Automatic weapons of the Russian army

Although firearms and gunpowder were invented long ago, automatic weapons were developed only in the XIX century. The principle of operation is to use the force of the powder gases to recharge and carry out a new shot. The first such weapon was the machine gun, invented by Harim Maksim. The advantages of its use were quickly assessed by the top leadership of many states. In Russia, the first machine gun "Maxim" was released in 1905 at the arms factory in Tula. He had the main drawback, which consisted in his big weight (about 60 kg). In 1908, this problem was partially solved by Sokolov, who designed a wheeled machine for the product.

At the same time, in 1905, the designer gunsmith Fedorov begins work on reworking a shop rifle of production in 1891 into automatic weapons. However, this turned out to be inexpedient, and in 1906 a project of a fundamentally new weapon model was developed - an automatic rifle with a caliber of 7.62 mm. The first automatic weapons of Russia passed tough military tests in 1910-1912. And out of them with honor. 150 items for infantry weapons were ordered. By 1913 Fedorov developed a new automatic rifle and a brand new cartridge caliber of 6.5 mm. It was ordered 20 rifles, but the First World War interrupted their further production. In 1916, Fedorov invented a new automatic weapon - the machine, the principle of action, which became the basic in the production of weapons for the infantry troops of the army in virtually all states. In other countries, such as Germany, the United States and France, there have also been developments in the armament of the army, including automatic weapons, and a submachine gun designed on their basis. But the birthplace of this type of weapon is Russia.

Today, Russia's automatic weapons are quite diverse. First and foremost, this is the world famous Kalashnikov assault rifle. It is represented by the models AK-105, AK-102, AK-107-108. AK-105 is based on AK-74M. AK-102 completely repeats the previous one, but it was developed for NATO cartridges of 5.56 mm caliber. AK-107 and AK-108 - the latest models of this machine. The main difference from the previous ones is the balanced automation. They are designed for the use of standard caliber cartridges for AK and NATO.

Automatic small arms for swimmers, namely the APS automatic, has no analogues in the world. Special bullets with extended bullets are used to it, which can penetrate the protection of a wetsuit with a foam rubber insulation and 5 mm plexiglas. Shoot from the machine can be underwater or on land with short and long bursts, as well as single shots.

Two more machines are worthy of taking an honorable place in the line of best and effective weapons. This "Thunderstorm", which, in fact, is a combination of AK-74 and a grenade launcher, and "Val" (with a folding butt, a silent bullet flare, a modification close to a sniper rifle).

Small-sized automatic weapons are represented by the automatic "Vortex". He successfully creates competition for AK of various modifications and foreign analogues. Has a folding butt, the range of damage is 200 m. It is able to pierce a bulletproof vest with 2 plates of titanium 1.4 mm thick and 30-layer Kevlar, as well as a steel sheet 6 mm thick.