November 10, 2009 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the creator of the most famous and reliable machine gun, which is used in various modifications in many countries of the world.
In 1943, a new 7.62 mm cartridge was created in the USSR, which received the designation "7.62 mm cartridge of the 1943 model." In terms of power and firing range, the new ammunition occupied a position between pistol and rifle cartridges. Soon, under the new cartridge, the development of a family of small arms began, which was supposed to replace Mosin rifles and PPSh submachine guns (Shpagin submachine gun) and PPS (Sudaev submachine gun).
Work on a new class of weapons, designated in the West as an "assault rifle", and in the USSR as an "automatic", was started in 1944 by several leading "rifle" design bureaus of the Soviet Union - Simonov, Degtyarev, Sudayev and others.
In 1945, the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU) of the Red Army (the main customer of small arms in the USSR) announced a competition for the creation of a new machine gun chambered for a rifle cartridge of the 1943 model. Among the main requirements, the following were put forward: high accuracy of combat, limited weight and dimensions of the weapon, non-failure operation, survivability of parts, simplicity of the device of the future machine gun.
The design of the Kalashnikov assault rifle was much simpler and cheaper to manufacture compared to the Simonov self-loading carbine, which was the first to be chambered in 7.62 mm.
At the same time, on the basis of AK, it was developed and put into service light machine gun RPK (Kalashnikov light machine gun). Together with a single PK / PKS machine gun, similar in design, AK and RPK formed the basis of the small arms complex of the Soviet Army and.
In the 1950s, licenses for the production of AKs were transferred by the USSR to eighteen countries (mainly the Warsaw Pact allies). At the same time, eleven more states launched the production of AK without a license. The number of countries in which AK was produced without a license in small batches, and even more so handicraft, cannot be counted.
According to Rosoboronexport data for 2009, the licenses of all countries that received them earlier have already expired, however, production continues.
The production of AK clones is deployed in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. According to very rough estimates, there are from 70 to 105 million copies of various modifications of Kalashnikov assault rifles in the world.
In 1974, a new modification of the AK, the AK-74, was developed. The weapon entered mass production in 1976. The main difference was the transition to a smaller caliber and a new massive muzzle barrel, which increased the accuracy and accuracy of fire during rapid firing of single shots and bursts.
In the late 1970s, a new model of the AK assault rifle chambered for the 5.45 mm cartridge, the AK-74M, was created. The barrel and bolt were changed in it, a compensator was added to prevent the barrel from going up when firing.
It had a folding plastic butt, a special bar for attaching night sights, and it could also be equipped with an underbarrel grenade launcher.
Subsequently, two more variants of assault rifles were created on its basis - AK-101 and AK-103 for the caliber of 5.56x45 mm NATO cartridges.
Shortened AK-102, AK-103, AK-104, AK-105 assault rifles chambered for 5.56x45 mm NATO, 7.62x39 mm, 5.45x39 mm cartridges were also developed. The barrel length of the machine in comparison with the prototype was reduced to 314 mm. With reduced dimensions, it practically retained its ballistic characteristics. The aiming range of these machine guns reached 500 m, the combat rate of fire was 40-100 rounds / min. The total length of the weapon was 824 mm, with the butt folded - 586 mm. Machine weight 3.2 kg. Magazine capacity 30 rounds.
On the basis of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, a number of hunting weapons were also developed: the Saiga carbine chambered for 7.62-9.2 (expansive bullet) and 7.62-8 (shell bullet); smooth-bore self-loading guns: Saiga-310, Saiga-410s, Saiga-410K, Saiga-20, Saiga-20C, Saiga-20K, Saiga-12K, Saiga-308 and etc.; self-loading carbines "Vepr" and "Vepr-308"; sports and training gas-balloon Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The Kalashnikov assault rifle is currently in service with the armies and special forces of 106 countries of the world.
Several states have included the image of a Kalashnikov assault rifle in their symbols: Mozambique (coat of arms and flag, since 1975), Zimbabwe (coat of arms, since 1980), Burkina Faso (coat of arms, in 1984-1997).
In the summer of 2007 in Moscow and Izhevsk, FSUE Rosoboronexport, the Government of the Udmurt Republic and the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant held large-scale celebrations in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The Kalashnikov assault rifle was included in the Guinness Book of Records - it and its modifications make up 15% of all small arms in the world, being the most common small arms.
The AK took first place in the list of the most significant inventions of the 20th century, according to the French magazine Liberation, leaving behind atomic weapons and space technology.
Tactical specifications AK-47 assault rifles:
Caliber - 7.62 mm.
Applied cartridge - 7.62x39 mm,
Length - 870 mm,
Length with attached bayonet - 1070 mm,
Barrel length - 415 mm,
Magazine capacity - 30 rounds,
Weight without magazine and bayonet - 3.8 kg,
Weight with equipped magazine - 4.3 kg,
Effective firing range - 600 m,
Sighting range - 800 m,
The initial speed of the bullet - 715 m / s,
Driving mode - single / continuous,
Muzzle energy - 2019 j,
Rate of fire - 660 rds / min,
Rate of fire - 40-100 rds / min,
Range of a direct shot at a growth figure - 525 m,
Rifling - 4, right-handed, step 240.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
Who did create the AK-47 assault rifle? People are so brainwashed by Soviet and Russian propaganda that they don’t even want to hear about the real truth
So, people, who believes that an illiterate collective farmer, at the age of 18, who first saw a steam locomotive, could create an AK-47 after reading a book about the history of small arms (as it is written in Kalashnikov's autobiography)?
Here are some facts:
In October 1946, Hugo Schmeisser, as a weapons specialist, was "offered" to go to the Urals for several years in Soviet Union. This order applies to many well-known weapon designers from the city of Suhl. You are allowed to bring families with you. German specialists arrived on 10/24/1946 on a special train to Izhevsk. From publications in newspapers around 1990, it is known that Hugo lived in Izhevsk at 133 on the street. Red. After the arrival of Hugo Schmeisser at the design bureau of the Izhevsk plant Izhmash, the development of the AK-47 was completed there. Already in 1946, the first three samples of the machine were presented in Izhevsk.
So maybe the AK-47 was created by Hugo Schmeisser? Which has already twice revolutionized automatic weapons: created the MP-18 in the First World War and the Stg-44 in the Second World War.
People are so brainwashed by Soviet and Russian propaganda that they don't even want to hear about an alternative point of view. The same people seized the Wikipedia page about the T-34 and immediately remove any doubts that it was best tank 20th century. It turns out completely ridiculous that on the pages about other tanks they write that the T-34 was a coffin on tracks, and on the T-34 page that it was the best tank!
