The number of different variants of hand-held firearms is striking in its diversity, and the more you start to learn about various interesting and unusual designs, the stronger the understanding becomes that there are simply a huge number of unusual and experimental weapons and it is simply impossible to cover everything. Of course, everyone who is at least a little interested in weapons knows about the samples of weapons that were made at least for demonstration. But how many more interesting ideas are left on paper?
Such "paper" weapons should not be treated with disdain, because the fact that a machine gun or a pistol with a non-standard design was not produced does not mean that the design itself is not viable. Often, a person has a bright head full of the most daring and useful ideas, but he cannot realize them due to the lack of his own skills of working with his hands or in the banal absence of the necessary materials and tools. Legislation is also a serious stopping factor. All that remains is to knock on all closed doors, which, more often than not, remain closed, and the designer acquires the status of a local jester.
In fairness, it should be noted that not everyone understands, for the sake of weapons with slightly superior characteristics, no one will do anything. There are many unrecognized geniuses, whose proposals were rejected due to the fact that a couple of percent improvements in certain parameters are not worth the several times increased production costs. They are trying to improve the weapons and ammunition themselves, develop their own unique designs, but the result is only wasted time and frustration.
Even despite the fact that modern inventors do not need to sit in the library for hours, do each calculation by hand, redo the drawings ten times and try to carve out of wood at least some semblance of a model of the final product, about new talented gunsmiths "from the people" for a very long time Can not hear. Nevertheless, they are, although now, more often than not, they are designers and artists.
Let's try to evaluate the work of one of them, namely to get acquainted with the automaton, which exists only in digital form, and in it, the fastest, will remain.
History of the defunct machine THOR A1
Information about the new machine appeared back in 2014, many entertainment Internet resources posted not only images of the new weapon, but even its characteristics. Nobody reported anything about the origin of the "weapon of the future", neither the name of the designer, nor the company that was going to release this novelty to the market was known. However, very soon it became known that the new assault rifle was nothing more than just an idea and beautiful drawings by a young designer from Germany, so all the materials on this weapon had to be added to that it was not real, as well as its characteristics.
If we consider the design of the weapon itself, it becomes clear that a person loves and is interested in firearms, since most of the solutions that are used in the machine are rare, but not new. At the same time, it can be noted that a person did not bother with an in-depth study of the design of various types of weapons, since individual nodes have not been worked out, and some simply will not work in the form that was proposed. In other words, a concept was developed, and not a finished product, prepared at least for assembling an experimental sample.
Ergonomics and appearance of the THOR A1 machine
Talking about the appearance, as well as about the ergonomics of the weapon, is not the most rewarding occupation, since everyone has different tastes, and the ease of use is determined rather by habit and a reasonable arrangement of controls within the capabilities of a human hand. However, there are a few things to highlight.
If we talk about the appearance, then, I think many will agree with me, the weapon is beautiful, elegant, but not for field use. It's not even that dirt can get crammed somewhere or individual elements will be inconvenient to hold. It is just that a truly full-fledged, serial, military weapon for mass weapons does not have a single superfluous protrusion that would not carry any specific function during the operation of this weapon or during its production. In this case, one can observe good work of the designer and the headache of the milling machine. By the way, the author proposes to make the receiver from a titanium alloy, which in itself raises a smile.
Despite the fact that the appearance of the THOR A1 is more suitable for a fantastic action movie or a computer game, some solutions are quite sensible. First of all, you need to pay attention to the weapon controls. The fuse switch is located in front of the release button, that is, the automatic release from the fuse is carried out literally in a split second, while the hand of the arrow does not move anywhere and does not make unnecessary movements. The fire mode switch is located in a more familiar place for machine guns - above the handle for holding, within the reach of the thumb of the holding hand. The switch itself is duplicated on both sides of the weapon. Separately, it is noted that the ejection of the spent cartridge case can be configured both on the left and on the right side of the weapon, although this point has not been worked out and how such a switch can be implemented is not clear, since there are several options.
