German assault rifle Sturmgewehr (Stg.44). Assault rifle Sturmgewehr (Stg.44) German automatic rifle mr 44

In the midst of all the abundance of small arms made by designers in the past century, one can single out individual standards that have had the greatest impact on the upcoming development of weapons. The emergence of some of them can be called a true turning point in the history of the development of small arms. A striking example of this may be the history of the first assault rifle Sturmgewehr (Stg.44), which can be safely called the predecessor and inspirer of such famous weapons as the AK-47 assault rifle and the FN FAL rifle.

The German automatic rifle Sturmgewehr 44 was really good for its time: for the first time, a place was provided for installing an underbarrel grenade launcher on this weapon, optical sight, other hanging devices. According to legend, the name for this weapon (Sturmgewehr, which means "assault rifle") was invented by Hitler himself. But all of the above is less than cherries on a cake, the more fundamental achievement of the Stg.44 was its ammunition, which caused a real revolution in weapons business.

The Sturmgever was indeed an elite weapon. For him, even the world's first infrared night vision sight Zielgerät 1229 Vampir was developed. It consisted of the sight itself (weighed 2.25 kg) and a rechargeable battery (13.5 kg), which the fighters carried in a wooden box behind their shoulders. Ghoul was intensively used in the last year of the war, although the range of his action did not exceed 100 meters.

The history of the creation of this tool began for long time before the 2nd World War, still in the middle of the 30s of the last century.

Minor history

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, the rapid rearmament of the German army began. It hit and small arms. The German army administration wanted to have a more advanced small arms than their potential opponents had. The Germans considered the creation of an intermediate cartridge, as well as new weapon systems for it, to be one of the promising areas for the development of small arms.

At that time, all the armies of the world used either pistol or rifle cartridges. Rifle ammunition had better accuracy and range, but was unnecessarily massive. This led to an increase in the mass of the gun, to its complication, to a decrease in the amount of ammunition that a fighter could take with him. The flight range of a rifle bullet reached 2 km, although most of fire contacts took place at distances of 400-500 meters. In addition, the creation of such ammunition sought more resources.

The rifle cartridge was very poorly suited for the creation of an automatic weapon.

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The pistol cartridge was not massive enough, and it’s hard to call its ballistics impeccable. It is effective at distances up to 200 meters, which is obviously not enough for the main gun of an infantryman. The countless submachine guns made before and during the war were striking proof of this.

Work on the creation of intermediate ammunition has been carried out since the beginning of the twentieth century, but the Germans managed to make the first serial standard: in 1940 arms company Polte made the 7.92x33mm Kurz intermediate cartridge.

Even before the war in Germany, the concept of re-equipping the army with a gun made under an intermediate cartridge was created. At that time, the German army had three main types of small arms: a submachine gun, a repeating rifle and a light machine gun. The new automatic gun, made under the intermediate cartridge, was supposed to completely change the submachine gun and the magazine rifle, as well as partly the light machine gun. The German military expected with the help of a new weapon to significantly increase firepower rifle formations.

In 1938, the Wehrmacht Ordnance Department entered into an agreement with the arms company C.G. Haenel, owned by Hugo Schmeisser, an agreement to create an automatic carbine for a new intermediate cartridge. The new gun received the abbreviation MKb.

At the beginning of the 40th year, he handed over to his customers the first standards of the new gun, chambered for 7.92 × 33 mm Kurz. In the same year, another popular German arms company, Walther, received a similar task.

At the very beginning of 1942, both companies presented their modified MKb standards (MKbH and MKbW), they were presented to Hitler. The gun, made by Walther, was found to be very complex and capricious. The Schmeisser standard had a more conventional device and a sturdy construction, it was more comfortable to disassemble, and had the best features.

The new gun received the designation MKb.42 and was sent to the Eastern Front for further tests. Front-line tests completely confirmed the advantage of the standard made by Haenel, but the military demanded that certain configurations be introduced into the design.

By the middle of 1943, the Schmeisser rifle was put into service and the name was changed once again. Now this gun was designated by the abbreviation MP-43A (MP-431). More than 14 thousand units of such a weapon were made. This was followed by another small refinement of the gun, it received the name MP-43 and actually did not change until the very end of the war. First, in 1944, the rifle received the latest abbreviation - MP-44.

In September 1943, the brand new rifle was given over to large-scale military tests, it was armed with the 5th tank division SS Viking Eastern Front. The new automatic rifle received the most seductive reviews, it significantly increased the firepower of infantry units.

