Probably, I was not the only one who came across an incorrect classification of weapons in various catalogs, when the machine gun, for some unknown reason, ended up in the section of submachine guns. It would seem that there is nothing difficult in identifying a submachine gun in front of you or a submachine gun, no - just look at the ammunition, and if it is not a cartridge used in pistols, but this is not a submachine gun. However, many are misled by the fact that some weapons are very small in size, which makes them make such a mistake and attribute PP to submachine guns. In this article, I propose to disassemble 9 rather interesting samples from domestic gunsmiths, which stand out for their small dimensions, but at the same time are automatic. I skip the samples, which are shortened versions of full-size models, since the machines described below are made entirely from scratch, and shortening any weapon and making it are two different things. In general, you will not see AKS74U and others here.
It would be quite normal to ask why it was even necessary to create a small-sized machine gun when there are submachine guns. Artillery crews, crews of armored vehicles, drivers and others, for whom the machine gun plays primarily the role of a self-defense weapon, will easily answer this question. A pistol, as well as a submachine gun, is relatively suitable for armament, since, despite its small dimensions and weight, it cannot provide relatively accurate fire even at distances of up to 200 meters, not to mention guaranteeing the penetration of individual means. protection. Although some ammunition, which has appeared relatively recently, for pistols and submachine guns can be considered effective, they are clearly more expensive than the common 5, 45x39. In addition, such weapons will not be superfluous in service when protecting high-ranking officials, conducting anti-terrorist operations, and so on. At least, it will not be superfluous from the point of view of a fighter, but from the position of a passer-by, who can be very easily shot from such a weapon, being at a sufficient distance from the scene of events, such a weapon is clearly harmful. In any case, these samples of automata are needed, and the positive and negative consequences of their use are a completely different topic for conversation.
You need to start with a weapon that opened an account for models of small-sized submachine guns. To be honest, it is impossible to consider the sample below as a pioneer, there were several models of small-sized machines, since all of them were participants in the "Modern" competition held in the 70s of the last century. The best gunsmiths of the country took part in this competition, many of whose names are no doubt familiar to everyone: Kalashnikov, Simonov, Koshkarov, Konstantinov, Stechkin and Dragunov, whose brainchild will be discussed below. The small-sized assault rifle of Evgeny Fedorovich Dragunov was not chosen by chance in this case - this weapon actually already held the victory in the competition, but the desire to save money and the unwillingness to even slightly rebuild production brought victory to the AKS74U. Let's try to get to know better what could have been instead of "Ksyusha".
One of the interesting features of the small-sized assault rifle designed by Evgeny Fedorovich Dragunov is that the name of the weapon sounds like MA (Small-Sized Assault Rifle) Dragunov or simply MA. Designing such a weapon was not as easy as it might seem right away, the requirements that were put forward for participation in the competition were quite tough, however, this can be seen from the one who took part in this competition, these are, so to speak, titans among domestic gunsmiths … The main requirements that were put forward in relation to the new weapon concerned mainly the mass and dimensions of the new models, which, in principle, is understandable, given the specifics of the weapon. Also, a separate item was the ability to fire both single shots and bursts, while the effective firing range was supposed to reach 500 meters, which causes a sad smile. Apparently, even at that time, some people took their places by a happy coincidence. New small-sized assault rifles were limited in weight to 2, 2 kilograms, and in length no more than 450 millimeters with a folded butt and no more than 750 with an unfolded one. Interestingly, one of the recommendations was the maximum possible use of plastic, while quite recently the machine guns of German Alexandrovich Korobov were rejected due to the large amount of plastic in the design, however, the layout of the weapon also played a role there, and the appearance of the machines, as if they had come down from the pages of science fiction books, and much more, but back to Dragunov's small-sized machine gun.
