Brief history of the development of firearms. The emergence of firearms

One of the great discoveries in the history of technology is the invention firearms. Its history goes back to the distant past. This invention was not attributed to anyone. Some have suggested that the first person to become acquainted with weapons was Alexander the Great during the conquest of India. Who owned the discovery of firearms remained for a long time a mystery shrouded in darkness. And only some time later, after studying a large number of documents, it became obvious that the palm belongs to China.

Gunpowder was originally invented, not weapons. This happened relatively recently, in the 6th century AD. The composition of gunpowder included substances such as a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter. There is an opinion that gunpowder was first used as a remedy. The name of the one who was the first to blow it up is still unknown. However, a mixture consisting of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter, placed in a confined space, burned very quickly. Oxygen is not needed for combustion, because it is formed itself during the interaction of all components. At the same time there arose large number powder gases.

However, gunpowder was not immediately used for throwing cannonballs. For several centuries it was used as a propellant for incendiary rockets. Only in the 12th century was the “spear of mad fire” created. Such a weapon was a tube made of bamboo, one end of which was clogged, and inside this tube there was gunpowder and a certain amount of stones. The gunpowder was ignited, as a result of which the powder gases threw out the pebbles with enormous force. This is how the firearm first appeared. There was no further improvement of this gun in China due to the outbreak of war.

News of the new substance reached the Byzantines and Arabs through traders and tourists in the 7th century. At the same time, the Byzantine Empire had its own “ secret weapon" For the first time, Russian combatants encountered such weapons in 943 during the siege of the city of Constantinople. Long, long tongues of fire were released from the Byzantine ships, which ignited the Russian ships. The fire element devoured not only wood, but also metal. Such a flame burned even in water. The crusaders also encountered the same weapons during their campaign to the East. European historians described the effects of the flames with horror. These testimonies gave reason to think that it was the crusaders who saw the first firearms, but in fact this is not the case.

The Byzantines very quickly created a substance that could easily be set on fire. The composition of this mixture was significantly different from gunpowder and included mainly oil. It was an ideal incendiary substance, but it was only suitable for flamethrowers. Such weapons were called “Greek fire”. It is believed that “Greek fire” was invented by a certain Greek Callinicus in the 7th century AD.

For several centuries, “Greek fire” was the secret of the Byzantine monarchs. Revealing the secret composition of such weapons was punishable by death. But, as you know, everything secret sooner or later becomes clear. In the 10th – 11th centuries, the Arabs managed to find out the composition of “Greek fire”, after which they began to actively use it for their own purposes. This mixture was used in various incendiary bombs, and this terrible weapon had a very poetic name - “ sun rays”, “moonlight”, “iron thunder”.

“Greek fire” could not be used to fire “shells,” so the Arabs began to use Chinese gunpowder. At the beginning of the 14th century, an unknown “madfa” was mentioned among incendiary substances in an Arabic treatise. It was a long pipe that was tightly plugged at one end. This pipe was placed at the hermetically sealed end into the ground, and the open end was placed on a support. Stones and gunpowder were poured into the pipe and set on fire.

News of the “Greek fire” reached European continent together with the crusaders who were returning from unsuccessful campaigns. Horrible Stories witnesses, the smell of sulfur, which began to be released when the gunpowder burned, revealed the obvious presence of the “evil one,” as the church spoke of him. The study of gunpowder was strictly prohibited. However, there were still brave souls. There is a legend about the monk Berthold Schwartz, who died in an explosion of a powder mixture. In 1853, a memorial was erected to him in the city of Freiburg.

In fact, the composition of gunpowder was discovered by Oxford University scientist Roger Bacon. At the beginning of the 14th century, the composition of gunpowder was no secret to Europeans, and then the creation of a reliable device for its use began. Who created firearms and in what year is still unknown. This probably happened in several places at the same time. The first firearm was a vase-shaped bronze vessel with a thin neck (no more than 36 cm). Apparently, they fired arrows from such a weapon. Such shooting was depicted in an English miniature in 1327, where of this weapon a huge arrow sticks out.

Particularly early documentation of the use of firearms dates back to the 1330s, and comes from southern Germany. Apparently it was here that the most optimal forms for creating firearm barrels were found. The vase-shaped vessels were replaced by long, very long pipes that were stacked in wooden blocks. Thus, in the middle of the 14th century, the first modern guns were created.

Around the beginning of 1374, the knights of the Teutonic Order began to acquire firearms. A little later, by 1378, similar firearms appeared in Hungary, Lithuania and Bohemia. Even in China, firearms began to be actively used only in 1366, although the first mention of the simplest devices (a bamboo “fire spear”) dates back to 1132. By the second half of the 14th century, firearms also appeared in Rus': we can say that we were one of the first to understand the full value of these weapons.

Appearance in Rus'

In one of the chronicles of 1376, a case was noted of the use by the Volga Bulgars of a strange device, according to the description, very similar to the Western culverin. By 1382, a large number of cannons and “mattresses” guarded the walls of Moscow: most likely, the weapons were purchased somewhere in the west for protection against the Golden Horde.

Spreading

We can say that Rus' became one of the first powers of that time where firearms were used en masse. In 1400, the arsenals of large and important cities (Novgorod, Pskov, Tula, Moscow) contained a sufficient number of firearms to repel the enemy. Russian craftsmen also got down to business and began producing their own matchlocks.

Powerful force

By the middle of the 15th century, Rus' understood the importance of firearms. Guns made it possible to take hitherto impregnable fortresses. The walls of the Kremlin were no longer a serious obstacle to iron cores. It was effective to use large guns in the open field. The Tatars also remembered the standing on the Ugra River for the active use of Russian cannons.

Western masters

Prominent Western gunsmiths flocked to Rus' because they understood the benefits of opening a business. In 1476, the Italian master Aristotle Fioroventi founded an entire workshop in Moscow where cannons and culverins were cast. Until 1515, more and more masters from Germany, Scotland and Italy arrived in Rus'.

Gun carriage

The gun carriage became an excellent illustration of the proverb “everything ingenious is simple.” A gun mounted on wheels turned into a very mobile and very formidable weapon mass destruction. By 1501, Moscow already had an entire regiment of field artillery at its disposal.

Gunpowder and cannonballs

Buying gunpowder and cannonballs abroad was too expensive. Therefore, already in 1494, Rus' began its own production of cast iron cannonballs and granular gunpowder. The latter was more effective than the ubiquitous gunpowder dust.

City defense

Since about 1382, cannons have been constantly mentioned in chronicles as the first means of defending cities.