After that, the new gun was demonstrated to Hitler. Previously, he received great amount beautiful reviews about him from the generals and the directorate of the military-industrial complex of Germany. The fact is that Hitler was against the development and adoption of a new class of rifles. On the other hand, it is believed that the final name of this automatic rifle - "assault rifle" or StG.44 - was personally invented by the Fuhrer.

The Sturmgever entered service with the Waffen-SS and selected units of the Wehrmacht. In total, about 400 thousand units of this gun were made before the end of the war (for comparison, the MP-38/40 was produced during the entire war about 2 million pieces). This weapon began to appear only at the final step of the war and did not have a significant impact on its course. The problem was not its quantity (it is quite convincing), but the lack of ammunition for the Stg.44.

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The damn situation with ammunition for the latest assault rifle is noted in their own memoirs by the German generals. But in general, Stg.44 showed itself with better side both in terms of accuracy, and in terms of simplicity of design, and in terms of its own manufacturability.

After the end of the war, the Sturmgever was used by the police of the GDR, the army of the FRG, and the armed forces of several other European states. There is information that in Syria, warehouses where several thousand units of this weapon were located were seized by the opposition and this moment these machines are intensively used by both sides of the conflict.

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Device description

Automation Stg.44 works by removing part of the powder gases from the bore. Gases move back the bolt carrier with the bolt. The locking of the bore is done by tilting the bolt.

The trigger mechanism of the trigger type. Stg.44 is capable of both single fire and burst fire. The fuse covers the trigger.

Food is made from a box-shaped double-row magazine with a capacity of 30 rounds. Sector sight, it allows you to shoot at a distance of up to 800 meters.

The return spring is located inside the wood butt, making it impossible to create a modification with a folding butt.

Advantages and disadvantages of Stg.44

Sturmgever can be called a revolutionary prototype of small arms. But, like any new weapon, the Stg.44 had its own "childhood illnesses". The developers simply did not have enough time to remove them. In addition, we should not forget that Stg.44 is the first gun of its kind.

Drawbacks:

• very big weight compared to an ordinary rifle;
• fragility receiver;
• bad sights;
• weak spring in stores;
• the absence of a forearm.

Advantages:

• good shooting accuracy at close and medium distances;
• convenience and compactness;
• good rate of fire;
• excellent ammunition properties;
• versatility in combat conditions.

As you can see, the shortcomings of the Stg.44 are not critical, and they could simply be removed with only a small upgrade of the gun. But the Germans did not have time to correct their mistakes.

Some experts believe that if Stg.44 had appeared a couple of years earlier, then the war could have had a different end. But history does not tolerate subjunctive moods.

Sturmgewehr (Stg.44) and Kalashnikov assault rifle

In April 1945, the Americans occupied the town of Suhl in Thuringia, where Hugo Schmeisser's company was located. The gunsmith himself was arrested, but after the Americans made sure that he was not a Nazi and did not commit atrocities, the designer was released. The Yankees were not entirely intrigued by his gun. They thought their M1 carbine was even better than the Stg.44.

They thought completely differently in the Russian Union. Work on the creation of weapons for an intermediate cartridge began in the USSR in 1943, immediately after the appearance of the first German captured samples. After the city in Germany, where the Schmeisser enterprise was located, moved to the Russian zone of occupation, all the technical documentation for Stg.44 was removed from the plant.

Next - more. In 1946, stern people came to the 62-year-old Schmeisser and made him an offer from the category of those who are not rejected. He, as well as the employees of his office, together with their families, went to the USSR, and more specifically, to the city of Izhevsk, where at that time hard work was underway to create a new machine gun.

Disputes about the relationship between the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the Stg.44 continue to this day and their intensity does not subside. Was the AK a copy of the German assault rifle? No, of course, they differ and very seriously. But to the question of whether the Stg.44 was a model for the creation of a Russian machine gun, one can definitely give an affirmative answer. To do this, it is quite easy to look at their appearance and design.

But that's not the most exciting thing. Who made the famous Russian machine gun? An illiterate boy with seven classes of education or an experienced gunsmith with a worldwide reputation who last years gave life to work on a similar tool? The question, as they say, is rhetorical. According to the memoirs of people who were familiar with Kalashnikov, he did not know how to draw and was not able to make a simple calculation. Although, everyone emphasizes that the guy’s hands were really golden. But for the creation of a new tool, this is obviously not much.

In 1948, Kalashnikov was oriented to work at the Izhmash Design Bureau, where the machine gun was being finalized at that time. Hugo Schmeisser also worked there during this period, they definitely could not help but meet. But in the memoirs of Misha Timofeevich there is not a single word about the Germans.