One of the main features of the Dragunov MA is that its receiver consists of two parts, fastened together with a pin passing through the upper and lower parts of the receiver from the front. In the upper part of the receiver, the barrel of the weapon is reinforced, as well as the bolt, at the bottom is the trigger mechanism of the weapon, the same pin does not allow all this happiness to fall apart, in front and the locking mechanism in the back, which is controlled when the rear sight is turned 90 degrees. To service the weapon, it is enough to turn the rear sight and the receiver will show everything that is hidden in it. This way you can get access to all the mechanisms of the weapon, while completely none of the parts that are not reinforced during maintenance are left. Thus, the maintenance of a small-sized machine can be carried out even in the field, literally on the knee. It should be noted right away that it was not possible to meet the requirements that were presented at the beginning of the competition, but the deviations were not so significant as to remove the weapon from the fight, especially since the design and characteristics were very good. So, the weight of Dragunov's small-sized assault rifle is 2.5 kilograms without cartridges, its length is 500 millimeters with the stock folded and 735 millimeters with the stock unfolded, while the length of the weapon barrel is 212 millimeters, which, of course, is not the limit.
Interestingly enough, a folding butt was implemented in the weapon, or rather its fixation in a folded and unfolded position. This element is fixed completely independently in its extreme positions, but it is possible to remove it from the fixation only with the help of a button, which is located on the back of the weapon's receiver. The location of this button is such that it is very easy and convenient to press with the thumb of the hand holding the weapon by the pistol grip, therefore all manipulations with the butt of the weapon can be performed as quickly as possible. On the right side of Dragunov's small-sized assault rifle there is a fuse switch, it is also a fire translator. This element has two features at once. By its design, this element is "L" -shaped, fixed at the place of the fold. The small shoulder is the switch itself, the large one has the function of blocking the shutter when the fuse is on. Locking is carried out in the simplest way, so when you move the small shoulder to the position that includes the safety of the weapon, the large shoulder becomes so that it is in the path of the bolt handle. In this case, a large shoulder passes through a slot in the plastic of the receiver, which excludes accidental removal of the weapon from the fuse. The small shoulder, when the safety catch is on, is located so that it is at the level between the safety guard and the trigger. So as soon as the weapon falls into the hands of the shooter, he understands whether it is on the safety lock or not, which is especially important for a weapon that either shoots "once a year" or is constantly worn hidden and must be ready for use at any moment. Switching the fire modes of a small-sized machine gun or removing it and setting it on the fuse is carried out quite conveniently with the index finger of the right hand, but the left-hander will have to adapt to this weapon, since the controls are not duplicated on the left side.
The trigger mechanism of the small-sized submachine gun is hammer, has the ability to conduct both single and automatic fire. USM is made as a separate unit, which is mounted in the receiver with trunnions of the mainspring base and the trigger axis. In order to avoid friction of the trigger with the moving parts of the small-sized machine gun, the firing mechanism is made with a blockage of the trigger. Briefly, this feature of the trigger can be described as follows. The mainspring is a compression spring, when it is compressed, that is, when the hammer is cocked, at a certain moment it transfers the force applied by itself through the axis of the hammer, that is, it seeks to give it to the other side. When the bolt moves forward, the mainspring again takes its normal place and, depending on which fire mode is set, the trigger is or does not trigger. A bit confusing, perhaps, but the system itself is quite simple. This decision had both positive and negative qualities. Among the positive ones - first of all, the great durability of the weapon parts. The negative one can be attributed to the fact that it was necessary to act on the compressed mainspring to pull the trigger from the dead center, which made the moving mechanisms of the weapon lose speed, and this, in turn, led to misfires, especially when the weapon was operated in not the most favorable conditions and was contaminated. In the end, the designer managed to create a relatively reliable weapon scheme, which achieved both high survivability and reliability. The weapon's automation is based on the principle of removing powder gases from the bore with locking the bore when the bolt is turned by 3 lugs.