Let's talk a little about the AK-47, which is the sacred cow of Soviet and Russian propaganda along with the T-34, the Varyag cruiser, 28 Panfilov's men, an incandescent light bulb, a radio, a chemical table. elements, Lomonosov and others. If anyone is interested, then write, I can tell you about other cows.
About Tsiolkovsky, Gagarin, Lomonosov and much, much more
Kalashnikov is the seventeenth child in a large peasant family from a remote Altai village, he first saw a steam locomotive at the age of 18. Then he read a book in the hospital about the history of small arms and created the best machine gun in the world - this is what Kalashnikov himself writes in his autobiography. By an amazing coincidence, several hundred of the best German gunsmiths headed by the famous Hugo Schmeisser were working in Izhevsk at that time. And after their departure to Germany, Kalashnikov for 66 years from 1947 to 2013 no longer created absolutely anything: neither a pistol, nor a knife, nor a rifle, nor a cannon.
If we take any well-known gunsmith, then at first he accumulates experience for a long time and only towards the middle or end of his life creates something ingenious, like Schmeisser, for example. Kalashnikov has the opposite - at the beginning of his career, a very good machine gun, and then, when he has already accumulated experience, nothing more. Was there his swan song in 1947?
Schmeisser with all his design bureau were moved to Izhevsk and worked there in the best GULAG traditions. And they did absolutely nothing. But then there was the secretary of the Komsomol organization Misha Kalashnikov, a former uneducated peasant who, completely alone, created a miracle military equipment AK-47!
According to available archival data, at least 474 German specialists in the field of small arms worked in the USSR! Among them were Dr. Werner Gruner and Kurt Horn (the creators of the legendary MG42 machine gun, which is still in service with the Bundeswehr and is widely exported to various countries, and also produced under license in Greece, Pakistan, Spain and Turkey), chief designer firm "Gustlof Werke" Karl August Barnitske, Oskar Schink, Oskar Heinrich Betzold and others. Hugo Schmeisser and other German engineers and scientists were at the height of their professional activities after two world wars. Hugo Schmeisser himself is certainly a classic and a world-class specialist - like Newton in physics. But the rural nugget, under the leadership of the party and the government, put hundreds of the most educated and experienced designers into the belt, who already had significant achievements, a name and degrees. Recall that at that time Kalashnikov also had a whole one! "invention" - he installed a rev counter on the engine, the so-called. tank engine life meter (it’s funny to me - I don’t know about you).
And do you believe it? After all, creating a machine gun and a cartridge for it (by the way, this was the first foldless cartridge in the history of the USSR and Russia, licked from a German model), setting up their production is no easier than creating a space rocket. Could an illiterate peasant, for example, carry out complex mathematical calculations of the kinematics and dynamics of weapon assemblies, like Dr. Werner Gruner? In my opinion, Kalashnikov's mathematical knowledge did not go beyond the scope of arithmetic. And with Schmeisser, I don’t even dare to compare this rogue Komsomol member.
Yes, if Kalashnikov was as brilliant as Soviet-Russian propaganda describes him, then it was necessary to give him books on the history of aircraft construction, engine building and other structures, and he would have created the most brilliant rockets, tanks, aircraft and so on. Can you imagine how much he would have created in 66 years from 1947 to the present day? Even if you give him 6 years between reading another book and creating a masterpiece, then we would have 11 masterpieces! For example, he could create a hydrogen bomb, a space rocket, superglue, graphene, a hypersonic aircraft, a computer, the Internet, lasers, a stealth aircraft, a BMW X6, a lunar rover, an iPhone, and so on up to 11. How high would he raise our electronics, auto and aircraft construction, nuclear energy and so on and so forth! In 1947, they would have given him a reading about the history of telephone communications, and he would have made the IPhone already in 1953!
The whole trouble is that no one has given him another book to read in 66 years! The only book he read was the history of small arms.
Go Kalashnikov saw a lathe for the first time only in Izhevsk. Do you really think that an illiterate peasant in Izhevsk could lead the most experienced German gunsmiths, many of whom are gunsmiths not in the first generation? Schmeisser's father was also famous - his father passed on his experience from childhood. And what did they teach Kalashnikov as a child? Milking cows?
And what was Schmeisser doing in Izhevsk then? He walked around Kalashnikov and asked: “Oh, master Kalashnikov, teach us German gunsmiths how to sow oats to make weapons, oh, miracle master Kalashnikov!”?
They just couldn't take Soviet army the Schmeisser assault rifle, therefore, they assigned the authorship of the AK-47 to Komsomol Kalashnikov, the secretary of the Komsomol, since all Soviet gunsmiths refused such a shame of plagiarism.
For some reason, everyone compares the AK-47 and Stg-44 Schmeisser. And they make the correct conclusion that the automata are not completely similar, because locking the barrel in the STG is carried out by tilting the shutter and some other little things. And from here they make the wrong conclusion that the AK-47 is an original design. But for some reason, everyone forgets about the MKb-42 (W), created in 1942 by another famous gunsmith Walter, whose barrel locking method is similar to the AK-47.
I think the closest approximation to the truth is:
Stg-43 fell into our hands in 1943 during the Battle of Stalingrad. Immediately (within 6 months) a similar one was developed, the so-called. "intermediate" cartridge. Then, in the fire order itself, they tried to create something similar, but nothing worked until Schmeisser came to work in Izhevsk with his design bureau.
Nothing worked - this means that it was possible to create only prototypes, lapped with MKb-42 (W) and Stg-44, but they did not even try to introduce them into mass production.
And to make a prototype based on German machine guns is only 1% of the case. The remaining 99% is the establishment of mass production. After that, the prototype resembles the final product like an ugly duckling to a swan, because. in the course of testing and setting up production, entire units have to be changed. In particular, I had to change the method of locking the barrel, because. in the Soviet culture of production and maintenance of equipment, it was not possible to achieve an acceptable reliability of the Soviet copy of the Stg-44.
Putting Kalashnikov in charge of a German design bureau (even if he is three times a member of the Komsomol and four times secretary of a Komsomol organization), instructing Kalashnikov to create and introduce weapons into production is the same as putting me as a general designer in charge of the development and production of a Boeing 787 or Airbus A380. Even if I'm thrice dick United Russia and ten times the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU - nothing sensible will come of this.
Here are two quotes, the style is right one to one, because All totalitarian regimes are the same:
Racially correct Aryan Guderian:
... the Soviet T-34 tank is a typical example of backward Bolshevik technology. This tank cannot be compared with the best examples of our tanks, made by the faithful sons of the Reich and repeatedly proving their superiority...
Class correct peasant Kalashnikov:
In a country ruled by the communists, I, the seventeenth child in a peasant family, was able to become a designer of small arms, to rise to the heights of professional skill. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, my generation won the terrible war, built a powerful state, paved the way for humanity into space, and created the best models of technology in the world.
