Information Bureau: About the monuments to Schmeisser and Kalashnikov. German assault rifle Sturmgewehr (Stg.44) Drawing of a German rifle stg 44

STG 44(German S turm g ewehr 44 - assault rifle of 1944) - a German automatic weapon (automatic, assault rifle) chambered for the intermediate cartridge 7.92 × 33 mm Kurtz, developed at the end of World War II. Also known as MP 43 and MP 44. About 450 thousand pieces were produced. Among the machines modern type was the first to be mass-produced.

At the beginning of 1943, the name of the MKb42 (H) weapon was changed to MP 43A(German Maschinenpistole- submachine gun). This designation served as a kind of disguise, since Hitler did not want to produce weapons of a new class, fearing that millions of obsolete cartridges for rifles and light machine guns would be in military warehouses. By that time, Walter's design had been withdrawn from the competition, and Henel's design had undergone significant changes in terms of the shutter. In April 1943, a MP 43B. In the summer, the designation was changed again, to MP 43/1 and MP 43 respectively. Serial production of machines MP 43/1 began in June 1943 and continued until December 1943, when priority was given to the release of an improved MP 43. In total, about 14 thousand copies of MP 43/1 were made.

By the autumn of 1943, the design MP 43/1 was slightly modified so that it could be equipped with a standard rifle grenade launcher designed for the Kar.98k carbine. The MP 43/1 is easily distinguishable by its "straight" barrel and square front sight. During the modification, a ledge was made in the front of the barrel, the shape of the base of the front sight was changed. Version with a "stepped" barrel and became known as MP 43. In the future, the design of weapons almost did not change until the end of the Second World War.

Thanks to Speer, the upgraded MP 43 enters service with the SS Viking Panzer Division, which conducted the first full-scale military tests of the MP 43. It was found that the new carbine is an effective replacement for submachine guns and repeating rifles, which increased firepower infantry units and reduced the need for the use of light machine guns.

Hitler received many flattering reviews about the new weapon from the generals of the SS, HWaA and Speer personally, as a result of which, at the end of September 1943, an order was issued to begin mass production of the MP 43 and put it into service. In December 1943, the Ordnance Department and Henel discussed the final design of the MP 43. As a result of the discussions, a number of changes were made to the design of the product, in particular, the gas chamber was strengthened and provided with a cylindrical cap with a Grover washer at the end, which simplified the disassembly / assembly of weapons. At the same time, they abandoned the guides for fastening optical sight ZF41. By the end of February 1944, only 22,900 MP 43/1 and MP 43 submachine guns had been assembled.

On April 6, 1944, the Supreme Commander issued an order where the name MP 43 was replaced by MP 44, and in October 1944, the weapon received the fourth and final name - "Assault Rifle", Sturmgewehr - STG 44. It is believed that this word was invented by Hitler himself as a sonorous name for a new model that could be used for propaganda purposes. At the same time, no changes were made to the design of the machine itself.

Assembly plants primarily used parts from backlogs for the production of assault rifles, so the MP 44 marking is found on weapons of the 1945 release, although the designation has already been changed to STG 44. AT total produced 420,000–440,000 MP 43, MP 44 and StG 44. In addition to C.G. haenel enterprises also participated in the production of StG 44 Steyr-Daimler-Puch A.G., Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (ERMA) and Sauer & Sohn.

Due to problems with the installation of grenade launchers and optical sights, the assault rifle could not completely replace the Kar.98k. In addition, the shortage of shortened cartridges was felt throughout the war. So in the report of the high command of the ground forces of June 16, 1944, it was said that MP 44 will become the standard weapon of the infantry only if the problem with ammunition is solved.

In total, about 420,000 copies of StG 44 were manufactured before the end of the war. In the post-war period, it was used by the People's Police of the GDR, the army and police of Germany, France, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries, armed forces Czechoslovakia, and airborne troops of Yugoslavia. Contrary to common misconception, STG 44 not related to AK, nevertheless, it served as a starting point and a model for the development of the latter. The concept of an intermediate cartridge was subsequently borrowed by many countries.

In August 1945, 50 copies of the StG 44 were assembled from the parts available in the assembly shops and, together with 10,785 sheets technical documentation transferred to the Red Army to establish production in the USSR. In October 1945, Hugo Schmeisser was recruited to work in the so-called "technical commission" of the Red Army. The task of the commission was to collect information on the state of development of the latest German weapons to use these developments in the production of Soviet weapons.