An interesting point was that although there were no complaints about the plastic parts of the weapon, the "jumping" of the machine was separately noted. When falling on concrete and touching it with the pistol grip, the machine gun jumped, tumbling almost a meter up. It’s hard to say what didn’t like in this feature; perhaps they were afraid of the huge amount of spoiled weapons that the servicemen will throw on the ground out of idleness, competing with whom the machine gun will jump higher. Sights were not the most common weapons. Instead of the usual rear sight and front sight, Dragunov's small-sized submachine gun had a dioptric swing-over sight designed for 300 and 500 meters, which, apparently, was done so that the weapon would fit at least one of the requirements of the Modern competition, but we will not go into the delusional requirement of effective fire at 500 meters from a small-sized machine gun, everyone goes crazy in their own way. The machine is powered by the same magazines as the AK74 with a capacity of 30 rounds.
By the time almost all work on this weapon was completed, it was noted that in terms of accuracy of fire it is not inferior to AKS74U, and in terms of labor intensity during production, it is completely equal to a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In addition, the small thickness of the receiver of the machine gun, as well as the convenience of switching fire modes, were separately noted. The weapon did not have elements protruding beyond its dimensions except for the bolt handle, which favorably affected the convenience of wearing in a variety of positions. Nevertheless, by the time the weapon was brought to mind, it had already been decided that the AKS74U would take the place of the small-sized machine gun, because the Dragunov's small-sized machine gun was thrown into a far corner, and was quietly forgotten about. Of course, in this case it is difficult to put something of the characteristics of the weapon above the shortened Kalashnikov assault rifle, except that the rate of fire in automatic mode was 800 rounds per minute, but this is a rather controversial plus, provided that the accuracy of both samples is the same. … Thus, we can conclude that this machine could still claim the place of AKS74U, however, there was still a question about the reliability of the weapon in the "field conditions", but we will probably never know these results. By the way, this small-sized machine is the last sample that Evgeny Fedorovich Dragunov completely carried out from drawings to an already debugged sample, this talented designer took only partial part in the work on the rest of the samples. So we can say that this weapon also has some historical value in the arms world.
The next example of a weapon, which is a representative of small-sized submachine guns, should be noted really one of the first models of such weapons. It was created as an experimental model, without any instructions "from above", entirely on the personal initiative of Pyotr Andreyevich Tkachev. We are talking about the AO-46 assault rifle, which was created in 1969, under the then still developing low-impulse cartridge 5, 45x39. Perhaps many will disagree with me, and I myself am plagued by vague doubts about how fair it is to consider this machine to be the first of the small ones, but when comparing the size and mass with other samples that preceded it, it becomes clear that this particular weapon was the first. in which it was completely possible to realize what is required from such a machine, namely: compactness, lightness, efficiency at medium distances. Well, the fact that the weapon may not seem very convenient is an integral part of the price for small weight and size, but first things first.
This machine is a vivid proof that not everything is visible from above, and if you do not poke your nose into obvious things with special persistence, then it is impossible to go far. So the small-sized AO-46 assault rifle is nothing more than a clear desire to correct the situation with the armament of those servicemen who do not conduct open actions with the enemy, that is, artillery crews, drivers, and so on, and in addition to them, armored vehicle crews. The lack of a weapon that would be both effective and at the same time could be constantly with the soldier without interfering with him performing his main tasks was a rather large hole in the armament of the army. Of course, we can say that a submachine gun can do quite well here, but the effectiveness of a “pistol” ammunition does not compare with the effectiveness of an “automatic” cartridge at medium distances, and situations are different, and you need to be prepared for them. It was this gap that Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tkachev decided to close with his model of a small-sized machine gun.
It should be noted that the work that the gunsmith did was really very difficult, not only had there been no attempts to create such a small machine gun before him, but also the ammunition that was used in it was new, and examples from which it was possible that something "to copy", was not. First of all, the designer carried out calculations that determined the barrel length of the future weapon. So, it was calculated that the speed of the bullet falls by only 145 meters per second with a decrease in the length of the barrel by almost half (410 to 215 millimeters), while the speed remains quite acceptable and is equal to 735 meters per second. Actually, this was the beginning, because the length of the weapon is quite strongly influenced by the length of the barrel of a small-sized machine gun. Further - only more.
