Who invented the first machine gun. Shotgun Pakla: the first machine gun in the world (7 photos). Tow revolver gun

FIRST ATTEMPTS FOR MULTIPLE SHOT

The word "machine gun" itself is modern, but the principle that it denotes has been used since ancient times. The idea of ​​automatically firing a series of shots in the era of arrows was realized with the invention of the polyball.

While modern systems require a single barrel and many ammunition, medieval inventors had to rely on many barrels.

It may turn out that multi-barreled weapons are one of the earliest inventions, even ahead of cannons. Indeed, the antiquity of "fire pots" or vases made entirely of metal does not require confirmation, while cannons made of long metal strips and rings appeared a little later. It is logical to assume that the first guns were small. It was not safe to hold the bronze cast barrels found in Sweden while shooting. The simplest way to use them was to crepe them to a solid base, and their small size suggests the possibility of attaching them to a large wooden platform in the amount of several pieces. We are "sixth about the existence of such a method of armament.") then ribodeken, the ancestor of the modern machine gun.

The name itself - ribodeken - was used even before the invention of gunpowder, in the same way as other names of firearms used to designate other types of guns. The ribodequin, a descendant of the scythed chariot, was a two-wheeled wagon equipped with a huge bow to fire incendiary darts, quarrels, or bullets. Some authors insist that pipes for throwing "Greek fire" were also used on ribodekens. Since these weapons were designed to protect narrow passages or roads where they could be quickly rolled, they were supplied with additional protection in the form of spears, pikes and other sharp weapons. The invention of firearms only led to the addition of new weapons to an already finished carrier.

An old document, dating from about 1339, mentions these ribodecans and a payment received in 1342 by a blacksmith from St. Omer for a prop to strengthen the wooden "base of the machine; from the same source we learn that it was supposed to carry ten cannons. Curious that the expense report of the city of Bruges in Belgium also shows the payment for iron strips for attaching "ribodes" to wagons, here called "new machines".

The British immediately took advantage of the new invention. In February 1345, King Edward III ordered "cannons and shells" to be collected. At least a hundred ribodes "pro passagio Regis versus Nonnarmiam"1 were to be made, and over the next six months Robert de Mildenhall, the custodian of the Tower wardrobe, assembled the wooden wheels and axles required for this.

These ribodecans were made in the Tower of London by the King's own workers.

The invoices for the ingredients of the gunpowder are included in the report filed after the great expedition went to sea, and even more intriguing is the fact that we have no evidence of the use of these weapons before the siege of Calais in 1347. While these guns were no doubt useful as siege weapons, it is very difficult to avoid the temptation to wishful thinking that they were used in such battles as Crécy. While most of the siege weapons were directed towards the city and aimed at its destruction, the ribodecans were directed in the opposite direction and were intended to bombard the enemy attacking from the rear. The fact that they successfully coped with their task is evidenced by the fact that Philippe Valois, who led the French army, having received news of their presence in the army he intended to attack, refused to seriously attack and retreated.

The "Annual accounting book of the administration of the city of Rent" in 1347 shows that ribodecans have already become widespread, no doubt in the role of defensive weapons, as, for example, during the siege of Tournai, when they were used to protect the city gates.

Froissart gives a description of the ribodecans belonging to the citizens of Ghent, who acted in 1382 against the Count of Flanders. The townspeople, numbering only 5,000 people, with 200 such wagons, attacked an army of forty thousand that threatened Bruges, and defeated it. Their ribodecans were light carts on high wheels, pushed forward by hands, equipped with iron lances pushed forward while moving in the infantry combat formation. Napoleon III, in his study of the history of artillery, writes that ribodecanes were the first gunpowder artillery to take part in battle, and that their barrels fired small lead cannonballs or quarrels.

Since the weight of the core of a small cannon was very small, they hoped to achieve results from the application of this invention due to the multiplicity of trunks. One Italian document speaks of 144 small bombards mounted on one base and arranged in such a way that they could fire at one time from 36 barrels arranged in three rows. A separate gunner was required to serve each row, and four strong horses were needed to transport the entire cart. This is a curious contrast to our time, when similar duties are expected from a single person. Three such monstrous machines were made in 1387 for Antonio della Scala, ruler of Verona.

Juvenil de Ursin in his "History of Charles VI, short

: for France", reports that in 1411 the Duke of Burgundy-

The 1st had, with his army of 40,000 men, 4,000 cannons and 2,000 ribodecans - a very high ratio, if only his data is correct. Monstrelet, describing the same army, says that there were a great number of mounted ribodequins in it. They were two-wheeled, protected by wooden mantles, and each was armed with one or two veuglaires, apart from the usual protection of pikes and spears. At that moment, the idea of ​​a multi-barrel gun was temporarily forgotten. The use of veuglaires, or breech-loading cannons, was necessary, since with muzzle-loading guns, the gunner would have to take the risk of stepping ahead of the wagon.

The wooden shield was necessary to protect the gunners while loading their guns, as well as to protect them when moving the vehicle in the face of the enemy. Later illustrations show horses turned in their shafts and pushing rather than pulling the wagon forward, a practice that was to cause many accidents. A Latin manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris entitled "Pauli Savenini Ducensis tractus de re militari et de machinis bellicus"1 shows one such machine which, though captured by the Turks, returned from Constantinople to Louvain in 1688.

It is two-wheeled, equipped with scythes, and the shaft between the two horses is lengthened to carry a Molotov cocktail.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the term "ribodequin" was no longer applied to a cannon-cart - it began to be used to refer to firearms of the "arque-bus-en-croc" type, used to protect narrow passages, which were sometimes also mounted on a wagon.

However, the old idea of ​​the ribodecan reappears in the form of an organ, or orgelgeschutze, a name that makes us imagine cannon barrels in tight rows, like organ pipes, playing the theme of death. Indeed, these tools were also known under the name totenorgel - the organ of death.

The Sigmaringen Museum has a mid-15th century orgelgeschutze with five muzzle-loading barrels. These serpentine cannons are made of wrought iron and seem like a clumsy realization of an original idea. Nicholas Glochenton, who in about 1505 prepared images of the arsenals of Maximilian the Great, depicted an organ of forty serpentines pressed tightly against one another. He also drew one wagon of an old type, with spears and other sharp tools, surrounding on all sides an elegant metal shield, covering the front and top of four bronze cannons with curved butts.

Here we can also recall the existence of an ingenious design called "Wagenburg", which, strictly speaking, does not belong to the category of a repeatedly strep-plying weapon, but is a variant of the ribodeken. The Wa-hopburg was something like a mobile sarl on a four-wheeled cart, in which several separate and independently mounted cannons were located. During the battle, gun ports were opened in the walls, allowing them to fire. As a rule, vagen-(> urges were freely placed around the encamped mrmii and served as a temporary fortress wall.

Needless to say, Henry VIII had his own very definite ideas about cannon carts. These wagons can be seen in ancient engravings, repeating the wall paintings that tell about the siege of Boulogne. These are two-wheeled carts with handles that allow you to push them forward with your hands. The construction is covered with a long shield, shaped like half a cone, the front part of which ends with a pike. With two cannons partially protruding from behind the shield, they are controlled from under cover. In 1544, the list of army personnel includes "55 gunners assigned to the" shrimps "two to each." The ingenuity of the age called for the designation of this strange invention by the name of a despicable crustacean, which is suggestive of a similar case that happened much later when armored fighting vehicles were called "tanks" 1.

On the battlefield, "organs" were used mainly to protect the main body of archers, so after the latter lost their military significance, the same thing happened with the organ and related designs. The Tower's inventory for 1575 listed 200 machines capable of firing twenty-four bullets at a time, but the German arsenal had a sixty-four-barrel machine from the late 16th century that must have been a monstrous waste of bullets.

At the same time, in the Netherlands, the term "ribodeken" was used for a very long time, perhaps for the reason that it originated there. The inhabitants of Maastricht, besieged in 1579 by the troops of the Prince of Parma, victoriously defended the gaps made in their fortifications by the Spanish cores with the help of ri-bodekens. These vehicles are described as two-wheeled carts equipped with rows of arquebus cannons.

The Swiss around 1614 created organ guns, due to the large number of projectiles they fired, they were called "greleuses" - "spewing hail". The shot was made using a common seed channel. The installation of these devices on wheeled carriages and armament with long iron pikes gave them the nickname "porcupine".

The term "organ" began to fall into disuse, and in England a similar machine began to be called "barricade". By the way, by 1630, one of the standard sizes of a cannon barrel began to be called ribodeken. By the way, it is known that during the Civil War in England multi-barreled guns were used, and Clarendon in his "History of the Great Mutiny" reports that in 1644 the cavaliers1 at Copredy Bridge captured two wooden "barricades", moving on wheels and armed each "family small bronze and leather cannons.

In the sources of that time, these "barricades" were also called "Wagenburgs", which seemed to be a name that had long been out of use.

The collection of the Principality of Liechtenstein in Vaduz contains a totenorge dating back to about 1670, which had a triangular machine with three groups of twelve barrels each. After the shot of one group, carried out with the help of a central fuse, the latter could be turned to the other side with a new group of barrels. Military writers of the late seventeenth century still retained an attachment to the idea of ​​the "organ," and Monte Cuccoli, in his Memoirs, writes that the "organ" is a collection of many cannons on a two-wheeled carriage, which are fired from a single application of fire. Their chambers are loaded from the breech. This shows that loading from the treasury was still in use. An inventory of the castle of Hesden in Artois, dated 1689, includes an "organ" of twelve musket cannons, but before the end of the century, the term "organ" ceased to apply to battery-fire machines and began to designate breach or breach batteries. During this period, separate light cannons or heavy fortress cannon-muskets mounted on light mobile installations with wheels on the front support2 became a weapon for protecting narrow passages or gates.