I do not believe Kalashnikov and I believe that an illiterate peasant could not create an AK-47 even "under the leadership of the Communist Party." The experience of the USSR showed that cooks and peasants cannot run the state, even if they are Bolshevik communists.
The Russian Army abandoned Kalashnikov assault rifles, even the latest "developments" due to their backwardness and outdated design (it was long overdue). Because of this, Kalashnikov probably died - he was worried. For 66 years, the army has been buying “his” machine gun and not blathering, and then all of a sudden this!
P.S.
Here I have outlined some facts and my thoughts about them, and everyone is free to form his own opinion. If you believe in the authorship of Kalashnikov, then continue to believe further.
I just came across the fact that a lot of facts about the history of the USSR, Russia and pre-Russian states up to Kievan Rus turned out to be a lie. Here I include myths and heroic ballads about the T-34, the Varyag cruiser, 28 Panfilov soldiers, an incandescent light bulb, a radio, a chemical table. elements, Lomonosov, Stakhanovites, Zhukov and others and others. Almost all Soviet historiography turned out to be based on lies.
Especially when you consider that almost all engineers and scientists from the Soviet zone of occupation were taken out of Germany. That they made a huge contribution to the USSR in the development and formation of nuclear energy and weapons, jet aircraft, missiles, etc. That these were German scientists and engineers of world renown, up to the Nobel and Stalin Prize winner Gustav Hertz, and that the Germans were everywhere and even established the production of motorcycles in Izhevsk.
Let us also recall the sudden death of Schmeisser upon arrival in the GDR in 1953. So far nothing has been found in the Stasi archives. The KGB archives are still classified. But some attribute his death to the fact that upon arrival he blurted out somewhere that he “gave the Russians some advice” about the AK-47 in the USSR.
Considering all this and the extreme reluctance of Soviet propaganda to talk about the achievements of captured Germans, I am very critical of the achievements of Kalashnikov.
P.P.S.
If someone writes in favor of Kalashnikov, then first of all answer my questions, pliiz.
1. What did almost 500 German gunsmiths in the USSR do during the period of development and introduction into production of the AK-47 assault rifle and its cartridge, namely, in the period from 1946 to 1952?
2. What orders for the USSR were carried out by German gunsmiths in the period from 45 to 46 while still in Germany?
3. Why didn't Kalashnikov do anything after 1947?
Well, at least put forward some version. I just don’t have enough imagination otherwise, as soon as I explain these miracles by the authorship of Schmeisser. Soviet-Russian propaganda about these facts is silent like a fish on ice and does not explain in any way. Although the archives, I'm sure, have detailed information about the activities of the Germans in Izhevsk. But after all, these edinorosovs with the Medveputians at the head are silent and the archives are not declassified. And I attribute this silence in favor of the version of Schmeisser's authorship. And this secrecy on documents 60 years ago, too.
Also, please do not compare AK with STG44. Because they are different, it does not follow the conclusion that the AK was made by Kalashnikov. Otherwise, the MP-43 was also made by Kalashnikov - after all, it also differs from the STG44. And in general, everything that differs from the STG44 was made by Kalashnikov: M16, HK G36, FN FNC and others.
The same misfortune is suffered by the medveputs, who have captured an article about AK on Wikipedia. They also argue that since the machine guns are different, then AK was created by Kalashnikov - even female logic can understand that there is no logical connection between these two statements.
About the Germans in Izhevsk, they only write: "There was no significant trace of the stay of German gunsmiths in Izhevsk." Those. 500 German gunsmiths were in the USSR just on vacation for 6 years? And at the same time they received salaries of up to 10 thousand rubles, which was much more than the average salary of a Soviet engineer of that time?
Anatoly Tkachenko
The legendary Russian designer created the famous AK-47, working at the same factory with the famous gunsmith of Hitler
The great designer Mikhail Kalashnikov admitted that immediately after the war in Izhevsk he worked with Hugo Schmeisser, the best gunsmith of the Third Reich. And he was involved in the creation of the most popular machine gun in the world - AK-47. The advice of the German designer helped Kalashnikov solve the problem of cold stamping of parts.
Schmeisser ended up in Izhevsk immediately after the war, - says historian Alexei Korobeinikov. - The city of Suhl, where he lived, ended up in the Soviet zone of occupation, and Schmeisser, as well as other engineers and designers, were “offered” to move to the Urals for several years. A special train with German specialists arrived in the capital of Russian gunsmiths on October 24, 1946. It is difficult to accurately assess Schmeisser's contribution to the development of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, since official documents on their work are not available to historians and are still classified, and Hugo himself did not leave memoirs revealing the details of his work in the USSR. Schmeisser spoke sparingly of that period: "He gave the Russians some advice."
Comparison of two machines
Evidence
The German designer left only a few letters and photographs about himself in Izhevsk. The house in which the German gunsmiths lived is now in disrepair, and no one lives in it.
Schmeisser's letters that he wrote to the USSR Ministry of Defense have been preserved, - said Alexander Ermakov, senior researcher at the Kalashnikov Museum in Izhevsk. - These letters are the only known written sources that were available in the archives. The designer complains to them about living conditions, asks for an increase in salary and permission to go on vacation to his homeland. And Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov came to Izhevsk in 1948 to introduce the AK-47 model he designed into production at Izhmash. Therefore, there is no reason to say that Kalashnikov "torn" the design from the Germans. But the fact that Schmeisser and Kalashnikov met at work is for sure. He helped to master new equipment and introduce technological processes for mass production of the machine.
Comparison
The Hugo Schmeisser STG 44 submachine gun is visually very similar to the AK-47.
The comparative external similarity of the automata is based on approximately the same principles of operation, says historian Yermakov. - But a comparison of the internal design and details suggests that the machines are very different. In addition, Kalashnikov began to develop his machine gun already in 43, and in 46 his sample was already being tested. So it would be a mistake to attribute the creation of the AK-47 prototype to the Nazis.
But it is impossible to reject the contribution of the Germans to the launch of the Kalash in the series.
Schmeisser worked in Izhevsk with cold stamping technology until 1952, says Korobeinikov. - And the credit for launching a stamped magazine and receiver into a series belongs to a large part to him.
"Optimists can learn English, pessimists can learn Chinese, and realists can learn the Kalashnikov"
The science of how to distinguish models of the Kalashnikov assault rifle
AK (AK-47)
The classic, very first adopted AK-47 is difficult to confuse with something. Made of iron and wood, without any "bells and whistles", it has long become a symbol of reliability and ease of use in any conditions. At the same time, it took a long time for the machine gun to become such: it took Mikhail Kalashnikov several years to bring his creation to perfection.