Design and principle of operation

Automation STG 44- gas outlet type with the removal of powder gases through a hole in the barrel wall. The barrel bore is locked by tilting the bolt in a vertical plane. Skew occurs by the interaction of inclined planes on the gate and bolt carrier. Gas chamber - without the possibility of regulation. The plug of the gas chamber with the auxiliary rod is unscrewed with a special drift only when cleaning the machine. For throwing rifle grenades, it was necessary to use special cartridges with 1.5 g (for fragmentation) or 1.9 g (for armor-piercing-cumulative grenades) powder charge. The standard weight of gunpowder in the 7.92 × 33 mm Kurtz cartridge is 1.57 g. The gas piston with the rod is combined with the bolt stem.

Accessories

Accessory kit to StG 44 (MP 44) consisted of six stores, stuffing machines ammo stores, a belt, three barrel covers, a tool for unscrewing the gas chamber and removing the trigger guard, spare parts such as an extractor, extractor springs, etc., a case with a brush on a cord for cleaning the barrel, technical operation manuals.

grenade launchers. The weapon required the ability to fire grenades. The first models of rifles had a thread at the end of the barrel, protected by a nut, as on the MP 38 and MP 40 submachine guns. The thread was intended for mounting a flame arrester.

In July 1944, the first version of the assault rifle attachment appeared. He represented rifled barrel with several holes designed to remove gases from the channel, the curvature of the barrel was 90 degrees. Resource - 2000 shots. It is obvious that the angle of curvature of 90 degrees suited the crew of armored vehicles, but not the infantry.

On October 27, 1944, several nozzle options were demonstrated. The most suitable device for infantry was considered a nozzle with a curvature of 30 degrees. November-December 1944 various options nozzles were tested at the infantry school in Döbritz. On December 24, we decided to continue testing only 30-degree nozzles, since 45-degree nozzles failed very quickly.

It was also possible to fire rifle grenades using a curved nozzle. For firing a grenade, the ventilation holes in the crooked barrel were closed with a special cover so that the expelling cartridge provided the required gas pressure in the crooked channel. The firing range remained the same - 250 m, but the accuracy left much to be desired. Approximately 100–150 nozzles were made Vorsatz J and about 550 nozzles Vorsatz Pz.

Deckungszielgerat 45- a device designed for firing an assault rifle from full-fledged shelters. It consisted of a frame on which a machine gun was attached with two latches, an additional metal butt with a wooden pistol grip was attached to the bottom of the frame. The trigger mechanism of the handle was connected to the trigger mechanism of the machine gun. For aiming, two mirrors were used, set at an angle of 45 degrees. Similar devices were created for Kar.98k, Gewehr 41, 43, MG 34.

Telescopic sights. In the early design stages of the MKb, there was no way to determine the role of a new type of small arms on the battlefield. On the right side of all MKb42s, guides were made for mounting an optical sight. ZF41. In reality, optical sights were used on this type of weapon only during special tests that gave negative results.

In October 1943, comparative tests for shooting accuracy were carried out at the infantry school in Döbritz MP 43/1 and the G43 sniper variant. Both models were equipped with sights ZF4 magnification 4X, this sight was developed at the beginning of 1943. To install a new sight on the MP 43/1 rifle, the mount was changed, since the mount for the ZF41 sight was not suitable. Already after 30 shots fired in automatic mode, the alignment of the sight relative to the weapon was completely lost. 5 single shots failed to hit the target.

Tests revealed the poor quality of the ZF4 sights, and the MP 43/1 was completely unsuitable for sniping. However, all MP 43/1s still had rails for mounting the ZF4 optical sight, although the sights themselves were never used in combat. Latest information about using MP 44 co sniper scope ZF4s date back to September 1944.

As before, the mounts were on the right side of the weapon. Further, Reichsminister Speer ordered that efforts be concentrated on improving the K43 as a sniper weapon.

StG 44 could be equipped with a night infrared sight ZG.1229 "Vampire".

Operation and combat use

Until the summer of 1944, assault rifles were found on the fronts in very small quantities (mainly in the Waffen-SS), massively similar weapons used at the end of the war. Therefore, they did not play a significant role in containing the onslaught of the allied armies.

