Continuing to reveal the creations of AKM, it is impossible not to make a small digression and tell about another brainchild of Mikhail Timofeevich - a carbine submachine gun (according to the current foreign classification, “assault rifle”).

As already noted, after the adoption of the AK-47, the rifle squad was armed with two individual models - the AK-47 itself and the SKS self-loading carbine. Moreover, the majority of experts, relying on the experience of conducting military operations of the Second World War, considered this to be completely justified. Opinions differed only in their quantitative ratio. Awareness of the influence of the maneuverability characteristics of weapons on combat effectiveness shooting and confirmation of this by practice occurred somewhat later. As a result, armed Soviet army the classic “assault rifle” did not appear, but submachine guns were adopted - shortened “assault rifles”, and the carbine, as a type of individual weapon, ceased to exist.
But that's in the future. In the meantime, inspired by the efforts of Korobov, Mikhail Timofeevich took a non-standard step - he tried to combine in one sample the properties of both an assault rifle (the ability to fire bursts and a large magazine capacity) and a carbine (increased shooting accuracy and better external ballistic characteristics). The customer, represented by the GAU of the USSR Ministry of Defense, reacted with interest to this proposal (after all, the reduction in the range of weapons promised considerable economic benefits) and in a letter dated April 26, 1954 instructed the test site to conduct a preliminary assessment of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which was carried out in the period from May 3 to June 7, 1954 by major engineer Lugovoi V. G. and Blanter F. A., and senior technician-lieutenant Tishukov I. A. All firing was carried out in parallel with serial AK and SKS. One sample of the automatic carbine No. NZH-1470 was put to the test.
It is noteworthy that the technical documentation (drawings, technical specifications, etc.) for the automatic carbine was not presented at the same time, which contradicts general rules organization of tests (apparently, the genuine interest of the GRAU affected - what kind of “miracle Yudo” is this). What was the difference between an experienced automatic carbine and an AK-47?

1. Barrel length increased by 70 mm.
2. The gas chamber of a closed type (without venting excess gases into the atmosphere) was shifted back by 132 mm and had a gas outlet diameter of 2 mm (instead of 4.4 + 0.1).

3. Scheme of automation with a short stroke (8 mm) of the piston, then the stem with the shutter move by inertia. The piston stroke is limited back by the protrusions of the rear part of the gas chamber.
4. The self-timer also acts as a slower rate of fire, which is triggered after the rebound of the stem upon impact in the extreme forward position (the principle of operation is the same as that of the Korobov assault rifle). The axis of the self-timer is located behind the axes of the trigger and the trigger.
5. The bolt stem has grooves for clip loading and a latch (bolt delay) at the base of the reload handle.

Fixation of the bolt stem for clip-on loading of a regular automatic magazine is carried out by pressing a finger on a movable pin, which is included in the corresponding recess on the right wall of the receiver.

Kalashnikov assault rifle
Kalashnikov assault rifle
Simonov's carbine

1 - gas chamber of the machine, 2 - gas chamber of the machine-

1 - bolt carrier of the machine gun, 2 - bolt stem of the carbine machine gun

To release the stem, it is necessary to take it back a little and release it.
6. In connection with the location of the self-timer-retarder at the right wall of the receiver behind the trigger, the flag of the translator-fuse is mounted on the left wall of the receiver.
7. Changed the shape and size of the forearm and handguard.
8. The fastening of the bayonet-knife has been changed.
9. The stroke of the moving parts is 34 mm less than that of the AK, and is almost the same as that of the SCS, which is due to the same scheme of operation of the automation (the AK has a long piston stroke).
10. The entry of the shutter rammer during the rollback for the next cartridge is only 12 mm, while that of the AK is 63 mm and that of the SCS is 29 mm.

From the height of today's knowledge of weapons science, the experiments of Mikhail Timofeevich and the hopes of the customer seem like child's play. Such a "course" project is within the power of a modern ordinary student of a weapons university and would only be rated at a three with a minus. In the early 50s, the study, theory and calculation of automatic systems were in their infancy. Along with carrying out a huge number of research works that summarized the entire experience of weapons science, intensive studies were carried out on various principles of the operation of weapon automation, statistical processing of the results of all stages (factory, acceptance-accurate, periodic, etc.) of testing serial samples. Through the joint efforts of specialists from design bureaus, research institutes, universities, manufacturers, the theory and calculation of small arms mechanisms have acquired a modern look and covered all known principles of automation, periodically being refined and supplemented when non-traditional designs appear.

For these reasons, in order to test the assault rifle, the customer quite democratically states: “Upon receiving an improvement ... it is necessary, if possible, to determine the factors that had positive influence... ". Unfortunately, and maybe fortunately (after all, the US Army approached the “beheading” of an assault rifle only 50 years later, already in the 21st century), factors that had a positive impact on combat characteristics in the machine-carbine was not found, despite the lower (compared to AK) weight by 120 g and the bullet speed greater by 2.5%.
The summary of the range read: “The characteristics of the dispersion of bullets when firing from a carbine submachine gun are within the dispersion of standard automatic weapons. When firing both with normally lubricated parts, and with dust, sprinkling and dry parts, the automatic carbine worked unreliably. All delays are related to the failure to supply a cartridge from the magazine. The reason is the insufficient entry of the shutter rammer behind the next cartridge with a “sluggish” (non-energetic) reflection of the sleeve. Thus, a stalemate was created: an increase in the speed of rollback of moving parts to ensure normal reflection of the cartridge cases is unacceptable, as it leads to continuous non-feeds (missing feed) of the cartridge from the magazine due to lack of time to lift the next cartridge (to the chambering line) into the magazine receiver. Reducing the speed of moving parts is also unacceptable, as it leads to continuous delays - "sticking" of the sleeve due to non-energetic reflection. That is, automation is able to work reliably enough only in a narrow range of speeds of moving parts, which is unattainable in practice. All design features, from the point of view of accuracy of fire, they have no practical benefits. It is quite obvious (quote from the original document) that "such a model cannot replace the Simonov carbine and the Kalashnikov assault rifle as a single individual infantry model, the expediency of which is quite obvious." Hooray! There was a rethinking of the concept, which was facilitated by
and the results of firing at the "Shot" courses during the development of methods for determining and evaluating combat effectiveness. The conclusion was even more specific: “Given that the 7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle is a reliable model in all cases of military operation and has high performance characteristics, military unit No. 01773 considers it appropriate
conduct a broad check in the troops of the possibility of using this machine in a lightweight version with a bayonet as a single model of individual infantry weapons.

1 - cover of the receiver of the machine, 2 - cover of the receiver of the carbine

This conclusion was the verdict for Simonov's carbine, the production of which was soon curtailed. So, in general, an unsuccessful design changed the further direction
development of domestic individual weapons. But also with the recommendation in " later life The AK GRAU assault rifle was somewhat cunning. At this time, the tactical and technical requirements for a promising machine gun for No. 006256-53 had already been worked out, and a number of fairly well-known (in narrow circles) gunsmiths zealously set to work.