Motherland small arms, definitely the East. It is believed that gunpowder was invented in China, probably in the 15th century. BC, that is, approximately 3.5 thousand years ago. According to some researchers, the birthplace of gunpowder is India. One way or another, the troops of Alexander the Great, who easily passed through all of Asia, during the siege of Indian fortresses encountered “thunder and lightning” thrown from the walls by the enemy. Even the most persistent warriors could not overcome the unexpected resistance. True, such “thunder and lightning” should not be considered small arms: rather, these are the powder ancestors of modern grenades and shells.

The first examples of firearms also appeared in the East. In 690, during the siege of Mecca, the Arabs used one of oldest species small arms - modfu. This semblance of a hand mortar consisted of a short forged barrel mounted on a shaft. The modfa had to be fired from a support. A few centuries later, firearms also appeared among Europeans in the form of the so-called petrinal - an exact copy of the Arab modfa. Obviously, the crusades, which rolled in waves from Europe to Palestine from 1096 to 1271, greatly contributed to the exchange of military experience and weapons with the East. And already in 1259, the Spanish city of Marbella defended itself from the Arabs with the help of firearms. At the Battle of the Heresy in 1346, field artillery was used for the first time in the history of European warfare. True, the fact that the British had only three cannons did little to contribute to the victory - with their roar they frightened the horses under the French knights more. But a start had been made.

In 1372, the first semblance of a modern gun appeared in Germany - a matchlock arquebus. The matchlock was a primitive lever that, after pressing the trigger, lowered the smoldering wick onto the ignition shelf. An ignition charge was located on it, which served to ignite the main powder charge.

In France, such a weapon was called a culverina; the Slavs had another term - a arquebus. In 1381, citizens of Augsburg sent a detachment of 30 people armed with arquebuses to defend the city from the troops of the German nobility. This is tiny in number

Strength played a significant role in the battle, in which the inhabitants of Augsburg won. TO Eastern Slavs firearms came through Lithuania. It is known that one of the most prominent figures of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke Gedemin, killed in 1328 by a “fiery arrow,” that is, a bullet. Another Grand Duke, Vytautas, used handguns and cannons in the Battle of the Vorskla River against the Mongol troops of Tamerlane in 1399. Shots were also heard in 1410 over the fields of Grunwald during one of the greatest battles The Middle Ages, in which the united Slavic army and the Teutonic Order came together. In the 1470s. arquebuses received a curved crossbow stock, which made handling the weapon more convenient and had a positive effect on shooting accuracy. Around the same time, the wheel lock was invented - more reliable and safer than the wick lock. When the trigger was pressed, a jagged wheel spun, against which a stone (usually sulfur pyrite) rubbed, thereby striking sparks that ignited the gunpowder on the seed shelf. Leonardo da Vinci should probably be considered the inventor of such a mechanism: his wheel lock is depicted in a manuscript dated around 1500.

After the advent of the wheel mechanism, the culverin was rapidly replaced by the lighter and more convenient musket. He became the distant ancestor of the modern rifle.

A century later, in 1610, a flintlock appeared. It is simpler and more reliable than the wheel mechanism: before the shot, the trigger, in which a piece of flint was fixed, was pulled back and locked. After pressing the trigger, the trigger was released from the stopper and hit the arm, striking sparks. This simple and effective technology began to be used in the manufacture of European weapons, finally replacing matchlocks and wheel locks.

The flintlock has been the mainstay of firearms for nearly 250 years. It was replaced by a lock with a capsule, the appearance of which would have been impossible without the invention of shock compounds - chemical solids, which instantly exploded upon impact. The first of these compounds, mercury fulminate, was invented in 1774 by Dr. Boyen, chief physician to the French king.

In 1807, the Scottish priest John Forsythe patented a weapon based on the following action: before each shot, a soldier placed a ball with a percussion compound, called a capsule, on a special shelf. After pressing the trigger, the cocked hammer hit the primer, resulting in a shot.

The percussion gun, or, as it came to be called, the needle gun, was much faster-firing than the flintlock gun: when loading, the step of pouring a portion of ignition powder behind the seed shelf was eliminated. Just half a century after John Forsaith's patent, the armies of the world's leading countries were rearming with needle guns. However, the primer was not at the heart of firearm design for long.

The next stage in the improvement of rifles was the invention of magazines, which became possible only after the advent of a unitary cartridge in a metal sleeve. Magazine rifles were equipped with a new device - a manual bolt, which once and for all replaced all types of locks. When the bolt moved backwards and rotated around its axis, it disengaged from the breech of the barrel, and at the same time the sleeve was removed. When the shutter returned to its previous position reverse movement(forward with rotation), the next cartridge was removed from the magazine and fed into the chamber. The shotgun or rifle was ready for the next shot. If in the era of locks of all types, to load a gun it was necessary to clean the bore with a ramrod, pour gunpowder into the barrel, sequentially tamp the wad and bullet, and then pour gunpowder behind the seed shelf and cock the trigger, now the rifle was loaded with one turn of the manual bolt, which takes the next one out of the magazine cartridge. When the cartridges ran out, it was necessary to insert new store for 10 or even 20 rounds. In general, the rate of fire of the infantry has increased significantly. It was with such weapons that the armies of leading countries entered the First World War.

Two world wars became a turning point in the history of all mankind and military affairs in particular. If before the First World War the armies of the world had fairly reliable magazine-loading rifles, and automatic weapons were represented in single copies, then at the end of the Second World War, machine guns, automatic and self-loading rifles, and submachine guns were produced in millions of batches. Precisely the Second world war determined current state weapons market: most classes modern weapons either originated during that period, or was recognized and received maximum distribution.

A soldier of any modern army has a whole arsenal of means of destroying the enemy. These range from compact pistols that can be carried in a holster under your arm, on a belt, on your hip or ankle, to high-velocity submachine guns that are suitable for single-handedly fighting off an enemy squad.

A modern pistol is an individual small weapon, almost always semi-automatic (self-loading), magazine-fed. Reloading and preparation for the next shot (extracting the spent cartridge case and feeding a new magazine into the chamber) are carried out by automatic mechanisms, which most often use recoil energy. When shooting, the owner of the pistol can only press the trigger consistently.

A similar mechanism is used by another class of small arms - revolvers. However, they do not have automation at all: the cartridge enters the chamber due to the rotation of a mechanical part - the drum when cocking the hammer. A revolver reloads much slower than a pistol. The drum capacity is usually less than the pistol magazine capacity. In addition, the drum protrudes beyond the dimensions of the weapon, so it is not so easy to handle. Officers, sergeants and some categories of privates (snipers, machine gunners, transport drivers, etc.) of infantry units of all armies of the world are armed with pistols. At the same time, only a rare military man can find a revolver - it is considered a civilian and police weapon.