Video

Shooting from StG 44, handling weapons and more:

In previous posts, a holivar was unfolded on the topic of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which, as you know, is our everything, but at the same time, the authorship of its design will cause controversy.

In the heat of battle, I read several articles and disputes on the forums and came to an unpatriotic conclusion for myself that, after all, the AK-47 assault rifle was not a Soviet, creatively redesigned copy of the German Stg-44.

As a person who dismantled and assembled Kalash in 20 seconds and even fired it at targets twice, I can’t keep what I read in myself. So, the most likely story of its appearance in my opinion is as follows.

Hugo Schmeisser, a hereditary gunsmith, designed his first submachine gun (submachine gun) MP-16 back in 1916. They were made 35,000 pieces, and with them attack aircraft ran through the trenches of the First World War.

Since then, he has been designing all his life. automatic weapons.
In 1928 he made the MP-28. And also successful - it was used by the police. Then there were MP-34, MP-36.

The last one was licensed by Erm Werke, who, using the Schmeisser design, created the famous MP-38 / MP-40 (for paratroopers and tankers).

It was shown in Soviet films about the war, and we mistakenly called this machine "Schmeisser".(By the way, less than 1.5 million of them were made in 8 years, which, with a 6 million army, could not give such an effect as in our movie, that when every German walked with a machine gun on his belly.)

Meanwhile, in 1934 (or 1938?), a shortened intermediate cartridge was created in Germany. The Wehrmacht ordered an automatic carbine for this cartridge to two competitors - Schmeisser and Walter. They made the world's first assault rifles Mkb-42X (Schmeisser) and Mkb-42V (Walter).

The novelty was in this special cartridge, which was smaller than a rifle cartridge, which made it possible to shoot in bursts, but more powerful than a pistol cartridge, which increased the firing range compared to submachine guns. Second important feature- the use of a gas exhaust mechanism instead of using recoil.

Taken together, this has revolutionized small arms, now soldiers all over the world use just such devices.

As in the USSR, in Germany all decisions, up to what kind of rifles to make, were made by the Fuhrer. At first he did not like the innovation, the machine guns were made in secret and tested on the eastern front, but then the Fuhrer was convinced, and Herr Hitler deigned to personally come up with a name for the new weapon - "Sturmgewehr" (actual assault rifle).

This is how the Stg-44 assault rifle appeared. They managed to do a little, but he fought. By the way, he was not shown in any Soviet film.

The new weapon was noticed in the USSR, even at the stage of field trials, and it made a strong impression: "July 15, 1943 in Moscow on technical council People's Commissariat of Arms gathered civilian and military experts. On the table lay a captured trophy - german machine gun. An order was immediately issued: to immediately make a similar domestic "automatic-cartridge" complex ().

Already in 1943, a Soviet transitional cartridge was created, adapted to domestic equipment, but similar in ballistic properties to the German one. Simonov began to make an automatic carbine for him, designed for single shooting.

The Soviet analogue of the assault rifle was made at once by several design groups - under the leadership of the masters - Degtrev, Simonov, as well as Sudayev, Bulkin and others. And also, allegedly under the leadership of a 27-year-old sergeant with an incomplete secondary education, who by this time had no more than 2 years of experience in the arms industry - Mikhail Kalashnikov.

In 1945, the city of Suhl, where Schmeisser's firm was located, was occupied by the Americans. They take out a couple of designers from the Schmeisser firm, who later helped the Americans create the M-16.

Two weeks later, the city passes to the Red Army. She receives all the design (and, for sure, technological) documentation, 50 samples of Stg-44 are specially produced.

Schmeisser is given the task of designing a new rifle, which he begins to do. Otherwise - execution, because out of selfish motives he once joined the Nazi party.

The opposite side argued their point of view on Wikipedia.

P.P.S. In any case, the rights to AK-series assault rifles remain with Russia.

According to the results of military tests of automatic carbines of firms and carried out in late 1942 - early 1943 on the Soviet-German front, it was decided to develop the Haenel design, created under the leadership of Hugo Schmeisser. Significant changes were made to the original design of the MKb.42 (H) assault rifle, primarily related to the USM device and the gas exhaust mechanism. Due to Hitler's reluctance to start production of a new class of weapons, the development was carried out under the designation MP 43 (Machinen Pistole - submachine gun).