1 - barrel pad of the machine gun, 2 - barrel pad of the machine-carbine, 3 - handguard of the machine gun, 4 - handguard of the machine-carbine

1 - assault rifle bayonet, 2 - assault rifle bayonet

1 - piston and rod of the machine-carbine,
2 - piston and rod of the machine

Basic weight and linear characteristics of samples

Name of characteristics	Automatic carbine Kalashnikov №1	According to the drawings and specifications for the Kalashnikov assault rifle	According to the drawings and specifications for the Simonov carbine
Total weight with accessory and magazine without cartridges, kg		no more than 4,250	no more than 3,850
Barrel weight with receiver (for machine-carbine and a machine gun with a butt and fire control handle)
Weight of moving parts, kg
Gate stem weight, kg
The weight of the shutter frame in the assembly, kg
Gate frame weight with rod, kg
Weight of gas piston with rod, kg
Receiver cover weight, kg
Forearm weight, kg
Handguard weight, kg
Bayonet weight, kg
Bayonet sheath weight, kg
Length without bayonet (for SCS with bayonet in stowed position), mm
Length with bayonet, mm
Barrel length, mm
Bayonet length, mm
Bayonet blade length, mm
Trigger force, kg

* - weight is indicated with a magazine from a Kalashnikov assault rifle
** - taking into account the weight of the piston with the rod

This question remains very popular to this day. Therefore, we decided to bring to the attention of readers a review from the fishki.net portal.

The term "assault rifle", which came into the domestic weapons terminology in the form of a tracing paper from the German term Sturmgewehr and the English Assault rifle, differs in that, despite its wide popularity, it does not have a single clear definition.

For the first time the term "assault rifle" (Assault phase rifle) was used by the American designer Isaac Lewis (Isaac Lewis), the creator of the machine gun of the same name, in relation to the line of experienced automatic rifles, created in 1918-20 under the regular American rifle cartridge .30 M1906 (.30-06, 7.62x63mm). These automatic rifles were created under the same concept of "fire on the move" as the Browning automatic rifle BAR M1918.

The authors of this concept are considered the French, who proposed to arm the infantry with automatic rifles, suitable for firing from the shoulder or from the waist from the hands, on the move or from short stops. The purpose of these automatic rifles was to support infantry, armed with conventional repeating rifles, directly during the attack on enemy positions. The first serial model of a weapon of this class can be considered the Shosh “submachine gun” of the 1915 model of the year (Fusil Mitrailleur CSRG Mle.1915). Soon after, the Russian automatic rifle of the Fedorov system of the 1916 model of the year appeared, later called the "automatic". And finally, in 1918, the already mentioned Browning M1918 automatic rifles appeared.

The creation of an automatic rifle, John Moses Browning began in 1917, commissioned by the American military of the First World War. The main objective was to develop an automatic weapon for the infantry, suitable for firing bursts from the shoulder and even from the hip when advancing, to create a high density of fire.

Thus, the Browning system, despite its shortcomings, proved to be tenacious - it was in service with the US Army until the 1960s, and in some places even longer. It must be said that within the framework of the task, Browning quite succeeded - the weapons of the M1918 series were reliable, although expensive to manufacture. Through the efforts of the Belgians from FN Herstal, the Browning design also became widespread in Europe, where before the Second World War it was in service in Belgium, Poland, Sweden , the Baltic countries.

However, M1918 is difficult to classify. Being too heavy for the original role of an automatic rifle (the M1918 is more than 2 times heavier than the M1 Garand rifle or any other army repeating rifle of that time), on the other hand, it was not a full-fledged light machine gun due to the small magazine capacity and non-replaceable barrel . In terms of firepower, the M1918 in all modifications was inferior to such samples as the Degtyarev DP-27, ZB-26 or BREN. Nevertheless, it was a reliable weapon that provided an increase in infantry firepower.

Sturmgewehr - Haenel / Schmeisser MP 43MP 44 Stg.44 (Germany)

The development of manual automatic weapons chambered for a cartridge intermediate in power between pistol and rifle was started in Germany in the mid-thirties. In 1939, the intermediate cartridge 7.92 × 33 mm (7.92mm Kurz), developed by the German company Polte, was chosen as the new base ammunition. In 1942, by order of the German arms department HWaA, two firms set about developing weapons for this cartridge - C.G. Haenel and Karl Walther.

In general, the Stg.44 assault rifle was a fairly successful model, providing effective fire with single shots at a distance of up to 500-600 meters and automatic fire at a distance of up to 300 meters, being, however, excessively heavy and not very convenient in the butt, especially when shooting lying.

There is a legend that the Kalashnikov assault rifle was copied from the Sturmgever and that Schmeisser himself, allegedly being in Soviet captivity, participated in the development of the AK. However, the AK and Stg.44 designs contain too many fundamentally different solutions (the layout of the receiver, the USM device, the barrel locking unit, etc.). And the very possible participation of Schmeiser in the development of the Kalashnikov assault rifle looks more than doubtful, given that the myth places Hugo Schmeiser in Izhevsk, while the experimental AK-47 was created in Kovrov.

The 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle (AK) is an assault rifle adopted by the USSR in 1949. It was designed in 1947 by Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov.

AK and its modifications are the most common small arms in the world. According to experts, this type (including licensed and unlicensed copies, as well as other developments based on AK) can include a fifth of all small arms on Earth. Over 60 years, more than 70 million Kalashnikov assault rifles of various modifications have been produced. They are in service with 50 foreign armies. The main competitor of Kalashnikov assault rifles is the American M16 automatic rifle, which was produced in the amount of approximately 10 million pieces and is in service with 27 armies of the world. According to many experts, the Kalashnikov assault rifle is the standard of reliability and ease of maintenance.

Based on the 7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle, a family of military and civilian small arms of various calibers was created, including AKM and AK74 assault rifles and their modifications, Kalashnikov light machine gun, carbines and Saiga smoothbore guns and others.

The M16 (official designation Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is an American 5.56 mm automatic rifle developed from the AR-15 rifle and adopted in the 1960s.

Automatic rifle of caliber 5.56×45 mm with air-cooled barrel, automatics based on a gas engine (using the energy of powder gases) and a locking scheme by turning the bolt. Powder gases vented from the bore through a thin gas outlet tube act directly on the bolt carrier (and not on the piston, as in many other schemes) pushing it back. The moving bolt carrier rotates the bolt, thereby disengaging it from the barrel. Further, the bolt and bolt carrier move under the influence of residual pressure in the chamber, compressing the return spring, at the same time the spent cartridge case is ejected. The straightening return spring pushes the bolt group back, the bolt removes a new cartridge from the magazine and sends it into the chamber, after which it engages (locks) with the barrel. This completes the automation cycle and after the shot, everything repeats again.

The M16 and its modifications remain the main armament of the American infantry to this day.

The M16 is a classic rifle. In the butt there are devices for cleaning weapons. On the right side of the receiver, you can clearly see the “rammer” of the shutter (designed for manual ramming of the shutter if the energy of the return spring is not enough) and the cover above the cartridge case ejector window, which protects the mechanism from dirt and automatically opens when the shutter is cocked. In addition, on rifles, starting with the M16A2 modification, a reflector appeared that allows the shooter to fire from the left shoulder without fear of shell casings hitting the face.

The rifle received its "baptism of fire" during the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation of 1962-1966, where it was used by special units of the British army. However, the M16 gained world fame during the Vietnam War, where it was widely used by the US and South Vietnamese armies.

