Simonov's automatic rifle: specifications and photos

АВС-36 - automatic rifle Simonov, released in 1936. Initially, the weapon was designed as a self-loading rifle, but in the course of development the designers added a mode of firing bursts. It is the first automatic rifle for the cartridge 7.62, which was adopted by the Soviet Union, and the world's first rifle of this class, adopted in principle. In the last achievement, ABC-36 was literally a few months ahead of the American M1 Garand. Today we will review the history of the production of the Simonov automatic rifle and its main technical parameters.

Development

The first prototype of the automatic rifle Simonov was introduced back in 1926. Having considered the project proposed by SG Simonov, the artillery committee decided not to allow this weapon to be tested. In 1930, at the arms contest, the designer succeeded. The main competitor of Simonov in the design of automatic rifles was F. V. Tokarev. In 1931, continuing to work on improving his rifle, Simonov significantly modernized it.

Confession

The Simonov automatic rifle was pretty well tested at the test site, as a result of which the Soviet gunsmiths decided to release a small batch of ABC for extensive military testing. Simultaneously with the release of the first batch, it was proposed to establish a technological process in order to start mass production in early 1934. The release was planned to be arranged in Izhevsk, where Simonov went personally to help organize the production process. In March 1934, the Committee of Defense of the USSR adopted a resolution on the development of capacities for the production of ABC-36 in the following year.

According to the test results of 1935-1936, the Simonov model proved much better than the Tokarev model. And this despite the fact that some samples of ABC during the tests went out of order. According to the conclusion of the supervisory commission, the cause of breakages were production defects, and not structural flaws. This was confirmed by the first prototypes of the rifle, which were able to withstand without breakage up to 27 thousand rounds.

Adoption

In 1936, the automatic rifle of Simonov was adopted by the USSR. It was the first automatic weapon of the Red Army for a rifle cartridge of 7.62 caliber. The weapons that came into service differed from the prototype by a number of design decisions.

In 1938, the ABC-36 was first shown to the public at the May Day military parade. It was armed with arrows of the First Moscow Proletarian Division. On February 26 of the same year A.I. Bykhovsky, the director of the Izhevsk plant, said that ABC (the Simonov automatic rifle) had been completely mastered and launched into mass production.

Later, when Stalin orders the design of a self-loading rifle without the possibility of firing in automatic mode, the ABC-36 will be replaced by SVT-38. The reason for this decision and the refusal of automatic shooting was the saving of cartridges.

When the ABC-36 was adopted, the volume of its release significantly increased. So, in 1934, 106 copies came off the assembly line, in 1935 - 286, in 1937 - 10280, and in 1938 - 23401. Production continued until 1940. By this time, almost 67,000 rifles were produced.

Design

The principle of the automatic rifle is based on the removal of powder gases. The model can fire both single cartridges and in automatic mode. Switching modes of shooting is made by means of a special lever located on the right side of the receiver. Single mode is basic. Shoot queues were supposed in case of insufficient number of manual machine guns in the unit. As for continuous fire, it was only allowed to soldiers in extreme cases, when there was a sudden attack of the enemy from a distance of less than 150 meters. In this case, you could consume no more than 4 stores, in order to avoid overheating and wear of key elements of the rifle.

The gas outlet, whose piston has a short stroke, is located above the barrel. The vertical block (wedge), the locking barrel, moves in the grooves of the receiver. The block displacement line deviates from the vertical approximately by 5 °, which makes it easier to unlock the shutter manually. When the block moves up, it enters the grooves of the bolt and locks it. Unlocking occurs at the time 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 block, 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 complicated in design.

Simonov's automatic rifle also had a complex shutter, inside of which were located: a drummer with a spring, some parts of the trigger mechanism and an anti-bounce device. Versions of the rifle, produced before 1936, differed in the design of the trigger mechanism, the cut-off and the abutment of the fighting spring.

Shooting modes

According to the instruction, the switch of shooting modes was blocked by a special key, access to which was only from the squad leader. In special cases, he allowed the soldiers to transfer their rifles to automatic mode. Whether the soldiers adhered to the instructions is a contentious issue. It is interesting to note that in the case of Fedorov's rifle, only the soldier who passed the corresponding exam could receive a fire translator. And during the Vietnam War, US officers removed the mechanism of an interpreter from soldiers' rifles M14, in order to avoid the possibility of firing a burst, which, like in the case of the ABC-36, is almost useless when conducting fire from the hands. Shoot in automatic mode was recommended in the prone position, with the stop, with the same applique as when shooting with a machine gun DP. Shooting with single shots, from standing or sitting position, the shooter held the rifle from the bottom behind the store with his left hand.

Rate of fire

Technical rate of the automatic rifle Simonov was about 800 rounds per minute. However, in practice, this indicator was significantly lower. A trained shooter with pre-filled stores produced up to 25 rounds per minute with single fire, up to 50 turns, and up to 80 - with continuous fire. The sight of the open type had incisions in the range from 100 to 1500 m, with a step of 100 m.