Systems with many barrel channels connected in one gun have also been tried, as in the triple-barreled cannon of the Henry VIII era or the French built-in cannon of the Marlborough era, but their description relates more to the history of the gun. Another approach was to try to release several charges in succession from a single barrel. We understand the revolving principle used in early experiments, but with the invention of the Marquis of Worcester, the situation is not so clear. In 1663, this gentleman claimed to have found a way to place six muskets on one gun carriage and fire "with such rapidity that one can without any danger load, point, and fire sixty times a minute, two or three together." Two years later, he proposed "a cannon with four barrels that can fire 200 bullets an hour, and a cannon that can fire twenty times in six minutes", and its barrel would remain so cold that "a pound of oil laid on the breech won't melt." We can only guess what this strange invention consisted of, but the essence of another novelty of the same period is not so difficult to unravel. It. "fire dragon", patented by Drummond of Hawthorndean, which was a set of barrels fastened together in one machine. The inventory list of the Tower for 1687 mentions a "machine of 160 musket barrels", which could be something from a well-forgotten old one. The inventory also lists machines of six and twelve barrels allegedly captured in 1685 at Sedgemoor from the rebellious troops of the Duke of Monmouth.

REVOLVER GUN TOW

The first inventor to propose a machine gun, the design of which went beyond the stage of theoretical reasoning, was the Englishman James Puckle, born in the reign of Charles II and died in 1724. A prolific writer, he was a lawyer by profession, or, in the terminology of those days, a "public notary." Not only does the specification for Patent No. 418 for 1718, preserved in the Patent Office, contain illustrations and a detailed description of his cannon, but both his first experimental metal sample and a complete cannon were saved by the Duke of Buccleoch and sent to the Tower of London. The gun, named "Protection" in the specification, was mounted on a "triped," or tripod, of surprisingly modern design. The upper part of the turret rotated freely in horizontal and wear, being inserted into a pipe fixed on the base. Aiming and movement in the vertical plane is carried out with the help of a "crane with a limiter", but the most important part of the invention was a detachable drum, which contained six to nine charging chambers. Turning the handle moved the cameras one by one to the breech, and to achieve tight contact, a special quick-release screw mount was used from a half-screw and a half-womb, which required only 180 degrees of rotation for fixing. Each chamber had a flintlock for firing a shot and was loaded with various projectiles. Thus, there were bullets "round for Christians," cubic ones for use "against the Turks," and even "trenades," that is, grenades made up of twenty cubic bullets. In addition to these Christian sentiments, the drums were also decorated with patriotic couplets and engravings depicting King George and scenes from the Holy Scriptures. There were many get-rich-quick schemes during this period, and it is not surprising that Puckl created a company to exploit his invention, whose shares were quoted at £8 in 1720. Public trials of the machine gun were carried out, and the London Journal on March 31 1722 noted that one man fired sixty-three shots from "Mr. Tow's machine" in seven minutes, and at that time it was raining. However, even such a remarkable result did not lead to immediate success, since the machine gun was not put into production, and in the tabloid At that time, the situation was commented as follows: "Only those who bought the company's shares were injured by this machine."

But other inventors did not despair. The pursuit of an endless stream of bullets continued. A revolving cannon has survived in the Tower, to which is attached an engraved plate with the inscription "Durlachs, 1739", which had four barrels that were turned by hand, but it was still the same old scheme with many barrels. In 1742, the Swiss inventor Welton made a small copper cannon that had a slot in the breech near the firing port. A large plate was passed through it, ten charges were inserted there, each of which was fired when it was opposite the bore. But even in the middle of the 18th century, a certain Dutch inventor did not find anything better than to return to the good old tried and tested scheme, and built a machine that had twenty-four barrels arranged in four rows of six pieces, each of which could fire a volley with the help of a flintlock . This late version of the organ is preserved in the arsenal in Delhi.

More attempts were made to improve the revolving principle, and after the death of Nelson, a British gunsmith named Knock made a special cannon to clean the combat mars of an enemy ship. It had a central trunk surrounded by six others. The flintlock flint and flintlock first sent a spark to the charge of the central barrel, and then to the six others. This was supposed to provide a kind of massive fire, but the gun itself seems to be just a curious curiosity.

In 1815, a machine with thirty-one barrels and a smooth-bore gun that received eighteen interchangeable charging chambers, which was invented by the American General Joshua Gorgas, were brought to England from Paris. It is interesting to note that when the American Samuel Colt sued the Massachusetts Arms Company for infringement of his patent rights, the defendants tried to prove that the inventor of the revolver was not Colt, but James Puckle. They submitted a model based on the specification from the Patent Office, but it was considered insufficient evidence. It is curious how the case could have ended if the completed bronze structure had been discovered in time for submission to the court.

The superiority of the inventors of continental Europe was challenged by the rapidly developing American nation. In the New World, finished practical developments were preferred over strange curiosities. In 1861, the "Billing-hurst Requa battery gun" was created in Rochester, New York, which took part in the American Civil War and was first used in 1864 in the attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a battery of twenty-five synchronously firing barrels, the elevation of which was regulated by a common screw with a wing nut. Mounted on two light wheels, it resembled the "organs" of the 14th and 15th centuries. Given all this, this system did not represent much progress in the field of rapid fire.

In 1862, another American, Dr. Richard J. Gatling of North Carolina, received a patent for a very successful battery gun or machine gun. Its basic principle was to rotate several (four to ten) rifled barrels around a central axis with the help of a handle. Many trunks were necessary to avoid overheating. The cartridges were fed continuously from the tray under their own gravity, and the shooting was carried out non-stop, while the handle continued to rotate or the mechanism did not jam. This weapon was used during the American Civil War in the defense of the James River, where it replaced the Requa gun. In 1871, it was adopted by the decision of the British government and was used in the war with the Zulus. However, frequent jamming did not contribute to the popularity of this system.

Gatling guns continued to be used in various theaters of war in various modifications of several different calibers. By 1876, the five-barreled model .45 could fire at 700 rounds per minute, or even up to 1,000 rounds in short bursts.

Less than twenty years later, the Gatlings already had an electric drive and fired at a speed of 3000 rounds per minute. The multi-barrel system proved successful in terms of rate of fire and cooling, but the weight of many barrels was a major drawback, and so when high-speed single-barrel systems were developed, Gatling guns disappeared1. But the history of their combat use turned out to be very long: the war with the Ashanti tribes in 1874, the Zulu War and Kitchener's campaign in Sudan. The use of "gat-lings" against white people seemed morally suspicious at that time, but, nevertheless, during this period they were in service in America, China, Japan, Turkey and Russia. In Russia, they generally became so popular that their production was launched under the name of the Gorolov gun, after the name of the officer under whose leadership they were copied.

Similar to the system just considered is the Nordenfeldt gun system with horizontal movement of the barrels. Its inventor was the engineer H. Palmkrantz, but the development was financed by Thorston Nordenfeldt, a Swedish banker from London. The number of trunks here varies from three to six. In the three-barrel version, twenty-seven rounds of ammunition were fixed on a wooden strip, which could deliver projectiles at a speed of 350 rounds per minute. Gatling guns jammed due to the type of ammunition used in them, and while the Nordenfeldt system used brass Boxer cartridges, this problem did not arise. The Gatlings did not fall out of favor immediately, but the navy in 1881 began to widely introduce Nordenfeldt guns on torpedo boats, and their use in 1884 during operations in Egypt was considered very effective.

The machine gun, invented by United States Army Captain William Gardner, was introduced around 1876; it applied the principle of the Nordenfeldt guns. Although the system was originally equipped with multiple barrels, it eventually evolved into a single barrel, with better cooling and an improved charger. The first options had trays for thirty-one cartridges, mounted on a wooden base. The great advantage of this machine gun was its machine, ideally adapted for shooting through the parapet. The cartridges were fed from a vertical clip and could be fired either in single shots or at a rate of 120 rounds per minute, depending on the speed at which the handle was rotated. "Gardner" was widely used in the British army before the adoption of the Maxim machine gun. At that time, he was considered a "portable" machine gun and with a tripod and 1000 rounds weighed less than 200 pounds, which made it possible, if necessary, to transport it on a horse.

A very common example of a multi-barreled machine gun was the French mitrailleuse. Belgian engineer Joseph Montigny from Fontaine-l "Eveque near Brussels made a machine gun based on the original idea of ​​​​another Belgian, Captain Faschamps. This weapon, which resembled a field gun in appearance, but contained thirty-seven (later twenty-five) rifled barrels, loaded simultaneously with a clip with thirty-seven (or twenty-five) cartridges, made a very strong impression on Napoleon III. Turning the handle lowered one percussion mechanism after another, and twelve such clips could be fired in a minute, which ensured a rate of fire of 444 rounds per minute. The British did not accept this machine gun into service, since the Gatling machine gun showed much better results in tests.However, the French believed in their mitrailleuse, which was originally called "canon a bras"1.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, mitrailleuses were used as cannons, while the Prussians tried to disable them at the first opportunity, which is why this weapon could not demonstrate its full potential. The French believed that their weapons were "secret", but in Prussia they had all the necessary information, and in the Bavarian units there were even guns of a similar design. The original Montigny design was used from 1851 to 1869, then the French government began to produce them with various improvements proposed by Colonel de Reffy. It was a fairly effective weapon when used against large concentrations of infantry, but it could not serve as a substitute for heavy artillery, in which capacity the French just tried to use it.

