How did the theory that a Kalashnikov rifle was invented by the German Schmeisser

70

Как возникла версия, что автомат Калашникова изобрел немец Шмайссер

Supporters of the German origin of the Kalashnikov assault rifle – the two main argument: the resemblance of specimens of the German assault rifles Sturmgewehr 44 and the Soviet AK-46 and long stay Sturmgewehr designer Hugo Schmeisser in the Soviet Union just at the time the legendary Russian machine.

Reasonable arguments refuting this assumption, much more.

The heir-taught

Technical education Hugo Schmeisser as his Soviet rival Mikhail Kalashnikov, was not. Son Siberian fist Mikhail Kalashnikov before the war, managed to finish only seven years. But father Hugo was one of the most famous European gunsmiths Louis Schmeisser designed and made the machine guns even before the First world war. Under his father he took his first steps in the design and Hugo.

Incidentally, my first serious design, submachine gun MP-18 used in the First world war, Hugo Schmeisser “stripped” from automatic rifles of Russian designer Vladimir Fedorov, produced in 1915.

In June 1919 the German gunsmiths, the Treaty of Versailles had no right to manufacture automatic weapons. Hugo Schmeisser to pair with his brother Hans is trying to pursue other business interests, but secretly continues to develop new submachine gun. In 1928, he creates a MP-28 submachine gun with a 32-cartridge shop, acceding to the side. This Mr was subsequently armed German police and the end of the 30-ies of the submachine gun Schmeisser was used in the civil war in Spain.

His most famous model, an assault rifle Sturmgewehr 44 under the intermediate cartridge caliber 7.92, Hugo Schmeisser began to develop in 1938. In войскаSturmgewehr 44 received in 1944.

A forced trip to Izhevsk

After the great Patriotic war, several dozen prototypes Sturmgewehr 44 place with drawings of weapons were taken to the Soviet Union. Went to the USSR in 1946 and he Hugo Schmeisser in a group of German gunsmiths. German designers placed in Izhevsk.

Surviving official documents show that the use of Hugo Schmeisser (in Izhevsk for some reason it was called Hugo Schmeisser) was not enough: a designer asked for additions to the salary and in General “razlagalsa acted on the rest of the German experts,” “no use during the stay has not brought”. This feature is dated September 1951. Next summer Schmeisser was sent back to Germany. The witness stay in the “business trip” by German designer, the inventor of the rifle SVD Dragunov Eugene, recalled that Schmeisser looked like a sick old man, who did not want to take part in any serious engineering development.

Consulted whether the the Germans Russian?

This is the main question asked by researchers hypotheses about the influence of the German Sturmgewehr 44 on the structure of the Soviet machine, because after studying the device and principle of action of both weapons, it becomes clear that they are fundamentally different from each other and about any borrowing technology from the Germans out of the question.

It is known that the first model of the Kalashnikov assault rifle – AK-46 – introduced already in 1946, before the arrival of German designers in the USSR. And started working on his gun Mikhail Kalashnikov in the three years before that. New model – AK-47 – he did in Kovrov and transferred to Izhevsk only in 1948. It is possible (although it and none confirmed), Schmeisser Kalashnikov advised by the technology of cold forming of individual parts of the Soviet machine. However, such technology in the Soviet Union was well known and actively used in the war in the manufacture of machine pistol Shpagin (PCA).

What’s the difference Sturmgewehr 44 or “Kalash”

A lot of them, and all of them are fundamental: different locked the barrel, work the trigger differently attached shop, differently arranged interpreters of fire and fuses. The design of the receiver boxes have a Sturmgewehr 44 and AK also varies.

Both machine have the vapor motor, so complexes “barrel – front sight – flatus tube” these weapons are so similar in appearance. But Kalashnikov did not need to borrow this principle from the Schmeisser: system gas outlet in the upper location (above the barrel) was introduced in the Soviet Simonov rifle, adopted for service in the red Army in 1936. A vapor motor in the construction of domestic firearms used in General since 1927 (the machine gun Degtyarev).

Conceptual similarity and the almost identical exterior design and all related components of the Sturmgewehr 44 and the Kalashnikov.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here