AVS-36 - Simonov automatic rifle, released in 1936. Initially, the weapon was developed as a self-loading rifle, but in the course of improvements, the designers added a burst firing mode. It is the first automatic rifle chambered for 7.62, which was adopted by the Soviet Union, and the first rifle of this class in the world, adopted in principle. In the last achievement, ABC-36 was literally a few months ahead of the American M1 Garand. Today we will consider the history of the production of the Simonov automatic rifle and its main technical parameters.
Development
The first prototype of the Simonov automatic rifle was introduced back in 1926. Having considered the project proposed by S. G. Simonov, the artillery committee decided not to allow this weapon to be tested. In 1930, the designer managed to achieve success at the weapons competition. Simonov's main competitor in the design of automatic rifles was F. V. Tokarev. In 1931, continuing to work on improving hisrifle, Simonov significantly upgraded it.
Recognition
Simonov's automatic rifle was tested quite well at the test site, as a result of which the Soviet gunsmiths decided to release a small batch of ABC for wide military testing. Simultaneously with the release of the first batch, it was proposed to establish a technological process in order to start mass production at the beginning of 1934. The release was planned to be established in Izhevsk, where Simonov went personally to help organize the production process. In March 1934, the USSR Defense Committee adopted a resolution on the development of capacities for the production of ABC-36 next year.
According to the test results of 1935-1936, Simonov's model proved to be much better than Tokarev's. And this despite the fact that individual ABC samples failed during the tests. According to the conclusion of the supervisory commission, the cause of the breakdowns was manufacturing defects, and not design flaws. This was confirmed by the first prototypes of the rifle, which could withstand up to 27 thousand shots without breakdowns.
Adoption
In 1936, the Simonov automatic rifle was adopted by the USSR. It was the first automatic weapon of the Red Army chambered for a rifle cartridge of caliber 7.62. The weapon that entered service differed from the prototype in a number of design solutions.
In 1938, ABC-36 was first shown to the public at the May Day military parade. She was armed with shootersFirst Moscow Proletarian Division. On February 26 of the same year, A. I. Bykhovsky, director of the Izhevsk plant, said that the ABC (Simonov automatic rifle) has been fully mastered and put into mass production.
Later, when Stalin orders the construction of a self-loading rifle without the possibility of firing in automatic mode, the ABC-36 will be replaced by the SVT-38. The reason for this decision and the refusal of automatic shooting was the saving of ammunition.
When ABC-36 was put into service, the volume of its production increased markedly. So, in 1934, 106 copies left the assembly line, in 1935 - 286, in 1937 - 10280, and in 1938 - 23401. Production continued until 1940. By this time, almost 67 thousand rifles had been produced.
Design
The principle of operation of an automatic rifle is based on the removal of powder gases. The model can fire both single cartridges and in automatic mode. Switching firing modes is carried out by means of a special lever located on the right side of the receiver. Single mode is the main one. It was supposed to shoot in bursts in case of an insufficient number of light machine guns in the unit. As for continuous fire, it was allowed to the soldiers only in extreme cases, when there was a sudden attack of the enemy from a distance of less than 150 meters. At the same time, no more than 4 magazines could be spent in a row in order to avoid overheating and wear of the key elements of the rifle.
Gas outlet unit, the piston of which has a shortmove, located above the trunk. The vertical block (wedge) locking the barrel moves in the slots of the receiver. The line of movement of the block deviates from the vertical by about 5 °, which makes it easier to unlock the shutter manually. When the block moves up, it enters the grooves of the shutter and locks it. Unlocking occurs at the moment when the clutch, which is connected to the gas piston, squeezes the block down. Due to the fact that the locking block was located between the magazine and the breech, the cartridges were fed into the chamber along a long and steep trajectory, which often led to delays. In addition, due to this feature, the receiver was impressive in length and complex in design.
Simonov's automatic rifle also had a complex bolt, inside of which were located: a striker with a spring, some parts of the trigger mechanism and an anti-bounce device. Versions of the rifle, released before 1936, differed in the device of the trigger, cut-off and stop of the mainspring.
Firing modes
According to the instructions, the firing mode switch was blocked by a special key, access to which was only available to the squad leader. In special cases, he allowed soldiers to switch their rifles to automatic mode. Whether the soldiers followed the instructions is a moot point. It is curious to note that in the case of the Fedorov rifle, only the soldier who passed the corresponding exam could get a fire translator in his hands. And during the years of the Vietnam War, US officers removed the translator mechanism fromM14 soldier rifles, in order to avoid the possibility of firing in a burst, which, as in the case of the ABC-36, is practically useless when firing from the hands. It was recommended to shoot in automatic mode in the prone position, from the stop, with the same butt as when firing from a DP machine gun. Shooting single shots, from a standing or sitting position, the shooter held the rifle from below the magazine with his left hand.
Rate of Fire
The technical rate of fire of Simonov's automatic rifle was about 800 rounds per minute. However, in practice this figure was much lower. A trained shooter with pre-filled magazines fired up to 25 rounds per minute with single fire, up to 50 with bursts, and up to 80 with continuous fire. The open sight had notches in range from 100 to 1500 m, in increments of 100 m.