FN FAL (fr. Fusil Automatique Leger - light automatic rifle) is a NATO firearm manufactured in Belgium by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. One of the most recognized and widespread automatic rifles.
The FN FAL was originally developed for the 7.92x33mm intermediate cartridge used by the Germans during World War II, then prototypes for the English cartridge .280 British appeared. Later it was converted to the 7.62 × 51 mm NATO cartridge, which was adopted as a single cartridge for NATO countries. During the Cold War, she was nicknamed "the right hand of the free world."

The development of a new automatic rifle chambered for the German intermediate cartridge 7.92x33mm Kurtz (read - assault rifle) was started by the FN company in 1946 and was carried out in parallel with the creation of a rifle chambered for "traditional" rifle cartridges. The development of both rifles was led by a well-known designer, a student of Browning, Didien Seve (Dieudonne Saive).

The rifle chambered for conventional full-size cartridges was released in 1949 under the designation SAFN-49, around the same time the first prototypes of the new assault rifle appeared, created already under the new intermediate cartridge 7x43mm (.280) of English design. In 1950, new 7mm assault rifles - the Belgian and English EM-2 are being tested in the USA. The Americans recognize the advantages of the design of the Belgian rifle, but completely reject the idea of ​​an intermediate cartridge - instead, they create a slightly (12 mm) shortened version of their standard .30-06 rifle cartridge under the designation T65. As part of the newly created NATO alliance, a program of standardization of small arms systems begins, and under pressure from the United States in 1953-54, NATO accepts the T65 cartridge under the designation 7.62x51mm NATO as a single new American cartridge.

At the same time, something like a gentleman's agreement is being concluded between the United States, Belgium and England - in exchange for accepting European countries NATO of the new American cartridge The United States will adopt a Belgian rifle modified for the new single cartridge. As the near future showed, the Americans did not fulfill their part of the agreement, in 1957 they adopted the M14 rifle of their own design instead of the FN FAL.

The abbreviation FAMAS stands for Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de St-Etienne (that is, "assault rifle developed by MAS" - the Arms Enterprise in Saint-Etienne). The unofficial name is "Cleron" (French "bugle")

In 1969, in France, it was decided to create a new 5.56mm assault rifle, which should replace the MAS Mle.49 / 56 self-loading rifles of 7.5mm caliber, 9mm MAT-49 submachine guns and 7.5mm MAC Mle.1929 light machine guns in the troops . The development of a new rifle was entrusted to the arsenal in the city of Saint-Etienne, Paul Tellie became the leader and chief designer.

The first prototypes of the new rifle were created by 1971, and in 1972-73 they began to be tested in the French army. At the same time, in order to adopt 5.56mm weapons, France is adopting Swiss-designed SIG SG-540 assault rifles, manufactured under license at the Manurhine weapons factories. In 1978, the FAMAS rifle in the F1 variant was adopted by France, and in 1980 it was first shown at the parade, where soldiers were armed with it. airborne troops France. As production progressed, the FAMAS rifle became the main individual small arms in the French Armed Forces, the total production amounted to about 400,000 pieces, of which a small amount was exported, including to the UAE.

In the early 1990s, the French arms concern GIAT Industries (manufacturer of FAMAS) began developing an improved model called the FAMAS G1. The new version of the rifle received an enlarged trigger guard and a slightly modified forearm. By 1994, on the basis of the FAMAS G1, the FAMAS G2 variant was developed, the main difference of which was a modified magazine receiver, designed not for the old "native" magazines from FAMAS, but for NATO standardized magazines from the M16 rifle, which have a standard capacity of 30 rounds ( these magazines have a latch design different from the early FAMAS ones and are not interchangeable with them). In 1995, the French Navy purchased the first batch of new FAMAS G2 rifles, and a little later the French Army began to receive them. These rifles are also offered for export.

In the late 1990s, the FELIN program was launched in France, designed to create a 21st century infantry weapon system. As part of this program, a slightly modified FAMAS G2 rifle was equipped with various equipment, including electronic day and night sights, laser rangefinder, weapon state sensors, as well as a data transmission system (including a picture from a sight) to a soldier’s helmet-mounted display and further to a wearable computer or up the command chain.

The development of the G11 rifle was started by Heckler and Koch (Germany) at the very end of the 1960s of the last century, when the German government decided to create a new, more efficient rifle to replace the G3 rifles.
It was decided that the Bundeswehr needed a light, small-caliber rifle with high accuracy. To ensure a reliable defeat of the enemy, it was necessary to ensure that several bullets hit the target, therefore it was decided to create a rifle chambered for a caseless cartridge of 4.3mm caliber (later switched to 4.7mm caliber) with the ability to fire single, long bursts and with a cut-off burst of 3 shots . The Heckler-Koch company was supposed to create such a rifle, with the participation of the Dynamite-Nobel company, which was responsible for the development of a new caseless cartridge.

Rifle automation works due to the energy of powder gases discharged from the barrel. The cartridges are placed in the magazine above the barrel with bullets down. The G11 rifle has a unique rotating breech chamber, into which the cartridge is fed vertically down before firing. Then, the chamber is rotated 90 degrees, and when the cartridge stands on the line of the barrel, a shot occurs, while the cartridge itself is not fed into the barrel. Since the cartridge is caseless (with a burning primer), the automation cycle is simplified by refusing to extract the spent cartridge case. In the event of a misfire, the failed cartridge is pushed down when the next cartridge is fed. The cocking of the mechanism is carried out using the rotary knob on the left side of the weapon. When firing, this handle remains stationary.

The barrel, firing mechanism (except for the fuse/translator and trigger), rotary breech with mechanics and magazine are mounted on a single base, which can move back and forth inside the body of the rifle. When firing in single or long bursts, the entire mechanism performs a full rollback-rollback cycle after each shot, which ensures recoil reduction (similar to artillery systems). When firing in bursts of three shots, the cartridge is fed and fired immediately after the previous one, at a rate of up to 2000 rounds per minute. At the same time, the entire mobile system comes to the extremely rear position after the third shot, while the recoil begins to act on the weapon and the arrow again after the end of the queue, which ensures an extremely high accuracy of fire (a similar solution was used in the Russian AN-94 "Abakan" assault rifle) ).

Following the recent overhaul of the OICW Block 1 / XM8 program, Heckler & Koch decided to enter the US military and police weapons market with a new, alternative HK416 system. This modular assault rifle combines familiar American ergonomics and appearance M16 rifles with significantly improved reliability, through a number of measures.

First of all, this is the replacement of the direct gas exhaust system of the M16 rifle with a more reliable and much less sensitive to pollution scheme with a gas piston having a short stroke, borrowed from the G36 rifle. In addition, Heckler-Koch engineers improved the bolt and recoil buffer mechanism of the bolt carrier, used a barrel increased survivability(more than 20,000 shots), made by cold forging. The fore-end is designed in such a way that the barrel is hung in it cantilever, on the forearm itself and on the upper surface of the receiver there are guides of the Picatinny rail type (MILSTD-1913) for attaching any compatible sights and other accessories, including a laser sight, flashlights and an AG36 underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher /AG-C. Initially, the HK416 was developed as a separate interchangeable module for installation on any lower part of the receiver (lower receiver) from the M16 rifle or M4 carbine, but later HK began to produce complete HK416 carbines.