The first MP 43 samples were successfully tested in 1943 on the Eastern Front against Soviet troops, and in 1944, more or less mass production of a new type of weapon begins, however, under the new name MP 44. After the results of successful front-line tests were presented to Hitler and approved by him, the nomenclature of the weapon was changed again, and the model received the final designation StG.44 (Sturm Gewehr-44, assault rifle). The name Sturm Gewehr carried a purely propaganda meaning, however, as it sometimes happens, it firmly stuck not only to this sample, but to the entire class of manual automatic weapons chambered for an intermediate cartridge.

In general, the MP 44 was a fairly successful model, providing effective single-shot fire at a range of up to 600 meters and automatic fire at a range of up to 300 meters. He was the first mass model of a new class of weapons - assault rifles, and had an undoubted influence on all subsequent developments, including, of course, the Kalashnikov assault rifle. However, it is impossible to talk about Kalashnikov's direct borrowing from the Schmeiser design - as follows from the above, the AK and MP 44 designs contain too many fundamentally different solutions (the receiver layout, trigger device, barrel locking device, etc.). The disadvantages of the MP 44 include an excessively large mass of weapons, too high sights, because of which the shooter had to raise his head too high when shooting prone, and shortened magazines for 15 and 20 rounds were even developed for the MP 44. In addition, the butt mount was not strong enough and could collapse when using weapons in hand-to-hand combat.

In total, about 500,000 copies of the MP 44 / StG.44 were produced, and with the end of the Second World War, its production ended, but it was in service with the GDR police until the mid-1950s. Airborne Troops and a number of police forces in Yugoslavia used these assault rifles until the early 1980s (officially withdrawn from service in 1983, replaced by locally produced copies of the M64A and M70AV2 AKM) under the designation "Automat, padobranski, 7.9 mm M44, nemacki". Cartridges of caliber 7.92x33 mm were produced in Yugoslavia until the 1970s.

The MP 44 was an automatic weapon built on the basis of a gas engine with a long stroke of the gas piston. The barrel was locked by tilting the bolt down, behind the receiver insert.
The receiver is stamped from a steel sheet, also the stamped body of the trigger trigger mechanism (USM), together with the pistol grip, is pivotally attached to receiver and leans down and forward when disassembling the weapon. The butt is wooden, during disassembly it was removed after removing the spring-loaded transverse pin.

The power of the machine is from detachable box-shaped steel magazines with a capacity of 30 rounds. The magazine latch is push-button, located on the side surface of the neck of the magazine receiver (a similar design was later used in the American M16 rifle).
The sight is sectorial, the fuse and the translator of fire modes are independent, the translator is in the form of a transverse button above the pistol grip, the fuse is in the form of a lever on the left side of the USM body, above the trigger guard. The bolt handle is located on the left and moves along with the bolt carrier when firing. On the muzzle of the barrel there is a thread for mounting a rifle grenade launcher, usually closed with a protective sleeve.

The MP 44 could be equipped with an active IR-sight "Vampire" as well as a special krummlauf Vorsatz J, which was put on the barrel of a weapon and intended for firing by the crew from inside the tanks through hatches at the enemy in the dead zone near the tank. This device was an arcuately curved "extension" of the barrel, which had a outside curved barrel a series of holes designed to release powder gases to avoid rupture of the barrel with increased friction of the bullet. Because of this starting speed a bullet deflected 30 degrees down from the axis of the weapon decreased to about 300 m / s, which was quite enough, since this weapon was intended for the most close combat - shelling infantry within a radius of 30-40 meters from the tank. To aim the weapon, a special mirror system was used, put on a curved nozzle. In total, about 10,000 Krummlauf Vorsatz J kits were produced. In addition, Krummlauf Vorsatz P and Krummlauf Vorsatz V kits were developed, but not mass-produced, which provided a bullet trajectory deflection down by 90 and 40 degrees, respectively.

German machine gun, created during the Second World War. About 450 thousand pieces were produced. Among the modern type of automata, it became the first development that was mass-produced.