MACHINE GUN MAXIM

Hiram S. Maxim, a Maine-born American who later became a British citizen, worked extensively in Europe and created a machine gun design based on the new principle. He was a true innovator, moving forward in a fundamentally new way and eventually achieving unconditional success and a knighthood. In his younger years, he had the opportunity to become intimately familiar with the recoil effect of a combat rifle. The idea of ​​a terrible waste of energy was firmly imprinted in his mind, and he managed to find a useful use for it. At the Paris Exposition, Maxim was demonstrating new products in the field of electricity, when some compatriot gave him the idea that you can make a lot of money if you invent faster and more efficient ways for Europeans to cut each other's throats. Maxim by that time was already a wealthy man and had a staff of capable engineers. He came up with the idea of ​​using the energy of its recoil to reload the gun. So, in 1881, Maxim went to London to develop a weapon, which, according to him, was a complete novelty, since no one before him had thought of a weapon that, when fired, would load itself. The designs that existed then were useless for him, and therefore, in early 1884, he created a mechanism that is still in the South Kensington Museum, equipped with a sign: “This device itself charges and fires using the force of its own recoil. This is the first apparatus in the world in which the energy of the combustion of gunpowder is used to load and fire weapons. Maxim used the method of loading with a tape, which in itself was an innovation; in addition, he used the bold idea of ​​mounting weapons not on wheels, but on a tripod. Its design was hailed as an outstanding achievement.

But visitors came from all over the world, even the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Wolseley and high-ranking officials from the War Office, and everyone wanted to see the device in action. During the tests, an exceptionally large number - 200,000 - cartridges were shot. An unusually high rate of fire was not necessarily an absolute preference then. Indeed, the king of Denmark and the envoy of China were unpleasantly surprised by the huge consumption of cartridges, which were fired at 5 pounds per minute, and decided that this machine gun was too expensive for their countries. However, this weapon was not a fantasy, it was quite tangible, and the British government wanted to be the first to order it, putting forward the condition that the machine gun should not weigh more than 100 pounds and that its rate of fire should be 400 rounds per minute. The inventor responded to this by creating a 40-pound weapon that fired 2,000 rounds in 3 minutes. The original version has undergone changes and improvements, but the original idea of ​​the system has remained the same. As long as the machine gunner kept his finger on the trigger guard, the recoil of the shot ejected the spent cartridge case, sent a new cartridge into the chamber and fired - and so on until all the cartridges were used up or the trigger was released. The exceptionally high rate of fire led to a strong heating of the barrel, but this problem was solved by using a water-cooled casing. After 600 shots, the water boiled and began to evaporate, so for every 1000 rounds a reserve of I1 / pints of water was required.

"Maxims", produced at the Vickers-Maxim plant, were widely used during the First World War, during which, in 1915, Maxim died. A lighter model of his machine gun was created, weighing only 25 pounds, 50 pounds fully equipped with a tripod. It could be carried on horseback and differed from the heavier type by using air instead of water cooling. Model "Vickers M.G. Mark I "was put into production in November 1912 of the year and weighed 28" / lb without water. This type of machine gun still finds use after two world wars. It now weighs half the original sample, has a stamped steel water cooling casing instead of the original, made of bronze, and uses a reactive gas muzzle nozzle to accelerate the rate of fire of cartridges of caliber 303. Both the Germans and the Russians subsequently used the Maxim machine gun with machine tools of their own designs.

The idea to use the wasted energy of powder gases was applied in its own way in different designs. So, for example, a native of Vienna, Captain Baron A. Odkolek von Ogezd, designed a weapon in which powder gases were removed through a special hole in the barrel for the piston to work in the cylinder. Using this method, the spent cartridge case was removed and a new cartridge was sent.

American Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss, a native of Connecticut, was engaged in the production of weapons in 1875 in Saint-Denis near Paris, including a machine gun, very similar to Gatling; at the same time, he experimented with explosive and large-caliber projectiles. In 1876, during comparative tests of his weapons with the Nordenfeldt system, the latter went to the palm. However, the Hotchkiss machine gun was improved: it became single-barreled and received a window for venting gases that actuated the shutter mechanism, ejected the spent cartridge case and reloaded. As a result, he began to make 600 rounds per minute, which led to overheating of the barrel. Cooling / was carried out by a stream of air deflected by special screens onto radiators. The French adopted Hotchkisses and used them during the First World War, as did the Americans and some parts of the British cavalry. Hotchkiss machine guns are still in use today.

Another person who appreciated the benefits of using spent propellant gases was John Moses Browning. He was born in 1855 in the family of an American gunsmith and was raised to practice his father's craft. In 1889, drawing attention to the action produced after a shot on the foliage of a tree with powder gases emitted from the muzzle, Browning came up with the idea of ​​​​using them. He attached a conical nozzle to the muzzle of the rifle and ensured that it moved forward under the influence of outflowing gases. This nozzle was connected by a light rod to the shutter, which, along with it, also moved forward. Six years later, in 1895, the Colt Arms Company took advantage of his idea for use in the United States. As a result of design improvements, a fully automatic machine gun was created, powered by a 250-round canvas belt. Powder gases through a hole in the lower part of the barrel threw back the piston, which unlocked the bolt and ejected the spent cartridge case. This system is famous for its use on aircraft.

Inventor: Hiram Maxim
Country: USA
Time of invention: 1883

In the history of military equipment, one can count several landmark inventions, among which, of course, is the machine gun. Just as the first opened the era of firearms, and the first - the era of rifled weapons, the creation of the machine gun marked the beginning of the era of rapid-fire automatic weapons.

The idea of ​​such a weapon, which would allow the greatest number of bullets to be fired in the shortest period of time, appeared a very long time ago. Already at the beginning of the 16th century, there were rows of charged barrels strengthened transversely on a log, through the seeds of which a powder track was spilled. When ignited, a volley was obtained from all trunks.

The use of similar installations (rebodecons) in Spain is reported around 1512. Then the idea arose to strengthen individual trunks on a rotating faceted shaft. This weapon was called an "organ", or a canister. The organ could have up to several dozen trunks, each of which was supplied with its own flint lock and trigger mechanism.

Such a device operated very simply: when all the barrels were loaded and the locks cocked, the shaft was rotated by means of a handle mounted on its axis. At the same time, the locks, passing by a fixed peg (small rod) mounted on the axis of the gun, descended and fired a shot. The frequency of fire depended on the frequency of rotation. However, such weapons were not widely used. It became more convenient only after the cartridges appeared in a metal sleeve.

In the years 1860-1862, the American Richard Jordan Gatling created several samples of fairly perfect shotguns, which were the direct predecessors of the machine gun. In 1861, such a canister was adopted by the US Army, and then by many other armies. With a weight of about 250 kg, the shotgun could fire up to 600 rounds per minute. She was a rather capricious weapon, and it was very difficult to handle her.

In addition, the rotation of the handle turned out to be a very tedious task. The card case was used in some wars (the US Civil War, the Franco-Prussian and Russian-Turkish), but nowhere could it prove itself on the good side. In the history of technology, it is interesting in that some of its mechanisms were later used by the inventors of machine guns. However, it is still impossible to call a shotgun an automatic weapon in the modern sense of the word.

In a real automatic weapon, of course, there could not be and talk about manually rotating the barrels, and the principle of its operation was completely different. The pressure of the powder gases developed during the shot was used here not only to eject the bullet from the bore, but also to reload.

In this case, the following operations were automatically performed: the shutter opened, the spent cartridge case was ejected, the firing pin was cocked, a new cartridge was inserted into the barrel chamber, after which the shutter closed again.

Many inventors in different countries worked on the creation of samples of such weapons in the second half of the 19th century. The English engineer Henry Bessemer managed to create the first working automatic mechanism. In 1854, he designed the first automatic cannon in history.

By the force of recoil after the shot, the cartridge case was ejected here, after which a new projectile was automatically sent and the mechanism for the next shot was cocked. To keep the gun from overheating, Bessemer thought of a water cooling system. However, his invention was so imperfect that the mass production of this gun was not even discussed.

The very first machine gun in history was created by the American inventor Hyrum Maxim. For several years he unsuccessfully worked on the invention of an automatic rifle. In the end, he managed to design all the main components of an automatic weapon, but it turned out to be so bulky that it looked more like a small gun.

The rifle had to be abandoned. Instead, Maxim assembled in 1883 the first working example of his famous machine gun. Shortly thereafter, he moved to England and founded here his own workshop, which later connected with the Nordenfeldt weapons factory. The first machine gun test was carried out at Enfield in 1885.