The HK416 assault rifle (automatic) is built on the basis of gas-operated automatics with a short stroke of a gas piston located above the barrel. The barrel is locked by a rotary bolt with 7 lugs. The receiver is made of aluminum alloy. The fuse-translator of fire modes is three-position, provides firing with single shots and bursts. The design retains the T-shaped cocking handle, traditional for rifles of the M16 series, located above the butt, as well as the shutter delay mechanism. On the upper surface of the receiver, as well as on the forearm, there are guides for mounting sighting devices (open or optical), as well as other accessories. The butt is a telescopic sliding, multi-position, similar in design to the butt of the M4 carbine.

The G36 assault rifle has been developed by the German company Heckler and Koch (Heckler und Koch GmbH) since the early 1990s under the in-house designation HK 50. In 1995, the G36 was adopted by the Bundeswehr (Army of Germany), and in 1999 - by the armed forces of Spain . In addition, the G36 is used by the British police and is exported to the United States and a number of other countries for sale there. law enforcement and military structures. Especially for the civilian market, based on the G36 automation, Heckler-Koch released a self-loading rifle SL-8 caliber .223 Remington.

The G36 rifle differs significantly from previous HK developments based on semi-free jamming (HK G3 and others), and more closely resembles the development american rifle Armalite AR-18 than previous HK proprietary systems.

The stock of the G36 rifle is foldable to the side, made of plastic. On the upper surface of the receiver is a large carrying handle, in the back of which are sights. The standard G36 rifle for the Bundeswehr has two sights - an optical magnification of 3.5X, and a red dot sight located above it, designed for use at close range. The export version of the G36E rifle and the shortened "carbine" G-36K have only one 1.5X optical sight. An even shorter version of the G36C (C stands for Compact or Commando) instead of a carrying handle has universal Picatinny-type rails for attaching sights of any type.

The G36 is fed from 30-round transparent plastic magazines with special mounts to combine magazines into "packages" for faster reloading. Since the G-36's magazine acceptor is designed to NATO standards, the G-36 can use any standard magazines, including the 100-round Beta-C double drum magazines.
A bayonet-knife or a 40mm Heckler-Koch underbarrel grenade launcher can be mounted on the G36 rifle, in addition, the G36 flash hider has a standard diameter and can be used to throw rifle grenades (although the automatic rifle does not provide for a gas regulator, and therefore this practice is hardly recommended ).

Based on the G36 rifle, an attempt was made to create the HK MG36 light machine gun, which is distinguished by a longer and heavier barrel and the presence of bipods, but this option did not find popularity and was not produced in the series.

The Heckler-Koch HK417 7.62mm NATO automatic rifle is based on the Heckler-Koch HK416 5.56mm NATO automatic rifle.

The development of the NK 417 rifle was started in 2005 based on the experience gained by the international coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, where under certain conditions the 5.56mm caliber weapon showed insufficient effective firing range and insufficient penetrating and stopping effect of small-caliber bullets. Rifles of the NK 417 series went into mass production in 2007 or 2008, and are offered for arming the army and police forces.

The HK417 rifle has a modular design, largely repeating the design of the American M16 rifle, with one important difference - the German HK417 rifle has a modified gas automatic system using a conventional gas piston with a short stroke. There are a number of other differences, however, all the main controls and the method of disassembling and assembling weapons are inherited from the M16. This is primarily due to the fact that one of the main markets for the HK417 is supposed to be the United States.

The compact AK-9 assault rifle is one of the new developments of the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant (IzhMash), designed to equip employees of special units of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The machine is built on the basis of the design of the "hundredth series" of Kalashnikov assault rifles, and is designed for special cartridges of 9mm caliber (9x39) with a subsonic bullet speed (SP-5, SP-6). This model promises to compete directly with systems already in service in Russia, such as the SR-3M and 9A-91 assault rifles, as well as the AS.

According to the device, the AK-9 assault rifle as a whole repeats the design of the AK-74M assault rifles, differing in shortened gas engine and barrel assemblies. The machine has plastic fittings improved shape, on the bottom of the forearm there is a Picatinny rail for mounting an underbarrel flashlight or a laser designator. On the left side of the receiver is a standard bracket for attaching optical sight brackets. The plastic buttstock is also made according to the type of the AK-74M assault rifle, it folds sideways (to the left). A quick-detachable muffler for the sound of a shot can be installed on the barrel of the machine gun. Cartridges are fed from plastic magazines with a capacity of 20 rounds.

Automatic grenade launcher "Groza" OTs-14

The OTs-14 Groza automatic grenade launcher was developed in Tula, at TsKIB SOO, and produced in small batches at the Tula Arms Plant in the mid-1990s. The “OTs” index stands for “TsKIB Sample”, such an index is received by all models of military small arms created at TsKIB SOO (models of sports and hunting weapon receive the index "MC"). The development of an automatic grenade launcher for close combat was started in 1992 by designers Valery Telesh (developer of 40mm grenade launchers GP-25 and GP-30) and Yuri Lebedev, and already in 1994 the first prototypes were ready. The main idea of ​​​​creating a specialized complex was that the traditional installation of an underbarrel grenade launcher on a regular machine (be it AK-74 or M16A2) greatly worsens the balance of the weapon, and therefore it is necessary to initially design the weapon taking into account the installation of a grenade launcher on it. In addition, due to the modular design of the weapon, it was supposed to achieve great flexibility in its use.

Initially, this automatic-grenade launcher was created for the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for special 9mm cartridges SP-5 and SP-6. The Thunderstorm-1 variant (another designation is TKB-0239) was created for army special forces under the widely used cartridge 7.62x39.

The OTs-14 "Groza" assault rifle was created on the basis of the receiver and mechanisms of the AKS-74U assault rifle - the main changes affected the adaptation of the shutter for a different cartridge with a large diameter of the bottom of the sleeve, and the firing mechanism. In addition, the OTs-14 is configured according to the bullpup scheme, so that the pistol fire control grip is moved forward, in front of the magazine, and the butt plate is attached directly to the rear of the receiver. The highlight of the OS-14 is a variable configuration: the basic machine gun can be used in the variants of a carbine, an assault machine (with an extended muzzle and a front additional handle for holding), a silent machine gun (with a silencer), an automatic grenade launcher system (the standard fire control handle and forearm are replaced by fire control handle with a trigger switch "automatic grenade launcher" and underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher). The OTs-14 submachine gun passed military tests in the Chechen campaign, but did not find much popularity and did not get into mass production.

AEK-971 (GRAU index - 6P67) - an assault rifle developed in 1978 at the Degtyarev plant in Kovrov under the leadership of Stanislav Ivanovich Koksharov based on the Konstantinov system automatic machine (SA-006), which participated in the 1974 competition.

In 2013-2015, a modification of the AEK-971 called "A-545" took part in the competition for a new combined-arms machine. In April 2015, the deputy chairman of the board of the Military Industrial Commission announced that the machine would be put into service along with the AK-12.