Fighting

The rifles were fired from detachable sickle-shaped stores, containing 15 cartridges. The form of the store was due to the presence of a protruding lip at the used cartridge. To equip shops it was possible both separately from the weapon, and on it, from regular clips. Samples of the rifle, produced before 1936, could also be equipped with stores for 10 and 20 cartridges.

Bayonet knife

The barrel of the Simonov automatic rifle was supplied with a massive muzzle brake and a bayonet mount. On earlier versions, the bayonet could be attached not only horizontally, but also vertically, downward with a wedge. In this form it was intended to be used as a one-legged ersatz for firing in the prone position. However, the description of the rifle, published in 1937, prohibits such use of a bayonet knife, prescribing instead to shoot in automatic lying mode with an emphasis on the roll or turf. In principle, this clarification was inexpedient, considering that since 1936 the rifle has ceased to be completed with a bayonet-bipod. Apparently, the idea of enhancing the functionality of such an ordinary object as a bayonet, attractive in theory, did not justify itself in practice. During the march the bayonet was carried in the scabbard, fixed on the fighter's belt, in the same place he remained even during the shooting.

Specifications

The automatic rifle of Simonov had such parameters:

1. The weight taking into account the bayonet with a scabbard, an optical sight and a magazine filled with cartridges - about 6 kg.
2. The weight of the rifle without bayonet, sight and store is 4,050 kg.
3. The weight of the cramped store is 0,675 kg.
4. The empty magazine weight is 0.350 kg.
5. The weight of the bayonet in the sheath is 0,550 kg.
6. The weight of the sight with the bracket is 0.725 kg.
7. The weight of the bracket is 0.145 kg.
8. The mass of the moving parts (stem, bolt and platoon coupling) is 0.5 kg.
9. The store capacity is 15 cartridges.
10. The caliber is 7.62 mm.
11. Length with bayonet - 1,520 m.
12. Length without bayonet - 1,260 m.
13. The length of the rifled part of the trunk is 0.557 m.
14. Number of rifling - 4.
15. The height of the front sight is 29.8 mm.
16. The length of the shutter stroke is 130 mm.
17. Range of shooting (sighting) - 1500 m.
18. The range of the bullet (partial) is 3000 m.
19. The speed of the bullet (initial) is 840 m / s.
20. The rate of fire (technical) is 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. In the competitive tests, taking place from late summer to early autumn of the same year, the systems of Simonov, Tokarev, Rukavishnikov and other lesser gunsmiths took part. At the end of November, the final tests took place, according to which in February 1939 the Tokarev rifle, which was named SVT-38, was adopted in 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 set up to assess the Tokarev and Simonov systems from the point of view of production and economic feasibility.

According to the conclusion of the commission, SVT was recognized as simpler and less expensive to manufacture. Nevertheless, the Defense Committee of the USSR, which is striving for the rapid rearmament of the army, did not abandon the idea of mass production of the Tokarev rifle. Thus, the automatic rifle of Simonov completed its history, the military review of which became the subject of our conversation.

Production of the Tokarev system was established in less than six months, and from October 1, 1939, gross output began. The first thing was involved in the Tula plant, which in this regard stopped the production of the Mosin rifle. In 1940, the model began to be produced at the Izhevsk Arms Factory, which was previously produced by ABC-36.

Result of operation

The ABC-36 (Simonov's automatic rifle of the 1936 model) as a whole proved to be insufficiently reliable for mass use in the troops. A complex design and a large number of complicated parts made its production too expensive in terms of time and resources. In addition, its release almost at all stages required highly qualified personnel.

The design of the rifle made it possible to assemble it without locking the block. Moreover, one could even fire from such weapons. In the case of such a shot, the receiver was destroyed, and the bolt group flew back, straight into the arrow. The original wedge locking also did not justify itself. In addition, often brought the survivability of the shock-trigger mechanism.

At the same time, the automatic Simonov rifle, the history of which we examined, was remembered as the first of its kind weapons, accepted for mass weapons and tested in combat conditions. It also became the first model of weapons in the USSR, created exclusively by 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 Simonov's trophy rifles preferred the Tokarev rifle SVT, which was considered more reliable.

Sniper version

In 1936, a small number of ABC sniper rifles were fired. Since the cartridge cases were ejected up and down, the designers decided to fix the bracket of the optical sight to the left of the axis of the barrel. The optics had an aiming net with two horizontal and one vertical thread. The diameter of the exit pupil was 7.6 mm, it moved away from the extreme eyepiece lens by 85 mm. The sight increased the number of images four times. In the rest, the sniper version did not differ from Simonov's usual automatic rifle, the photo of which many gun lovers would recognize.