Rifle
A fusil (French: fusil) is a long-barreled portable firearm that fires long-range bullets. Created for offensive purposes, it is the Most used personal weapon in armies since the end of the XVII century. It was customary to fix a bayonet for hand-to-hand combat. The name "rifle" originates from the evolution of the musket to the use of flint, abandoning the match. As the length of the rifles decreases, their denomination varies, with the "carbine" being in second place. In Spain the word "carabiner" is also used for bolt-action weapons shorter than the rifle, such as the Coruña model carabiner. This meaning has become correct by use, although a carabiner is actually a single-shot weapon with a smooth barrel, such as those used, for example, in the Napoleonic wars.
Rifle Development
Flint Rifle
Also called a flintlock. Initially, the rifle was a heavy and very imprecise weapon, with a very slow reload, which became almost impossible in unfavorable environmental conditions.
The firing mechanism that existed until the first third of the XIX century was the flint key, which produced sparks when fired which, when coming into contact with the gunpowder through the ear, thus transmitted the fire to the gunpowder charge to propel the bullet inside the barrel of the gun.
Percussion rifle and other innovations
Around 1830, rifles that fire with the percussion key mechanism became widespread and rifles with rifled bores began to be used, but modifications in the composition and shape of the bullet were already common at the beginning of the century XIX.
The percussion key is a firing system that consists of a hammer-percussion hammer that strikes a copper cup (piston) fitted over the mouth of a tube (called a "chimney") that communicates with the interior of the rear part of the rifle barrel. The bait already came inside the bowl, although there were also paper tape mechanisms with encapsulated baits inside that moved over the tube. The firing-hammer explodes the primer with one blow and a flame is released from the chimney, which causes the ignition of the compressed powder charge in the barrel and the shot.
This firing system is much safer and more effective than that of the flint rifle, even in adverse weather conditions, and although it does not improve the fire rate, it offers the assurance that 90% of shot attempts will be effective. The loading of the weapon is still carried out through the muzzle, so the soldier must remain standing, exposed to enemy fire, while he loads his weapon.
First additional materials in bullets
At the beginning of the 19th century, lead bullets began to be hardened by alloying them with antimony or coating them with copper to avoid that the bullet deviates from its usual trajectory, due to the deformations caused during the shot. They are also given a cylindroconical shape to favor rotation when fired from a barrel with a rifled bore.
The scratching of the anima begins
The first mention of the use of rifling inside barrels is found in a Swiss government edict of 1563, which describes crude weapons of little use when using handgun or cannonballs of the time, because these were spherical That made the use of rifling rejected for centuries and preference was given to the use of smooth barrels.
The scoring of the bore consists of engraving a series of grooves along the internal surface of the barrel, which rotate in a certain direction, completing a 360° turn around the axis of the barrel every certain distance.
The grooves cause the bullet to rotate several times, thus keeping its trajectory stable during advance by keeping its axis parallel to the line of flight. As a consequence, the range and aim of the rifle are increased.
Rifled rifles and carbines will be known generically from this time on by the Anglo-Saxon term rifle.
First very long-range rifles
Obtaining much more powerful gunpowder and incorporating aiming elements and sights to shoot at different distances allow a good shooter to easily reach an enemy target more than 300 m away, and for the bullet to be lethal to more than 1 km.
Cartridge Rifle
The next great innovation is the appearance of the cartridge, which contains in a single element the bullet, its projection charge and the primer or primer that initiates the shot, which until then had been separated or partially wrapped in paper which was used as a block for loading. The first cartridges appear about the 1840s; They are usually wrapped in cardboard or waxed cloth and sometimes do not include the primer, which is placed in a similar way to traditional percussion weapons, tearing the cartridge from the back when inserting the cartridge and closing the weapon, as in the famous Sharps carbine., a carbine widely used in colonization to the west in the United States. The loading of the weapon is simplified and accelerated to the maximum with the use of the cartridge, although most weapons are still single shot.
Single Shot Bolt Action Rifle
In Europe, around the middle of the XIX century, the first bolt-action rifle appeared, so called because of the mechanism of extraction of the used scabbard and reloading for a new shot, a metallic cylinder with a lateral projection similar to the bolt of the old locks, which allowed the weapon to be opened through the rear part of the barrel to place the cartridge, arming at the same time the set of spring and firing pin that would hit the back of the cartridge, and then close it to fire. Cartridge weapons are thus loaded from the rear of the barrel. This allows the weapon to be loaded in any position, allowing the soldier to take cover during the process.