Like pistols, submachine guns are being supplied to soldiers of special and auxiliary units: crew members of combat vehicles, crews of group weapons (machine guns, mortars, etc.), signalmen, sappers, radar station operators, etc. In addition, they are standard weapons of law enforcement and counter-terrorism forces in most countries of the world. A submachine gun is an individual, fully automatic weapon that fires a pistol cartridge. Due to the relatively low-power cartridges, it usually has quite simple automation that uses recoil energy. This, in turn, determined the simplicity of the device, as well as the small size and weight of the weapon. The comparative low power of the cartridges does not allow the submachine gun to become a full-fledged army weapon.

Machine guns and assault rifles are the most common type of individual weapons among infantry personnel in all armies of the world. Many of modern machine guns and rifles were either developed in the 1950-1970s, or are updated modifications of models of those years. Most modern machine guns and rifles use small-caliber (5.56 mm or 5.45 mm) cartridges. Shots are fired in either single or full automatic shooting, ammunition supply is store-bought.

A modern sniper rifle is a repeating weapon, most often with a manual bolt. Its ancestor was the repeating rifles of the First and Second World Wars. However, there are also semi-automatic models created on the basis of machine guns and assault rifles. The main thing in a sniper rifle is accuracy, which is ensured by a well-thought-out design, the use of modern technologies in production, the presence of advanced optics and the use of special high-precision ammunition.

The infantry also has group weapons in its arsenal; to use them, you need a crew consisting of at least two people. We are talking about machine guns - the basis of infantry firepower. The first machine guns were rare, and only a few were used in armies. Now each infantry squad (8-12 people) of the armies of leading countries is armed with at least one light (light) machine gun. For each platoon (16-24 people), in addition to two light machine guns, there is also one heavy (easel) machine gun.

Most modern light machine guns are based on assault rifles or machine guns and use the same ammunition. This makes it easier, on the one hand, to train machine gunners to use and care for weapons, and on the other, to provide ammunition. The cartridges are fed from a high-capacity box magazine or from a metal strip. However, magazines for standard rifles and machine guns are also suitable for light machine guns. A light machine gun can be operated by one soldier, but a second person is often added to the crew, carrying additional ammunition.

Unlike a light machine gun, a heavy machine gun has exclusively belt ammunition. For shooting, 7.62 mm caliber cartridges are used, which are more powerful than those of rifles and light machine guns. Such a machine gun can be fired either from a bipod or from a specially designed machine. The calculation includes two to four people. The design of the machine ensures high stability of the weapon during shooting, and also allows you to quickly transfer shooting from one target to another. These machine guns are often used as auxiliary weapons in armored vehicles ranging from infantry fighting vehicles to tanks.

There are truly terrifying examples among small arms. This heavy machine guns and rifles capable of hitting light vehicles and even shooting down helicopters. Indeed, such types of weapons arose during the First World War precisely as means of destroying tanks and aircraft. However, planes began to rise higher and higher, and tanks began to acquire ever thicker armor, so large-caliber rifles and machine guns found other uses.

Modern heavy machine guns are very effective group infantry support weapons. The increased caliber allows you to effectively hit not only enemy personnel hidden behind the walls of city blocks, but even light armored vehicles. The same trump card - increased caliber - is used by modern large caliber rifle. Equipped with the most powerful and accurate optics in history, it allows you to hit individual targets at ranges inaccessible to snipers with conventional caliber rifles.

The group support weapon class includes many types of small arms. The purpose of this book is not to examine them in detail, so we will limit ourselves to a simple listing: automatic mounted grenade launchers (AGS), hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers (RPGs), anti-tank missile systems (ATGM) and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).

Without a doubt, such a wide variety of types of firearms modern world due to significantly changed production technologies. The first samples of small arms were hollowed out of wood and fastened with iron hoops. Naturally, the survivability is so simple remedy weapons were only a few shots. Then the guns began to be cast from bronze and cast iron - materials that were very primitive by modern standards and did not provide sufficient strength. To prevent the barrel from cracking during the first shots, it had to be made very thick-walled. This, in turn, excluded the creation of light hand weapons.

The situation improved when harder and lighter iron was used to smelt and forge firearms. Weapons production technologies made it possible by the era of the Napoleonic wars to provide 100,000-strong armies with fairly compact, light, reliable and durable weapons.

The next step in the development of weapons production technologies was the use of steel. The prototype of modern stainless steel, Damascus or damask steel, was used more than 3 thousand years ago. In the 9th century. BC e. in India, an ancient monument was forged from a whole piece of iron - the Qutub column, more than 7 m high. The chemical analysis carried out later by Europeans amazed everyone: it was stainless steel, based on several layers of different compositions. In the Middle Ages, Indian and Persian damask steel was the best material for the production of barrels. European steelmakers were able to rediscover the secret of its production only in the 19th century: the smelting of barrel iron with sufficient viscosity and strength at a comparative cheapness began. Stainless steel, with a composition more or less equivalent to that of today, was produced just before the First World War.

Modern metallurgy supplies gunsmiths with steel-based alloys with unsurpassed properties. They can withstand temperature changes of hundreds of degrees, providing the strength only slightly inferior to that of diamond, yet the lightness of aluminum. In addition, 20th century products are widely used in the design of modern weapons. - composite materials created on the basis of plastics with the addition of various materials such as aluminum, rubber, etc. A typical example of composite materials is bulletproof Kevlar, used, for example, in the construction of stocks for sniper rifles. Weapons made from modern materials using modern technologies can be used in any climate with maximum intensity and exceptional efficiency.

On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt patented his revolver design. This pistol became one of the most famous repeating revolvers, it radically changed gun combat during civil war. Colt's design turned out to be just the beginning of firearm innovation.

Here is the story of how such weapons evolved from primitive tools to ultra-precise instruments that bring death.

Chinese squeaks

The simplest type of firearm appeared in twelfth-century China and was a arquebus loaded with gunpowder and a pike that warriors carried with them.

Primitive gun

Gunpowder came to Europe along the Silk Road, and since then people began experimenting with simple guns. They were in use in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Matchlock shotgun

During the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe and Asia, firearms technology advanced greatly. Guns appeared in which gunpowder was ignited using complex system, called a matchlock.

Flintlock gun

The wick lock was soon replaced by a flintlock. Pistols and rifles, known to everyone today, appeared, which will soon become the most common weapons in the army.

Musket

Muzzle smoothbore weapon, called a musket, was the most common flintlock rifle, often carrying a bayonet.

Whitworth rifle

During the American Civil War, both sides made extensive use of the first sniper rifle- Whitworth rifle, it could hit very distant targets from its rifled barrel.

Breech-loading shotgun

Rear-loading weapons became very common in the 19th century. Almost all shotguns and rifles were like this.

Springfield rifle

The Springfield rifle was one of the first to be breech-loading. It was developed in the 1850s and became known for its accuracy because it used standardized cartridges.

Gatling gun

In 1861, Dr. Richard Gatling invented rapid-fire weapons. The machine gun fired bullets from several barrels rotating under the force of gravity.