A design feature of the AEK-971 is a scheme with balanced automation based on a gas engine (similar to the AK-107/108 assault rifles). With this scheme, an additional gas piston connected to the countermass moves synchronously with the main one, which moves the bolt carrier, but towards it, thereby compensating for the impulses that occur during the movement of the bolt group and when it strikes in the rear and front positions (it's no secret that one of features of the design of Kalashnikov assault rifles, which ensured the high reliability of the weapon - the moving parts of the automation come to the extreme positions at a significant speed, and therefore, at the moments of the movement of the bolt group, the machine receives significant and multidirectional impulses of movement, which negatively affect the accuracy of automatic fire). As a result, the shooter feels only the impulse from the recoil when firing, and the machine does not twitch when firing in bursts, but rather sticks to the shoulder. Thus, in the AEK971 assault rifle, it was possible to achieve an accuracy of automatic firing 2 or more times better than that of the AKM or AK-74 assault rifles (when firing from the AEK973 7.62mm caliber and AEK971 5.45mm caliber, respectively).

The development of a new rifle to replace the aging L1A1 rifles (licensed FN FAL Belgian development) was started in England back in the late 1960s with the development of a new small-caliber, low-pulse cartridge.

During the initial operation of the rifle, many shortcomings were identified, including insufficiently reliable supply of cartridges, low resistance to corrosion, unsatisfactory strength and service life of some components. In addition, the L85 rifle also has a number of inherent flaws that cannot be corrected, such as an excessively shifted rear center of gravity, leading to a strong upward pull of the barrel when firing bursts, and the overall overweight of the weapon. In 2000, the German company Heckler-Koch, which at that time belonged to the British concern Royal Ordnance, received a contract to modernize 200,000 L85 rifles (out of approximately 320,000 issued) in service in the UK. In 2001, the first modified L85A2 rifles began to enter service with the British Army.

The main differences between the M4 and the M16A2 are a shorter barrel and a retractable telescopic stock.
Media reports criticize the M4 due to the lack of reliability of the system: there have been cases of failure of the carbine. In May 2008, at an international symposium on small arms and light weapons, representatives of the US Congress, the Pentagon and a number of defense companies made a statement stating the need to stop purchasing machine guns on a non-contract basis. One of the arguments was the results of the tests: according to them, the number of M4 failures turned out to be higher than the total number of failures for other types of weapons that participated in the tests - the HK XM8, HK 416 and FN SCAR-L assault rifles. The response of the army command was a statement that the carbine had proven itself in combat conditions and that the number of failures due to external influences was estimated to be insignificant.

FN SCAR Mk 16 / Mk 17 - Special Forces Combat Assault Rifle (USA - Belgium)

The SCAR shooting system includes two basic weapon options - the "light" rifle Mk.16 SCAR-L (Light) and the "heavy" rifle Mk.17 SCAR-H (Heavy). The main differences between SCAR-L and SCAR-H are the ammunition used - SCAR-L rifles are designed only for 5.56x45mm NATO cartridges (both with conventional M855 bullets and with heavier Mk.262 bullets). SCAR-H rifles will use the much more powerful 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge as the base ammunition, with the possibility, after replacing the necessary components (bolt, barrel, lower part of the receiver with a magazine receiver), to use other cartridges (however, these plans are still not implemented). In both basic configurations, SCAR rifles must have three possible configurations - the standard “S” (Standard), the shortened “CQC” (Close Quarters Combat) for close combat and the sniper “SV” (Sniper Variant). In 2013, the shortest version of the 5.56mm assault rifle, the SCAR-L PDW, was developed, designed to play the role of a personal defense weapon for military personnel. A change of option within the same caliber can be carried out in the conditions of the base by replacing the barrel by the forces of the fighter himself or the gunsmith of the unit. In all versions, SCAR rifles have the same device, the same controls, the same maintenance, repair and cleaning procedures, the maximum possible interchangeability of parts and accessories. The interchangeability of parts between rifle variants will be about 90%. Such a modular system provides the military with the most flexible weapons, easily adaptable to any task, from close combat in the city to sniper shooting at medium ranges (about 500-600 meters).

Improving the accuracy of fire due to the displacement of the mass of the bolt group and the reduction of the recoil arm;
- improved ergonomics, the introduction of a two-way fuse-switch of the type of fire, a two-way shutter delay button and a shift back of the magazine latch allows you to operate them with one hand holding the weapon (without removing it from the handle, as before);
- built-in Picatinny rails on a rigidly fixed receiver cover for mounting attachments (sights, rangefinders, grenade launchers, flashlights);
- a new telescopic buttstock folding in both directions, a more ergonomic pistol-type grip, adjustable pad and butt plate, butt locking mechanism in the unfolded state is now located in the butt itself, and not in the receiver;
- the telescopic buttstock can now be easily replaced with a non-folding plastic buttstock, for this both versions have a Picatinny rail at the end, with which they are attached to the receiver (this also allows you to turn the hinge with the rod on a folding sample, thus changing the side where the butt folds) ;
- the ability to install the reload handle on both sides of the receiver (for the convenience of left-handers and right-handers);
- the ability to fire in three modes (single shots, with a cutoff of three shots and automatically), previously optional for the "hundredth" series;
the muzzle device of the machine, providing the possibility of using foreign-made rifle grenades.
- a mechanical sight with an enlarged aiming line;
modified trigger mechanism;
- variable rate of fire: automatic fire - 650 rounds / min, mode with a cut-off line of three shots - 1000 rounds / min;
- shutter stop (shutter lag);
- new design of the bolt group;
- barrel with improved performance in terms of manufacturing accuracy, replaceable.

The first serial model of weapons for this cartridge was sniper rifle QBU-88 (Type 88), made according to the layout of the bullpup. QBU-88 turned out to be a successful model of weapons and served as the basis for the creation of a series of small arms, of which the QBZ-95 is a representative.

In 1995, this rifle is adopted by the People's Liberation Army of China. It was presented to the general public two years later, during the return of PRC control over the territory of Hong Kong - a new garrison was armed with these machine guns.
Installation of optical or night sights is possible, for which there are appropriate fastenings on the carrying handle. The standard sight has 3 range adjustments: 100, 300 and 500 m. The trigger guard is large enough to be used as a front grip. It is possible to install a bayonet-knife or grenade launchers: 35 mm QLG91B, 40 mm LG1, 40 mm LG2 or 38 mm Riot Gun (Type B). The design of the flame arrester allows you to shoot rifle grenades.

The QBZ-95 assault rifle received high marks for its effectiveness in close range combat, but firing at long ranges is fraught with difficulties.

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And, closing the topic, let's still deal with the terms.

By itself, the term "rifle" historically denotes a weapon with a "screw", that is, rifled, barrel. Currently, the term rifle is understood as an individual long-barreled small arms with a rifled barrel. The term "carbine" in relation to military weapons means "short rifle".

Carbines TOZ-78, TOZ-99 and TOZ-122

Rifle (reloading rifle)

Historically, the rifle got its name from the rifled, "screw" barrel, which was invented at the turn of the 15th - 16th centuries. For that time, rifled guns had high accuracy and firing range - up to 1000 steps. The rifling gave the bullet a rapid rotation in flight, which ensured its stability. However, the imperfection of the rest of the design details and the high cost of production were the reason that rifled weapons were not popular for a long time.

The appearance of percussion caps and the free delivery of a bullet when loading a rifled gun at the end of the first half of the 19th century. opened up really wide possibilities for the use of rifling in infantry weapons. The soldiers of the tsarist army were convinced of this during the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Allied troops, equipped with such weapons, easily fired aimed fire at a distance of up to 1200 paces, hitting both advanced chains and artillery and convoys. The Russians then used smooth-bore guns, the firing range of which did not exceed 300 steps.