During the Civil War in the United States and based on various previously existing prototypes, a large number of rifles and carbines capable of firing several shots by means of manually operated mechanical procedures, generally levers, were developed. The Spencer rifle appears in this war. The new cartridges are now metallic and waterproof and are usually stored in interchangeable or fixed tubes in the body of the weapon, thus giving rise to the first tubular magazine (tube along and below the barrel), like that of the rifle Winchester lever. This rifle is emblematic of the latter part of the war and gives a great advantage to the Union cavalry: a soldier can shoot twelve times per minute in complete safety compared to the three shots that an infantryman armed with a rifle can fire. percussion. In the postwar period, the legend of the Winchester 44 will be forged.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, all the world's armies changed percussion rifles for various cartridge systems, generally single-shot and with lever or bolt systems.
Current Rifles
Bolt-action rifle with magazine
In the 1830s (Fusil Dreyse) the first bolt-action rifles appeared with an internal magazine in the form of a metal box, with a spring at the bottom and which are loaded by placing the cartridges on a metal belt, forming what is called a "comb", by opening the breech of the weapon and placing and pushing the contents of the comb into the magazine. The most famous bolt-action rifles with a fixed magazine are possibly the German Mauser 98, in caliber 7.92 mm, 7.65 mm, etc.
The bolt-action rifle with magazine was the most widely used personal weapon by infantry in the first half of the XX century until the end of World War II. Subsequently, the assault rifle replaced it in common use, but it is still used in much less quantity.
Due to its characteristics, it is used in activities that require great precision at long distances with the minimum number of bullets, such as hunting and precision shooting.
There are today rifles of current manufacture, in modern calibres, as well as in old calibres. The rate of fire is still around 10-12 rounds per minute.
The long weapons used by snipers are the bolt-action rifles described above, which only move by the action of the shooter, such as the Belgian FN-30, the German Mauser, the Italian Mannlicher-Carcano and the like. With the manual bolt, almost 100% use of gases is obtained, as in the case of the Swiss Neuhausen carbine, with 12 grooves and a conical bore barrel, which has the maximum use of gas energy: 97.83%., with which the range is increased (up to 2 km with a rise in the FN-30) and the kinetic energy, at the moment of impact, like the.600 Nitro Express, is 1800 lb for big game. With no moving parts, accuracy is remarkable at long range, as in the case of the.222 Swift and the 6.5x52 Mannlicher-Carcano used in the assassination of United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Semi-automatic rifle
The semi-automatic rifle is distinguished from other different types in that, when the trigger is pulled, it fires only a single round and is automatically chambered in its chamber > another cartridge, which will be fired when the trigger is pulled again. They are weapons that fire "shot by shot", reloading automatically with each shot, but they do not have the capacity to fire bursts; that is, they do not have a "shot selector". These weapons, including the American M1 Garand rifle, or the German Gewehr 43, were the predecessors of automatics. They are generically defined as mobile bolt weapons; for this reason the technical name of this lock is "mobile set".
In this way, and using removable magazines, which change much faster and easier than tubular magazines or the classic combs of manual bolt-action rifles, a soldier it can nearly triple the number of shots per minute compared to an opponent armed with a manual bolt action rifle, regardless of whether the magazine is fixed (mags) or removable.
There are two different types of movable bolt-action weapons:
Bolt with fixed striker. They have the firing pin fixed to the bolt or mobile assembly, so that the bolt, when folded forwards due to the effect of the recoil spring, pushes a cartridge from the charger towards the chamber of the barrel and when fully closed it strikes the cartridge. As a result of the cartridge being pushed backwards by the gases, the cartridge pushes the bolt backwards, which on its way ejects the empty case, by the action of the extractor claw and the ejector stop. Upon reaching the rear, the bolt is pushed forward again by the spring, initiating a new cycle of firing, ejecting, reloading, and firing. If the operator holds the trigger down, the cycle is continuous and continuous firing or "burst" occurs.
Bolt with independent striker. They have the striker on the bolt but it is not fixed. When fired, the bolt also moves backwards, but the thrust of the bolt is due to the effect of a gas intake that is made at the end of the barrel. In this way there is a better use of the gases and a better stability that allows a better precision, as well as parts with less mass, which produces a lighter weapon. The bolt is equally pushed backwards and forwards for the firing, ejection, reloading and firing cycle, but due to the gas intake in the barrel, a higher number of shots per minute is obtained.