In 1946, the military leadership of the USSR announced a competition for the creation of an assault rifle for an intermediate (in terms of lethal force - between a pistol and a rifle) cartridge. The new weapon had to be maneuverable, fast-firing, have sufficient lethal effect of a bullet and shooting accuracy. The competition was held in several stages, extended more than once, since none of the gunsmiths could give the required result. In particular, the commission sent the AK-46 models No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 (with a folding metal butt) for revision.
The improved Kalashnikov assault rifle, which was assigned the AK-47 index, as Sergey Monetchikov writes in the book "History of the Russian Automaton", was almost completely reworked. From the designs of weapons of competitors, the best ideas were borrowed, implemented in individual parts and entire assemblies.
The machine did not have a classic solid stock. Taking into account the solid receiver, the separate wooden butt and forearm contributed to the retention of the weapon during firing. The design of the receiver was redesigned, it was fundamentally different from the previous ones by a special insert rigidly fixed on it, connecting it to the barrel. On the liner, in particular, a reflector of spent cartridges was attached.
The reloading handle, made integral with the bolt carrier, was moved to the right side. This was required by the test soldiers, they noted: the left-hand position of the handle interferes with firing on the move without stopping, touching the stomach. In the same position, it is inconvenient to reload weapons.
The transfer of controls to the right side of the receiver made it possible to create a successful fire switch (from single to automatic), which is also a fuse, made in the form of a single rotary part.
The large mass of the bolt frame and a powerful return spring ensured reliable operation of the mechanisms, including in adverse conditions: dusty, dirty, thickened grease. The weapon turned out to be adapted for trouble-free operation in the range of air temperature changes up to 100 degrees Celsius.
The wooden parts of the new weapon - the butt, forearm and handguard, as well as the pistol grip, made from birch blanks - were covered with three layers of varnish, which ensured their sufficient resistance to swelling in damp conditions.
AKS (AKS-47)
Simultaneously with the AK-47, a model with the letter "C", meaning "folding", was also adopted. This version of the machine was intended for special forces and the airborne forces, its difference was in a metal, not a wooden butt, which, moreover, could be folded under the receiver.
"Such a butt, which consisted of two stamp-welded rods, a shoulder rest and a locking mechanism, ensured the convenience of handling weapons - in the stowed position, when moving on skis, parachuting, as well as using it for firing from tanks, armored personnel carriers, etc. .", - writes Sergey Monetchikov.
Shooting from a machine gun was supposed to be carried out with a folded butt, however, if it was impossible, it was possible to shoot from a weapon with a folded butt. True, it was not very convenient: the butt rods had insufficient rigidity and strength, and the wide shoulder rest did not fit into the hollow of the shoulder and therefore strove to move from there when firing bursts.
AKM and AKMS
The modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle (AKM) was put into service 10 years after the AK-47 - in 1959. It turned out to be lighter, longer-range and more convenient to use.
“We were not satisfied, and especially the main customer, with accuracy when firing from stable positions, lying down from the stop, standing up from the stop. They found a way out by introducing a trigger retarder, which increased the inter-cycle time,” Kalashnikov wrote in the book “Notes of a gunsmith designer.” Later, a muzzle compensator was developed, which made it possible to improve the accuracy of combat during automatic firing from unstable positions, standing, kneeling, lying on the hand.
The retarder allowed the bolt carrier to stabilize in the extreme forward position before the next shot, which affected the accuracy of fire. The muzzle compensator in the form of a petal was installed on the barrel thread, and was one of the clear distinguishing features of the AKM. Due to the compensator, the barrel cut was not vertical, but diagonal. By the way, mufflers could be attached to the same thread.
Improving the accuracy of fire made it possible to increase its aiming range to 1000 meters, as a result, the aiming bar also changed, the range scale consisted of numbers from 1 to 10 (on the AK-47 - up to 8).
The butt was made raised up, which brought the stop point closer to the firing line. The external forms of the wooden forearm have changed. On the sides, it received stops for the fingers. Phosphate-lacquer coating, which replaced the oxide one, increased the anti-corrosion resistance tenfold. Monetchikov notes that the store, made not of steel sheet, but of light alloys, has also undergone fundamental changes. To increase reliability and protect against deformation, the side walls of its body were reinforced with stiffeners.
The design of the bayonet-knife, which was attached under the barrel, was also new. A sheath with a rubber tip for electrical insulation made it possible to use a knife for cutting barbed wire and live wires. The combat power of the AKM increased significantly due to the possibility of installing a GP-25 "Koster" underbarrel grenade launcher. Like its predecessor, the AKM was also developed in a folding version with the letter "C" in the title.
AK-74
In the 1960s, the Soviet military leadership decided to develop small arms chambered for a low-impulse 5.45 mm cartridge. The fact is that in AKM it was not possible to achieve high accuracy of fire. The reason was that the cartridge was too powerful, which gave a strong impulse.
In addition, according to Monetchikov, in the hands of Soviet military specialists were combat trophies from South Vietnam - American AR-15 rifles, the automatic version of which was later adopted by the US Army under the designation M-16. Even then, the AKM was inferior in many respects to the AR-15, in particular, in terms of the accuracy of the battle and the probability of hits.
"Due to the difficulty of development, the search for approaches, the design of an assault rifle chambered for 5.45-mm caliber can be compared, probably, only with the time of the birth of the AK-47 - the father of the entire family of our system. At first, when we decided to take the AKM automation scheme as a basis, one of the factory managers expressed the idea that there is no need to look for something here and invent it, they say, a simple rearrangement will be enough. I marveled in my soul at the naivety of such a judgment, - Mikhail Kalashnikov recalled that period. - Of course, changing a barrel of a larger caliber for a smaller one Then, by the way, the conventional wisdom began to circulate that we just changed the number "47" to "74".
The main feature of the new assault rifle was a two-chamber muzzle brake, which, when fired, absorbed about half of the recoil energy. On the left side of the receiver, a bar was mounted for night sights. The new rubber-metal design of the nape of the buttstock with transverse grooves reduced its sliding over the shoulder when conducting aimed fire.
The handguard and buttstock were first made of wood, but switched to black plastic in the 1980s. The external feature of the butt was the grooves on both sides, they were made to lighten the overall weight of the machine. Shops were also made of plastic.
AKS-74
For the Airborne Forces, a modification was traditionally made with a folding butt, although this time it retracted to the left along the receiver. It is believed that such a decision was not very successful: when folded, the machine turned out to be wide and rubbed the skin when worn on the back. When worn on the chest, there was an inconvenience if it was necessary to fold back the butt without removing the weapon.
A leather cheek sleeve appeared on the upper side of the buttstock; it protected the shooter's cheek from freezing to a metal part in winter conditions.