Mosin rifle

The advent of breech-loading systems was another key milestone in the history of rifles. The loader no longer had to stand up to his full height every time and turn the gun muzzle towards him. The bullets moved along the rifling without special dispensers. And, finally, loading from the treasury led to the creation of unitary cartridges.

In Russia, the rifle became a "rifle" in the middle of the 19th century. In 1865, a 6-line rifle gun was adopted by the Russian army, which received the name "rifle" - "understandable for every soldier and explaining to him the main principle on which the successful operation of a rifled gun is based." In a number of foreign languages, by the way, there is no division into guns and rifles.

Mauser 98k

Nowadays, a rifle is an individual long-barreled small arms with a rifled barrel. A shortened rifle was called a “carbine”, which again is not applicable to all countries where a carbine is called a gun of any length, but at the same time having all sorts of bells and whistles for use in cavalry. In Poland, our rifles are called carbines at all, and our carbines bear the proud name of carbines.

Traditionally, those models of rifles that use the muscular strength of the shooter to actuate the mechanisms of the rifle are called "magazine". In Russian, the term "bolt rifles" is still used. This name owes its origin to the English "bolt action rifle" - "(non-self-loading) rifle with a longitudinally sliding bolt."

Rifle (Self-Loading Rifle)

(Self-loading (semi-automatic) rifle)

The first rifles using for reloading weapons (unlocking the barrel, removing and removing the spent cartridge case, feeding a new cartridge, locking the barrel, cocking the trigger) the energy generated by the previous shot appeared at the very end of the 19th century, but the massive rearmament of armies to self-loading rifles began only in 30s of the 20th century. Self-loading rifles are often also called semi-automatic, since, unlike automatic rifles (machine guns), without human intervention, not a full firing cycle is carried out, but only reloading, and for the next shot, the shooter must release and pull the trigger again. The term of the army life of most self-loading rifles was not too long, since the experience of the Second World War showed the need for the possibility of automatic fire and the excess power of rifle cartridges. The transition to a new class of weapons - assault rifles, automatic weapons chambered for an intermediate cartridge, began as early as 1943-44, and gained full momentum in the early 1950s, with the start of the Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifle. However, in many countries, self-loading rifles remained in service until the 1980s (for example, in the UK, where before the adoption of the SA80 weapon system, the self-loading SLR, a variant of the Belgian FN FAL, was standard). At present, most of the self-loading weapons remaining in the troops are, like the remaining magazines, sniper weapons, or parade-ceremonial weapons (for example, SKS carbines in the armies of Russia and China).

Machine guns and assault rifles

There is often confusion as to what is the difference between a submachine gun and an assault rifle. And the difference is in the languages. It's just that in Russian it is customary to call "Automatic" (in relation to weapons) in English they call "Assault rifle", i.e. "Assault rifle".

The assault rifle is the main offensive weapon of modern infantry. Modern machines usually have a caliber from 5.45 to 7.62 mm, magazine capacity from 20 to 30 or more rounds, fully automatic fire modes (bursts) and single shots6, and some models also have a cut-off (i.e. bursts of 2 or 3 shot). The effective firing range is on average up to 600 m, the effective practical rate of fire is up to 400 rounds / min in bursts. Many automata (including those shown here) are "progenitors" or constituent parts entire families of automatic weapons (from short "carbines" to hand-held machine guns - good to that an example is the Austrian AUG or the AK / RPK family). Almost all machine guns can be equipped with a bayonet, a night, optical or collimator sight, and some can also be equipped with a 30-40mm grenade launcher or a nozzle for throwing rifle grenades (rifle grenades are put on the barrel and fired with a blank cartridge).

Current trends for assault rifles are the widespread use of composite plastics and light alloys, the installation of built-in optical or collimator sights with magnification from 1x to 4-6x, the transition to the Bullpup scheme (mechanics in the butt).

According to the classification adopted in the USSR / Russia, assault rifles can be considered the second generation of automatic rifles, that is, individual automatic (intended for firing bursts) weapons. The distinction between generations is carried out according to the cartridge used in this weapon. If a weapon uses a powerful "rifle" type cartridge (eg 7.62mm NATO, 7.5mm Swiss), it is classified as first generation. Classic examples of first-generation automatic rifles are the American M-14 and AR-10, the Belgian FN FAL, and the German G3. If a weapon uses the so-called "intermediate" cartridges (7.62x39, 5.45x39, 5.56mm NATO (5.56x45)), such a weapon is classified as a second generation and is actually called an "automatic" or "assault rifle". The main advantages of weapons chambered for an intermediate cartridge were: less weight of carried ammunition, less recoil energy of the weapon (and as a result, a reduction in the mass of the weapon and facilitating automatic fire control).

Stg.44, Germany, 1944

The first machine gun was created in Russia during the First World War. The Germans took the next step by creating by 1944 a real StG44 assault rifle chambered for their own intermediate cartridge of 7.92x33mm, but the Soviet Kalashnikov AK assault rifle (called AK-47 in the west) became the first truly massive (and one of the most famous in the world). The next step was taken in the United States, adopting the M-16 rifle in 1963 under a specially designed small-caliber and low-pulse cartridge .223 Remington or M193 5.56x45mm (created by Sierra Bullets based on the hunting cartridge .222 Remington). In the 80s, a modification of this cartridge, developed in Belgium under the designation SS109 (with a heavier bullet), was adopted as the standard 5.56mm NATO ammunition. Following the USA and the USSR, the low-impulse cartridge M73 5.45x39mm and the weapon system AK-74 and RPK-74 for it are adopted.

Colt/Armalite M16A1, USA, 1967

I must say that the debate about whether it was worth adopting a small-caliber cartridge into service in the USSR (and this was done clearly "after" "potential adversaries") has not subsided to this day. The most widely used 5.45mm 5N7 cartridge has an unstable bullet with low stopping power and penetrating power, and the improved 5N10 cartridges with a steel carbide core, apparently, did not enter the army en masse. It is not surprising that in local conflicts the good old AKM and RPK are often used under the time-tested and fairly effective cartridge 7.62mm (7.62x39). To confirm this, it is enough to look at reports on military operations in Chechnya. Yes, and M.T. Kalashnikov himself said that by the time the 5.45mm complex (cartridge / machine gun / light machine gun) was adopted, the potential of the 7.62x39 cartridge had not yet been fully disclosed. In addition, it seems to me that in the conditions of combat in populated areas, when the combat distances are small and the overriding, lethal and stopping effect of a bullet comes first (the mass of ammunition carried becomes not so critical, because their rears are nearby), it would be best to show 9mm cartridges (9x39mm SP-6, PAB-9). They are capable of hitting targets in bulletproof vests and behind light shelters at a distance of urban combat (100-400m) and have a high stopping power (important in collisions at short distances - in ruins, during "cleansing" settlements). I think that complexes like "Thunderstorm" for 9mm ammunition could demonstrate their effectiveness.