Although, the history of the creation of the famous machine gun is a separate topic, which obviously goes beyond the scope of our material.

You can also add that in 1952 Schmeisser was released to Germany, where a year later he died at once.

Technical properties

• weight, kg: 5.2;
• length, mm: 940;
• barrel length, mm: 419;
• initial bullet speed, m/s: 685 (bullet weight 8.1 g);
• caliber, mm: 7.92;
• cartridge: 7.92 × 33 mm;
• effective range, m: 600;
• type of ammunition supply: sector magazine for 30 rounds;
• sight: sector;
• rate of fire, shots / min: 500-600.

The lethal force of German quality is the Sturmgever 44 assault rifle, which changed the tactics of warfare. At the end of the 30s, the most strong armies The world was equipped with two types of small arms: a submachine gun for close combat and various types of rifles and carbines for positional combat.

Characteristics of the German assault rifle Sturmgever

The first ones perfectly helped military units cope with the tasks at close range, but were useless for firing at a distance of more than 500 m. The rifles had an aiming and lethal range measured by several kilometers, but their rate of fire was insufficient for close combat.

Therefore, it became necessary to create a weapon that would occupy a niche between PP and rifles. And they became an assault rifle - "Sturmgever" (MG-44), which became a role model in the design of modern machine guns. In this way, german machine gun STG 44 Sturmweger can be considered the prototype of all modern weapons.

The history of the creation of the Sturmweger STG 44 assault rifle (sturmgewehr)

Rifle cartridges are inconveniently sized for use in automatic weapons. The lethal force of pistol cartridges at a distance of more than 200 m was insufficient. The development of an intermediate cartridge made it possible to move on to the creation of a fundamentally new weapon for effective medium-range combat.

The Walther company began to develop prototype weapons under an intermediate cartridge in the middle of 1940 according to the terms of reference government controlled Armaments.

At the end of the same year, Hugo Schmeisser's company presented already finished sample"Gevera" (Sturmgewehr stg 44), which was still quite raw, but already had positive reviews specialists.

In 1942, samples from two competing firms were field tested. The weapons of the Walther company turned out to be rather complicated in design, capricious and not very easy to use.

Schmeisser's stormtrooper was approved with the condition of eliminating the identified minor flaws.

this year, an assault rifle under the marking StG.44 was launched into the series

In 1943, an experimental batch of MP-43A was delivered to some units on the Eastern Front for testing in combat conditions. And as a result - the launch in the series in 1944 under the marking StG.44 ("Sturmgever 44" - assault rifle 44).

The performance characteristics of the rifle

Design and device

The main innovative idea implemented in this weapon is the use of powder gases to reload the cartridge. For this, a gas outlet pipe is used, and the skew of the shutter produces locking.

Gas chamber regulation is not provided. The removal of its plug with the auxiliary rod is carried out with a special punch when cleaning the weapon. The shutter stem is integrated with the gas piston.

USP trigger type allows you to fire both single shots and bursts. The return spring is placed in the butt, which does not allow you to create a modification without a butt.

The main sight is front sight, there are guides for mounting an optical sight. But there was no need to replace the usual one with an optical one in combat conditions - their effectiveness is almost the same.

The power supply of the stormtrooper was provided by a removable double-row magazine for 30 rounds. Due to the weakness of its spring in real conditions, it was loaded 5 rounds less.

Of the design flaws, the following should be noted:

• sights turned out to be unsuccessful - they did not provide the desired accuracy at medium and long distances;
• relatively large weight;
• weak receiver;
• low elasticity of the magazine spring;
• the forearm is not very convenient for the shooter.

These shortcomings are the result of the "dampness" of the weapon. Designers in Germany were engaged in their elimination until the end of the war.

Sturmgewehr 44 and Kalashnikov assault rifle

There is an opinion that his Kalashnikov assault rifle was copied from the Schmeisser STG 44, there are arguments for and against this assumption. Visual comparison shows that the layout and general form they are similar, but there are significant differences in the device. A common idea is the use of an intermediate cartridge and the removal of powder gases for reloading.

Another fact that makes you think. After the capitulation of the Nazi troops, Hugo Schmeisser, the creator of the Sturmgwehr, worked in a design bureau in Izhevsk. Kalashnikov at that time created his creation in Kovrov, but was on a business trip to Izhevsk several times.

There is no confirmed data on whether he met with Schmeisser or not. It is possible that after looking closely at the Sturmgewehr 44, Kalashnikov consulted with his German counterpart on some issues.