Revolver-pepper shaker

The problem of loading a weapon with more than one bullet at a time was practically solved by a multi-barreled pepper pistol with rotating barrels. The shooter had to twist the barrels manually after each shot.

Colt revolver

In 1836, Samuel Colt invented the revolver, which soon became the first revolver. mass production and was widely used during the Civil War.

Lever-action rifles and hard drives

This type of rifle is reloaded manually by moving the trigger guard in a semi-circular motion around the trigger. The most popular model that brought popularity to this weapon is the Winchester, model 1873.

Bolt action rifles

The bolt action soon became the most commonly used method of loading rifles. The rate of fire of such weapons had a great effect in the wars of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Machine guns

The size and weight of the earliest machine guns, Gatling guns, greatly limited their use in warfare. Smaller and more convenient machine guns were invented on the eve of the First World War and brought considerable destruction.

Cartridge strips

The cartridge belt very quickly became popular because it made it possible to simply store a large number of cartridges and quickly load them into weapons (mainly into machine guns).

Stores

A magazine is a device for storing ammunition in close proximity to or directly on the repeating weapon itself. Magazines received enormous development during the First World War as a means of quickly reloading mainly weapons such as pistols.

Browning HP and semi-automatic shotguns

The Browning HP 9mm pistol, developed by American firearms inventor John Browning in 1929, became one of the most famous models of semi-automatic pistols due to its widespread use during World War II. Semi-automatic shotguns are also known as semi-automatic shotguns. These weapons reload cartridges automatically after each shot, but semi-automatic weapons do not require continuous fire, unlike automatic weapons.

Sniper rifle Garand M1

The M1 Garand rifle was invented by John Garand, and General George Patton called it " greatest weapon for battles." This semi-automatic rifle replaced the Springfield rifle in the US Army in 1939 and performed quite well during World War II.

Thompson submachine gun

The Thompson or Tommy gun gained a bad reputation during the American Prohibition era due to the fact that it was these weapons that were used by gangsters. However, Tommy guns also saw action in World War II.

Browning M2

The 50-caliber Browning M2 was a heavy machine gun developed late in World War I by John Browning and used extensively in World War II. Known for its reliability and firepower, this machine gun is still used by the American and NATO armies to this day.

AK-47

The AK-47 was not the very first assault rifle, but nevertheless it is more famous than others. The assault rifle was invented by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1948. Due to the reliability of these weapons, the AK-47 and its various variants remain the most widely used assault rifles today.

M-16 rifle

The M-16 rifle and its various variants were developed in 1963 for jungle warfare during the Vietnam War. Soon the M-16 became a standard combat rifle American troops. Its variants remain in service to this day and have also spread among armed forces other countries.

Modern firearms

Modern firearms technology strives to reduce weight and ease of use in order to increase the mobility and capabilities of soldiers in combat.

3D weapon production

The personal firearms market is becoming increasingly technologically advanced. Today it is even possible to 3D print plastic weapons that fire live ammunition.

Considering the history of the emergence and development of firearms, it should be noted that gunpowder or an explosive composition close to it has been known in Asia since ancient times. Most likely, the inventors of gunpowder were the peoples of India or Indochina. In the mentioned regions, there is a lot of saltpeter in the soil. It can be assumed that after lighting a fire, the saltpeter that was in the soil underneath could melt and then in the rain, mixed with ash and coal, drying in the sun, become capable of producing an explosion.

There is evidence that 1500 BC. In India, an explosive composition similar to gunpowder was known. The Sanskrit text of the Hindu law of that time reads:

A commander should not use any cunning in war, should not use poisoned arrows, nor fiery weapons large or small, nor any kind of fire-fighting devices.

This document is most likely not talking about firearms, but about throwing weapons, such as ballistas, which threw jugs and cauldrons with burning or explosive substances.

History contains more reliable information about ancient explosives. So, from the 4th century. The Greeks used the so-called "Greek fire". Saltpeter was not included in its composition; it was replaced by resin, oil, rosin, sandarak 1 Sandarak or sandarake (sandarake - red arsenic) - aromatic resin. and ammonia mixed with sulfur. In the 7th century, the Greeks successfully used their fire against the Saracen fleet at the Battle of the Dardanelles. In 941, the Greeks drove Prince Igor and his retinue away from their shores with such fire.

A real explosive - carbon nitrate sulfide gunpowder - appeared in Europe around the 1st century. AD According to some sources, it was brought by the Moors to Spain, according to others - by the Greeks to Constantinople. However, gunpowder for a long time had no combat use. At first it was used as an incendiary substance, and much later it began to be used as an explosive and propellant. Thus, the first gunpowder rockets were known to the Chinese since the 10th century. This is confirmed by Chinese sources describing such missiles as flying fire spears, which, when launched by igniting gunpowder, burned everything within a radius of 10 steps.

The first information about the combat use of weapons similar to firearms by the Arabs dates back to the 10th century. But the true history of firearms began in Europe at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries.

Firearms are divided into artillery and small arms. The first hits the enemy with large projectiles fired along a flat or mounted trajectory. The artillery systems are serviced by crews consisting of several people. Small arms, mostly individual, are used for direct fire at open targets. GOST 28653-90 “Small arms. Terms and Definitions" defines small arms as barreled weapons with a caliber of less than 20 mm, intended for throwing a bullet, shot or buckshot.

The first samples of firearms were a metal pipe up to half a meter long, with an internal diameter of 20-40 mm, one end of which was made blind, and a small pilot hole was drilled nearby. Such a trunk was placed in a wooden stock and secured with metal rings. Loading was carried out through the muzzle: powdered gunpowder was poured into it, compacted with a wad, and then a projectile made of stone or metal was placed. The shooter aimed the gun at the target. He rested the butt against the chest or shoulder, pinned it under the armpit or placed it on the ground, everything depended on the size and weight of the firearm system, and brought a rod hot on the brazier to the ignition hole. In Rus', guns designed for hand-held shooting were called handhelds.

On top is a Western European hand grip from the late 14th century, equipped with a hook for carrying (length 297 mm, caliber 32 mm). Below is a Western European hand grip with a lightweight butt (length 950-1000 mm, weight - 25.5 kg, caliber - 30-35 mm)

Experience has shown that it is very inconvenient to take aim and at the same time bring a hot rod to the weapon. Therefore, at the end of the 15th century, the ignition hole was moved to the right side of the barrel. A small shelf with a recess was placed nearby, into which a measure of so-called seed powder was poured.

Handle with an iron handle from the late 14th century.

After some time, the shelf was covered from the wind and snow with a hinged lid. At the same time, they found a replacement for the red-hot rod - a long wick, which was soaked in saltpeter or wine alcohol or boiled in ash. After such treatment, the wick no longer burned, but slowly smoldered, and the shooter could bring the weapon into action at any moment in the battle.