A separate advantage of the assault rifle is that even with the stock folded, the weapon remains fully functional. Speaking of the butt. The butt itself is not just an emphasis for firing, the butt is supposed to accommodate weapon care products. For us, this is more of a routine or even a mandatory phenomenon, but judging by the comments from abroad, many consider such a decision almost revolutionary, apparently they do not know that it was used in weapons that are older than the Great October Socialist Revolution.
The folding additional handle for holding the weapon raises a question, for some it seems to be an integral part of modern weapons, for some this additional handle is inconvenient and unusual, but the main thing in it is that it is not removable. That is, the machine loses the ability to install even a flashlight, not to mention the grenade launcher. It would be much wiser to place a mounting bar under the barrel, which allows you to install exactly what the shooter needs on the weapon.
But for the entire length of the receiver there is a mounting bar for sighting devices. The weapon does not have its own non-removable rear sight and front sight; instead, convenient for the shooter are installed. On the one hand, it is convenient, if you wish, you can install what you are used to, especially since the rear sight and front sight do not interfere with the addition of an optical or collimator sight. In practice, open sights will clearly be forgotten. And they will begin to remember them when more complex sighting devices fail, and the weapon becomes useless.
Well, and the most important thing that catches the eye is the curved, transparent weapons magazine, which is adjacent to the machine gun from the back of the receiver. If you look at this detail objectively, then it is obvious that such a store has both pros and cons only from the ergonomics side, not to mention the technical side of the issue. A clear plus is its capacity of 50 rounds, the plus can be attributed to the fact that the amount of ammunition is convenient to control and the balance of the machine does not change as the cartridges are spent. The downside is the procedure for changing the store. In principle, you can get used to anything, once they used muzzle-loading weapons and did not complain. However, when changing the box magazine, it is necessary to correlate the magazine only with its upper part with the receiver; in the case of the THOR A1 assault rifle, the magazine must go not only into the receiver, but also into the grooves on the back of the handle to hold it. That is, in a stressful situation, the store can be installed incorrectly with a bias, and this is the time spent on its correct installation, and if something else breaks or jam … In general, in order to take advantage of the store with a larger capacity, it takes a long time and persistent train in replacing it, up to automatism.
Machine design THOR A1
The THOR A1 assault rifle has not only a remarkable appearance, but also not the most common design. Honestly, there is nothing revolutionary in the design of weapons, individual solutions were used in certain models, nevertheless, no one has yet collected all this together in one weapon.
Taking into account the not quite ordinary design of the weapon, you need to immediately figure out the designations of individual parts. In the original, the red detail on the animation of the weapon's operation is designated as a bolt; blue, like a bolt carrier; green, like a dust cover. I suggest calling the green part the bolt carrier. And designate the blue one as the feeder.
You need to start with the unit for feeding cartridges from the store to the chamber, as well as with the reasons why this will not work in this form. Due to the location and design of the store, the cartridges in it are located perpendicular to the axis of the barrel of the weapon, therefore, in order to feed the cartridge into the chamber, it must be turned 90 degrees. In general, the task is quite solvable, but in this case it is somewhat more complicated. As can be seen from the animation of the weapon automation system, the rotation of the cartridge is implemented similarly to the ZB-47 submachine gun, but in this case the cartridge is much longer than the pistol one and is located bullet downward. That is, gravity plays against such a system of turning the cartridge, which means that the cartridge must be rigidly fixed during rotation. If you do not fix it, then at some point it will simply rest with a bullet and figure it out, and will not turn 90 degrees. How the fixation of the cartridge will take place is not shown.
After the cartridge is rotated 90 degrees, the feeder (blue part in the animation of the automation system) picks it up and places it coaxially with the barrel bore, so that the bolt can send the bolt into the chamber. The interaction of the entire bolt group is carried out using protrusions and grooves in the details, which hints at the sensitivity of the weapon to pollution, temperature extremes, and so on.