At the same time, it is known that the leader of Kalashnikov was the well-known Soviet weapons designer Sudayev, who developed his own version of an assault rifle with a vapor tube, the layout of which can be seen in the picture below.

Of the significant differences between the AK-47 and StG.44, the following cannot be ignored:

• the size and location of the return spring;
• barrel lock type;
• bolt handle position
• disassembly principle.

Whether the Kalashnikov technical team used the brainchild of Schmeisser as the basis for the creation of the AK-47 or not, one can only guess. But the two main ideas that made it possible to create a new generation of small arms, the German designer implemented in his weapons earlier - the use of an intermediate cartridge and the removal of powder gas for reloading.

Sturmweger rifle modifications

The German designers had practically no time for fine-tuning and creating modifications.

The appearance of the Stormtrooper before the end of the Second World War led to the fact that it did not have official modifications (except for modern airsoft models).

It can be noted that prototypes of special devices were invented and manufactured - nozzles for shooting from shelters (“crooked” barrel) and an infrared sight for firing at night. "Crooked" barrels had very low firing accuracy, there was no practical benefit from them.

And infrared sights had two drawbacks that did not give them a "green light" for wide application: the range of aimed fire is only up to 100 m and the need to carry an additional satchel with a battery. And with high humidity, their image was very blurry. I had to use a moisture meter to correct aimed shooting.

There have even been attempts to use grenade launcher but they were not successful - effective munitions had not yet been developed at that time.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages are the following:

• simplicity of design and mechanics - the possibility of short term produce a large quantity;
• good combat qualities when firing at medium range;
• high rate of fire;
• ergonomics and compactness;
• a small number of spare parts in combat units;
• simple instructions for use, which can be mastered without special training.

But the Sturmgewehr 44 also has a number of shortcomings that the Germans simply did not have time to fix:

• unsuccessful sight options, both front sight and additional optical;
• the inconvenience of the forearm - with intense fire it heated up, burned the hands and required a pharmacy for the shooter;
• weak return and magazine springs;
• weak connection of the butt - in hand-to-hand combat it often broke, and there was no point in drilling for additional fastening of the butt, since the work of the return spring was disrupted;
• a lot of stamped parts that bent on impact - the functioning of the weapon became problematic.

About the AK-47 in general

The Kalashnikov assault rifle, or as it is more commonly called AK-47, is known throughout the world. From its inception in 1947 to the entry into service with the USSR army in 1949, this assault rifle has been an indispensable participant in all armed conflicts on our planet. For many African tribes, this machine has become something more than just, quite often its image can be found on the national flags of the countries of the continent. Such popularity of the AK is quite understandable, this machine gun is recognized as the most tenacious and lethal weapon in its class. Despite its power, it is so unpretentious that it copes well not only with the sands and dust of Africa and Eastern countries, but also with the swamps and jungles of Vietnam. Due to its simplicity, the production cost of this machine is low, which leads to such production volumes. The widespread use of the AK-47 also happened due to the fact that modern army, for the most part, have been re-equipped with a modified AK-74 for quite some time, but at the same time, the decommissioned AK-47s are still in excellent condition and continue to work. And of course, there will always be people who are happy to make money on decommissioned, but still quite usable weapons. Now armament of the army Russian Federation, and most of the CIS countries, use various modifications of the AK-47, ranging from small, police AKSU and ending with RPK machine guns.

RPK machine gun ( light machine gun Kalashnikov)

AKSU (Kalashnikov assault rifle Folding Shortened)

Was there a copy

There are many secrets and questions around the creation of this excellent weapon, but the main one is that Kalashnikov did not invent his machine gun, but simply copied the weapon from the German Stg-44 assault rifle. This rifle was invented by the famous German gunsmith Hugo Schmeiser back in 1942. Rumors of plagiarism are also fueled by the fact that after the war, more than 50 samples of the Stg-44 rifle were taken to the city of Izhevsk, where the AK-47 was actually created, for technical disassembly. In addition to the rifles themselves, more than 10,000 pages were sent to the factory. technical documentation about Stg-44. Of course, after that, evil tongues began to talk about the fact that Kalashnikov just slightly changed the Stg-44 and released his AK-47 assault rifle. It is known for certain that after the occupation of the city of Suhl by the Allied troops, the production of weapons in Germany was prohibited, and a little later, in 1946, Hugo Schmeisser and his family were offered to go to Ural factories, who produced weapons, as a consultant. It is also known that the German lived for some time in Izhevsk and it was after that that the creation of the legend - AK-47 was completed.