It was just inconvenient to bring the wick to the shelf each time.

Then a hole was made in the stock, a strip of metal bent through it, bent in the shape of the letter S, with a clamp at the end, called serpentine (in Rus' - zhagra), and a wick was attached to its upper end. When the shooter lifted the lower end of the serpentine, the upper one, with the smoldering wick attached, dropped to the shelf and touched the ignition gunpowder.

At the end of the 15th century. the weapon was equipped with a rather complex matchlock for those times, in which a sear was added to the serpentine - a leaf spring with a protrusion, mounted on an axis on the inside of the locking board. It was connected to the serpentine in such a way that as soon as the shooter pressed the trigger, the rear end of the sear rose and the wick lay on the shelf, igniting the ignition powder. And then the shelf itself was moved to the key board.

Matchlock pattern: A-serpentine (jagra); B - the simplest matchlock, in which a sear is used: B - an improved matchlock of the second half of the 17th century.

However, even the improved matchlocks were far from perfect. At night, the light of a smoldering fuse unmasked the shooter; in windy and damp weather the weapon failed.

Matchlock

It was possible to get rid of these shortcomings after the invention of the wheeled or wheeled lock - a combination of flint and steel.

Historians do not know for sure the inventor of this device. Only one thing is obvious - it was impossible to invent a wheel lock without knowing the clock mechanism. Therefore, some researchers are inclined to believe that the first watchmaker from Nuremberg, Johann Kiefus, made such a lock in 1517. According to others, the author of the wheel lock was Leonardo da Vinci.

Wheel lock device: 1 - trigger; 2- mainspring; 3 - flint; 4 - trigger lips; 5 - trigger; b - powder shelf cover; 7 - winding key; 8 - wheel

The wheel lock was a rather complex mechanism, consisting of 35-50 parts. The most important of them was a steel wheel with notches, the axis of which was connected by a chain to a powerful mainspring.

Before firing, it was wound up with a special key, after pressing the trigger, it spun the wheel, which sharply struck the flint with notches, and the carved sparks ignited the seed powder, which ignited the main charge.

Improving the wheel lock, the gunsmiths added a stopper to keep the wheel cocked, and then came up with a sliding shelf cover. In the 17th century an additional rod was introduced, which made it possible to cock the spring with one turn of the trigger.

Wheel lock

Now preparation for a shot included several sequential operations: the shooter cocked the hammer, squeezing the spring, poured gunpowder into the barrel and onto the priming shelf, placed a bullet in the barrel and pushed the shelf cover. After this, the weapon was constantly ready to fire.

The wheel lock was expensive and quite difficult to manufacture. Therefore, only wealthy people or the most privileged military units could afford weapons equipped with such locks. However, wheel guns and pistols were successfully used until the 18th century, and hunting weapons with such locks were made even until the beginning of the next century.

Dutch type flintlock: 1 - descent; 2 - trigger; 3 - flint; 4 - traction; 5 - spring feather; 6 - sear

At the end of the 15th century, another important improvement was made in weapons - rifled barrels appeared, which at first had a straight cut. Only in the next century did straight rifling give way to a screw rifling, which ensured that the bullet rotated in flight, which made it possible to increase the efficiency of shooting. Gradually rifled weapon became widespread, first as a hunting one, and from the 20s of the 18th century. began to enter service with some armies.

The next stage in improving the charge ignition system was the creation in the second half of the 16th century. flint lock. Unlike the wheel lock, sparks were struck after strong blow flint on steel flint. The flintlock turned out to be simpler and more reliable than its predecessor.

Flintlock of a Cossack soldier's pistol, model 1839.

According to some researchers, the flintlock was developed by Spanish or Portuguese artisans. They even name the most likely inventor - a certain Simon Macuarte, who served in the 60s of the 16th century. in the workshops at the court of the Spanish king Charles V. But a more plausible version is that the flintlock was invented almost simultaneously and independently by gunsmiths different countries. For this reason, the so-called Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Karelian, Mediterranean, Swedish and other types of this device and their variants, differing in location, shape, finishing and principles of interaction of parts and assemblies, quickly spread.

The next step in the development of firearms was the appearance in the 16th century. ready - unitary ammunition. Initially, they were a bundle of waterproof paper, in which gunpowder and a round lead bullet were alternately packed, and the shooters themselves equipped them, adhering to established standards. Before firing, it was necessary to bite the lower edge of this unique cartridge case, pour some of the gunpowder onto the primer shelf, and the rest into the barrel. A bullet and a wad got in there too. After this, the charge was compacted with a cleaning rod and the hammer was cocked.

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. In many countries, experiments were carried out to replace gunpowder with various chemicals, in particular mercury fulminate. These experiments were a catalyst for the creation of new ignition mixtures and charge ignition devices.

In 1807, the Scottish pastor Alexander-John Forsyth created a fundamentally new device that was supposed to replace the flintlock. Forsythe placed a small cylinder filled with explosive on the seed shelf. When I turn it over on the shelf, this substance spills out, which flared up when the trigger was hit. Such substances began to be called initiating (from the Latin initio - to begin), and Forsyth’s lock “chemical”. The Englishman John Manton suggested mixing the initiating composition into tubes rolled from paper or sheet copper. A more successful idea was to press the initiating substance into a copper cup - a capsule, which was put on a hollow tube screwed into the breech of the barrel. After the trigger hit the primer, the initiating composition ignited and the flame through the tube ignited the main charge. Such devices are called fire tubes. Unlike their predecessors, capsule systems were not dependent on the weather and worked even in the rain.

Percussion cap lock

The invention of capsules provided a new impetus for the development of firearms. In 1812, the Frenchman Samuel Pauli patented a metal unitary cartridge and a breech-loading rifle for it. However, the system turned out to be complex and expensive, so it did not receive further development. More successful was his student, the German Johann Dreyse, who created a needle rifle, adopted by the Prussian army in 1841 under the name “light cap gun model 1841.” The design of the rifle was classified and was an important state secret of Prussia. The rifle was loaded from the breech with ready-made cartridges with a paper sleeve and a cardboard bottom. The capsule was between the bullet and powder charge in a pallet - spiegel. The breech of the rifle was locked with a horizontally sliding bolt, the combat face of which rested against the breech of the barrel and provided a good seal. Inside the bolt was a spiral mainspring that wound around a long firing pin with a needle at the end. The rifle barrel had four grooves, the range of the aimed shot reached 600 m.

Dreyse's needle system had certain disadvantages: scraps of paper cartridges remained in the barrel, making loading difficult; a paper sleeve does not ensure the tightness of the cartridge; high temperature powder gases and their pressure contributed to rapid wear of the needle, which often broke.