In 1887, Maxim offered the British War Office three different models of his machine gun, which fired about 400 rounds per minute. In subsequent years, he began to receive more and more orders for him. The machine gun was tested in various colonial wars waged by England at that time, and proved to be excellent as a formidable and very effective weapon. England was the first state to adopt a machine gun into service with its army.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Maxim machine gun was already in service with all European and American armies, as well as the armies of China and Japan. In general, he was destined for rare longevity. Constantly being modernized, this reliable and trouble-free vehicle was in service with many armies (including the Soviet one) until the end of World War II.

Since the moving parts of the machine gun were very massive, at first the machine gun often gave a "delay", as a result causing its rate of fire to drop noticeably. To improve the operation of the machine gun, Miller, a Maxim-Nordenfeldt technician, and the Russian captain Zhukov came up with a muzzle. Its action was that the powder gases ejected from the barrel behind the bullet were reflected on the front inner wall of the muzzle and then acted on the front edge of the muzzle, increasing the speed of the barrel throwing away from the frame.

At the beginning of the 20th century, light machine guns were developed (Danish - Madsena, 1902, French - Shosha, 1907, etc.). Easel and light machine guns were widely used in the 1st World War in all armies. During the war, machine guns began to enter service and.

In 1918, a heavy machine gun appeared in the German army (13.35 mm), then, between the wars, a machine gun (13.2 mm Hotchkiss), English (12.7 mm Vickers), American ( 12.7 mm Browning) and other armies.

In the Soviet Army, 7.62-mm light machine gun V.A. Degtyarev (DP, 1927), 7.62 mm aircraft machine gun by B. G. Shpitalny and I. A. Komaritsky (ShKAS, 1932), 12.7 mm heavy machine gun by Degtyarev and G. S. Shpagin (DShK, 1938) .

In World War II, the improvement of the machine gun continued. In the Soviet Army, a 7.62-mm heavy machine gun by P. M. Goryunov (SG-43) and a 12.7-mm aviation universal machine gun by M. E. Berezin (UB) were developed. During the years of the War, machine guns of all types were produced: in the USSR - 1 million 515.9 thousand; in Germany - 1 million 175.5 thousand

After the war, the armies received new machine guns with higher performance: Soviet light machine guns and a single machine gun designed by V. A. Degtyarev RPD and M. T. Kalashnikov PK, heavy machine gun NSV-12.7; American manual M14E2 and Mk 23, a single M60, large-caliber M85; English single L7A2; West German single MG-3.

At all times, people have sought to create the most effective murder weapon. Clubs were replaced by stone axes, which gave way to steel swords ... At some point, the generals realized that the superiority of weapons was the decisive factor on the battlefield. Firearms for a long time could not occupy their niche: the rapid attacks of the cavalry nullified the destructive power of flintlock guns. The solution to the problem - later, it is this design that will push others to invent a machine gun - was invented by an ordinary London lawyer, James Puckle.

The tactics of the European infantry in the 18th century definitely needed innovation. All formations of soldiers were based on the low rate of fire of flint muskets - if 4 rounds per minute can even be called a rate of fire.

Close formation against cavalry

The same factor determined the formation of line infantry: the square to some extent provided protection from a cavalry strike, but each soldier managed to fire only one shot before he came face to face with a daring cavalryman on a dashing horse. The results of such meetings turned out to be depressingly predictable, which led to the development of more effective firearms.

Buckshot

Infantry units needed weapons capable of providing dense fire on the enemy and at the same time serving as a reliable barrier against cavalry attacks. To some extent, the invention of buckshot was the solution - but artillery was still too clumsy, heavy monster, from which nimble horsemen left with relative ease. And buckshot led to rapid wear of the barrels: an inexperienced commander risked being left on the battlefield without infantry and without guns.

belligerent lawyer

On May 17, 1718, the most ordinary lawyer appeared in the patent office of London. James Puckle brought to the notary the blueprints for an infernal machine modestly named "Puckle's Gun." It is this gun that is considered today the first prototype of a real rapid-fire machine gun.

Shotgun Pakla

A cunning lawyer came up with the idea of ​​mounting an ordinary flintlock rifle on a tripod, reinforced with an additional cylindrical drum for 11 charges. The shot was fired by turning the drum; it was possible to reload this mechanical monster simply by installing a new drum. Pakla's gun showed a significant (at that time) rate of fire: 9 rounds per minute against 4, which were made by an ordinary infantryman. But at least three people had to serve it, which reduced the advantages of the rate of fire to a minimum.

Trials and bullets

James Puckle managed to interest the British army in his design and even received the first subsidy for production. However, the demonstration of the capabilities of the Pakla gun at the training ground could not impress the audience, although the designer presented two barrels at once: one for spherical bullets, the second for cubic ones - they caused more injuries and were intended for battles against Muslims.

Design issues

Puckl did not consider too much to succeed. The silicon system required, after each shot, to fill up the seed on the shelf - not the rate of fire, but only an ersatz one. In addition, the design of the Pakla gun was rather complicated, expensive and unreliable in a real battle: the locking mechanism of the drum was weak and the crew risked being left with a useless gun at any moment.

The operation of the automation of most modern machine guns is based on the use of barrel recoil during its short stroke or on the principle of removing powder gases through a hole in the barrel wall. The machine gun is fed with cartridges from a tape or magazine. The machine gun can be fired in short (up to 10 shots), long (up to 30 shots) bursts, continuously, and for some machine guns - also with a single fire or a burst of a fixed length. Barrel cooling is usually air. For aimed fire, machine guns are equipped with sights (mechanical, optical, night). The calculation of the machine gun consists of one, two or more people (depending on the characteristics of the machine gun).

Types of machine guns

There are machine guns of small (up to 6.5 mm), normal (from 6.5 to 9 mm) and large (from 9 to 14.5 mm) caliber. Depending on the device and combat purpose, machine guns are divided into hand (on bipods), easel (on a tripod, less often on a wheeled machine), large-caliber infantry, anti-aircraft, tank, armored personnel carrier, casemate, ship, aviation. In a number of countries, in order to unify the machine gun for a rifle cartridge, the so-called unified machine guns have been developed and adopted as the main machine guns, allowing firing both from a bipod (light machine gun) and from a machine gun (easel machine gun).

Light machine guns

Food was supplied from flat disk magazines - "plates", in which the cartridges were located around the circumference, with bullets towards the center of the disk. This design ensured a reliable supply of cartridges with a protruding rim, but it also had significant drawbacks: large dimensions and weight of an empty magazine, inconvenience in transporting and loading, as well as the possibility of damage to the magazine in battle conditions due to its tendency to deform. The magazine capacity was initially 49 rounds, later 47 rounds with increased reliability were introduced. Three magazines were attached to the machine gun with a metal box for carrying them.

It should be noted that, although outwardly the DP store resembles the Lewis machine gun store, in fact it is a completely different design in terms of the principle of operation; for example, in Lewis, the cartridge disc is rotated due to the energy of the shutter transmitted to it by a complex system of levers, and in DP, due to a pre-cocked spring in the store itself.

At the end of the war, the DP machine gun and its modernized version of the DPM, created based on the experience of military operations in - years, were decommissioned by the Soviet Army and were widely supplied to countries friendly to the USSR. It was in service with the member states of the ATS until the 1960s. Used in Korea, Vietnam and other countries.

The experience of combat operations on the fields of World War II showed that infantry needed single machine guns that combined increased firepower with high mobility. As an ersatz substitute for a single machine gun in a company link, based on earlier developments, in 1946, the RP-46 light machine gun was created and put into service, which was a modification of the DPM for belt feeding, which, coupled with a weighted barrel, provided greater firepower at maintaining acceptable maneuverability.

Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD)

7.62 mm Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD, GAU index - 56-R-327) is a Soviet light machine gun developed in 1944 chambered for 7.62 × 39 mm . The RPD was one of the first types of weapons adopted for service chambered for the 1943 model of the year. From the early 1950s until the mid-1960s, it was the main branch-level support weapon, and then gradually began to be replaced by the PKK, which is more preferable in terms of unification. However, the RPD is still in the warehouses of army reserves. Like many other types of Soviet weapons, the RPD was widely exported to countries friendly to the USSR, and also produced abroad, for example, in China under the designation Type 56.

The range of a direct shot at the chest figure is 365 m. Fire at air targets is carried out at a distance of up to 500 m. The bullet retains its lethal effect at a distance of up to 1.5 km.

Combat rate of fire - up to 150 rounds per minute. Conducting intensive firing bursts without cooling the barrel is possible up to 300 shots.

Kalashnikov light machine gun (RPK)

7.62 mm Kalashnikov light machine gun (PKK, Index GRAU - 6P2) - Soviet light machine gun, created on the basis of the AKM assault rifle. Adopted by the Soviet army in 1961.

Madsen

FN Minimi

Bisal MK 2

Breda 30

Stoner

Lewis

bren

Single machine guns

MG-34

MG-42

PC

MG-3

UKM-2000

FN MAG

Pecheneg

Machine guns

Maxim machine gun

Maxim machine gun ("Maxim")- easel machine gun, developed by the American gunsmith Hiram Stevens Maxim ( Hiram Stevens Maxim) in 1883. The Maxim machine gun became the ancestor of all automatic weapons, it was widely used during the Anglo-Boer War - World War I and World War II.

The machine gun of the Maxim system (or simply "Maxim") is an automatic weapon based on automatic recoil of the barrel, which has a short stroke. As the shot is fired, the powder gases send the barrel back, setting in motion the reloading mechanism, which removes the cartridge from the fabric tape, sends it to the breech and at the same time cocks the bolt. After the shot is fired, the operation is repeated anew. The machine gun has an average rate of fire - 600 rounds per minute, and the combat rate of fire is 250-300 rounds per minute.