AKS-74U
Following the world fashion of the 1960s and 70s, the USSR decided to develop a small-sized machine gun that could be used in cramped combat conditions, mainly when firing at close and medium distances. Another announced competition among designers was won by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Compared to the AKS-74, the barrel was shortened from 415 to 206.5 millimeters, because of which the gas chamber had to be carried back. This, writes Sergei Monetchikov, led to a change in the design of the front sight. Its base was made together with the gas chamber. This design also led to the transfer of the sight closer to the shooter's eye, otherwise the aiming line turned out to be very short. Concluding the topic of the sight, we note that the machine guns of this model were equipped with self-luminous nozzles for shooting at night and in conditions of limited visibility.
The higher pressure of powder gases required the installation of a reinforced flame arrester. It was a cylindrical chamber with a bell (expansion in the form of a funnel) in front. The flame arrester was attached to the muzzle of the barrel, on a threaded fit.
The shortened machine gun was equipped with a more massive wooden forearm and a gas tube handguard, it could use both standard magazines for 30 rounds and shortened magazines for 20 rounds.
For a more complete unification of the shortened machine gun with the AKS-74, it was decided to use the same stock, which leans back to the left side of the receiver.
AK-74M
This machine gun is a deep modernization of the weapon, which was put into service in 1974. Keeping everything best qualities inherent in Kalashnikov assault rifles, the AK-74M acquired a number of new ones that significantly improved its combat and operational characteristics.
The main feature of the new model was a folding plastic stock, which replaced the metal one. It was lighter than its predecessors and similar in design to the permanent plastic AK-74 stock produced in the late 1980s. When worn, it clings to clothing less, does not cause discomfort when shooting at low or high temperatures.
The handguard and handguard of the gas tube of the machine were made of glass-filled polyamide. By heat transfer new material almost did not differ from the tree, which excluded the burn of the hands during prolonged shooting. Longitudinal ribs on the forearm made it easier and stronger to hold the weapon during aimed fire.
"Hundredth Series" (AK 101-109)
These modifications of Kalashnikov, developed in the 1990s on the basis of the AK-74M, are called the first domestic family of commercial weapons, since they were intended more for export than for domestic consumption. In particular, they were designed for a NATO cartridge of 5.56 by 45 millimeters.
From the designs of automatic machines of the "100th" series (similar to best model 5.45-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle - AK74M) wooden parts are completely excluded. The buttstock and forearm of all are made of impact-resistant glass-filled black polyamide, for which this weapon, according to Monetchikov, received the name "Black Kalashnikov" from the Americans. All models have plastic stocks that fold to the left along the receiver and a rail for mounting sights.
The most original in the "hundredth" series were the AK-102, AK-104 and AK-105 assault rifles. In their design, a breakthrough was made in increasing the level of unification between standard machines and their shortened versions. Due to a slight increase in the overall length (by 100 millimeters compared to the AKS-74U), it became possible to leave the gas chamber in the same place as in the AK-74, thus allowing the use of a unified movable system and sights on all assault rifles of the series.
Machine guns of the "hundredth" series differ from each other mainly in caliber, barrel length (314 - 415 millimeters), sector sights designed for different ranges (from 500 to 1000 meters).
This assault rifle was also developed on the basis of the AK-74M, and the developments of the "hundredth" series were also used in it. The same black color, the same polymer folding stock. The main difference from the classic Kalashnikovs can be considered a shortened barrel and a vapor mechanism. Experts call a new pistol grip with better ergonomics an important improvement.
The machine gun was created as a silent, flameless rifle complex for covert shooting. It uses subsonic 9×39 mm rounds, which, together with a silencer, make the shot almost inaudible. Magazine capacity - 20 rounds.
On the fore-end there is a special bar for various removable equipment - flashlights, laser pointers.
The most modern assault rifle of the Kalashnikov family, the tests of which have not yet been completed. Of the external changes, the use of Picatinny rails for attaching attachments catches the eye. Unlike the AK-9, they are on the forearm and on top of the receiver. At the same time, the lower bar does not interfere with the installation grenade launchers- this option is saved. The AK-12 also has two short rails on the sides of the forearm and one on top of the gas chamber.
In addition, the butt of the machine is easily removed and can be folded in both directions. On top of that, it is telescopic, the cheek and butt plate are adjustable in height. There is a version of the machine and with a stationary lighter plastic butt.
The flag of the fuse-translator of fire is duplicated on the left side, the machine can fire single, short series of three shots, and in automatic mode. And in general, all the controls of the machine gun are made in such a way that the soldier can use them with one hand, including changing the store and distorting the shutter. By the way, a variety of stores can be used, up to an experimental drum for 95 rounds.
Soviet small arms designer M. T. Kalashnikov invented his legendary 7.62 mm assault rifle in 1947. In 1949, the AK-47 was already at all military bases in the USSR. At the end of the twentieth century, the Kalashnikov assault rifle was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most common weapon in the world. Today, there is one Kalashnikov assault rifle for every 60 adult inhabitants of the planet. According to opinion polls, the first thing that foreigners remember when they are asked about Russia is the Kalashnikov assault rifle. For half a century of its history, the AK-47 has become a true legend. How are weapons made? How did the machine gun become a symbol of Russia? All these questions are answered by E. Bout's book “Kalashnikov assault rifle. Symbol of Russia.
"I never made weapons to kill, I made weapons to defend."
M. Kalashnikov.
Who invented the Kalashnikov assault rifle?
As the popularity of the Kalashnikov assault rifle grew, new versions of the creation of this weapon appeared. There were also strange stories that M.T. Kalashnikov single-handedly developed the legendary assault rifle, and there were also directly opposite versions that M.T. Kalashnikov had nothing to do with the development of the machine gun. Two hypotheses have gained the widest distribution: the so-called "version of a figurehead" and "the version of the Schmeiser automaton.
On March 1, 2002, in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, under the heading “Secret of the XX century”, an article was published without specifying the author under the heading “The legendary Kalashnikov is not a gunsmith, but a figurehead”, formatted as a quote from an interview with a person presented in the article as "Developer of small arms Dmitry Shiryaev". Despite the obvious inconsistencies, the article was a bombshell success. The version of the figurehead immediately became widespread. Here is the text of this article:
“On July 15, 1943, civilian and military experts gathered at the technical council of the People's Commissariat for Armaments in Moscow. On the table was a captured trophy - german machine gun. An order was immediately issued: to immediately make a similar domestic “automatic-cartridge” complex.
In a record short time - in six months - Nikolai Elizarov, designer Pavel Ryazanov, technologist Boris Semin developed a 7.62 mm caliber cartridge, which occupied a position between a rifle and pistol cartridge and received the name "intermediate". According to the announced competition, 15 best designers began to make weapons for this cartridge.