Needle rifle Draize

Around the same time, the Frenchman Casimir Lefauchet invented the so-called pin cartridge, which originally had a cardboard sleeve with a copper bottom (1837), and in 1853 was equipped with a metal sleeve. The Lefoshe cartridge had a pin, one end of which was in front of the primer, located inside the cartridge case, and the other protruded out through the side hole in the case body at the bottom. When the trigger hit a pin protruding beyond the chamber, the primer composition ignited and a shot occurred. Most widespread such cartridges were received in the 50s XIX century in civilian revolvers, and the military accepted this system without much enthusiasm.

The disadvantages of this system were: the difficulty of loading, since the cartridges had to be placed in the chambers (drum chambers) in a strictly fixed position; an accidental impact on the protruding studs resulted in a shot.

In 1849, French gunsmith Louis Flaubert received a patent for a gun and side-firing cartridges. They were a short cartridge case with an explosive compound, the explosion of which ejected the bullet. The American Beringer improved the Flaubert system in 1856 - he lengthened the cartridge case and placed ordinary gunpowder in it, and four years later his compatriot Daniel Wesson established the industrial production of such cartridges. This scheme has survived to this day in cartridges for small-caliber weapons (rimfire cartridges).

Pauli, Dreyse and Lefoshe worked on center-fire cartridges, but the first successful example was made by the Frenchman K. Pote. Having started experiments in 1829, 29 years later he received a patent for a cartridge with a cardboard sleeve and a metal bottom, in the middle of which a primer was placed. Somewhat later, the English colonel Edward Boxer proposed making a metal bottom in the form of a cup, and rolling the body from sheet brass.

The proliferation of centerfire cartridges initiated the emergence of many original and varied barrel locking systems. So, in the mid-60s of the XIX century. A competition was announced in Great Britain for best way conversion of capsule rifles into breech-loading ones. The winner was Jacob Snyder, who formalized his invention in 1862. After two years of testing, his 14.5 mm rifle chambered for the Boxer cartridge was adopted for service. The bolt of the Snyder rifle with a spring-loaded striker and a device for extracting spent cartridges opened to the right and upward and was considered the best at that time.

In Russia, the reclining bolt was developed by the head of the St. Petersburg Maritime Museum, Lieutenant Nikolai Mikhailovich Baranov. His system allowed for the conversion of muzzle-loading 6-line rifles of the 1856 model into breech-loading ones. In 1869, Baranov rifles were adopted by the navy.

It soon became obvious that with conversion systems large caliber it is necessary to separate. Gunsmiths were again puzzled by the problem of securely locking the barrel. For breech-loading rifles using a unitary cartridge, the best turned out to be longitudinally sliding bolts, rotated around its axis to lock and unlock the barrel, and for ejecting the cartridge case and chambering the cartridge, rectilinearly pushed back in the receiver using handles. Such bolts were available in the 10.4 mm Swiss Vetterli rifle of the 1868 model, 10.67 mm Russian Berdan rifles No. 1 and 2, the I-mm German Mauser rifle of the 1871 model, etc. The first samples of rifles with longitudinally sliding bolts were single-shot.

Berdan rifle shutter device
Russian 10.67 mm infantry rifle Berdan No. 2 model 1870 (length with bayonet - 1850 mm, without bayonet - 1345 mm)

The advantage of longitudinally sliding bolts was obvious: they reliably locked the barrel; when opening the bolt to remove the spent cartridge case, the striking mechanism was simultaneously cocked; The cartridge was sent into the chamber simultaneously with locking. This was a serious advantage compared to other rifles. Such bolts were used in combat rifles for almost his age and are still widely used in sporting and hunting weapons today.

With the beginning of the use of unitary cartridges, people began to think seriously about creating magazine-launched weapons. They tried to increase the rate of fire of single-shot rifles by using so-called accelerators 2 Accelerators - special packs and boxes made of cardboard, canvas, wood, tin, used to hold cartridges in the left hand along with the rifle during shooting. or attached magazines, from which cartridges, under the influence of a spring, were fed to the receiver window and sent by the bolt into the chamber.

At the same time, repeating rifles were designed that had stock, under-barrel and middle magazines.

Priority in the creation of repeating rifles belongs to the American Christopher Spencer, who in 1860 patented a rifle with a seven-round magazine located in the butt. The magazine was a metal tube into which another was placed - like a clip with a feeder and a spiral spring. When loading, the barrel was lowered, the clip was removed, cartridges were inserted into it one by one and placed in place. The cartridges were fed into the chamber by turning the swing-type bolt, equipped with a lever in the form of a trigger guard. Lowering, the bolt captured the cartridge, sent it into the chamber of the barrel, and the combat cylinder locked it. Other designs of butt magazines are also known (Evans, Wilson, etc.), but their common disadvantage was the complexity of the feed mechanism and the movement of the center of gravity of the weapon as the cartridges were consumed.

Under-barrel magazines were more successful, although they had the same disadvantages as butt magazines. Such a store was first developed by the American Walter Hunt in 1848. The cartridges in such stores were placed inside a metal tube located under the barrel parallel to it. When the bolt moved under the influence of the feeder spring, the cartridges were fed into the chamber. A very successful design for a rifle with an under-barrel magazine was developed in 1860 by the American Benjamin Henry, who worked for the arms manufacturer Oliver Winchester, but the fame went not to the creator, but to the owner of the company. The rifle's bolt was a sliding type with a bracket attached under the neck of the stock so that reloading was carried out without removing the butt from the shoulder. The locking, impact and feeding mechanisms, which were based on a steel rod, were simple. When the bracket was lowered, the rod was moved back by two pairs of connecting rod levers, the trigger was cocked, and the feeder with a cartridge from the magazine was raised. The reverse stroke of the shackle sent the rod forward, placing the cartridge in the chamber and locking the barrel.

In Europe, rifles with under-barrel magazines appeared only in the 70s of the 19th century: 11-mm French rifle of the Gra-Kropachek system, model 1874, 1878, 11-mm Austrian Mannlicher rifle, model 1871, 1887. and a number of others.

However, the middle magazines, which were located under the bolt and were devoid of the disadvantages inherent in butt and under-barrel magazines, turned out to be more reliable and advanced. The first such store was created in 1879 by the American inventor James Lee. Its design was a metal box that held five cartridges with a spring at the bottom that pushed the cartridges upward. Austrian Ferdinand Mannlicher modified the design by adding a cutter to eliminate cartridge distortions. Initially, these stores were loaded one cartridge at a time, but this drawback was eliminated by the invention of burst loading and loading by means of a clip.

A significant event in the evolution of small arms was the creation and development of industrial production in the 70-80s of the 19th century. smokeless powder. During combustion, smokeless powder produces virtually no smoke and develops more high blood pressure, and this improves the ballistic qualities of the weapon. The properties of smokeless powder made it possible to reduce the caliber of the weapon and the size of the cartridges; an increase in the initial speed of the bullet led to an increase in the range of the shot and the accuracy of fire. The military immediately appreciated the advantages of the new gunpowder, and in many countries the design of small-caliber magazine weapons began.