For firing from a machine gun of the 1910 model, rifle cartridges of 7.62 × 54 mm R are used with bullets of the 1908 model of the year (light bullet) and the 1930 model of the year (heavy bullet). The trigger system is designed only for automatic fire and has a fuse against accidental shots. The machine gun is powered by cartridges from a slide-type receiver, with a cloth or metal tape with a capacity of 250 rounds, which appeared later. The sighting device includes a rack-mounted sight and a front sight with a rectangular top. Some machine guns could also be equipped with an optical sight. The machine gun was originally mounted on bulky gun carriages, modeled after mitrailleuse gun carriages; then portable machines appeared, usually on tripods; in the Russian army since 1910 a wheeled machine was used, developed by Colonel A. A. Sokolov. This machine gave the machine gun sufficient stability when firing and made it possible, unlike tripods, to easily move the machine gun when changing positions.

Machine gun "Maxim" model 1910 in comparison with other machine guns:

Name	Country	Cartridge	Length, mm	Weight, kg	Rate of fire, rds / min	Sighting range, m	Muzzle velocity, m/s
"Maxim" arr. 1910	Russian empire/USSR	7.62×54mm	1067	64,3	600	1000	865 (bullet model 1908) 800 (heavy bullet model 1931)
Schwarzlose M.07/12	Austria-Hungary	8×50 mm R Mannlicher	945	41,4	400-580	2000	610
MG-08	German Empire	7.92×57mm	1190	64	500-600	2400	815
Vickers	Great Britain	.303 British	1100	50	500-600	740	745
Lewis	Great Britain	.303 British	1280	14,5	500	1830	747
Hotchkiss M1914	France	8×50 mm R Lebel	1390	23.58 (46.8 on the machine)	500	2000	746
Browning M1917	USA	7.62×63mm	1219	47	450-600	1370	854

Heavy machine gun "Vickers"

Browning M1917

Maschinengewehr 08

SG-43

DS-39

Heavy (large-caliber) machine guns

Browning M2

DShK

CPV

NSV-12.7

Cord

CIS 50MG

Heavy infantry machine guns mounted on wheeled or tripod mounts or attached to embrasures of bunkers are used in these units to combat lightly armored ground targets. As anti-aircraft, tank, armored personnel carrier, casemate and ship guns, infantry machine guns are usually used, somewhat modified taking into account the peculiarities of their installation and operation at facilities.

Aviation machine guns

Breda-SAFAT

MG-15

MG-17

MG-81

MG-131

Type 92

PV-1

ShKAS

UB

Tank machine guns

DT

Tank machine gun Kalashnikov (PKT)

KPVT

NSVT

BESA

Machine gun device

A machine gun consists, as a rule, of the following main parts and mechanisms: barrel, receiver (box), bolt, trigger mechanism, return spring (return mechanism), sight, magazine (receiver). Light and single machine guns are usually equipped with butts for better stability when firing.

Thanks to the use of a massive barrel, easel and single machine guns provide a high practical rate of fire (up to 250-300 rounds per minute) and allow intensive shooting without changing the barrel up to 500, and large-caliber - up to 150 rounds. When overheated, the barrels are replaced.

Due to the barrel heating factor at a high rate of fire, all machine guns (with the exception of light machine guns developed on the basis of automatic rifles) have the following fundamental difference from other automatic weapons in the device and in the operation of the mechanism. When bringing a weapon to a combat platoon, the cartridge is not in the breech - as is done in automatic rifles, pistols or submachine guns. In machine guns - the cartridge is in the bolt group on the line of chambering into the barrel, not inserted into the breech. This is done in order to prevent jamming of the sleeve in the breech of an overheated barrel and sintering of the sleeve with the breech in between firing.

The invention and development of machine guns

Machine guns appeared on the battlefield as a result of a constant and persistent search for a way to increase the density of fire against an advancing enemy by increasing the rate of fire of weapons in service with the army. As one of the ways to increase the rate of fire was the creation of weapons that provide continuous fire. So the machine gun was born.

The prototypes of machine guns were a block of rifle barrels mounted on an artillery carriage, firing in turn with continuous fire. Reloading and firing a shot was carried out due to the muscular energy of the calculation.

Since the 16th century, there have been attempts to create revolver-type pistols and guns (with drums). In 1718, the English lawyer James Puckle patented the Puckle gun, which was a gun placed on a tripod and equipped with a drum. At the same time, the rate of fire more than doubled compared to a conventional gun (from 4 to 9 rounds per minute), but the gun was also more cumbersome to handle, requiring several servants who otherwise could fire themselves. It did not interest anyone and was not adopted. In addition, the appearance of the drum freed from reloading cartridges, but not from manipulations with pouring seed into a flintlock, which also took considerable time when reloading. Thus, before the advent of a unitary cartridge, there could be no talk of a true rate of fire in our understanding, and therefore a cannon firing buckshot remained the simplest, cheapest to manufacture and effective weapon that ensured the mass destruction of the enemy.

The immediate predecessor of the machine gun is the mitrailleuse, a burst-firing hand-operated unitary cartridge weapon with multiple barrels. Usually they were several single-shot mechanisms combined into a block.

Machine gun: history of creation

During the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army was armed with the Degtyarev light machine gun ( DP). This formidable weapon had a number of shortcomings that had to be eliminated during the battles. But there were also fatal ones - a large mass and inconvenient dimensions, a small capacity of the store, which also weighed 1.64 kilograms. Therefore, at the end of 1942, a competition was announced for the development of a 7.62-mm light machine gun, to which extremely high demands were made. The competition was tough. Many designers took part in it. It was also being worked on at CABO.

On March 12, 1943, Kalashnikov received an order to arrive at the CABO headquarters. There is an entry in the travel certificate: “Senior Sergeant Kalashnikov M.T. was instructed to manufacture a prototype weapon approved in the project of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army.” Then again Alma-Ata, the regional military registration and enlistment office and the direction on May 21, 1943 for 40 days to Matai to resolve issues, as indicated in the travel documents, of defense importance. Burlyu-Tobinsky RVC will then extend this trip until August 15th.

The command of the Central Asian Military District this time also provided the young designer with the necessary assistance. In Alma-Ata, Tashkent, Samarkand and at the Matai station, several skilled workers were assigned to him, a room, necessary materials and tools were allocated. With great dedication, a mechanic with a German surname Koch worked on a light machine gun. He finished every detail with special love, and even applied a decorative engraving on the stamped stock, which is usually not done on military weapons.

V. A. Myasnikov:

“The creation of a light machine gun chambered for a 7.62 mm rifle cartridge, which would have a mass of no more than 7 kilograms, a practical rate of fire of at least 100 rounds per minute and would ensure good accuracy of battle, high reliability and survivability of parts, is a very difficult task. The reason was in the rifle cartridge. Its excess power led to rapid and strong heating of all parts of the weapon, due to which their strength decreased, the mainsprings were released, and the barrel failed. A lot of intractable problems were created by the design of the rifle cartridge case. The protruding flange (bottom edge) clung to everything it could. This greatly complicated the creation of reliable power systems for automatic weapons, including magazines and cartridge belts. The large size of the cartridge reduced the capacity of the magazine.

During the war, it became obvious that fire contact during the battle takes place at distances of up to 800 meters. The rifle cartridge, with its lethal range of two to three kilometers, is too redundant, and the pistol cartridge, which provides effective fire from a submachine gun at 200-500 meters, is too weak. There was an urgent need to create a new cartridge, according to ballistic data, weight and dimensions, occupying an intermediate position between rifle and pistol cartridges.

On November 10, 1943, Kalashnikov celebrated his 24th birthday. It is noteworthy that on this very day the combat training department of CABO sent to Moscow V.V. , which fully meets the tactical and technical requirements, and that the second sample will be ready by December 15, 1943. Immediately, permission was requested to allocate two thousand rubles for the manufacture of the second sample and the payment of salaries to the designer Kalashnikov. The answer was immediate - to pay a salary of one and a half thousand a month for three months.

And here is a prototype of a 7.62 mm light machine gun in Moscow. GAU, and again the Shchurovo training ground. This time the journey was not pleasant. As soon as Mikhail and his escort got off the train, they landed right in a snowdrift. Frost and blizzard just knocked down. By morning, we barely made it to the landfill. And the next morning - comparative tests of prototypes. There are two competitors, but what notable ones are General Vasily Degtyarev himself and Sergei Simonov. The automation of the Kalashnikov light machine gun worked on the principle of using recoil energy with a short barrel stroke. As having no advantages over the machine guns previously adopted by the army, its sample was rejected and later traditionally registered in the funds of the Artillery Museum, alas, as a historical exhibit. But it was not the worst option for Kalashnikov. Other samples did not receive such an honor, leaving the race much earlier.

A few words about the light machine gun:

Cartridge 7x53 (sample 1908/30).

Barrel length - 600 mm.

Overall length - 977/1210 mm.

Sighting range - 900 m.

Sighting line length - 670 mm.

Magazine capacity - 20 rounds.

Machine gun weight without cartridges - 7555 g.