One of the problems that Tkachev undertook to solve was also the length of the muzzle flame and the sound of the shot, which was quite loud. Of course, no one spoke completely about silent and flameless shooting, but it was quite possible to at least slightly reduce these negative phenomena. The solution to these problems turned out to be quite simple. From the muzzle to the receiver of the weapon, holes were made in the barrel, similar to those that are made in individual models of weapons with integrated silent firing devices. For all this, a muzzle device was put on, which was nothing more than just an expansion chamber in the form of a cylinder. This made it possible to sharply reduce the pressure of the powder gases before the bullet exited the barrel, and therefore to reduce the sound of the shot and the length of the flame. The small-sized pistol AO-46 does not have any flame arresters or other similar devices. In addition, this design of the weapon subsequently made it possible to develop a silent firing device for it and use it as a special machine gun, but this would be possible only if the weapon went into series, which, as we already know, did not happen. Reducing the sound of the shot and the length of the muzzle flame made it possible to use this weapon inside the premises and, which is not unimportant, it is quite comfortable to fire while inside the armored vehicles. It is noteworthy that this reduced the speed of the bullet by only 20 meters per second, and although in such matters the count goes literally by meters, this was still an acceptable indicator in order to conduct quite normal fire with normal effectiveness at medium distances. However, after all, no one planned to create long-range precision weapons. One of the features of this expansion chamber was the fact that it played the role of a chamber of the gas outlet system, and this solution was quite interesting and quite justified, since it would be very reckless to additionally remove the powder gases from the barrel bore, would increase the weight of the weapon, and also would drop the bullet speed by a dozen meters, which would not be very good.
Special attention was paid to the simplicity of the design of the weapon and its cheapness in production, while it was quite possible to sacrifice the convenience of the weapon. For this reason, it was decided to abandon the pistol grip of the small-sized machine gun; its role was played by a detachable magazine with a capacity of 15 rounds. Such a relatively small store capacity was due to the fact that it would be very inconvenient to hold the weapon for a thick store when firing, therefore it was made in a single row. In addition, in order to reduce the dimensions of the store, for a more convenient hold, the cartridges in it were located at a sufficiently large slope. This was supposed to negatively affect the supply of cartridges from the store, but the designer still managed to ensure that the weapon worked flawlessly, and the store, although it was not the most convenient as a handle, remained quite acceptable for confidently holding the machine gun. The use of a magazine instead of a handle was not at all a novelty; earlier in prototypes, many designers resorted to such a move in order to shorten the length of the weapon. So, a striking example of this can be the machine gun of German Aleksandrovich Korobov TKB-022 # 1, however, this weapon used a single-row magazine chambered for 7, 62x39 cartridges, and its dimensions made it really very inconvenient to hold it. So we can say that although Tkachev was not a designer who first used such an arrangement in machine guns, he significantly modified it, significantly increasing the convenience of handling weapons.
The automatics of the small-sized automatic machine AO-46 is based on the principle of removing powder gases from the barrel bore, with the barrel bore locking when the bolt is turned by two stops. Another interesting feature of the weapon is its very, very lightweight bolt, which weighs only 70 grams. In order to ensure the maximum accuracy of the weapon when firing in automatic mode, its design uses a trigger mechanism with a long striker stroke, its stroke is 80 millimeters, which makes the resting time in the forward position of the moving elements of the weapon longer. Actually, this makes the shooting more accurate.
The weapon controls are also reasonably well thought out in this small assault rifle. And if everything is more or less clear with the trigger and removing the magazine, then the translator of fire modes and the fuse switch may not be found right away, but it is, right above the trigger, very convenient and quite accessible for switching with the index finger of the right hand. It is a small lever on the right side of the weapon, which, despite its modest size, is quite distinguishable by touch, in general, it is enough to simply raise the index finger, and it itself lies on this control element. Separately, it is also worth noting that it is completely protected from accidental switching, since it is covered by protrusions on the surface of the weapon body. In order to exclude burns to the shooter's hands during intensive use of weapons, the metal parts are covered with veneer overlays. The sighting devices are also not the simplest ones, but represent a dioptric reversible sight, designed for firing at a distance of 200 and 400 meters. The butt of the weapon is metal, folds up and lies along the weapon, is fixed with a special latch. It is also noteworthy that the bulk of the parts of a small-sized automatic machine is made by stamping, which significantly reduces its cost in production, and also increases the production speed.