Automatic weapons, which can be open or closed bolt (fixed or movable firing pin), are essentially semi-automatic weapons but with a fire selector: a part puts the bolt in a "floating" position or free movement while the operator maintains the trigger or trigger pressed, thus generating the so-called «burst».
History
One of the first semi-automatic rifles to be adopted by any Army was the Mondragón Rifle, designed by Mexican General Manuel Mondragón and adopted by the Mexican Army in 1908 under the designation Fusil Porfirio Diaz Mondragón System Model 1908. That same year, the Mexican government signed a contract with SIG for the production of 4,000 M1908 rifles chambered for the 7 x 57 Mauser cartridge. But due to the political instability of that time and the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, by 1910 only 400 rifles had been supplied out of the 4,000 ordered. Due to problems with poor quality cartridges and the high cost of production (160 Swiss francs per rifle), the contract was cancelled. The Mondragón rifle was powered by the gases from the shot, but it could function as a bolt-action rifle if the valve mounted on the gas tube was closed. He used two models of bayonet, one of the knife type and the other of the spatula type, which had one edge for cutting wire and another for cutting wood.
The American John Pedersen created a project in 1917 to develop a semi-automatic rifle, which included the use of a smaller caliber cartridge than the standard American one, the.30-06 Springfield, for better control of the weapon when fired. His project was rejected by the staffs of the US Armed Forces, who did not want the adoption of less powerful cartridges at the end of the First World War.
In the years before World War II, the first semi-automatic rifles appeared.
The US and German armies were the only ones to use the only automatic weapons of the war in large numbers since the beginning of World War II: the Thompson 11.43 mm (.45) submachine gun and the MP40 submachine gun, in addition of the M1 Garand, which would later be used in the Korean War. Since the beginning of World War II, the Soviets have manufactured and used the Tokarev SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle and, at the end of the Second World War, the Simonov SKS semi-automatic carbine, used by the countries Eastern Bloc and communist guerrillas around the world until the 1960s.
Assault Rifle
The assault rifle is currently the most common infantry weapon and is characterized by having a "select fire" mechanism that allows it to fire in "semi-automatic mode" (for better accuracy at longer range) or fire in "fire mode". automatic” (for more bullets in less time during a close combat, with the disadvantage of diminishing your aim).
Assault rifles are considered "authentic" to be those that use a less powerful cartridge than the usual ones used in World War II (that is, less than the current 7.62 x 51 NATO). Those that use more powerful cartridges are not considered "true" assault rifles due to their lack of control in automatic fire. 7.62mm caliber rifles, like the FN FAL, are considered machine guns in the US.
The effective combat range of an assault rifle is around 200m, with 100m being considered the optimal range.
For the 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge, the following distances are defined:
- Normal employment distance: 400 m. The one to which an experienced shooter has a probability of 1/3 white, and is used to initiate combat between infantry.
- Maximum efficiency: 800 m. The one to which if it is casually white, even if it is not lethal, causes injuries that cause low, and determines zones of prohibition or interdiction, through the use of gusts, to enemy movements.
- Maximum range: 3000 m. The greatest distance that the projectile can travel before stopping by itself and without reaching any target.
It must be understood that for each different caliber and projection charge, the normal working distance, the maximum effective range and the maximum range vary, being those referred to here those corresponding to the standardized 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge.
History
The first assault rifle created was the Italian Cei-Rigotti in the 1890s, which used the 6.5 x 52 Mannlicher-Carcano cartridge and worked with a gas mechanism like the current ones, but never entered military service.
Avtomat Feodorova
The first assault rifle to enter military service was the Avtomat Fyodorova (Fyodorov automatic rifle, in Russian) in 1916. It was created by Russian engineer Vladimir Fyodorov to serve during World War I and it is considered the best rifle of that war.
The Fyodorova stored 25 rounds in a removable curved magazine. Its stock was similar to that of rifles of the time, but it incorporated a pistol grip located in front of the charger to facilitate control of the rifle during automatic firing. It used the Japanese cartridge 6.5 x 50 Arisaka, due to the little recoil it produced when fired and its availability thanks to the captures made during the Russo-Japanese war, as well as the purchase of Type 38 for use in World War I.
This rifle was used in the Russian Revolution and was adopted in small numbers by the Red Army after the Revolution. However, only about 10,000 units were manufactured and it was withdrawn from service due to its unpopularity with the military, due to its fragility and lower ammunition power compared to the standard ammunition used in bolt-action rifles in the rest of Europe..