Machine gun automation is based on the principle of short-stroke recoil. The shutter was locked by a swinging lever (wedge). The trigger safety of the flag type, located on the left side, allowed only continuous fire. In a box-shaped two-row magazine - 20 rifle cartridges. The sight is made in the form of a flip rear sight, designed for five distances from 200 to 900 meters. The folding buttstock was transferred from the first submachine gun already familiar to us. This design is really very convenient, when folded, the butt does not interfere with aimed fire if necessary. It is not in vain that this stock will be transferred from Kalashnikov from sample to sample in the future.

M. T. Kalashnikov:

“Failure, I confess, hit me hard on my pride. It was not easier because the competition commission did not approve then the samples of the highly experienced V. A. Degtyarev; that he could not stand the tests in the future and the Simonov machine gun fled the race.

But not from that breed, Mikhail, to just take it and give up. He began to study literature even more carefully, especially materials on testing, talked with specialists, and continued to study museum collections.

There were, however, painful doubts. I thought: maybe go back to the front? The meeting with V. V. Glukhov helped to get out of that anxious and non-equilibrium state. In early 1944, Kalashnikov's patron arrived at the firing range.

It was Vladimir Vasilievich Glukhov who convinced Kalashnikov of the need to continue along the chosen path, the path of the designer. No matter how heavy and bumpy it turned out to be.

“You are needed here,” Glukhov said. He was a direct and very principled person. He did not throw words into the wind. In a comradely manner, he laid everything out on the shelves, conducted a detailed critical analysis of the reasons for the defeat of the Kalashnikov light machine gun. Among the defects he named insufficient power, unreliable operation of automation, low survivability of some parts, accuracy that did not meet the requirements. The picture, in fact, turned out to be bleak. At the same time, this conversation clearly benefited and thoroughly recharged Kalashnikov with new energy and added determination.

And again the way to Tashkent. What was there to work on? In the spring and summer of 1944, to finalize a new machine gun - SG-43 Pyotr Maksimovich Goryunov. This 7.62 mm easel machine gun of the 1943 model replaced the Maxim machine gun, created in 1910. Goryunov himself worked at the Kovrov plant and died at the end of 1943. In 1946, the creators of the machine gun were awarded the State Prize of the USSR. P. M. Goryunov - posthumously.

What did Kalashnikov do? At the direction of the GAU for the spring and summer of 1944, he solved the problem of firing blanks. The special device he developed was accepted and was an integral part of the SG-43 until the very moment the machine gun was removed from service. That was his first small success.

August 1954. A letter from the head of the GAU Small Arms Department A. N. Sergeev arrives in Izhevsk, in which it is about the creation of a unified weapons complex - an assault rifle and a machine gun - on a new design scheme. The GAU recommended "to aim the WGC for the development of a light assault rifle and a light machine gun based on the AK in the current year." According to the Directorate of Small Arms, "a strong team of designers and gunsmiths of the plant may well get involved in the work on the creation of light samples of small arms." Kalashnikov and his close-knit group took this message as a command "To battle!".

The problem of unification is the cherished dream of gunsmiths of all times: the types of weapons being created should have the same arrangement of automation mechanisms and differ only in individual details. This greatly simplifies the manufacture and repair of weapons, brings a great economic effect.

By that time, the Soviet army was armed with 11 types of small arms. Three independent weapons schools with their own design bureaus, experimental and serial factories worked for a small army department - Degtyarev (RPD light machine gun), Simonov (SKS self-loading carbine) and Kalashnikov (AK-47).

M. T. Kalashnikov:

“Accordingly, there were three basic models in the army department - the RPD with its own tape feed and a 100-round magazine, Simonov's self-loading carbine with an integral 10-round magazine, and my machine gun for 30 rounds. Not a single detail was unified for these samples. It was terribly inconvenient and unjustified economically.

I set myself the task of unifying these samples. If a soldier disassembles a machine gun or a machine gun, then he must have the same parts. It is very difficult, almost at the limit of the possible. After all, an assault rifle has a survivability of 10 thousand shots, and a machine gun - 30. We decided that all parts for an assault rifle and a machine gun should be unified. We shot hundreds of different variants of parts before we achieved the desired result. But then they arranged such an experiment: they dismantled a dozen machine guns and machine guns on the table, mixed all the details, assembled them again and shot at the shooting range.

Competitors, in particular Tula and Kovrovites, also dealt with this problem. But it turned out better on Izhmash. I switched to developing a 75-round round magazine. When tested, it turned out to be more convenient than tape power. My store showed the best combat capability and was eventually adopted. He approached both the machine gun and the machine gun.

A bipod was developed for the light machine gun, and with a 75-round magazine, its firing results were better than those of the RPD. Additional conveniences were reported to the machine. Unification made it possible to actually produce one instead of three samples. Izhevsk specialized in the production of machine guns, and Vyatkinskie Polyany - in the barrel and bipod of a machine gun. The rest of the nodes came from Izhmash.

More AKM and PKK not accepted for service, and already a new task - to develop a single machine gun, but one that would combine all the main qualities of light, heavy, tank and armored machine guns. This was an old idea to combine the functions of a light and heavy machine gun in one machine gun. It was expounded at one time by V. G. Fedorov. It took forty years for that idea to begin to be embodied in metal. Kalashnikov did it on the basis of the AK-47.

Knowing that the Tula people have been working on this problem for a long time, Mihtim puzzled over the idea of ​​a single machine gun for a long time, scrolling through a lot of different options for the interaction of components and parts. It seemed that there is an automaton, take ready-made ideas and adapt. But a machine gun is completely different: there is a cartridge belt and the problem of feeding it, there are questions about removing the cartridge and ejecting the cartridge case. New approaches are needed.

It didn't take long to persuade the team. The group has recently replenished with new bayonets - Startsev, Kamzolov Jr., Yuferev. They comprehended the main drawback of the Tula machine gun. It was worth soaking the machine gun in water after firing, after which the first two or three shots went only with a single fire. The shooter must reload the weapon two or three times. Certainly an inconvenience.

We decided to create a completely new design. Distributed: Krupin got the questions of powering the machine gun, Pushin - the barrel and its equipment, Kryakushin - the butt and bipod, Koryakovtsev - communication with the troops, the training ground, NII-61, as well as the elimination of friction between the feed lever of the cartridge belt and the movable frame during its reverse motion. He was also entrusted with responsible theoretical calculations of a number of characteristics of a light machine gun: rate of fire, ballistics, dynamics of movement of moving parts, strength of the mechanism for feeding and extracting a cartridge. Time to spare - three months. The Institute was waiting for all the documentation on the machine gun, including these calculations.

The regime was normal: at night - drawings, in the morning - an experimental workshop. Met the dawn at the factory - no stranger. Responsibility was understood: the machine gun was supposed to replace Goryunov's. As a result, a number of attractive and simple solutions were found, including hanging the bolt carrier, moving the tape, removing the cartridge from it. Many details were made without drawings, it was necessary to see the machine gun in action as soon as the chief designer intended it.

Then Koryakovtsev will repeatedly recall the story of how he, yesterday's artillery specialist, quickly retrained as a machine gunner. So it was necessary - and Livady obeyed the circumstances. Into him, who doubted his abilities and hesitated, Kalashnikov breathed such a charge of faith that simply shocked Koryakovtsev. Over time, he admits that Mikhail Timofeevich did not recognize people who give in to anything, just as he did not recognize those who work only for themselves. He knew very well from his own experience that only in a team of like-minded people, with devoted friends and comrades, it is possible to make major achievements, solve the most difficult issues, and go hunting, fishing, and even drinking.

And then, after painful reflections and intense calculations, Koryakovtsev obtained parameters that (oh, horror!) did not coincide with the experimental data. After several recalculations, I had to correct the data with special coefficients, but they still did not match. It was rush hour. With a somewhat guilty look, Koryakovtsev arrived at Kalashnikov.

Mikhail Timofeevich recalls this episode in his memoirs. In his opinion, Livady Georgievich put his soul into this difficult work, performed it conscientiously, with his inherent energy and assertiveness.

But this assessment will come later. And then, in hot pursuit, he issued the following verdict on the calculations presented by Koryakovtsev:

Livady Georgievich, you know, science cannot explain why the cockchafer flies, the shape of the wing is not the same. Moreover, the propeller of a helicopter is also not calculated - but the helicopter flies. The screw is made only experimentally, only by fine-tuning. Yes, you never know what is unknown in life. The time will come when people will know a lot. After all, no one knows our machine gun either. We do not know yet, but I feel that we are on the right track. Formulas cannot take into account all the variety of factors associated with the shape of the barrel, the influence of barrel rifling, chrome plating associated with the cartridge, gunpowder and bullet, and many others, external and internal. After all, they are all unique in their own way. Moreover, the measuring equipment itself, instruments, strain gauges are also individual and have their own errors. So do not worry, I am satisfied with the results of the calculations. And what is wrong, we will bring after the big and lengthy tests that lie ahead of us. That's when everything will be clarified and corrected. You will be convinced that everything was calculated correctly.

Of course, those words shocked Koryakovtsev. He finally understood with whom fate brought him. The work was supervised by a man of non-standard thinking, whose genius was truly embodied in the design of a single machine gun.

For a long time they fiddled with the "goose" - a mechanism for extracting cartridges from the tape. On the design slang "goose" - two-finger tongs like a beak. This was the main obstacle without which things could not go any further.