Well, and now the most important thing that this weapon has is its size and weight. The weight of the weapon together with the empty magazine, which serves as a handle to hold the machine gun when firing, is only 1, 95 kilograms. The length of the assault rifle with the stock folded is 458 millimeters, with 655 millimeters unfolded. The rate of firing in the automatic firing mode is 700 rounds per minute, the effective range of the weapon can reach 300 meters, which is quite enough for the tasks assigned to the AO-46 assault rifle.
It is noteworthy that this weapon, which was distinguished by its original design, passed all tests, including firing in unfavorable conditions (and this is with such a light bolt and a long stroke of the drummer), and almost got the go-ahead for mass production, but after much thought they decided to deprive the weapon of such honor and create competitors for it. Or rather, not even competitors, because AO-46 has already been made and tested, but to find a weapon with similar parameters, but a more familiar look. Actually, it was this assault rifle developed by Tkachev that was the basis for the "Modern" competition, and the product itself was thrown into the far corner, since on the way there were more customary weapon variants on the way. On the other hand, maybe it was right to give other designers the opportunity to participate in the development of a new small-sized machine gun, because grabbing the first thing that falls into your hands right away is clearly not a good decision, especially in the case of weapons that should become widespread.
Separately, it should also be noted that in the case of the small-sized machine gun AO-46 designed by Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tkachev, the development of weapons was really not in vain. In addition to the fact that this machine pointed out a clear flaw in the armament of the army and became the basis for a competition for a small-sized machine gun "Modern", some moments from this weapon can be seen in other samples. So, for example, the fact that the expansion chamber, put on the barrel, acts as a device for removing powder gases, to ensure the operation of automation, is implemented in a fairly well-known model of weapons - a special machine Val. True, there the role of an expansion chamber is played by a silent firing device, but the essence remains the essence. But such an innovation as a magazine instead of a pistol grip did not take root. In general, it is specifically about this sample that we can say that it was not created in vain, and despite the fact that it never got into mass production, it really turned out to be very useful. And just calculations of the bullet behavior of the cartridge 5, 45x39 at different barrel lengths played a big role, as they accelerated the development of other weapon models. Although, of course, everyone could do all this, but in this case the key word was “could”, but did not.
But back to the weapon that was submitted to the "Modern" competition. If the first machine considered in the article differed in that, in my opinion, it could well have replaced the AKS74U, the second was the basis for the competition, then the third and last small-sized machine in this article is distinguished by its originality of design. So, I am glad to present one of the most interesting samples of the competition for the small-sized assault rifle "Modern" TKB-0116 developed by the notorious Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin, the very same Stechkin who developed the APS pistol, well, this is so that no one else is confused with anyone). The weapon of Igor Yakovlevich really stood out against the background of other samples, but outwardly it was not noticed, but with a more detailed study of the device of the small-sized machine gun TKB-0116, one could be surprised at how everything is implemented in it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, and let's talk about everything in order.