At the beginning of 1943, the name of the weapon MKb42 (H) aufschiebend was changed to Maschinenpistole - MP 43A. By that time, Walter's design had been withdrawn from the competition, and Henel's design had undergone quite significant changes in terms of the shutter. In April 1943 the MP 43B was created. In the summer of 1943, the designation was changed again, to MP 43/1 and MP 43/2, respectively. Serial production of MP 43/1 assault rifles began in June 1943 and continued until December 1943, when priority was given to the production of an improved MP 43. In total, about 14 thousand copies of MP 43/1 were produced.

By the fall of 1943, the MP 43/1 had been redesigned to allow it to be equipped with a standard rifle grenade launcher designed for the Kar.98k carbine. The MP 43/1 is easily distinguishable by its "straight" barrel and square front sight. During the modification, a ledge was made in the front of the barrel, the shape of the base of the front sight was changed. The version with a "stepped" barrel became known as the MP 43. In the future, the design of the weapon remained almost unchanged until the end of World War II.

Thanks to Speer, the modernized machine gun was put into service in the fall of 1943 under the name MP 43 (German Maschinenpistole 43 - submachine gun 43). This designation served as a kind of disguise, since Hitler did not want to produce weapons of a new class, fearing that millions of obsolete cartridges for rifles and light machine guns would be in military warehouses.

In September for Eastern Front 5th tank division SS Viking conducted the first full-scale military tests of the MP 43. It was found that the new carbine is an effective replacement for submachine guns and repeating rifles, which increased the firepower of infantry units and reduced the need for the use of light machine guns.

Hitler received a lot of flattering reviews about the new weapon from the SS command, HWaA and Speer personally, as a result of which, at the end of September 1943, an order was issued to start mass production of the MP 43 and put it into service. In December 1943, the Ordnance Department and Henel discussed the final design of the MP 43. As a result of disputes, a number of changes were made to the design of the product, in particular, they strengthened the gas chamber and provided it with a cylindrical cap with a Grover washer at the end, which simplified the disassembly / assembly of weapons . At the same time, they abandoned the guides for mounting the ZF41 optical sight. By the end of February 1944, only 22,900 MP 43/1 and MP 43 submachine guns had been made.

On April 6, 1944, the Supreme Commander issued an order where the name MP 43 was replaced with MP 44, and in October 1944 the weapon received the fourth and final name - “assault rifle”, sturmgewehr - StG 44. It is believed that this word was invented by Hitler himself as sonorous name for the latest sample, which could be exploited for the purpose of propaganda. At the same time, no changes were made to the design of the machine itself.

Assembly plants primarily used backlog parts for the production of assault rifles, so the MP 44 marking is found on weapons manufactured in 1945, although the designation has already been changed to StG 44. A total of 420000-440000 MP 43, MP 44 and StG 44 were produced .Besides C.G. Haenel also took part in the production of the StG 44 from Steyr-Daimler-Puch A.G. (English), Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (ERMA) (English) and Sauer & Sohn. StG 44 entered service with selected units of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS, and after the war were in service with the barracks police of the GDR (1948-1956) and Airborne Army Yugoslavia (1945-1950). The release of copies of this machine was launched in Argentina by FMAP-DM under the designation CAM 1, in addition, CITEFA based on the StG44 created several prototypes of the machine. Also in 1950-1965, StG 44s delivered from Czechoslovakia were in service Syrian army. In 2012, at least several thousand machine guns, once taken out of service by regular troops, ended up in the hands of the Syrian opposition, which is very actively exploiting them.

Due to problems with the installation of grenade launchers and optical sights, the assault rifle could not completely replace the Kar.98k. In addition, the shortage of shortened cartridges was felt throughout the war. So in the report of the high command ground forces dated June 16, 1944, it was stated that the MP 44 would become the standard infantry weapon only if the ammunition problem was solved. Until the summer of 1944, assault rifles were found on the fronts in very small quantities (mainly in the Waffen-SS), massively such weapons were exploited at the final stage of the war. Therefore, these machine guns did not play a significant role in containing the onslaught of the allied armies.

Design

Automation StG 44 - vented type with the removal of powder gases through a hole in the barrel wall. The barrel bore is locked by tilting the bolt in a vertical plane. Warping is carried out by the interaction of inclined planes on the gate and the bolt carrier. Gas chamber - without the possibility of regulation. The plug of the gas chamber with the auxiliary rod is unscrewed with a special drift only when cleaning the machine. For throwing rifle grenades, it was necessary to use special. cartridges with 1.5 g (for fragmentation) or 1.9 g (for armor-piercing-cumulative grenades) powder charge. The standard weight of gunpowder in the 7.92x33 Kurz cartridge is 1.57 g. The gas piston with the rod is connected to the bolt stem.