Ammunition
The ammunition of the rifle was made from detachable sickle-shaped magazines that could hold 15 rounds. The shape of the magazine was due to the presence of a protruding rim on the used cartridge. It was possible to equip stores both separately from the weapon and on it, from standard clips. Models of the rifle, produced before 1936, could also be equipped with magazines for 10 and 20 rounds.
Bayonet
The barrel of Simonov's automatic rifle was equipped with a massive muzzle brake and a bayonet mount. In early versions, the bayonet could be attached not only horizontally, but also vertically, down with a wedge. In this form, it was supposed to be used asone-legged ersatz bipod for firing in the prone position. However, the description of the rifle, published in 1937, forbids such use of a bayonet-knife, prescribing instead to shoot in automatic prone mode with an emphasis on rolling or turf. In principle, this clarification was inappropriate, given that since 1936 the rifle was no longer equipped with a bipod bayonet. Apparently, the idea of increasing the functionality of such an ordinary item as a bayonet, attractive in theory, did not justify itself in practice. During the march, the bayonet was carried in a sheath attached to the fighter’s belt, and it remained there when firing.
Specifications
Simonov's automatic rifle had the following parameters:
- Weight including bayonet with sheath, optical sight and magazine filled with cartridges - about 6 kg.
- The weight of the rifle without bayonet, scope and magazine is 4,050 kg.
- The weight of the equipped magazine is 0.675 kg.
- Empty magazine weight - 0.350 kg.
- The weight of the bayonet in the sheath is 0.550 kg.
- The weight of the sight with the bracket is 0.725 kg.
- Bracket weight - 0.145 kg.
- Mass of moving parts (stem, bolt and cocking clutch) - 0.5 kg.
- Magazine capacity - 15 rounds.
- Caliber - 7.62 mm.
- Length with bayonet - 1, 520 m.
- Length without bayonet - 1, 260 m.
- The length of the rifled part of the barrel - 0.557 m.
- Number of grooves – 4.
- Fly height - 29.8 mm.
- Shutter travel 130 mm.
- Firing range (aiming) - 1500 m.
- Bullet range (side-to-side) -3000 m.
- Bullet speed (initial) - 840 m/s.
- Rate of fire (technical) - 800 rounds per minute.
Successor
On May 22, 1938, another competition was announced for the development of a new self-loading rifle based on the removal of powder gases. The systems of Simonov, Tokarev, Rukavishnikov and other lesser-known gunsmiths took part in the competitive tests, which took place from the end of summer to the beginning of autumn of the same year. At the end of November, the final tests took place, according to the results of which, in February 1939, the Tokarev rifle, called the SVT-38, was adopted by the USSR. On the eve of this, on January 19, Simonov announced the elimination of all the shortcomings of his rifle in the hope that he would be given another chance. By the end of the spring of the same year, a special commission was created to evaluate the systems of Tokarev and Simonov from the point of view of production and economic feasibility.
According to the conclusion of the commission, SVT was recognized as simpler and less costly to manufacture. Nevertheless, the USSR Defense Committee, striving for the rapid rearmament of the army, did not retreat from the idea of \u200b\u200bmass production of the Tokarev rifle. This is how the Simonov automatic rifle ended its history, the military review of which became the subject of our conversation.
The production of the Tokarev system was launched in less than six months, and from October 1, 1939, gross production began. First of all, the Tula plant was involved, which in this regard stopped the production of the Mosin rifle. In 1940, the steel modelalso produce at the Izhevsk Arms Plant, which previously produced ABC-36.
Result of operation
AVS-36 (Simonov automatic rifle of the 1936 model) as a whole was not reliable enough for mass use in the army. The complex design and the large number of complexly shaped parts made it too costly to manufacture in terms of time and resources. In addition, its release at almost all stages required highly qualified personnel.
The design of the rifle made it possible to assemble it without a locking block. Moreover, it was even possible to shoot from such a weapon. In the event of such a shot, the receiver collapsed, and the bolt group flew back, right into the shooter. The original wedge lock also failed. In addition, the survivability of the trigger mechanism often failed.
With all this, the Simonov automatic rifle, the history of which we examined, was remembered as the first weapon of its kind, adopted for mass armament and tested in combat conditions. It also became the first type of weapon in the USSR, created by purely domestic engineers, mastered and put into mass production. For its time, the ABC-36 was an advanced rifle.
It is interesting to note that in the Finnish army, the captured Simonov rifles were preferred by the Tokarev SVT rifle, which was considered more reliable.
Sniper version
In 1936, a small number of ABC sniper rifles were produced. Since the spent cartridges were thrown up and forward, the designers decided to fix the optical sight bracket to the left of the barrel axis. The optics had an aiming grid with two horizontal and one vertical thread. The exit pupil diameter was 7.6 mm; it was 85 mm away from the extreme lens of the eyepiece. The scope quadrupled the number of images. Otherwise, the sniper version did not differ from the usual Simonov automatic rifle, the photo of which will be recognized by many gun lovers.