Submachine guns

Submachine gun Sudayev, the best PP of World War II

According to GOST (State Standard of the USSR) No. 28653-90 "Small Arms. Terms and definitions" still in force in Russia, the term "submachine gun" stands for "automatic machine, the design of which provides for firing pistol cartridges", and the term "automatic" in turn is defined as "automatic carbine", i.e. a shortened weapon with a rifled barrel that allows automatic fire. Thus, de jure it is legitimate to apply the more general term "automatic" to submachine guns, but in the future I will try to adhere to the more precise term "submachine gun". In general, the definition of the class of small arms "submachine gun" will look like "an individual small arms automatic weapon chambered for a pistol cartridge, designed to be fired with both hands and / or with an emphasis on the shoulder." The latter is necessary to separate submachine guns and conventional pistols with the ability to conduct automatic fire (for example, APS or Glock 18). Automatic pistols assume that firing bursts from them is an auxiliary, not the main firing mode, and are designed primarily for firing at a pistol, with one hand. Of course, such a division can allow for an extended interpretation, since a number of ultra-compact submachine guns, such as the Steyr TMP, Scorpion Vz.61 or Ingram M11, are sometimes referred to by Western authors as "automatic pistols" (machine pistol). On the other hand, the class of submachine guns (submachine gun in English) sometimes includes compact (shortened) submachine guns for an intermediate cartridge, such as the AKS-74U or Colt Commando. At the same time, Western authors and manufacturing companies proceed more from the tactical niche and dimensions of the weapon than from the cartridge used. Again, in the future I will proceed from the domestic (Russian) classification.

Historically, the first automatic weapon for a pistol cartridge appeared at the beginning of the First World War, in 1915. From a tactical point of view, this weapon (double-barreled Italian PP Villar-Perosa) was more of a machine gun for close combat, that is, a group support weapon, rather than an individual infantry weapon. The first full-fledged submachine gun in the modern sense was the PP Bergmann / Schmeisser MP.18, I designed by Louis Schmeisser. Developed on the basis of the experience of fighting in the trenches of the First World War, this model managed to get into the German troops even before the end of hostilities. However, most of the military experts of the leading countries of the world underestimated the role of submachine guns as infantry weapons. PPs were often considered either auxiliary weapons, or even purely police weapons designed to combat riots. However, in the twenties and thirties in most industrial countries, including the USSR, research and development work was carried out in the field of submachine guns. At the same time, a number of Western arms manufacturers actively worked for export, selling their submachine guns not so much to their own armies as to the countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia. The revision of the role of submachine guns as an army weapon began after studying the Chaco war in the mid-thirties. An experience civil war in Spain, he spurred developments in the field of submachine guns in the heavily militarized Nazi Germany, and in the USSR they realized it only after the Red Army began to suffer serious losses from the fire of Finnish submachine gunners armed with Suomi software during the Winter War of 1940.

Italian double-barreled submachine gun Villar-Perosa in the museum exposition.

German policeman with a Schmeisser MP.18,I submachine gun (1920s).

American soldier with a Thompson M1 submachine gun (Second World War).

The Second World War was the peak of the development of submachine guns as an army weapon. During the war, such PPs as PPSh-41, MP.40 and PPS-43 were developed and produced in millions of copies. However, by the middle of the war there was new type weapon, which eventually replaced the PP as the main weapon of the infantry - the machine gun, otherwise known as the "assault rifle" (sturmgewehr-German, assault rifle-English). As a matter of fact, machine guns were developed as more versatile substitutes for submachine guns, having a greater effective firing range with comparable weight and dimensions. The first to abandon the PP in the army were the Armed Forces of the USSR - already in 1949, the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the Simonov self-loading carbine under an intermediate cartridge were adopted.

In most Western countries, submachine guns lasted much longer as a regular army weapon, due to the fact that in 1954 the NATO bloc standardized the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge as the main cartridge, the weapon for which was rather bulky and massive, and the creation of compact samples for airborne troops, crews of combat vehicles and motorized infantry was difficult. However, after the transition of NATO countries in 1979, following the United States to a low-impulse 5.56x45mm cartridge, submachine guns began to be rapidly withdrawn from service. At present, submachine guns have remained mainly in the armament of various army special forces units, where their properties such as compactness and good adaptability to use with a sound silencer are especially in demand.

Russian fighter of the OMON detachment with a submachine gun during the antiterrorist operation (2005).

In terms of police use, the distribution of submachine guns was "positively" influenced by such factors as the growth international terrorism and organized crime, and in the US, the social unrest and racial clashes of the 1960s and 1970s. Relatively compact submachine guns with their relatively short maximum lethal range are the most suitable for use in police operations in conditions major cities. At the same time, the unification of submachine guns by cartridge with the main police weapon - pistols - also has a certain role.

In addition, compact submachine guns are widely used by high-ranking security services to provide a short-term fire advantage in fleeting fire contacts that usually occur at minimum ranges.

Personal Defense Weapon / PDW

Separately, it must be said about such a class of weapons as "personal defense weapons of military personnel" or Personal Defense Weapon / PDW in the English classification. For a long time, a pistol was considered such a weapon, but already in 1940, a special weapon was developed in the United States, which made it possible to shoot much more accurately than from a pistol, and at a greater range, while being noticeably lighter and more compact than a regular infantry rifle (we are talking about about the American M1 carbine). In the post-war period in Western countries, this role was usually played by submachine guns; in the USSR, either standard machine guns were used for this purpose, and later shortened AKS-74U machine guns. After the transition of Western countries to a small-caliber low-pulse cartridge, shortened machine guns also appeared there, however, back in the fifties of the 20th century in the USA, the idea arose (and by the seventies took root) of creating a special small-caliber cartridge, close in size and recoil momentum to conventional pistol cartridges, but at the same time, at short ranges, comparable in ballistics with a small-caliber automatic (intermediate) cartridge. Such a cartridge gave a number of advantages - in comparison with pistol cartridges, it increased the accuracy of fire due to the greater flatness of the trajectory of a pointed bullet and increased efficiency against soft "anti-fragmentation" army bulletproof vests of that time, and compared to automatic cartridges - less recoil, less weight of ammunition and weapons. In the course of experiments in this direction, a number of prototypes of small-caliber systems of "personal self-defense weapons" were developed, dating back to the fifties - when the first attempts were made to convert the M1 carbine to a special small-caliber cartridge.22 Johnson Spitfire. This can also include developments of the 1960s-70s, such as the IMP Air Force survival pistol (ultra-compact automatic weapon in the bullpup layout without a shoulder rest chambered for .221 Fireball, 1967), Colt SCAMP (automatic pistol with vapor automatics chambered for a special cartridge. 22 SCAMP, 1971).

The IMP Air Force survival pistol in .221 Fireball was developed as a potential survival weapon for US Air Force pilots.

The Colt automatic pistol (SCAMP = Small Caliber Machine Pistol) was also intended to replace conventional pistols for US military personnel. Shown next to it is a .22 SCAMP cartridge (5.6mm) compared to a 9m pistol cartridge (9x19 NATO).

However, despite certain successes in the creation of such specialized models of "self-defense weapons", it was only at the very end of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century that they were adopted for mass armament. The appearance in the late 1980s of the Belgian submachine gun / self-defense weapon FN P90 under a specially designed small-caliber cartridge 5.7x28 mm was perhaps the first example of at least some commercially successful development in this direction. However, the main irony is that this model is currently in service with mainly various forces and units. special operations armies and police of a number of countries, including the US Secret Service. Thus, in most cases, the FN P90 is not an auxiliary weapon for self-defense, but a specialized main weapon for combat professionals. In addition, already in 2006, the German Armed Forces entered service with the HK MP7A1 sample, which is a direct development of the Colt SCAMP concept and also uses a special small-caliber cartridge of 4.6x30mm caliber. © 2007 Maxim Popenker.