As noted earlier, the main requirements of the competition related to the weight and dimensions of the weapon, the possibility of automatic fire and single-shot firing was also noted separately, and there was a recommendation for the use of polymers in the design of weapons. So, the weight of a small-sized machine gun should not exceed 2.2 kilograms, and be no more than 750/450 millimeters in length with the butt unfolded and folded, respectively. Nobody limited the designers in how exactly they would implement these types of weapons, and absolutely any automation scheme could be used, as long as the weapon would fit into the requirements that became the basis for the Modern competition. Despite the seeming freedom of action, the gunsmiths faced a rather difficult task and many sacrificed the weight and dimensions of the weapon, exceeding the permissible limits, striving to ensure that their sample worked flawlessly in any conditions and was as accurate as possible for a small-sized machine gun. The weapon presented by Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin was no exception, his machine gun did not fit into the set frames by weight and was quite a bit longer than necessary with the stock folded. The length of the small-sized TKB-0116 assault rifle with the butt folded was 458 millimeters, with the butt unfolded, its length was equal to 743 millimeters, that is, slightly less than required. The weight of the weapon exceeded the permissible limit by 110 grams and amounted to 2.31 kilograms. And here Igor Yakovlevich went to the trick and named the weight of the weapon with a magazine with a capacity of 20 rounds, naturally without ammunition, in the case of a magazine with a capacity of 30 rounds, the weight increased to 2.4 kilograms. However, such tricks were superfluous, since in that competition almost all the samples exceeded the set limits in weight and dimensions, which indicates how difficult the task was set before the designers, and after all, people who did not come to the armory just yesterday were engaged in the development of these samples. business, and already held specialists with big names. However, personally, it seems to me that the requirements that were put forward were a complete bust, since, in addition to the mass and dimensions of the weapon, it was required to provide effective fire at a distance of up to 500 meters, which simply could not be implemented taking into account the other requirements for the developed small-sized machine guns in within the framework of the competition, but back to TKB-0116.
Unlike many other gunsmiths who participated in the competition, Stechkin decided to take a longer path of developing his weapon and first made a model of an assault rifle, which did not fit into any framework of the competition at all, had a great length, albeit a short barrel, as well as a wooden butt … Only after the automation scheme was worked out for this model of the weapon, the reliability was maximized and it was possible to achieve acceptable indicators for the accuracy of the weapon's firing, the gunsmith began work on reducing the sample so that he could fit into the framework of the competition. It is difficult to judge whether Igor Yakovlevich did the right thing or not, since the result of his work remained only in the form of testing weapons within the framework of the competition, but it is quite possible to understand Stechkin. The fact is that his machine gun is built according to a rather original automation scheme based on the use of recoil energy with a short barrel stroke, while the barrel bore is locked by turning the barrel, which, in principle, is not difficult to implement, but to achieve reliability from this system when unfavorable operating conditions of weapons, and most importantly durability is not at all so simple.
It will not be superfluous to tell how this rather interesting system works. In its normal position, the barrel and the bolt are connected to each other due to the lugs that lock the barrel of the weapon. The barrel itself is made movable with the possibility of turning when moving backward due to protrusions on the barrel and grooves in the receiver of the weapon. Thus, when fired, both the bolt and the barrel begin to move back together, while the barrel begins to rotate around its axis and comes out of engagement with the bolt of the weapon. Through the lever, the barrel transfers its energy to the bolt, accelerating its movement, while the bolt, while continuing to move back, extracts the spent cartridge case and cocks the weapon. Having reached its extreme rear position, the bolt begins to move in the opposite direction - forward, pushes a new cartridge out of the store, inserts it into the chamber and rests against the barrel, pushing it forward. The barrel starts to rotate back, but already in the other direction and, having reached its extreme rear position, enters into a reliable grip with the bolt, well, after that the system freezes in a single fire mode or a new shot occurs, and everything is repeated again. To ensure the normal operation of the automation system, the designer had to pay a lot of attention to ensuring that the speed of movement of the barrel was high enough, therefore, a suction device was developed separately for this, which is both a flame arrester and an accelerator of the barrel - so to speak, a muzzle brake, on the contrary. Another interesting point is also the fact that the ejection of spent cartridges is not carried out from the side, but from the top of the weapon, while the window itself is covered with a curtain that automatically opens when the shutter moves back. It is immediately clear that such an automation system has its positive qualities in the form of softer recoil when firing, which is especially important for a compact weapon model, and its disadvantages, which are much more than it might seem at first glance. First of all, many questions are raised by the reliability of the implementation of the rotation of the barrel of the weapon. At the same time, in principle, in terms of reliability, more or less acceptable results can be achieved, but the fact that the wear of the weapon will touch both the barrel and the receiver is a clear minus, even for weapons that should fire infrequently. The second negative point is the susceptibility of such a system to various contaminants, and most importantly, to fine sand, which, if it does not jam the automation (after all, the mass of moving parts is large enough), then it will guaranteed to increase its wear. Well, and the most important thing is the price in production, since the implementation of such a system will be rather difficult, and there will be a lot of waste in the production process.