Russia also took part in the rearmament process. In 1891, a new 7.62 mm repeating rifle called the “three-line rifle of the 1891 model” was adopted by the Russian army.

Three-line (7.62 mm) rifle model 1891

The creator of this rifle, one of the best in the world, which served for more than half a century in the Russian army, was Sergei Ivanovich Mosin. The rifle turned out to be simple, technologically advanced in production and superior in quality to foreign models. The main advantage of this weapon was its simplicity: the bolt consisted of only seven parts, its assembly and disassembly was carried out quickly and without any tools. The bolt was separated from the receiver after it was moved to the rearmost position and the trigger was pressed. The design of the rifle turned out to be so successful that until 1946 there was no need to resort to expensive rearmament, although the French, German, British, American and Hungarian armies were rearmed twice during the same period of time, the Japanese - three times.

Based on the results Russo-Japanese War The question arose about modernizing the cartridge for the Mosin rifle, and above all its bullet. Its development was undertaken by a special commission headed by A. Kern, which in 1908 adopted a new cartridge. The bullet weight was reduced to 9.6 g, the powder charge was increased to 3.25 g, and total mass cartridge decreased to 22.45 g, due to which the number of cartridges carried by a soldier increased from 120 to 137 without increasing their weight. The muzzle velocity of the modernized cartridge reached 860 m/s (versus 660 m/s for the old one).

In 1895, 7.62-mm revolvers of soldier and officer models were adopted into service with the Russian army, differing only in that cocking the hammer in officer's model was carried out by simultaneously pressing the trigger, while in the soldier's case this required a special technique with the thumb of the right hand.

Russian 7.62 mm revolver of the Nagant system, model 1895.

This revolver, designed by the Belgian Leon Nagant, had advantages over the 4.2 line (10.67 mm) Smith and Wesson revolver previously in service. Its design had an original feature compared to other revolvers in service with foreign armies, namely the sliding of the drum onto the barrel at the moment of firing, which eliminated the breakthrough of gases between the front edge of the drum and the breech end of the barrel.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. designers from many countries worked on the creation of self-loading and automatic weapons: pistols, machine guns, rifles.

The first type of automatic weapon to receive combat use was Hiram Maxim's heavy machine gun. It was adopted by the armies of a number of states, including Russia. The automatic operation of the machine gun was based on the use of recoil energy from a moving barrel. Russian gunsmiths improved the Maxim machine gun. More than 200 changes were made to its design, which reduced its weight, made it reliable and trouble-free. Alexander Alekseevich Sokolov invented a wheeled machine and developed cartridge boxes.

In addition to machine guns of the Maxim system of various modifications, the states adopted mounted 8-mm German machine guns of the Schwarzlose system of the 1907 model and the Dreyse system of the 1908 model, a 7.71-mm English machine gun of the Vickers system of the 1909 model, and an 8-mm French machine gun Hotchkiss system model 1914, etc.

Russian machine gun of the Maxim system of the 1910 model on the Sokolov machine (caliber - 7.62 mm, barrel cooling is water (4 l), machine gun weight without cooling water - 20.3 kg, machine gun weight with the machine - 54 kg, rate of fire 500-600 rounds per minute)

Experience of military conflicts of the early 20th century. and the first years of the World War 1914-1918. showed that heavy machine guns were quite heavy and inactive, which made it difficult to use them in offensive operations, so intensive work began on the creation of lightweight machine guns, called light machine guns. The war confirmed the viability of these weapons. Among the most common light machine guns of that period are the 7.62-mm Danish Madsen machine gun of the 1902 model, the 8-mm French Chauchat machine gun of the 1915 model, and the 7.71-mm English Lewis machine gun of the 1915 model.

The first patent for an automatically operating (self-loading) rifle was received in 1863 by the American Regulus Pilon. Three years later, the English engineer J. Curtiss produced a multi-shot gun with a drum-type magazine, the operating principle of which was based on the use of the energy of powder gases. In 1885, a self-loading rifle was developed by the Austrian Ferdinand Mannlicher; in 1898, the German company of the Mauser brothers also released an automatic rifle, but these self-loading systems did not compete with conventional magazine rifles - breakdowns and failures were too frequent.

In Russia, inventor Danila Antonovich Rudnitsky back in 1887 presented a project for a self-loading rifle to the ranks of the Main Artillery Directorate, but received a negative conclusion.

7.62 mm Russian self-loading rifle of the Fedorov system (prototype 1912) (length without bayonet - 1200 mm, weight without bayonet and cartridges - 4.8 kg, magazine capacity - 5 cartridges)

After the Russo-Japanese War, which showed the advantages of rapid-fire weapons, the outstanding Russian gunsmith Vladimir Grigorievich Fedorov proposed converting the Mosin three-line rifle into a self-loading rifle. However, this attempt was unsuccessful. Then Fedorov developed a new reloading mechanism, operating due to the recoil of the barrel during its short stroke. The resulting rifle was simple in design and easy to handle. During tests in 1912, Fedorov's rifle proved itself in the best possible way. In 1913, Fedorov also developed a new cartridge with improved ballistics of 6.5 mm caliber, which was smaller in size and weight, less heated the barrel and did not have a rim (flange). But due to military difficulties, it was not possible to establish the production of these cartridges, and the Fedorov rifle had to be redesigned for the available Japanese cartridge for Arisaka rifles by placing a special insert in the chamber. During the First World War, an entire unit that fought on the Romanian front was equipped with such rifles.

By 1914, the designs of self-loading rifles were, in general, worked out and they began to enter the army. However, no army has dared to completely abandon traditional repeating rifles. Only the Mexican government acquired a significant number of self-loading rifles of the Mondragon system, which were produced in Switzerland until 1911. In 1917-1918 French non-commissioned officers received RSC (Riberol, Sutter, Chauchat) self-loading rifles, but they were still massive and not reliable enough.

The desire to increase the rate of fire of short-barreled weapons led to the appearance of rather cumbersome multi-barreled systems, then drum revolvers, and only in 1872 Plesner patented the design of a self-loading pistol. However, black powder, which after a shot forms a lot of solid products that clog the mechanisms, was not suitable for such weapons. Only with the advent of smokeless powders did these weapons receive further development.

The first self-loading pistols were bulky and awkward, since their layout resembled a revolver: magazine boxes, loaded like a rifle, with a clip on top, were located in front of the trigger guard, i.e. where the revolver drums were located. Many of the first self-loading pistols had a similar design, in particular the 7.63 mm Austrian pistol of the Mannlikhsra M-96 system, the 7.63 mm German pistol of the Bergmann system of the 1897 model, the 7.63 mm German K-96 pistol of the Mauser system, developed in 1893 and gained immense popularity due to its reliability and high lethality. This pistol worked on the principle of using recoil energy during a short barrel stroke. Locking was carried out using a swinging cylinder; the magazine had a capacity of ten rounds.