The trigger mechanism is of the trigger type. The trigger mechanism allows single and automatic fire. The fire translator is located in the trigger box, and its ends go out on the left and right sides in the form of a button with a corrugated surface. To conduct automatic fire, the translator must be moved from left to right to the letter "D", and for a single fire - from right to left to the letter "E". The machine is equipped with a fuse random shots. This flag-type safety is located below the fire translator and, in the “F” position, blocks the trigger lever. The recoil spring is housed inside the buttstock, thus eliminating the possibility of simply creating a variant with a folding stock.

The machine gun is fed with ammunition from a detachable sector two-row magazine with a capacity of 30 rounds. Typically, magazines for 30 rounds were equipped with 25 rounds due to the weakness of the springs, which do not always ensure the normal supply of rounds when fully loaded shop. In March 1945, a magazine with a capacity of 25 rounds was included in the list of accessories for the MP 44, but it is unlikely that such magazines were made in mass quantities. In the same March 1945, a stopper for a 30-round magazine was created at the infantry school in Döbritz, limiting its filling to 25 rounds.

The sector rifle sight allows aimed fire at a distance of up to 800 m. The divisions of the sight are marked on the aiming bar. Each division of the sight corresponds to a change in range by 50 m. The slot and front sight are triangular in shape. The rifle could also be equipped with optical and infrared sights. When firing bursts at a target with a diameter of 11.5 cm at a distance of 100 m, more than half of the hits fit into a circle with a diameter of 5.4 cm. Due to the use of less powerful ammunition, the recoil force when fired was half that of the Mauser 98k rifle. One of the main disadvantages of the StG 44 was its relatively large mass - 5.2 kg for a machine gun with ammunition, which is a kilogram more than the mass of the Mauser 98k with cartridges and a bayonet. Also unflattering reviews deserved an inconvenient sight and a flame that unmasks the shooter, escaping from the barrel when firing.

There were samples of MKb42 (H) both with and without a bayonet mount. All MKb42 and most of MP 43/1 were equipped with guides designed to mount an optical sight. Starting with the MP 43/1, bayonet mounts were abandoned. The MP 43/1 differed from the MKb42(H) mainly in the design of the bolt, a shortened gas vent, a modified front sight, a pistol grip with a fuse on the left side above the firing mode selector switch. The last two differences are also characteristic of MKb42(H) aufschie?end.

During serial production, the flame arrester was abandoned, but its attachment assembly was retained in case of mounting a silencer. In 1944, the sight was simplified. Some samples produced in 1945 did not have stiffeners on the body above the magazine.

Post-war development

In total, about 420,000 copies of StG 44 were made before the end of the war. In the post-war period, it was operated by the People's Police of the GDR, the army and police of Germany, France, Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, the armed forces of Czechoslovakia, and Airborne Forces of Yugoslavia. Contrary to common misconception, StG 44 is not related to AK, nevertheless it served as a starting point and model for the creation of the latter. The concept of an intermediate ammunition was subsequently borrowed by many countries.

At the end of the summer of 1945, 50 copies of the StG 44 were made from the parts available in the assembly shops and, together with 10,785 sheets of technical documentation, were given to the Red Army for production in the USSR. In October 1945, Hugo Schmeisser was recruited to work in the so-called "technical commission" of the Red Army. The task of the commission was to collect information on the state of development of the latest German weapons in order to apply these developments in the production of Soviet weapons.

performance characteristics

Weight, kg: 5.2
- Length, mm: 940
- Barrel length, mm: 419
- Cartridge: 7.92x33 mm
- Caliber, mm: 7.92
-Principles of operation: removal of powder gases, locking by tilting the shutter
- Rate of fire, shots / min: 500-600
- Muzzle velocity, m/s: 685 (bullet weight 8.1 g)
-Sighting range, m: 600
-Maximum range, m: effective: 300 (bursts) 600 (single)
- Type of ammunition: sector magazine for 30 rounds
-Sight: sector

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 of technical documentation about the Stg-44 were sent to the factory. 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 parsing these automatic rifles absolutely 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 modified, each time turning into an increasingly formidable weapon.