Finally the problem was resolved. It was already five o'clock in the morning, and Kalashnikov and Krupin were still conjuring at work. Finally, eureka! A solution to extract the cartridge from the tape has been found. We built a complete scheme for the interaction of mechanisms and parts of a machine gun. Now it's time to go home, drink tea and go back to work. As always, by eight.

The stage from setting the task to manufacturing the first prototype fit in two months. During the tests, the sample scribbled like a Singer typewriter - melodically, rhythmically and flawlessly.

You need to show the machine gun to Deikin. A call to the GAU, and Deikin in Izhevsk. Meeting at the locksmith shop. On the table is a single Kalashnikov machine gun. Vladimir Sergeevich was shocked. To in such a short time - unbelievable. But the fact is there, and this is the fourth prototype. Deikin disassembled and reassembled the product. He smiled heartily.

Well done, Mikhail Timofeevich! Good machine gun, good.

But how to get permission to participate in the competition?

And then there was a call from the Ministry of Defense Industry. So it's already been delivered. The conversation was tough - it was recommended to stop doing amateur activities. The work, they say, is not in the plan, there are no funds for it, etc. Kalashnikov tried to object. Useless. In vain he tried to justify himself with the GAU's request.

You need to go to the director of the plant - Kalashnikov concluded.

Mikhail Timofeevich had a difficult relationship with Beloborodov. But this time Ivan Fedorovich strongly supported Kalashnikov. By that time, four samples had already been made. But for an experimental batch and comparative tests, at least 25 were needed. Where to find funds? Beloborodov decides to take them from the article on the modernization of the machine. Savings were formed there - again thanks to the efforts of the Kalashnikov group. But it took at least a month and a half, and during this time the competitors will already reach the finish line. What to do? Call fire on yourself. And then Beloborodov picks up the HF receiver, at the other end of the wire came the voice of R. Ya. Malinovsky.

Comrade Defense Minister! I ask you to suspend testing of the Nikitin machine gun. We have a machine gun no worse, it is practically worked out. We need a month, and we will submit it for comparative tests. Who is the designer? Of course, Kalashnikov... GAU approved the design.

They spoke on the same wavelength. This meant that the tests of the single machine gun Nikitin - Sokolov would be suspended and a similar model of the Kalashnikov design would be allowed for comparative tests. What then began! The Ministry of Defense Industry was alarmed. The strongest resistance was provided both during the factory and at the stage of military trials. Everything was explained simply: huge funds had already been spent on a large batch of a single machine gun, so the authors were forced to desperately fight for their prestige. The last word, as always, was for the GAU.

An experimental series of Kalashnikov machine guns was made by Izhmash in an unprecedented record time. And in two versions - on the bipod and on the machine. True, they suffered with a tripod machine. The decision was suggested by the same Deikin

Take it from the GAU museum, - he advised Mihtim, - there is no other way out. - And he was right. As in the fact that he proposed to negotiate with E. S. Samozhenkov himself on the adaptation of the machine tool for a machine gun. Yevgeny Semenovich did not refuse. In 1964, among other designers, he will receive the Lenin Prize for the development of a single PK machine gun.

Competitors protested, complained about the GAU, including because of the machine. Kalashnikov was accused of arbitrariness. But everything was useless - on the side of Kalashnikov were both the GAU and the designer of the machine tool. The situation, however, during the tests was indecently nervous. As a result, both samples were approved for military trials.

The struggle between Izhevsk and Tula gunsmiths was fierce. It was strictly forbidden to talk about the progress of the tests in plain text over the phone. It helped that even during the tests of the light machine gun, Mikhail Timofeevich debugged the system of "code" communication with the debuggers who worked at the training grounds.

The news from there could be as follows: “The sieve is good. I go - hands in pockets. "Sieve" in the jargon of gunsmiths meant such an indicator as the accuracy of fire. The "pipe" was a barrel, the "machine" was a machine gun. And “hands in pockets” should have been understood in such a way that, despite the ban on the representatives of the design bureau to make any notes during the tests, the debugger had a piece of paper and a pencil in his pocket.

In addition, this phrase for the Kalashnikov group was a kind of corporate symbol: at the factory, everything was done in such a way that at the training ground it was not necessary to touch the sample with your hands.

Many years will pass, and on the day of his 85th birthday, Kalashnikov will say that warm relations have developed between him, Tula and Kovrovites. That both in Tula and in Kovrov they meet not as competitors, but as good friends. This is a characteristic feature of Russian gunsmiths. Nowadays, a lone designer is doomed to failure. Weapons are not born somewhere in the underground - hundreds of engineers and technologists, employees of factories, training grounds, and institutes are involved in its creation.

And then, in June 1961, the next tests were scheduled at NII-61. The institute was located in Klimovsk, Moscow region and was engaged in the development, research, testing of small arms up to 37-mm caliber, as well as cartridges and gunpowder. There was a very good research base, a complex of climatic tests. It made it possible to assess the impact of harsh climatic conditions on weapons, to conduct firing in the temperature range from -50 to +50 degrees Celsius.

Kalashnikov knew that between the NII-61, the Tula Arms Plant, the Ministry of Defense Industry and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a chain of profitable transfer of personnel had long been established. And to support it, of course, a sufficiently powerful lobbying potential has been accumulated. Of course, all this is in the interests of the developments of Tula. What could Izhevsk oppose? Only one thing - the clear advantages of the sample.

Five machine guns were selected for testing. Kalashnikov took Koryakovtsev with him. The chief engineer of NII-61, Oleg Sergeevich Kuzmin, said that the Nikitin machine gun was already being mass-produced at the Kovrov plant and, therefore, the sample would be taken directly from the assembly line. The hope was that those present would realize: the quality of the Tula product will undoubtedly be better than the small-scale version of the Kalashnikov. This is the law. But where Kalashnikov is, as we have seen more than once, some laws fail.

Kalashnikov left, and Koryakovtsev witnessed the most difficult trials. Everything went well until the machine gun started shooting “at the zenith” - upwards at an angle of 85 degrees. The fact is that when firing at the “zenith”, the return spring, designed to move moving parts forward after firing in order to extract the cartridge, was under double load. Firstly, she overcame the friction forces of rubbing surfaces (in particular, between the lever for moving the cartridge belt and the bolt carrier) due to the storage kinetic energy. Secondly, she was under the pressure of the full weight of the moving parts, which reduced the reliability of the machine gun. In the machine guns of rivals, the movement back after the shot of the bolt carrier was based on other principles. In Nikitin's design, powder gases acted on the bolt carrier for a longer time than in the Kalashnikov system. This caused Kalashnikov's fear. Mihtim prepared a "piano in the bushes" in a timely manner. In the event of roughness when shooting with an inclination, he instructed Koryakovtsev to set up a machine gun with a roller on the lever. Later, Kalashnikov learned that Nikitin had come to exactly the same decision.

The next stage took place at the Rzhevka military training ground near Leningrad. There was a machine gun firing in short bursts in the freezer. Fans simulated wind from all directions. The temperature is -55 degrees. And then take a machine gun and jump like a goat on a leash. After 7-12 shots I could not stop and fired the entire cartridge box of 200 rounds.

The tests were repeated - the same thing. Koryakovtsev called Kalashnikov. A conversation took place in Aesopian language - after all, they could eavesdrop. However, Kalashnikov was unperturbed. I just sang some wonderful joke into the receiver: “The tractor is in the field pyr-pyr-pyr, I’m on the collective farm of holes-holes-holes.”

And in the morning Mihtim was already in Leningrad. I took a machine gun, filed something in it and corrected it, and order, the issue was removed. He explained to the astonished assistant that the heat treatment regime was not maintained, that it was whispering and demolished in the cold much faster than under normal conditions. Wow, thought Koryakovtsev, after all, Kalashnikov took with him from Izhevsk a new sear with normal heat treatment.

Only a few years later, M. T. Kalashnikov revealed the meaning of the saying that sounded then: what you see in a tractor in winter is what you get in the field in summer - additional worries, loss of time. That's the whole point.

Military trials took place in July - August 1960 in four military districts - Moscow (based on the Shot courses), Turkestan, Odessa and Baltic. Designers left Izhevsk to control the situation: Krupin to Central Asia, Pushin to Odessa, Koryakovtsev to the Baltic States, and Startsev to Moscow. Kalashnikov remained on the farm. Kryakushin helped him, now and then leaving for operational missions. In order not to anger the secret services, as always, they agreed on a telephone and telegraph lexicon. In emergency cases, Kalashnikov himself went to the troops.

In Samarkand, a problem arose that Krupin could not cope with. The barrel, heated to redness, burned tightly to the receiver, so much so that it could not be torn off with a hammer. I had to call Kalashnikov with an urgent telegram. A day later he was there. The decision is made by him instantly - to write an application to the test commission for the issuance of three barrels. Accompanied by the military representative of the Izhmash plant, Malimon, Kalashnikov is finalizing the barrels. It was required to apply decorative chrome plating to the seats of the trunks. The local weapons workshop, after some persuasion, decided to help. All night the workers removed the chrome from the barrel seats and chromed it again. There was no more burning.

The next stage is the immersion of machine guns into the ditch, where there is more silt than water. After “washing” in the water, the command came: “On the shore, fire!” Samples of the PC at least something, and the Tula ones began to spit with single shots. Repeated - the same reaction. Then - dragging by tanks in the dust, and again the effect of "hanging out" rubbing parts in the receiver justified itself.