If we draw such conclusions, then all the weapons of the world are copied from each other. By and large, the AK-47 assault rifle and the German Stg-44 assault rifle have similarities only in appearance and in the trigger mechanism. But in this matter, Kalashnikov cannot be blamed for stealing the idea of ​​​​this mechanism from Hugo Schmeiser, since the German himself borrowed it from the Holeka company, which developed the first ZH-29 self-loading rifles back in the 20s.

Self-loading rifle ZH-29

If you look closely at the middle part of the rifle, then a similar design can be seen in any modern machine gun, but for some reason it never occurs to anyone to say that all modern weapons copied from this self-loading rifle.

Kalashnikov really could have taken a German rifle as the basis for creating his assault rifle, but the AK-47 is an original invention that is completely different from the German model not only in its tactical and technical characteristics, but also in its internal structure. Almost all parts and important components in the AK-47 are completely different from the STG-44. Moreover, even the principle of disassembling these automatic rifles is completely different. The difference is visible everywhere, from the locking mechanism, the re-locking of the AK-47 and the skew of the STG-44; translators of fire modes for STG and AK are completely different, the trigger principle of operation, despite its similarity, also has a different practical implementation. If we consider each detail of the machines separately, then you will not find anything in common with each other.

STG-44 and AK

If we talk about ammunition for these machine guns, then they have an external resemblance, however, like many other ammunition in the world. This is not surprising, because this form of a bullet is recognized as the most successful in all ballistic performance. Further, if we talk about the caliber, then in the AK-47, as you know, a cartridge of 7.62 × 39 mm caliber is used. The STG-44 used the 7.92x33 cartridge. A similar caliber can also be explained quite easily, because before the creation of weapons of this type, the main weapons were various rifles with a caliber of 7.62.

Cartridges for AK and for STG-44

If we talk about "plagiarism", then Kalashnikov could rather liken his machine gun to another Russian-made weapon - the Bulkin Tula machine gun or TKB-415, which, unfortunately, was never finalized and did not go into serial production, despite the good design and specifications. Unfortunately for those who like to accuse M. Kalashnikov of plagiarism, the AK-47 and TKB-415 also have nothing in common, except appearance.

Automatic Bulkin TKB-415

Outcome

In conclusion, it must be said that in the AK-47, indeed, many elements were copied from weapons of various types, but this was done not in order to intentionally copy weapons, but in order to collect all the best that was developed in the field of automatic weapons of that time . It was thanks to his ability to evaluate and choose the best that Kalashnikov managed to create such a magnificent weapon that has been used by countries around the world for more than 50 years and does not become obsolete. It should also be noted that if Kalashnikov copied the STG-44 rifle of Germany, why then the release of this weapon was not continued, because the STG-44 can only be found in private collections or museums, and the Kalashnikov assault rifle not only continued to exist, but also continues constantly being modified, each time turning into more and more formidable weapon.

The article is devoted to the hottest topic in the arms world about the plagiarism of the Soviet machine gun by Mikhail Kalashnikov AK-47 with assault rifle Hugo Schmeisser (Hugo Schmeisser)StG-44(MP -43-Latin). For reference on Russian / domestic qualifications, automatic small arms using an intermediate cartridge are called "automatic", according to foreign classification this species weapons is called an "assault rifle", so the article will focus on "machine guns". The reason for the dispute is the poor education of people in this topic (technical and historical vacuum) and the unwillingness to look deeper into the essence of the dispute, plus a great desire to rewrite history based on arguments and distorted facts. Below in the article everything will be laid out on the "shelves" without "foam around the mouth", where, when and why.

Proponents of plagiarism insist solely on:

• AK-47 visually similar in layout to StG-44, the use of an intermediate cartridge and gas automatics, which had no analogues
• Hugo Schmeisser was brought to the USSR to create, the future AK-47
• Mikhail Kalashnikov could not create AK-47, since he had no technical education, experience in creating firearms, and after creation he did not create a single type of weapon. Simply put, there would not be enough "brains"

Visual similarity between AK-47 and STG-47

The design of the machines is similar in layout (visually) and there is nothing more in common between them. Technical similarity between AK-47 and STG-44, the same as that of a grinder and a perforator. If you look into the design of the machines, then the technical difference between them is HUGE, Exactly HUGE, the similarity of the machines: gas-operated automatics with a top location and an intermediate cartridge (7.62x41-mm AK-47, to be more precise, after 1948, 7.62x39 mm and 7.92x33 mm for StG-44).