Today, the class of "self-defense weapons" includes not only small arms, but also gas weapons, stun guns and even ... batons

machine guns

Port Arthur "machine gun"

First appearing at the end of the 19th century, machine guns clearly showed themselves already in the Anglo-Boer War, and by the time the First World War began, they gained well-deserved popularity.

Machine gun - group automatic rapid fire weapon infantry squads, platoons and companies. In addition to infantry, machine guns can be used as the main or auxiliary weapon on armored vehicles, helicopters, and aircraft. Machine guns can be used from light folding bipods (light and single machine guns), from a wheeled or tripod machine - single, easel and heavy (large-caliber) machine guns. Machines can be conventional (for use on ground targets), anti-aircraft (for use on air targets) and universal. The weight of the machine for a modern single machine gun is 4-15 kg, for a large-caliber machine gun - up to 20-25 kg.

Machine guns are usually divided into: hand or light, used from a bipod or hand-held and using the same ammunition as the assault rifles in service, and often based on them (examples are the AK-based RPK, or AUG /hbar, based on the Steyr AUG). Most modern light machine guns they are magazine-fed, and they can use both high-capacity magazines (up to 75-100 rounds) and magazines from standard machine guns (assault rifles). Single machine guns are used both from bipods and from the machine, as a rule they use more powerful rifle cartridges (7.62x54mm in the USSR / Russia, 7.62mm NATO, etc.). The effective firing range of single machine guns is up to 700-800m from a bipod and up to 1100-1200m from a machine gun. The majority of single machine guns are powered by a belt (capacity is usually from 100 to 250 rounds). Typical single machine guns are the Soviet / Russian PK / PKS, the American M-60, the Belgian FN MAG (it is in service with more than 20 armies of the countries of the world), the German Mg.42 and the Mg.3 created on its basis and others. Large-caliber machine guns have a caliber from 12.7 mm to 14.5 mm, they are used only from the machine or mounted on equipment. The feed is tape, the capacity of the tape is usually 50 rounds. The most typical examples are the American Browning M2 machine gun (caliber 50 or 12.7x99mm), which was put into service in 1933 and in various modifications is in service with all NATO countries.

machine gun "Browning" M2

Special attention deserves multi-barreled systems, otherwise called Gatling machine guns (after the name of the American designer of the 19th century, who created a multi-barreled hand-operated shotgun). Through the efforts of the Hollywood "warriors" these systems have become in the minds of many into a variety hand weapons(See the films "Terminator" ("Terminator"), "Predator" ("Predator"). In fact, such systems are used (actually in the armed forces different countries) mainly for installation on airplanes and helicopters. So, shown in the mentioned films "Minigun" (Minigun M-134, GAU / 2) is the armament of such US helicopters as UH-1, AH-1G, OH-6 and others. Such a machine gun cannot be used as a manual machine gun for the following reasons: 1) with a rate of fire of 4-6 thousand rounds per minute, not a single person can withstand the recoil 2) with such a rate of fire, thousands (tens of thousands!) one person will not carry away and 3) such systems (American, at least) require power supply (several powerful car-type batteries, at least) (domestic systems, for example, a 4-barrel 7.62mm GShG, use the energy of powder gases to drive automation ).

Pistols and Revolvers

pistol Uzi

What is a modern pistol or revolver? Why are these "products" made of metal and (in recent times) made of plastic enjoy such high popularity all over the world? Perhaps because they are small in size, moderate in weight (well, almost everything :) and can provide sufficient firepower, sufficient not only for self-defense, but also for conducting offensive operations and even hunting small and medium-sized animals (mainly for hunting use revolvers or single-shot pistols under a powerful cartridge). Of course, for each situation, you should (ideally) select the appropriate weapons and ammunition.

Pistols

Semi-automatic pistols use a small amount of the energy of the propellant charge that burns when fired to extract a spent cartridge case from the barrel, cock the hammer or striker and send a new cartridge into the chamber. Cartridges are usually located in a box magazine located in the pistol grip. Box magazines can hold up to 15 rounds (and more) in one or two rows, and allow the weapon to be reloaded quickly.

Revolvers

Revolvers are named so because of the rotating (revolving) drum in which the cartridges are located. Usually the drum of a revolver holds 5-7 rounds, some revolvers of caliber .22 (5.56mm) can hold up to 10 rounds. The cartridges in the drum can be reloaded in two main ways - one by one, as, for example, in the Colt PeaceKeeper or Nagant (and most of the old - 19th century - revolvers), or all at once - when the drum is clicked on a special lever sideways (to the left, in most cases ) or when the frame breaks, opening the breech section of the drum. In this case, a special part - the extractor ejects the spent cartridges from the drum. New cartridges are inserted one at a time or with the help of special clips-speedloaders ("speedloaders"). Both revolvers and pistols have two main types of action: Single (or single) action (Single Action) and Double action (Double Action).

Single action means that the Revolver must be manually cocked for each shot (cocking the drum). This type of operation was the only one possible for most early revolvers (like the Peacekeeper "a), and is still implemented in most modern revolvers. This mode improves the accuracy of fire, but reduces the rate of fire. For Pistols, Single action means that the hammer (or striker) pistol for the first shot must be cocked manually (usually, this is done by pulling back and releasing the shutter casing. This cocks the mainspring and sends the first cartridge into the breech).For the second and subsequent shots, the cocking of the mainspring and the reloading cycle are performed automatically, with shutter release.

Double action for Revolvers means that for the first and all subsequent shots, the hammer is cocked by the shooter's muscular strength when the trigger is pulled, while the drum is rotated. This mode increases the rate of fire and simplifies shooting, but significantly increases the force required for triggering (from 1-2 kgf for single-action revolvers to 5-6 kgf or more for double-action revolvers). For Pistols, the hammer (striker) is cocked by pulling the trigger for the first shot only, all other shots are fired by automatic cocking. However, the first cartridge must be chambered by jigging the bolt. As a rule, double-action pistols remain cocked in this case, similar to single-action pistols, however, they allow you to remove the hammer from the cocking and carry a weapon with a cartridge in the chamber and an uncocked hammer. In addition, this mode allows you to try to re-fire a cartridge that has misfired by simply pulling the trigger again.

Some, mostly compact, pistols and revolvers have a Double Action Only mechanic, whereby the hammer is ALWAYS cocked by pulling the trigger, even if reloading is automatic. Often in such weapons there is no fuse, since such a scheme provides a shot only when the trigger is fully squeezed out with considerable effort.

It seems to me that it should be said separately about the latest fashion in pistol building - the use of polymeric materials for the manufacture of a frame (body) of a pistol. Naturally, serial all-plastic pistols so far are more of a fantasy, because the barrels, bolts and main parts of the trigger are made of steel. The polymer frame has its pros and cons. The first, most tangible plus is less weight (the difference for pistols of the same class with steel and polymer frames can reach 150-200 grams). The second plus is the great cheapness of manufacturing and a smaller number of frame parts. The third is the high corrosion resistance of modern polymers. The most characteristic representatives of the class of "plastic" pistols are the Glock series, Smith & Wesson Sigma, CZ100 ...