And one more piece of testing. When removing the barrel, the gas tube moved freely, it was not fixed to the receiver. In the conditions of Central Asia, this was a disadvantage. They were given 30 days to remove it. I had to put the pieces together. Kalashnikov became taciturn, obviously nervous. Then he said: if we do not find a solution, we are not good for hell. On the 24th day, Kalashnikov found a solution: he only changed the plate located on the gas pipe, which he sawed out on a vice during the night. Disconnection was achieved by simply pressing the thumb. Truly, everything ingenious is simple. Now not a single soldier will pay attention to this latch. On the 28th day, Krupin was in Samarkand with a machine gun. The overall result is 2.5:1.5 in favor of Izhmash. At the shooting range in Kaliningrad, listening to the shooting of Nikitin's machine gun, Kalashnikov suddenly asks Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, who was in charge of the tests:

What is the number of shots provided by the methodology?

7-12, came the reply.

And it seems to me that they shoot at 7-10.

They began to count - it turned out to be 9 each. They asked the soldier to make several bursts of 12 each - the shot tape began to overlap through the machine gun, and this was a serious shortcoming of the competitor. Plus, the strong recoil of the butt - Nikitin's machine gun worked harder, more energetically than the Kalashnikov's, since its design had constant pressure in the gas chamber and, accordingly, a more active effect on the bolt frame. There were even cases of machine gunner's cheek wounds. At this time, Chief Marshal of the Armored Forces P. A. Rotmistrov arrived in Kaliningrad. He shook Kalashnikov's hand for a long time. Then he fired alternately from Kalashnikov and Nikitin machine guns. The tape in Nikitin's machine gun moved restlessly, distracting from the shooting. Rotmistrov called Nikitin's representative and, without any moralizing, calmly said: tell Nikitin about this shortcoming immediately, let him take measures. In general, look up to Kalashnikov - he never exposes his samples to serious tests unfinished. They always work like clockwork for him.

Then Rotmistrov asked how the tank machine gun was being tested, and in fact formulated the terms of reference for it. The machine gun should be installed on promising tanks, which have a slightly smaller usable volume inside the turret due to the large number of control systems. It is necessary to minimize the gas contamination from powder gases inside the turret, since the tank must work flawlessly in contaminated terrain and have a sealed turret.

The Baltic Military District completed the tests and gave preference to the Kalash. An interesting fact - a soldier, unfamiliar with the Kalashnikov and Nikitin systems, was brought into a room where two samples were lying on the table. In three to five seconds, he had to choose the one that he liked purely visually and pick it up. Of the five options, the choice fell on the PC each time.

At the Shot courses, the attitude towards the PC was bad. Startsev witnessed an ugly scene when the head of the courses, pointing to a portrait of Kalashnikov, was annoyed: “They hung portraits here, there will still be simple designers who have earned their authority with no one knows how to teach generals!”

In the Black Sea, the PC showed itself well, swimming in plenty of sea water. Competitors had failures - the machine gunner's face was damaged by recoil, the tape was overwhelmed.

According to the totality of indicators, the PC won a complete victory. But the matter took an unexpected turn: the Tula people launched a serious struggle. Kalashnikov was not surprised by this - in Tula there were always the strongest competitors.

From the directorate of the plant where a batch of Tula machine guns was manufactured, a telegram unexpectedly came to the government accusing the testing commission of a non-state approach. It was reported that a lot of money was spent on the manufacture of the Tula version of a single machine gun. The Council of Ministers created a commission consisting of representatives of the ministries of defense and the defense industry, and on the basis of NII-61 arranged the defense of two competitive projects. Kalashnikov and Nikitin had to defend their machine guns, and not only with arguments.

Kalashnikov, however, was not informed about the meeting of the commission. In Moscow, in the GRAU on that fateful day, he happened to be by chance. Events unfolded like in a real action movie. Deikin makes an outstanding decision to urgently deliver Mihtim in a GRAU car to Klimovsk. There, behind the fence of NII-61, the senior military representative of the cartridge factory was already waiting for Kalashnikov. Since the pass, of course, was not ordered, the designer had to climb into the territory of the institute under the fence through a specially made hole. The security of these two institutions was common. Kalashnikov entered the meeting room on time. The clock was 9:55.

The meeting was chaired by Ustinov's assistant Igor Fedorovich Dmitriev. Nikitin was the first to report. His speech lasted 45 minutes. Then a lively discussion ensued. Initially, civilian experts spoke, praising the Nikitin machine gun and belittling the Kalashnikov machine gun. Then the military took over. Five or seven people spoke out, all spoke in favor of the Kalashnikov machine gun.

Imagine the amazement of Kuzmin, the chief engineer of NII-61, when he saw in the hall a Kalashnikov who had come from nowhere. Mikhail Timofeevich diplomatically declined the invitation to speak and asked Koryakovtsev to speak.

Hero of the Soviet Union Klyuyev, division commander, chairman of the test commission for the Baltic region, spoke. He spoke unequivocally for the Kalashnikov machine gun. Well, then Livady Koryakovtsev spoke. His speech was persuasive and eloquent. The essence of the argument was based on the fact that it is the soldier who is the key figure in Kalashnikov's work.

At the request of the commission, the designers disassembled and assembled their products. Kalashnikov did it naturally, without any help or delay. Nikitin hesitated, lost his way, and only with outside help completed the assembly of the machine gun. It was obvious that PC was the favorite.

Representatives of the General Staff, GAU and the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces spoke. They unanimously declared that they did not order an unfinished machine gun for the defense industry and that all the preferences of the military are on the side of a single PK machine gun - simple in design, reliable in operation, survivable in any operating conditions, technologically advanced in manufacturing.

In conclusion, the designers spoke. Kalashnikov drew the attention of those present that two samples of a machine gun were presented - the development of the Tula and Izhevsk factories. Their designs are based on the experience of the excellent school of Soviet gunsmiths:

“The choice is difficult, but it is necessary, and I am sure that it will be the right one and you will not be ashamed of it in front of our army and people.”

Then Nikitin spoke. In conclusion, he noted that 25 million rubles had already been spent on the production of his machine guns. But this "argument" did not affect the members of the commission. Most are for the Kalashnikov design machine gun. So once again Mikhail Timofeevich won. Faith in the designer, in his creative genius won.

By a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of October 20, 1961, a single PK (infantry) machine gun was adopted by the Soviet army. Then, on its basis, PKT (tank) and PKB (armored personnel carrier) were created.

The beginning of the 1960s in the history of small arms was complex and ambiguous. This type of weaponry was erroneously referred to as "cave technology". The unique Shchurovsky test site was liquidated. Experienced masters of shooting from Izhmash were gathering in other places. Krupin is one of them. Kalashnikov did not try to stop him, he did not try to convince him. He only asked for help to complete work on a tank machine gun. In parallel with the tests at NII-61 and in the troops of a single machine gun, trial tests of a tank machine gun sample were carried out in Kubinka.

Not everything was easy. The tankers were quite satisfied with the Goryunov SGMT system of 7.62 mm caliber for a rifle cartridge. "Kalash" was greeted with caution. And when Krupin, at a meeting with the chief designer of the tank, Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov, asked to make a new casting of the turret bell, he protested against changing the design of the turret and suggested looking for another way to install a machine gun on the tank. And defiantly emphasized at the same time - "your machine gun."

The case could be saved only by Kalashnikov with his inherent tact, diplomatic culture and favorable psychological impact on the interlocutor.

M. T. Kalashnikov:

“We worked with the new T-55 tank in Nizhny Tagil. I made a powerful lock for a tank machine gun. But there were a lot of people who didn't understand. The tankers resisted, because it was necessary to redo something in the tank. I had to work to minimize alterations. Morozov was a good designer. I met him ten times."

At the first meeting with Morozov, Kalashnikov immediately defined his task - to install the PKT in the nest for HCMP without a radical reorganization. Morozov calmed down and took the position of an ally until the very end of the work. It also had a positive effect that Morozov dealt with a tanker, commander of the legendary T-34. Thus, not without difficulties, but the PKT was adopted in 1962.

True, there was one incident with the PKT, when the Morozov Design Bureau suddenly began to lament that it could not hand over the sample in time, since the gunsmiths were delaying it. It turns out that the tankers simply cheated, they themselves did not have time to finalize any one unit by the deadline and decided to hide behind a Kalashnikov tank machine gun. It wasn't there. The wise Minister Zverev summoned Kalashnikov to the joint board of the two ministries, and the issue was quickly resolved. Morozov had to make a public apology to Mikhail Timofeevich. But Morozov is twice Hero of Socialist Labor, a very respected and proud person. Of course, the authority of Kalashnikov was already high and indisputable by that time. But he himself at the same time remained a modest, intelligent and respectable person. So the designer remained to this day. It does not suit Timofeevich to “bronze”, he has a different mental alignment, his own, very humane manner of going through life.

In 1961, a new single PK machine gun with all its varieties was adopted by the Soviet army. Single infantry PKB, easel PKS, armored personnel design bureau. Thus, the second unified system of small arms for a rifle cartridge was created. In 1964, for the creation of a complex of unified PK and PKT machine guns, M. T. Kalashnikov and his assistants A. D. Kryakushin and V. V. Krupin were awarded the Lenin Prize.

From book A. Uzhanov "Mikhail Kalashnikov" (Series ZhZL, 2009)