Kalashnikov was not among them.
Create a weapon for an “intermediate” cartridge
“If Sergeant Mikhail Kalashnikov offered not a machine gun, but a poker, for a competitive test in 1946, it would be transformed into the best weapon modernity, - said the leading designer of the Central Research Institute of Precision Engineering (the parent organization for the development of small arms) Dmitry Ivanovich Shiryaev. - Would an unknown sergeant with a seven-grade education be able to win in a competition with experienced weapons designers if a certain group of knowledgeable, talented and powerful people did not stand behind him? I think it’s unlikely, especially considering that the first Kalashnikov assault rifle was rejected without the right to be revised ... ”
“At the Shchurovsky training ground in 1956, Colonel Biryukov showed us the first Kalashnikov assault rifle, the AK-46,” recalls Pyotr Andreevich Tkachev, a well-known designer of automatic small arms. - Was it similar in design to the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle adopted for service? The answer was obvious - no. Most of all, the machine resembled the invention of Bulkin.
“Theoretically, the machine gun of Major Alexei Sudayev should have been adopted,” continues Dmitry Shiryaev. - In battles, Sudayev's submachine gun - PPS, which he made in besieged Leningrad, proved to be excellent. But the 35-year-old designer was suddenly taken to one of the Moscow hospitals, and a few months later he died. During the blockade, he developed a stomach ulcer. The place of the leader is vacated - and the quarrel begins ... The competition has been dragging on for two years. Each participant has his own model of the machine, while none of them has obvious signs of a German prototype. And then Kalashnikov pops up.”
Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov himself believes that “the banner that fell from Sudayev’s hands” could at that time be engineer-colonel Rukavishnikov, the young designer Baryshev and himself.
... Kalashnikov gets to the range of the Main Artillery Directorate in the village of Shchurovo, Ramensky District, Moscow Region, on the recommendation of General Blagonravov. Academician in the war years supervised the department small arms Moscow Aviation Institute. It was in the evacuation that the tanker Kalashnikov, who was recovering from a wound, showed him a sample of an assault rifle made by him in tandem with a military engineer Kazakov.
Blagonravov, “despite the negative conclusion on the model as a whole,” noted the great and laborious work done by Kalashnikov ...
“During the war years, any claimed invention must be given an exhaustive answer,” explains Petr Tkachev. - Gunsmiths years later said that during the war they once received an application for the invention of a silent sniper rifle. Her bearer offered to put on the muzzle of a rifle ... a pig's bladder. And what do you think, the designers bought pigs, slaughtered, conducted experiments ... On the application form for inventions of that time in the upper right corner was a quote from Stalin, the meaning of which was as follows: anyone who interferes with scientific and technological progress must be removed from his path . Everyone remembered the 37th year…”
Collapse tests in twelve days
“Before joining my unit, Kalashnikov worked in Alma-Ata in tandem with the gunsmith Kazakov,” Vasily Lyuty, head of the test unit, later recalled. – Samples were sent to the GAU research site in Golutvin. However, these samples were not tested by shooting, because they were too primitive. Contrary to what Kalashnikov writes and talks about himself in newspapers and magazines, I responsibly declare that while working in Kazakhstan, he did not create anything worthy of attention. Mikhail Timofeevich is a very talented person. However, in terms of the level of general education, practical knowledge and experience, he did not reach the professional designers who armed the army ... ”
The next sample of the Kalashnikov assault rifle was tested by Senior Lieutenant Pchelintsev at the shooting range. After testing, the engineer compiled a detailed report, the conclusions of which for Mikhail Timofeevich were disappointing: the system is imperfect, not subject to improvement. Then Kalashnikov asks the head of the testing unit, Captain Vasily Lyuty, to look at his machine gun, Pchelintsev's report and draw up a refinement program.
“And just then, in 1946, an order was issued: the military at the training ground was forbidden to engage in design work,” says Pyotr Tkachev. I must say, a very wise order. The military became only controllers, not developers.”
The gunsmith Vasily Lyuty, who has the necessary experience and knowledge, actually took matters into his own hands. He changed the conclusion of Pchelintsev in the report, outlined 18 necessary cardinal changes and recommended the machine for revision. Later, a longtime comrade Lyuty, colonel of the Main Artillery Directorate, an experienced engineer Vladimir Deikin, with whom they worked on the creation of the LAD machine gun (Lyuty - Afanasiev - Deikin), took part in the improvement of the machine gun.
In his book, Mikhail Timofeevich writes that the trigger mechanism helped him develop Deikin.
“That's not true,” says Dmitry Shiryaev. – The AK trigger mechanism belongs to the type of mechanisms “with the interception of the trigger”, which was invented in the 20s by the Czech Emmanuil Holek. In its pure form, such a mechanism is used on the Schmeiser machine gun. Deikin, most likely, only insisted on borrowing the scheme of this mechanism, since the mechanism proposed by Kalashnikov on his 1946 assault rifles was unsuccessful.
To make a modified model of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, he went to an arms factory in the city of Kovrov. He was driving and “worried about how they would accept a stranger at the factory, whether they would put spokes in the wheels.” At the same plant, the famous designer Vasily Degtyarev worked out his model of the machine gun. After working in Kovrov for a year, Kalashnikov never met his eminent competitor. “We worked on samples, as if fenced off by some invisible fence,” Mikhail Timofeevich will recall later.
“In his memoirs, Vasily Lyuty, who took Kalashnikov under his wing, does not indicate either the titles or positions of the mentioned participants in the competition,” says our expert Dmitry Shiryaev. - But at the same training ground, in the division of Lyuty, about 15 machine guns of other designers were tested. The conclusions on the tests of each of them, including Kalashnikov, to a large extent depended on the head of the test unit, Lyuty, and the curator of the GAU at the training ground, Deikin. It turned out that persons who, by their status, were supposed to be strictly neutral, intervened in the competition.
The stages of the competition were closed. All participants of the competition presented documentation according to the model under the motto. His transcript was contained in a separate envelope. Kalashnikov called himself "Mikhtim". It was not difficult to guess that this was Mikhail Timofeevich.
“Experienced researchers at the range after the first day of shooting could tell in what order the samples would be rejected,” recalls Kalashnikov. Shpagin was the first to surrender and leave. Having deciphered the initial records of the movement speeds of his sample automation, he announced that he was leaving the test site. Increasingly, the Degtyarev sample began to choke from incredible stress, overheating from endless shooting ... Bulkin jealously followed every step of the testers, meticulously checked how the sample was cleaned, and was always personally interested in the results of target processing. Apparently, it seemed to him that competitors could trip him up.”