From the table, we see that the technical approach to the automation of vending machines is completely different. Complete and incomplete disassembly of machines has nothing in common. Shutter yStG-44slides inside the upper receiver,AK-47the shutter slides along the grooves in the receiver. The difference is obvious in the reciprocating mainsprings and the way they are located. Due to the large return springStG-44, which is necessary to return the shutter with a long stroke (remove the skew of the shutter and make extraction sleeves), so the machinecannot be issued with or without a folding stock. USM machines are different.

Let's compare the layout right away AK-46, which turned into AK-47. Here we are immediately struck by the familiar way of not completely disassembling the machine by dividing the receiver into upper and lower parts. Which immediately hints at the similarity of assembly / disassembly with StG-44. But this way Kalashnikov has been familiar with disassembly-assembly since the beginning of 1942, when he created the 1942 Kalashnikov submachine gun, and six months later he creates the 1942/43 Kalashnikov machine gun, the drawings of which were ready back in 1942. That is, a year and a half before the creation of the MP-43 (future StG-44).

Hugo Schmeiser was not a "pioneer" in the creation of automatic small arms. Gas venting automatics, locking the barrel with a skewed bolt, intermediate cartridges like StG-44 was used by John Garand to create the M1 Garbine rifle in 1923. It should also be noted that the use of gas-operated automatics in small arms began in early 1940, when the USSR began to produce small arms with gas-operated automatics from 1927 with the adoption of the DP-27 machine gun, and the first sample of the Degtyarev self-loading rifle was presented in 1917 .

Weapons with gas-operated automatics, rotary locking of the barrel and automatic firing, like an assault rifle AK-47 was created back in 1883 by the Mexican gunsmith Manuel Mondragon when creating the M1883 / M1908 automatic rifle. In 1923, this design was used by Isaac Lewis (photo-1, photo-2) when creating a machine gun. IN THE USSR this design was used by Bulkin in 1944 when creating the AB-44 assault rifle.
How do we see automation schemes of machines AK-47 and STG-44 existed long before World War II. Logically, it turns out that Hugo Schmeiser himself plagiarized.

Hugo Schmeisser helped create the AK-47 with the USSR

This statement is not true, since Hugo Schmeiser was brought to Izhevsk in the USSR at the end of October 1946, he started work in November 1946, that is, two months before the final GAU competition. It turns out that Hugo Schmeiser arrived after Vasily Lyuty (the leading specialist of the GAU for small arms and mortar weapons) gave an opinion on the correction and modernization of the competitive AK-46 to level AK-47. Mikhail Kalashnikov worked in the city of Izhevsk, and Hugo Schmeiser in the city of Kovrov, between these cities 1000 km. If there was a need for the knowledge of Hugo Schmeiser to create an automaton, then he would have worked in Izhevsk. Also, remote work at that time was not possible due to the lack of modern technologies, graphic editors and analogues of the Internet. After returning to his homeland in June 1952 in Germany, Hugo Schmeiser did not publish information about his involvement in the creation AK-47. Additionally, there is information that Werner Gruner is the creator of German machine gun MG-38, which was in the field of electric welding and stamping, helped to make the AK-47 by stamping. Then the question arises "why", if the AK-47, before the adoption of the AKM in 1959, was manufactured with a milled receiver, and not by stamping, like the STG-44. Plus, the USSR had experience in manufacturing PPSh and PPS to make weapons by stamping.

Not enough brains

At the time of creation AK-47 Kalashnikov had technical education, which he received at the Moscow Aviation Institute (was sent for training in mid-1942, after the presentation of his second submachine gun), which was evacuated to Samarkand (Kazakh SSR) at the end of 1941. In the middle of 1942, he had experience in creating two submachine guns with different automation systems. Before the war, Kalashnikov was a tanker and created a device for more efficient shooting from TT through the viewing slots of tanks. The first experimental submachine gun had gas-operated automatics - samples and drawings were not preserved. The second surviving experimental Klyushnikov submachine gun of the 1942 model with a semi-free shutter was distinguished by a screw clutch for slowing the shutter; this semi-free shutter was first used in the weapon design by Kalashnikov. In mid-1943, Kalashnikov presented a prototype machine gun, which he began to design at the same time as the submachine gun, but because of the busy work on the experimental Kalashnikov submachine gun of 1942. In October 1944, Kalashnikov presented the Kalashnikov SKK-44 self-loading carbine to the GAU, but preference was given to the Simonov SKS carbine, who was an eminent weapons designer. So that experience and technical education at the time of creation AK-47 Kalashnikov had. In 1943 he was transferred to the staff of the design bureau with a salary.

Second important point that when creating AK-47 Kalashnikov worked in a team with Zaitsev Alexander Alekseevich, Solovyov Vasily Ivanovich. Also, when creating an automatic machine, designers had to communicate a lot with technologists, metallurgy specialists, and turning masters.