The greatest development in pistol design began with the creation in 1897 of John Browning of an optimal layout scheme. To reduce the size of the weapon, the inventor placed seven cartridges in a flat magazine with a spring to feed them into the barrel. The magazine was inserted into a hollow handle, which simplified and speeded up loading. Browning replaced two springs, combat and return, with one - return-combat, which, with the help of a special lever, acted on the bolt and firing pin. Later this principle became generally accepted.

At the beginning of the 20th century. many were created various systems self-loading pistols. In addition to those mentioned above, pistols from Mannlicher, Roth, Roth-Steyer, Borchardt-Luger, Colt, etc. are accepted for service.

In 1926, the first domestic self-loading pistol TK (Tula Korovin) caliber 6.35 mm, adopted as a personal weapon for senior command personnel.

S.A. also worked on improving and designing new domestic pistols. Prilutsky, F.V. Tokarev, I.I. Rakov, P.V. Voevodin.

At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, the Artillery Committee decided to develop a pistol chambered for the 7.63 mm Mauser pistol cartridge. Later, the caliber of the cartridge was reduced by one hundredth of a millimeter - to 7.62 mm.

In the summer of 1930, field tests were carried out on 7.62 mm Korovin, Prilunky and Tokarev pistols in parallel with Walter, Borchardt-Luger, Browning and other pistols of 7.65, 9 and 11.43 mm calibers. The Tokarev pistol was recognized as the most successful in most respects and was adopted by the Red Army under the name “7.62 mm pistol of the 1930 model.” In 1933, it was modernized and became known as the “7.62 mm pistol mod. 1930/33 (TT)".

Pistol Tula Korovin (TK) caliber 6.35 mm.

From the very beginning of the First World War, all armies experienced a shortage of light automatic weapons. During this period, submachine guns appeared, which were automatic weapons that fired pistol cartridges. The very first submachine gun was created by the Italian engineer B. Reveli in 1915. This design was a pair of small machine guns that fired pistol cartridges. The operation of the automation was based on the use of the recoil of the bolt, whose recoil was slowed down by the friction of the bolt lugs in the grooves of the receiver. However, the submachine gun was heavy, bulky and consumed a lot of ammunition.

In December 1917, in Germany, inventor Hugo Schmeisser patented a rather successful submachine gun, called the MP-18. The principle of automation was similar to the Italian one, but without slowing down the bolt rollback by friction, which made it possible to simplify the design of the weapon. The trigger mechanism ensured firing only in automatic mode.

7.9-mm German submachine gun MP-18 (MR-18) (length - 820 mm, weight with cartridges - 5.3 kg, magazine capacity - 32 rounds, rate of fire - 550 rounds per minute)

During the period between the two world wars, many countries, including our country, actively developed submachine guns for various pistol and revolver cartridges.

American officer John Thompson designed a submachine gun chambered for a powerful 11.43 mm pistol cartridge, which gained worldwide fame primarily thanks to cinema. A special feature of its design was the presence of a fire translator, which made it possible to select the firing mode.

11.43 mm American Thompson submachine gun (length - 857 mm, weight without cartridges - 4.8 kg, magazine capacity - 20, 30, 50 and 100 rounds, rate of fire - 675 rounds per minute)

In our country, the first submachine gun was made by Fedor Vasilyevich Tokarev in 1927 under the 7.62 mm cartridge for the Nagan system revolver. However, tests showed the unsuitability of such low-power ammunition.

The most optimal turned out to be a pistol cartridge of 7.62 mm caliber, model 1930, based on which Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev designed a model called the “7.62 mm submachine gun of the Degtyarev system, model 1934.” (PPD-34).

In 1940, Georgy Semenovich Shpagin created a new submachine gun, simpler in design and more technologically advanced in production, which was adopted for service under the name “7.62 mm. Shpagin system submachine gun model 1941" (PPSh-41). Since 1943, serial production of 7.62-mm submachine guns of the Alexey Ivanovich Sudaev system of the 1943 model (PPS-43) began.

7.62 mm Soviet submachine gun Degtyarev system (PPD-40) model 1940 (length - 788 mm, weight with cartridges - 5.4 kg, magazine capacity - 71 cartridges, rate of fire - 900 rounds per minute)

The Second World War showed that all submachine guns for which pistol cartridges were standard had a limited effective firing range (30-50 m), which led to the creation of a new type of cartridge, intermediate in power between pistol and rifle.

In the USA in 1941, the Garand rifle was created for an intermediate cartridge based on the Garand rifle. self-loading carbine. In Germany, work was also actively underway to create a new type of weapon. In 1943, the “7.92-mm reinforced MP-43 submachine gun” was adopted, in 1944 the Schmeisser “Sturmgever” MP-44 assault rifle, and a year later the FG-45 “Volkssturm” assault rifle.

In our country N.M. Elizarov and B.V. Semin created a very successful intermediate cartridge - the 7.62 mm cartridge of the 1943 model. Based on this cartridge, the 7.62 mm were designed and put into service light machine gun Degtyarev model 1944 (RPD), Simonov self-loading carbine model 1945 (SKS), Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1947 (AK-47) and other types of small arms.

In the 60-70s of the XX century. the development of handguns was driven by trends in caliber reduction. The fact is that a small-caliber bullet with a high initial speed has a good trajectory flatness, stopping power and penetration ability, and the low recoil impulse when firing such cartridges helps to increase the accuracy of shooting in automatic mode. Among the most famous modern small-caliber weapons, we should highlight the 5.56-mm American M16A1 automatic rifle, the 5.56-mm German Heckler&Koch NK-33 assault rifle, the 5.56-mm Austrian SteyrAUG, the domestic 5.45-mm Kalashnikov AK- 74 and Nikonov AN-94.

Domestic 5.45 mm Nikonov AN-94 assault rifle

The history of the development of small arms shows that fundamental changes in the design of firearms were determined by changes in the type of ammunition used, or more precisely, by the method of initiating a shot. The unitary cartridge with a percussion primer determined the development of firearms from the 19th century. to the present time. Today, many countries are developing so-called caseless cartridges, consisting of only three elements: a cylindrical powder block, a bullet and an igniter primer. Greatest success The German company Heckler & Koch made progress in this area, developing the 4.7 mm G-11 automatic rifle.

It can be assumed that in the near future there will be a transition to a non-impact, electronically controlled method of initiating a shot. Great prospects has the use of ultrasound (US), which, due to its properties, allows you to place an ultrasound capsule directly in the bullet. This makes the transition to a caseless cartridge much easier.