Kalashnikov assault rifles are known all over the world. Due to the low cost of production, AK is cheaper than live chicken in some Third World countries. It can be seen in news reports from almost any hot spot peace. AK is in service with regular armies in more than fifty countries around the world
At the final stage of testing in January 1947, there were three assault rifles: TKB-415 by Tulyak Bulkin, KBP-520 by Kovrov designer Dementiev and KBP-580 by Kalashnikov.
“A copy of the order has been preserved in the museum on Poklonnaya Gora, from which it follows that the tests that began on December 27, 1947 were ordered to be carried out within 12 days: it was necessary to put a reliable machine gun into service as soon as possible,” says Dmitry Shiryaev. - According to the order, following the results of the tests, Bulkin came forward. But the Tulyak had a malicious character, endlessly contradicted the remarks of the military. As a result of a talented designer, they “left” the race. Sergeant Kalashnikov was much more accommodating. He obeyed in everything his most experienced mentors, moreover, senior in rank. On the last round of tests, 'Mikhtim', as he likes to call himself, took into account all the wishes of the experienced Deikin and Lyuty. And he succeeded. It follows from the surviving documents that, according to the conclusion of the commission, which, by the way, consisted entirely of graduates of the Artillery Academy, dated January 10, 1948, preference was given to the Kalashnikov assault rifle - the future AK-47.
Soviet must be the best...
It is known that weapons are “learned to shoot” for a long time. Kalashnikov with his sample again went for revision to Kovrov. “The military was forbidden to engage in design development, but they turned a blind eye to the conditions of the competition, went to violations - they began to re-arrange the model of the machine that had passed the test,” says Petr Tkachev. “I suppose that the talented engineer, head of the design group Alexander Zaitsev, was given a task from above: to take all the best from all the machines offered for the competition.”
Mikhail Timofeevich recalls these events in a slightly different way: “In Kovrov, Sasha Zaitsev and I, secretly from the management, came up with a bold plan: disguised as improvements, to make a major reconfiguration of the entire machine. We nevertheless dedicated Deikin to our plan ... ”
Needless to say, the main design burden fell on the shoulders of experienced Kovrov designers.
“Zaitsev wrote in his memoirs that Kalashnikov did not know how to work even as a draftsman,” Tkachev recalls. “The technique of design and calculations was unknown to Mikhail Timofeevich.”
The members of the commission, before the final stage of testing, “did not notice” that the barrel of the machine gun presented by Kalashnikov became 80 mm shorter, a different trigger mechanism appeared, a receiver cover appeared, which began to completely cover the moving parts ... Many migrated to the new model of the AK-47 machine gun elements of Kalashnikov's competitors. It was a different machine.
“No one will get ahead of Kalashnikov,” Konstantinov, the chief designer of the Kovrov Design Bureau, will later tell Shiryaev, “since certain high officials receive awards along with him ...”
“Compared to other weapons designers, Kalashnikov has practically no weapon elements that he invented and protected by copyright certificates,” says Shiryaev. “We know of only one of them, and then in the company of four other co-authors.” This was followed by his statement, which sounded like a sensation: “Kalashnikov is not a gunsmith. This is a figurehead, stretched out by the ears.
“Mikhail Timofeevich has nothing to do with it,” says Pyotr Tkachev. - It was just such a state policy. The military did the right thing: what difference does it make - whether it will be a Kalashnikov assault rifle or a Dementiev assault rifle ... It is important that a good assault rifle be adopted. It is also clear that not a single sample in any country in the world immediately enters service: it is returned for multiple revisions.
The fact is that the first sample of the AK had two modifications: with a wooden non-folding butt - AK-47 and with a metal folding butt - AKS-47, the design of which was borrowed from German submachine guns. Doctor of Technical Sciences Yuri Bryzgalov, for example, believes that "the German submachine gun MP-43 only looks a little like the AK-47, the principle of its operation is completely different." The fact that Kalashnikov collected and combined in his design all the best that was in the domestic and foreign weapons business, the professor puts him only in merit, because “everyone,” emphasizes the professor, “all gunsmith designers use this when creating new types of weapons method."
The fact that the AK is still the best example of the world's small arms is a well-known fact and cannot be doubted.
The article in Moskovsky Komsomolets had the effect of an exploding bomb. A week later, M.T. Kalashnikov had to issue a refutation.
In Andrei Kuptsov's book "Belomor and the Kalashnikov assault rifle" there is a hypothesis that the author of the AK-47 is actually another famous Soviet gunsmith Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. Kuptsov claims that Simonov, at least, is the author of the bolt assembly and layout. Kuptsov builds his hypothesis based on the fact that, as a rule, samples with predetermined parameters that meet the tactical and technical requirements are submitted to competitions. Only until 1930 did something like free creativity exist among Soviet gunsmiths, and already in 1931 a wedge-locked bolt was included in the list of tactical and technical requirements. Then Simonov's system (ABC-31) won. But other designers also made samples with wedge locking.
It is widely believed that the German “assault rifle” StG-44 Hugo Schmeiser served as a prototype for full or partial copying in the development of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. Supporters of this hypothesis often cite the external similarity between the samples and the fact that the AK-47 design was born while a group of leading German gunsmiths were working in Izhevsk “One look at this excellent weapon is enough to understand its influence on the entire post-war family AK,” writes Gordon Williamson. The American scientist Gordon Rottman repeatedly wrote about the constructive similarity and "influence" of the StG-44 on the Kalashnikov assault rifle. In addition to external similarities, supporters of the hypothesis mention the work of StG designer Hugo Schmeisser in the Izhevsk design bureau (despite the fact that the AK was not developed there, but at the Kovrov plant) and the study of the StG-44 by Soviet specialists took place at a plant in the city of Suhl, they were mounted and transferred to for technical evaluation of 50 StG-44 samples.