The third important point is the big technical difference between the AK-46 and AK-47, which was announced for testing for the GAU in 1946, that under the terms of the competition it was impossible to make serious technical improvements. Appearance for testing in December 1946 of a familiar design AK-47 associated with Vasily Lyuty. Vasily Lyuty was at that time one of the main members of the GAU commission, who recommended Kalashnikov to make technical changes and technical solutions from other machines that took part in the competition. The main technical solutions were borrowed from the Bulkin AB-46 / TKB-415 assault rifle, which was in the lead throughout the competition. As we can see, Kalashnikova borrowed a bolt group with a rotary locking of the barrel and a receiver from the Bulkin assault rifle. Initially, the AK-46 had a different gas piston that did not have a rigid fastening with the author and a different receiver design. Lyuty's task was to adopt modern weapons, which he did with the hands of Kalashnikov.

Initially AK-47 could be called AKZ-47-according to the abbreviations of the main designers of the Kalashnikov-Zaitsev assault rifle of the 1947 model. But one of the top military officials considered that a modern and formidable weapon had been created, and the appearance of Zaitsev's name was not appropriate, after which Zaitsev and Solovyov found themselves in the "shadow" of Kalashnikov:
"An assault rifle is a formidable modern weapon. How will Zaitsev appear in its name? What does a bunny mean? This is not serious. Here is a Kalash - yes!"

Mikhail Kalashnikov did not know how to draw, yes, this is true, which is confirmed in his memoirs by Alexander Zaitsev, who was engaged in drawing work. But to be fair, many gunsmiths of that time did not know how to draw and did not have a technical education. Hugo Schmeisser also did not know how to draw and had no technical education. You can remember about John Browning, who, without a technical education, became the most famous gunsmith in the world and created more than 50 types of small arms. Already at the age of 4, before being able to read and write, he already knew the name of all parts of small arms. Among domestic gunsmiths without a technical education, Mikhail Margolin should be singled out, having no education and being absolutely BLIND from the age of 18, he was able to create a small-caliber machine gun, a rifle, a sports pistol MTs-1 / MTsM. And to create more advanced weapons based on created weapons should not be surprising, none of the gunsmiths created anything from scratch and did not invent gunpowder in a new way. If you take any weapon, then you can easily see plagiarism in it. Plagiarism in the weapons world must be understood as a complete copying of a weapon, and not its individual components, and how it is possible to create what has been created, it remains only to modernize.
There is a rumor that Mikhail Kalashnikov is just a pseudo-designer who was taken to the gunsmiths and that after AK-47 they didn't create anything. But then the question arises who created the Saiga, AK-74, AKSU, APK, PK, PKM, PP "Bizon", PKT, RPK

Conclusion

Designs of automata AK-47 and StG-44 do not have common technical solutions, and plagiarism is out of the question. If we were talking about plagiarism, then there would be 100% copying of the machine. Stealing, copying, disassembling and creating an owl at that time was the norm / necessity, and all the countries of the World were doing this, despite the norms of copyright morality .. Hugo Schmeisser could not help in creating the AK-47, since he was 1000 km from Mikhail Kalashnikov, and technical shortcomings and recommendations for the creation AK-47 Vasily Lyuty were drawn up 1 month before the arrival of Hugo Schmeisser in the USSR, that is, the TOR for the creation AK-47 already embodied in metal. At the time of creation, Mikhail Kalashnikov had practical and theoretical experience in creating small arms, and also had a technical education, which he received in Samarkand (Kazakhstan) at the Moscow Aviation Institute, where he was sent by Anatoly Blagonravov, a year later was accepted into the design bureau in Kovrov. Mikhail Kalashnikov did not single-handedly create the AK-47, its creation was influenced by the design of the Bulkin AB-46 assault rifle and the supervision of Vasily Lyuty, who gave recommendations on finalizing the AK-46 and lobbied for the design of Kalashnikov. Do not forget about the help of Alexander Zaitsev and Vasily Solovyov, who ended up in the "shadow" of Kalashnikov. The domestic design school of small arms had outstanding gunsmiths (Shpagin, Degtyarev, Bulkin, Lyuty, Tokarev, Simonov, Shpagin, Dementyev, Sudaev, ....) rich experience in creating successful models of small arms. Domestic gunsmiths did not need the help of German captured gunsmiths.
Well, a couple of questions for believers that all the same AK-47 is a plagiarism of STG-44:

• What prevented the military from sending Hugo Schmeisser to the same design bureau with Kalashnikov to help?
• If it is believed that the AK-46 is a copy of the StG-44, well, so be it, but the AK-46 was not produced, and the AK-47 has little in common with the AK-46 design.