The bolt of the weapon itself does not move in a straight line, but in an arc, which, according to the author of this work, should have a positive effect on recoil when firing. It is difficult to argue with this statement, however, looking at the dimensions of the bolt carrier, it is easy to guess that it will weigh a lot, and this frame moves in a familiar straight line. The only thing that really justifies such a shutter device is the implementation of the supply of cartridges, since the shutter leaves the ammunition supply line.
Weapon automation, apparently, is based on the removal of powder gases from the bore and their use to set in motion the bolt group of the weapon. Precisely because the powder gases affect the green part, I propose to call it a bolt carrier, and not a dust cover. It is a little unclear how the barrel bore is locked, since changes in the trajectory of the bolt movement are clearly not enough for normal operation with relatively powerful ammunition. Most quickly, the barrel bore is locked due to the interaction of the blue part with the bolt carrier and the bolt, how exactly this happens is not clear, and it is unlikely that the author of the design thought this moment in detail.
A separate advantage is the barrel air cooling system. So the bolt carrier, in the course of its movement, should perform the function of a pump, which will capture cold air into the receiver from the side of the muzzle cut and release it already pleasant and warmed to the shooter's face from the back of the weapon. How pleasant it is when a warm breeze blows into your eyes especially when aiming, we will not argue. But it seems to me that if the weapon overheats when firing, then there is a "jamb" of the shooter or, less often, the designer.
Pros and cons of the THOR A1 slot
The main advantage of the assault rifle is its increased-capacity magazine, but you need to understand that changing a magazine with such a design is more difficult, not to mention the significant complication of the weapon's design for the possibility of feeding from such magazines. Assumptions that the recoil when firing will be softer due to the fact that the bolt moves in an arc can hardly be considered correct, since the bolt carrier moves in the same way as in common weapon models, and the bulk of the moving parts is occupied by the bolt carrier … The pluses include a reasonable and convenient arrangement of controls and the fact that they are available both when holding with the left and when holding with the right hand.
The main disadvantage of the weapon is the complexity of its design and the implementation of the interaction of the elements of the bolt group. Since there are only two springs in the structure (combat and returnable), everything is connected with the help of protruding elements and grooves along which they move. Accordingly, the weapon is very sensitive to dirt and grease, depending on the ambient temperature, and even a large mass of moving parts will not save the situation. Of course, everything can be done with huge gaps, so that the machine gun rattles like a rattle, but then the resource of the weapon will decrease, not to mention the reliability of the ammunition supply.
Conclusion
Of course, the THOR A1 assault rifle is a very interesting weapon in its design. In general, any non-standard and unusual designs have the right to life. Even if they are not applied here and now, they can be applied or taken as a basis in the future. In an extreme case, such constructions show how not to do it, which also has certain benefits, because it is better to learn from other people's mistakes.
As mentioned above, the weapon itself is nothing new, all solutions were somehow implemented in other samples. In other words, the THOR A1 machine contains everything that seemed the most interesting to the author of the design. As a result, the design is interesting, but unnecessarily complex.
Is it possible to implement all this in metal and bring it to more or less acceptable work results? In my opinion, everything is quite realizable, but what the final cost this will result in is anyone's guess. In this case, the weapon has only one single clear advantage - a more capacious store. So even a person like me, who loves everything unusual in weapons and even to some extent perverted, admits that two magazines fastened with duct tape look more profitable than the THOR A1 submachine gun. Apparently, this is precisely the main reason why these weapons are of interest only to Internet users, and not to weapon manufacturers.
Despite this, it should be noted that the work of the author of this concept is worthy of respect. After all, not everyone can combine even ready-made ideas in one design. Even if the individual units are not worked out, the design itself has a lot of problems and in the production of such a weapon will be "golden", but the person spent his time, drew really beautiful pictures, which many accepted as a really operating and existing machine gun. It should be borne in mind that the author is not a gunsmith, but a designer who is only interested in firearms. At the same time, there are a lot of people with education who either sit their pants for years, or put their diploma on the shelf and work in another specialty. It is scary to imagine what kind of "wunderwales" would have been developed by this designer with the appropriate education, knowledge and opportunities.