One of the supporters of the Schmeiser theory puts it this way: “Have you noticed that the AK-47 is very similar to the assault rifle of the Third Reich - the Schmeiser? Didn't guess why? But because she had one author (more precisely, a co-author) - Hugo Schmeiser. True, it must be said that inside the Schmeiser and AK are noticeably different. Firstly, because the second one appeared later than the first one and already because of this was more perfect. In addition, in the Third Reich there was an acute shortage of alloying metals. Because of this, it was necessary to make weapons from softer steel. And the design of the Schmeiser was developed specifically for making it from softer steel. Who is Hugo Schmeiser? He was a hereditary weapons designer. His father Louis Schmeiser was also one of Europe's most famous weapons designers. Even before the First World War, he was engaged in the design and production of machine guns in the company "Bergman" (Bergmann). In this company, Hugo Schmeiser gained practical experience and took his first steps as a weapons designer. Hugo Schmeiser, who first proposed a new type of weapon: an assault automatic rifle chambered in an intermediate cartridge. Before him, all machine guns were made under a pistol cartridge. And the ERMA machine gun, which they like to shoot in films about the Germans and which is often mistakenly called “Schmeiser”. And our PPSh, and american machine gun Thomson. Still in service with the armies of the world were rifles chambered for a powerful cartridge of caliber 7.62 or similar calibers. It was not possible to shoot such a cartridge in bursts without a stop or without bipods due to the high recoil. Here Hugo Schmeiser developed a weapon for an intermediate shortened cartridge of 7.62 caliber for a new type of weapon, which he called an assault rifle. The weapon turned out to be very successful and in the future it only improved. This Hugo Schmeiser after the war was captured in the USSR, where he worked in a closed research institute in Izhevsk, developing small arms. In addition to him, many other well-known Russian and German gunsmiths worked in this design bureau. The young Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov also worked there. He worked in the weapons testing department and was the secretary of the Komsomol organization. design office. He got into the design bureau by inventing a compact submachine gun chambered for a pistol cartridge for arming tank crews. Which outwardly was not at all similar to AK. Hugo Schmeiser worked in this design bureau until the early 1950s. Longer than all captured German designers. And he was released to Germany only as a terminally ill person. Where he died in his homeland in the GDR in 1953 from lung cancer. Hugo Schmeiser was a modest man. Or maybe he signed a non-disclosure agreement. In any case, when asked about his role in the creation of AK, he answered: “I gave some useful advice.”
Neither the StG or its predecessors, nor the AK contained any fundamentally innovative weapon design elements. The main technical solutions used in both samples - gas engines, methods of locking the shutter, the principles of operation of the USM, and so on - were basically known since the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. thanks to a long experience in the development of automatic rifles of the previous generation (for rifle and machine gun cartridges); in particular, gas-operated automatics with locking the bolt by turning were already used in the design of the world's first self-loading rifle by the Mexican Manuel Mondragón, developed in the 1880s. and entered service in 1908.
Hugo Schmeisser is a German designer of firearms and pneumatic weapons. In October 1946, he was forcibly taken to the Soviet Union. Schmeiser with a large group of designers was sent to Izhevsk to work in the weapons design bureau of the Izhmash plant.
The novelty of these systems was in the very concept of a weapon for an intermediate between a pistol and rifle-machine-gun cartridge and the successful creation of a technology for its mass production, and in the case of AK, also bringing this model to a level of reliability that is considered a reference for automatic weapons.
Similar outlines of the barrel, front sight and gas outlet tube are due to the use of a gas outlet engine on both assault rifles, which in principle could not be directly borrowed by Kalashnikov from Schmeisser, since it was known long before that (moreover, a top-mounted gas outlet engine was first used on the Soviet ABC rifle). A gas engine with a gas piston fixed to the bolt frame was also not a novelty and was used long before that - for example, on the 1927 Degtyarev machine gun of the year.
Otherwise, the design of the Schmeisser and Kalashnikov systems differs dramatically; there are fundamental differences in the device and such key components as the barrel locking mechanism (rotary bolt for AK, skewed bolt for StG-44); trigger mechanism (when using the general trigger principle of operation, the specific implementations of its functioning are completely different); magazine, magazine mount (StG has a rather long receiving neck, in AK the magazine is simply inserted into the receiver window); a fire interpreter and a safety device (StG has a separate double-sided push-button type fire interpreter and a fuse located on the left in the form of a flag, AK is a fuse translator located on the right).
There are also fundamental differences in the design of the receiver, and, accordingly, in the procedure for disassembling and assembling weapons: for a Kalashnikov assault rifle, it consists of the actual receiver with a section in the form of an inverted letter P with bends in the upper part along which the bolt group moves, and its fastened on top covers that must be removed for disassembly; in the StG-44, the tubular receiver has an upper part with a closed section in the form of the number 8, inside which the bolt group is mounted, and a lower one, which serves as a trigger box, the latter for disassembling the weapon after separating the butt must be folded down on the pin along with the fire control handle .
For StG, the trajectory of movement of the bolt group is set by a massive cylindrical base of the gas piston, moving inside a cylindrical cavity in the upper part of the receiver, resting on its walls, and for AK, by special grooves in the lower part of the bolt frame, with the help of which the bolt group moves along the guide bends in the upper part of the receiver as on "rails".
In the end, between the two samples there is only a similarity in concept and considerable overlap in external design.
So, although the fact that the appearance of such a new and quite successful model as the StG-44 among the Germans did not go unnoticed in the USSR, its samples were probably studied in detail, which could greatly affect the choice of the general concept of the new weapon and the course works on Soviet counterparts, including AK, the version of Kalashnikov's direct borrowing of the "Sturmgever" design does not stand up to criticism.
Anatoly Wasserman, in response to the emergence of a huge number of hypotheses about the authorship of the AK-47 invention, reacted as follows:
“The topic of copying a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a Schmeisser assault rifle is one of the most popular topics in specialized weapons disputes. We can say about it for a long time and quite confidently that a person who claims that the Kalashnikov assault rifle was copied from Schmeisser simply does not know anything about weapons.
That is, he heard the names of Kalashnikov and Schmeisser, but only heard, did not even try to look inside these weapons. There is practically nothing in common between these samples. Yes, they really look alike, but they have a completely different internal structure. Moreover, they belong to different engineering schools, in the sense that not only a different principle of automation is used, but a completely different concept is used. combat use weapons.
Without saying anything else, the Kalashnikov assault rifle is famous all over the world. First of all, its reliability in any conditions. Assault rifle Schmeisser is incomparably more sensitive to pollution and requires very careful personal care. This proves that it was created from a completely different concept of combat use. This is known to anyone who has ever looked inside these weapons at least once.
It is clear that the blogger Adagamov does not look into weapons, he prefers to look into completely different places, in connection with which he is now far from his homeland. I will only say once again that this statement makes it absolutely clear that people become enemies of their country and their culture simply because they do not know their country or their culture.
As for Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov specifically, I have repeatedly said and written that, contrary to the statements of many positive-minded, but no less ignorant journalists, he is not the inventor of either the concept of the machine as a whole, or this specific sample.
He has a lot of his own inventions, but specifically in the Kalashnikov assault rifle there is nothing that he would have invented himself. The whole automaton consists of components, in different time invented by other inventors. The merit of Kalashnikov in this case is not in the invention, but in the design. He is precisely the designer of the machine gun, from the many different components created by others, he selected exactly those that optimally solve the problem facing him, the task of creating weapons available to any fighter after the most minimal training, weapons capable of working in any conceivable and unimaginable conditions, weapons simple enough to manufacture that it can be made in millions of copies, as they say, on the knee.
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