P.S. For people who, after facts and arguments, continue to believe in Kalashnikov's plagiarism, then this is their right .... "
Shit everywhere: shit designs, shit contest, shit constructor... But how did the "candy" turn out?

On the monument Mikhail Kalashnikov, opened on September 19, 2017 in Moscow, military expert Yuri Pasholok saw an explosion diagram of the German StG 44 assault rifle, developed in 1944 Hugo Schmeisser and outwardly reminiscent of the Kalashnikov assault rifle that came out later. Sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov, the author of the monument, told the radio station "Moscow Says" that

This message coincided with the newly activated (in connection with the opening of the monument) discussion that the Kalashnikov assault rifle could allegedly be developed by Schmeisser, who lived in the USSR for a short time after the war, or “copied” from the StG 44 (the abbreviation translates as Sturmgewehr, then there is an "Assault Rifle Model 1944"). Discussions on this topic regularly begin with new force despite the fact that weapons specialists have repeatedly pointed out the fundamental differences in the design of these machine guns, emphasizing that the reason for the comparison is the distant external similarity of the weapon.

Rifle StG 44. Photo: Public Domain

What are the differences?

Shutter locking method

AK and StG 44 differ in the most important sign for the design of weapons - the method of locking the shutter. For AK, locking occurs by turning the bolt around the longitudinal axis, for StG 44 - by tilting the bolt in the vertical plane. The method of locking the shutter is a key element of the whole design, but little known ordinary people who are not versed in the structure of weapons. Thus, a lack of understanding of the significance of this difference affects the opinion about the similarity of different types of machine guns and rifles with each other.

Receiver

At the Kalashnikov assault rifle, it consists of the actual receiver with a section in the form of an inverted P with bends in the upper part along which the bolt group moves, and its cover attached to the top, which must be removed for disassembly. At StG 44, the tubular receiver has an upper part with a closed section in the form of the number 8, inside which the bolt group is mounted, and a lower one, which serves as a trigger box (USM). Differences in the design of the receiver lead to a different procedure for disassembling and assembling weapons.

Layout, disassembly order

The layout and, as a result, the order of disassembly of these machines also differ. StG 44 structurally involves the “breaking” of the weapon into two parts, one of which consists of a trigger and a butt, and the other consists of a receiver, chamber, barrel itself, forearm, gas venting mechanism, etc. This StG 44 scheme was then implemented in almost the same form in the design of the M16 rifle, various modifications of which are the main small arms US army.

In AK, the trigger mechanism (USM) is not detachable, for disassembly it is not required to disconnect the butt, but return mechanism completely housed in the receiver.

Magazine mount

The store mount is also different. The StG has a rather long receiving neck, while the AK has a magazine that is simply inserted directly into the receiver window.

Fire translator and safety device

The German and Soviet machine guns also have a fire translator and a safety device: the StG has a separate double-sided push-button type fire translator and a fuse located on the left in the form of a flag, AK has a fuse translator located on the right.

“The Kalashnikov assault rifle and the STG 44 differ from a technical point of view in many ways. These are two different systems: both in terms of weapons and ammunition. In Germany, earlier than in other countries, they invented a new type of weapon, which we call an automatic weapon. It's individual automatic weapon chambered for intermediate power.

Prototypes that underwent launch tests in 1942-1943 came across Soviet soldiers as trophies. This did not start work on the machine gun in our country, but it made it possible to speed them up. Didn't do any copying. Both have automation based on the removal of powder gases. Both can fire bursts and single shots. But this does not mean they are closely related. Kalashnikov redesigned both the cartridge and the weapon. It is enough to put two cartridges side by side, and the difference will be noticeable. It is also sufficient to incomplete disassembly two machines, and the differences will be visible.

The Kalashnikov assault rifle is much lighter than the German one. The locking system for AK is by turning the bolt on two stops, for STG 44 - by tilting the bolt.

When releasing the machine gun, the Germans tried to save as much as possible on materials, they widely used stamped metal parts, because of this it was not very convenient to hold the weapon in their hands. AK has better ergonomics. None of the German developments - neither the experimental ones, nor the STG 44 itself - were subsequently copied anywhere. There were attempts to copy these weapons in Spain and Latin America, but to no avail. And the Kalashnikov assault rifle is still being copied, ”said AiF.ru firearms specialist, historian, writer Semyon Fedoseev.