Chapter 408 Planning (3)
In later generations, the intricate relationship between the German MP44 and the Soviet AK47 in World War II is one of the topics that military fans love to talk about.
The German MP44 is the pioneer of modern assault rifles. It laid the foundation for the basic elements of modern assault rifles, such as the intermediate power rifle ammunition system, piston gas action, 30-round arc magazine, etc. ...
These undoubtedly greatly inspired Kalashnikov. But these are only the influences on design concepts and product positioning, and do not mean that AK47 copied MP44 in specific implementation.
The biggest similarity between MP44 and AK47 is that both are long-stroke piston gas-operated actions. The piston and piston connecting rod are both above the barrel, and high-pressure gunpowder gas is conducted through a guide hole. The gunpowder gas pushes the piston and piston connecting rod to move backwards, completing a cycle consisting of unlocking, extracting shells, returning, pushing bullets, and locking actions.
Apart from this, the specific implementation is almost completely different.
However, the installation methods of these two guns are different: the firing mechanism of AK47 is fixed in the receiver, the trigger guard is installed at the bottom of the receiver, and the grip is only a wooden part screwed to the receiver, and its absence does not affect the function of the gun; while the firing mechanism, firing base, and grip of MP44 are a component, connected to the rear of the magazine slot with a pin, and there is another pin at the back to connect the grip and buttstock to the rear of the open receiver.
The biggest difference is the locking principle; MP44 uses the bolt offset locking mechanism that was popular at the time, while AK47 uses the bolt rotary locking mechanism (this was not invented by Kalashnikov, and the bolt rotary locking mechanism appeared as early as the 1890s); the two are completely different.
Although both have their own advantages and disadvantages, the offset locking is generally not as reliable and long-lived as the rotary locking; so much so that the G36 rifle designed by HK in Germany later abandoned this locking method and adopted the rotary locking mechanism instead.
The basic structure of the MP44 is more complicated. The empty gun weighs 62 kilograms and weighs 12 kilograms after the magazine is installed. It is much heavier than the US military's M1 Garand rifle. So although the Allies were shocked by its firepower at the time, they felt that it was too heavy after getting the real thing and analyzing it.
Moreover, the MP44 has many parts, and it is easy to malfunction when hit or bumped. Its reliability is far less than that of bolt-action or semi-automatic rifles. This point was also sneered by the US military because reliability is the lifeblood of weapons.
Therefore, although the Americans also developed the M1/M2 carbine during World War II, they also used intermediate-power ammunition with semi-automatic/full-automatic modes, but they did not use them as the main weapons of soldiers.
In comparison, the AK47 is lighter, cheaper, and more durable. It was not until the Vietnam War that US soldiers were still fighting in the jungle with the bulky M14. After being taught a lesson by the Vietnamese with the AK47, they suddenly realized how naive they were at the beginning and missed a magical weapon.
Giving up an excellent weapon because of its reliability in some extreme situations, or reducing the basic performance of a weapon for reliability under certain conditions, will result in falling behind in the overall situation.
After realizing their shortcomings, the Americans quickly sent the newly developed and still hot M16 to Vietnam, and opened the curtain of small-caliber weapons. However, this has little to do with the MP44.
After noticing these problems, Yannick decided to replace the MP44. Fortunately, the MP44 was not equipped on a large scale at that time. There was only one in each squad, and at most two; the factory production scale was not large, and replacement would not be too troublesome.
Seeing the redesigned product, Yannick couldn't help but laugh. Isn't this the AK47, but it uses 7×43mm bullets.
Yannick made several improvement requirements and completely turned it into an AKM assault rifle.
Compared with the AK-47, the AKM is lighter (about 1 kg lighter), has higher shooting accuracy and reliability. AKM further uses metal stamping, welding technology and synthetic materials in its design, which can reduce weight and production time and cost, facilitate mass production, and make its failure rate lower than AK-47.
The paratroopers use its improved AKMS, which is slightly shorter and lighter. The full length of the buttstock is 920mm when unfolded, and the full length of the buttstock is 655mm when folded. The whole gun is 6kg lighter than P44.
Yannick picked up the AKMS in front of him and pulled the bolt a few times. "Are the soldiers satisfied with this gun?"
Student also knew Yannick's character and didn't like to flatter blindly, so he reported truthfully. "The soldiers said that except for the fact that the accuracy of this gun is not as good as MP44 when firing continuously, everything else is acceptable, especially the weight is much lighter than MP44."
"That's good." Yannick nodded with satisfaction, put down the AKMS, and next to it was the light machine gun RPK developed based on AKM (also using 7×43mm ammunition). The basic structure of the two guns is exactly the same, and most of the parts are interchangeable, which has obvious advantages on the battlefield and is very helpful for actual combat needs. It can be said that it is in the same line as the AK, and it has the advantages of the AKM, but it is superior to the AKM in some aspects.
Later generations set off a trend of "gun family development", and the AK-47/AKM using the M-43 62×39 mm intermediate bullet has excellent performance. It is not only reliable in action, has a low failure rate, can be used under various harsh conditions, but also easy to operate and has strong firepower when firing continuously. Therefore, a squad light machine gun was developed based on the AKM assault rifle, which was the prototype of the world-renowned RPK light machine gun. In 1959, the Soviet army officially adopted this gun to replace the RPD as a squad machine gun.
It has the advantages of simple structure, convenient mass production, high firearm reliability, and adaptability to various harsh environments. It is said that 20,000 rounds of bullets were fired and the moving parts were still intact. In addition, many parts between the two are compatible. When the RPK's special 75-round drum is used up, it can also be used with the AKM's box magazine, which reduces logistics pressure and improves its battlefield applicability.
But in many places, RPK is different from AKM. Although it uses the AKM's punch-riveted receiver, the proportion of stamping parts has increased, and the riveting process of many parts has been changed to welding. It uses an extended heavy barrel and is equipped with a foldable bipod to improve shooting accuracy and facilitate prone shooting. The effective range and muzzle velocity are higher than those of AK-47. In addition, it can use 40-round magazines or 75-round drums to feed ammunition, and maintain firepower advantages by increasing the magazine capacity. The magazine is also changed to light alloy, which can be used with the original steel magazine. Later, a glass fiber plastic compression molded magazine was developed, which can be used universally, alleviating logistics pressure.
Another problem with the RPK light machine gun is that the barrel cannot be replaced, which further limits its rate of fire, because once the barrel is overheated, it will directly affect its function. Therefore, when using the RPK to shoot, it is necessary to deliberately control the rate of fire, and it is not possible to shoot continuously for a long time. But in general, the RPK is still an excellent light machine gun, mainly reflected in its good reliability.