The development and application of an assault rifle took place in Germany before World War II.
StG44
The famous StG44 assault rifle was the first to share the features and accessories of today's. It had several names, but they refer to the same one.
After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles placed many arms limitations on Germany. Among them, he prohibited the provision of submachine guns to his tiny army, which forced the military officials to obtain new weapons that were outside these limitations.
During the 1920s and especially in the 1930s, smaller caliber cartridges were investigated in Germany, which would have the advantage of supplying more ammunition to each soldier.
Since 1938 the General Staff of the German Army ordered the development of a rifle with the characteristics of a submachine gun, and a contract was awarded to C. G. Haenel to develop a «machine gun carbine» (Maschinenkarabiner, in German, abbreviated MKb). The commission fell to its chief engineer, none other than Hugo Schmeisser, creator of the German MP submachine guns.
The first blitzkrieg was waged by the Germans in 1939 to conquer Poland. German military and technicians carried out subsequent investigations, which concluded on the need to improve the common infantry rifle to improve performance in this type of combat. The new rifle should be:
- Lighter.
- With automatic shots of lethal range over 50 m.
- With maximum lethal reach up to 400 m.
- With ability to shoot in semiautomatic and automatic mode from a fixed position or moving.
- And less-calibre munitions were less powerful, so automatic shots could be controlled.
In 1942 the 7.92 x 33 Kurz (short) cartridge appeared and Haenel based it on it to create his first MKbs called MKb42 H, and Walther created two other different MKbs called MKb42W. Between the Walther and Haenel prototypes there were notable differences between the firing mechanisms. The German high command verified the good performance of the MKb, but Adolf Hitler ordered the closure of the MKb project, justifying himself on logistical and productive reasons, but he ordered the production of submachine guns (MP; ) to be increased. i>Maschinenpistole, in German).
To continue the project, it was renamed MP42, to make Hitler believe that a new submachine gun would be developed. Haenel's project was the most viable and he underwent a series of modifications before manufacturing them. The new prototype was called MP43. The MP43s were first tested in combat on the Russian front near Cholm, in late 1942, with excellent results. The first order was delivered to the German Army in 1943.
After the first order was received, Hitler ordered an investigation for disobeying his orders and later called it off, surprised by reports confirming the advantages of the MP43 on the battlefield, and ordered mass production to the detriment of the submachine guns
In 1944 the German infantry adopted the MP43 as a common weapon, renamed MP44, and later by Hitler under the name StG44 (Sturmgewehr 1944, in German). Sturmgewehr means “assault rifle” in Spanish and this is where the name of this type of rifle comes from. The total number of units manufactured until its last production was about 650,000 at the end of World War II.
The accessories used by some units for the StG44 were the telescopic sight, the silencer and even an original infrared sight for night combat and even an unusual curved barrel called Krummlauf (with its respective aiming system periscopic) to shoot from around corners or inside a tank without exposing yourself. A variant of the MP43, called MP43/1, was the first to allow different types of grenade launchers to be attached.
FG42: The Germans also developed another assault rifle based on the MP42: the FG 42, which was designed to protect paratroopers during their descent and used by first time in combat in 1943, during the rescue of Mussolini in the Gran Sasso.
Assault Rifles after World War II
After World War II other models of assault rifles were made, based on the StG44: AK-47, CETME, FN FAL and M14. Of all these, the last three do not have the same advantageous characteristics of the AK-47, requiring moderate and frequent maintenance. If they get dirty with dirt or get wet, they get blocked. Also, these rifles are more expensive to make. The advantage of these western rifles is that they have greater accuracy and range. The HK G3 comes from a CETME update, consisting of replacing wooden parts (stock and fore-end) with plastic parts.
All these rifles are powerful, due to the use of the 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge, but they are more difficult to control in automatic mode than the AK-47 (7.62 x 39). That is why the English preferred to use them in semi-automatic mode.
AK-47
The AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947, in Russian) is an assault rifle created by Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1944, although he began working on the creation of this in the midst of the Soviet offensive in 1941, while he was a sergeant in a tank unit. In 1947 he perfected it to the current model, being in 1949 when the USSR bought him the inventor/creator Patent, becoming it in the Soviet Public Domain (Property of the People), adopting it as a Statutory Weapon, specifically the official rifle of the Red Army in that same year (1949).
