose leadership these tasks were solved, and to all those engineers and workers who participated in it. And all the arguments about the "genius", "predestination" and "fundamentality" let's leave the kitchen experts and sofa analysts.
Here is what A. A. Malimon writes in his book about that time: “The longstanding practice of domestic arms production shows that in the past it was not always possible to achieve a successful result during
production development of new weapons. The Simonov machine guns (RPS-46), serially produced in 1945-1946, did not manage to achieve satisfactory work of box magazines for rifle cartridge with protruding lip of the sleeve (Inventory 11007PR-48). Degtyarev machine gun (DS-39) was even put into service, but due to the presence of serious design flaws that reduce the reliability of the system, it was already replaced during the war with the Goryunov machine gun (SG-43), which also overcame the thorny path during mastering in mass production. The Tokarev self-loading rifle (SVT-40) also failed the test of time. The success of the case in many cases was determined by the level of technical rationality of the chosen weapon design scheme and the presence in it of reserves for further improvement. ”
Sorry, I forgot to explain why Schmeisser could not be unaware of the inclined gas outlet according to the scheme applied by Cholek in his machine gun. Here is the locking scheme in the ZB-26:
Does she remind you of anything?
(c) Kulikov Andrey, Izhevsk, 17.06.2014.
Acknowledgment: Timofeev Andrey.
References:
Malimon A. А. Domestic automata (notes of the tester-gunsmith).
Blagonravov, A. A. (ed.). The material part of small arms.
Handrich Dieter. Sturmgewehr-44.
Dear Readers, Thanks to outside help, I was able to acquire several foreign books on weapons-related topics. I was amazed by the wealth and quality of the material. In particular, only the German patron 7,92х33 has written a whole book by the respected Dr. Dieter Capel on the 400 pages. And even on these pages I did not find the information that is very important and interesting for me and for you. Although interesting and informative in this book - above the roof. For example, Polte's experiments in creating two-round cartridges, steel bullets and caseless (!) Ammunition.
And a terrible worm envy struck me. Envy of the fact that someone has access to information resources can afford to work quietly in this topic and, bringing together facts, enjoy discoveries. It cannot be said that our national literature is lagging behind in this. There are many good books and articles, but they all suffer from one-sided presentation of the material. And, as a result, if a historian writes a book, it allows for terrible technical mistakes. If you write a techie, then you start to fall asleep on the third page. If this is a memoir, then a certain part of the population immediately has doubts about the credibility and sincerity of the author. So I decided what I would do after retirement.
Thank you.
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