The small-sized Stechkin assault rifle is fed from detachable box magazines, while it is noteworthy that a separate store of direct design with a capacity of 20 rounds was created for the weapon, this magazine did not protrude behind the handle of the weapon, which made it possible to reduce the space occupied by the assault rifle in the same armored vehicles, and the weapon did not lost the ability to use magazines from a Kalashnikov assault rifle with a capacity of 30 rounds. The butt of the small-sized TKB-0116 assault rifle folds up, has a folding shoulder rest, and is fixed with a latch at the base of the front sight. Sights are represented by open devices in the form of a rear sight and front sight, the rear sight has an adjustment with marks of 100, 400, 500 meters, well, and the position of a direct shot. In the slightly angular and rather large pistol grip of the small-sized machine gun, there are means for servicing the weapon, which put this sample one step higher than others. The switch for the fuse and fire modes in the machine is located above
trigger, with a small distance to the side of the handle of the weapon, which may be inconvenient for people with large palms. Considering that the force when pulling the bolt to the rearmost position is quite large, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the bolt handle is made large and protrudes strongly from the right side of the weapon, which can negatively affect the carrying of the weapon on the left shoulder.
The small-sized pistol TKB-0116 reached the final of the "Modern" competition, in which he met his main rival PP-1, which later became better known as AKS74U, after winning and being put into service. When comparing these two samples, the advantage of the small-sized Stechkin assault rifle was noted in the following parameters: a lower level of sound pressure when fired at the shooter; lighter weight and shorter length of the weapon with the stock folded; less influence of the mechanisms on the accuracy of firing. However, all these advantages were rather conditional and did not make any of the TKB-0116 points significantly better than AKS74U. What is surprising is that when comparing both samples, it was noted that both of them tolerate various pollution equally well and work flawlessly in conditions that are not most favorable for firearms, and this despite the fact that the Stechkin sample should have lost to Kalashnikov in all articles because of its automation. However, there were other no less interesting samples of weapons that could well compete in reliability, and in accuracy, and in other characteristics with Kalashnikov and Stechkin. Well, we know the result of this competition of the most talented gunsmiths. Despite a fairly large number of weapons, which were better than Ksyusha in one way or another, none of them could compete with the weapons that had already been mastered in production, or rather its full-fledged model, but it was not possible to adapt production to a shorter model is a lot of work, and the costs for this are minimal. So Kalashnikov came out the winner in this competition, as well as in many others. On the one hand, I do not diminish the merits of Mikhail Timofeevich in the development of the domestic arms business, but sometimes I really want to see what we would have, if somewhere Kalashnikov lost to other armourers. And it’s also completely incomprehensible to me why many of the really promising models of weapons were simply abandoned and forgotten, when they could be gradually brought to mind and in small quantities, even if they were supplied to the army as an experiment, and suddenly something really worthy would be born and better than AK, as a result of the parallel development of other designs. Here is the same assault rifle by Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin, which is more than an interesting model, worthy of attention and further development.
On this I think it is worth finishing the first article in a series of materials about small-sized machines. There is a lot of "tasty" and interesting left ahead, including the models of weapons that were already after the end of the "Modern" competition, already for completely different ammunition. But I will not disclose all interests, I will keep a little intrigue. Oddly enough, but what Tkachev once showed with his AO-46 assault rifle really turned out to be a very important gap in the country's armament, and they decided to tackle this issue quite thoroughly. However, the last of the models of small-sized machines have already been created somewhat for other purposes and with other required basic parameters, but more on that in other articles.