The AK-47 is made of steel and wood, uses aluminum and plastic magazines (so it is very light in weight) and is very resistant to adverse combat situations. For example, it has been proven that it will continue to shoot even when it is rusted, dirty, crushed by a truck or submerged under water. It uses the 7.62 x 39 cartridge and its standard magazine is 30 cartridges.
There are many variants, such as the AKM, the AKS (shorter version) and the AK-74 (smaller caliber version)
It is the world's first widely used assault rifle. It is currently used by the armies of 55 countries. It is cost-effective and reliable, because it is cheap to manufacture, requires minimal maintenance, and breaks down infrequently. It has a rate of 600 shots/minute, at an average distance of 400 m, and uses two types of magazines: curved, from 30 to 90 cartridges; and drums, from 60 to 100 cartridges.
M16
The M16 is the first to use a cartridge suitable for an assault rifle, the 5.56 x 45 NATO, which despite being less powerful than those that fire the 7.62 x 51 NATO, is easier to control than these and is also more dangerous up close.
At close range, the 5.56 x 45 NATO cartridge causes internal wounds in the human body that are difficult to heal. It can penetrate helmets and bulletproof vests at greater distances (up to 200 m in NATO-type models) and due to its smaller dimensions, a combatant can carry more cartridges. A combatant with five magazines (four in the belt magazines and one in the weapon) of twenty 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridges carries the same weight and in the same space as another with five thirty-round 5.56 cartridges. x 45 NATO, which means that the latter with the same space and weight has 50% more ammunition. From 200 m it is already losing noticeably lethality and perforation capacity, although in theory a stray bullet can still be lethal at more than 1000 m. The truth is that, on average, more than 200 usually cause injuries, which is logistically more damaging to an army.
The M16 was different from other contemporary models of its time, due to its design and greater lightness; it was made of polymers, alloys, and aluminum.
The Colt company sold the first units to the Air Force in 1962, called AR-15s, and later that same year to the US Army. The Pentagon renamed the rifle the M16.
Previously, the M16 was thought to be an ineffective weapon, because in the early months of the Vietnam War, many American soldiers died as their M16 jammed in the middle of combat and fell victim to the Vietnamese.
The inefficiency was due to the fact that the soldiers did not provide adequate maintenance to their rifles, because they were led to believe that it needed the minimum, and many times none. In addition, the weather worsened its operation. It was also ineffective because it used a 5.56 x 45 NATO cartridge with a corrosive primer and gunpowder that clogged the gun. Other shortcomings included the lack of a bullet extractor and a weak magazine prone to deformation.
Rifle has been reworked and issues have been fixed. In addition, the troops were provided with appropriate cleaning equipment. The new version of the rifle would be named M16A1.
Several versions of the M16 are currently in use: The M16A2 and M4A1 (a shorter version, with a shorter barrel -15" vs. 20" standard- and telescopic stock) and the M16A3 and M16A4, among others. The "A2" It is somewhat more robust than the "A1", its barrel was designed to fire the new and more accurate 5.56 x 45 NATO (SS109) cartridge, achieving a great improvement in range. The sights have also been changed to take advantage of the range. Although the original project included a heavy barrel to further increase accuracy, it was scrapped due to issues with making the rifle compatible with the grenade launcher mount, reserving it for sniper versions. The stock is more ergonomic. The "A2" it was adopted during the 1980s by the US military. The M16A3 AND A4 are versions of the "A2" specially ready to accept accessories, such as night vision scopes and others.
Modern Assault Rifle Models
Currently the trend is to further decrease the recoil of the shot of cartridges used by automatic rifles, without losing lethality and/or too much power. It has been found that most of the combats take place at a distance of less than 200 m, so that powerful large-caliber cartridges are not very efficient for the short distances just mentioned.
NATO has allowed the substitution of 7.62 mm caliber rifles for 5.56 mm ones, with half the weight, which allows the soldier to carry twice the ammunition and fire in burst mode more accurately by having less gunpowder, it loses power in favor of the shooter. Its penetration capacity is maintained at the operating distance, although stability and precision are lost at more than 300 m.
To attack targets at more than 300 m, sniper rifles or machine guns that fire 7.62 x 51 NATO are used. Lately, the use of large-caliber rifles, such as 12.7 mm (.50 BMG), whose mission is to destroy light armored vehicles and enemy installations up to 1,000 m away with anti-armor bullets, has become widespread among snipers.
Rifles with more parts made of polymers have also become widespread, which makes them lighter, as well as assault rifles with collimators, generally 1.5x magnification, to increase the combatant's aim.