Frontline officers, veterans of the NKVD, intelligence and SMERSH are familiar with this pistol. Created at the beginning of the century, designed with exceptional success, survived two world wars and claimed many lives. "Parabellum" is still in use. For the uninitiated, it is a mystery. The unusual design of the pistol and the stories of those who fired from it give rise to legends and speculations about the power of this weapon. Its sinister design has a compelling power. Communication with him can change a person's character. Parabellum is unique. In the entire history of the development of automatic weapons, no one has invented a pistol with a more original, effective and ergonomic design. For almost a hundred years now, this weapon system has aroused the professional interest of combatants, sportsmen, gunsmiths and, of course, intelligence officers.
It so happened that this pistol was designed sequentially by two German engineers. In 1893, the inventor Hugo Borchardt patented an automatic pistol with an unusual barrel locking system based on the principle of the dead center of moving parts - a bolt, a connecting rod and a bloodworm. The mechanical system was calculated mathematically, worked extremely reliably, had a very high accuracy of combat and impressive bullet penetration. But, as gunsmiths know, only beautiful weapons shoot really well. Borchardt's pistol design was disgusting. There was no weight balance as such, and therefore the pistol, which possesses ideal combat from the machine, did not hit at all when fired from the hand. It was the ugly duckling, just a working model of a successful engineering idea.
Seven years later, in 1900, Borchardt's theoretical concept was embodied in a real weapon system by another German designer Georg Luger, who completely changed the layout of the weapon. The pistol grip has acquired an optimal angle of inclination and has been orthopedically adjusted to the average size of the shooter's palm. In the inclined handle, the designer placed a return spring, which made it possible to significantly reduce the dimensions of the weapon and the mass of moving parts. It was possible to lower the barrel along the axis as much as possible - and the angle of throw during the shot decreased. The center of gravity has shifted forward - and the weapon has acquired an impeccable balance of weight. The pistol has decreased in size, has become lightweight and convenient. All this was achieved while maintaining the reliability, accuracy and design capacity of the system. Georg Luger pursued the goal of creating a portable, ultra-precise and long-range fire weapon for athletes, foresters, hunters and travelers, suitable for survival in difficult conditions, capable of suppressing the enemy at the maximum distance of pistol combat. But that was not all. The pistol was created for commercial purposes - in order to be bought. It was clearly worked on by an unknown, but talented designer in his own way. The appearance of this weapon tuned the psyche to the medieval Teutonic cruelty characteristic of German aristocrats. The pistol conveyed to its owner an incomprehensible destructive psychoenergetic - it inspired a feeling of offensive aggressiveness in the one who held it in his hands. It received the commercial name "Parabellum" (from the Latin dictum: "Si vis pacem, para bellum" - "If you want peace, prepare for war"). The ugly duckling has turned into a kite.
In the civilian commercial version, "Parabellum" was produced (and is still being produced) with a caliber of 7, 65 mm. At one time, it favorably differed in weight, linear and ballistic characteristics from the rest of the automatic weapon.
The Kaiser military in German was practical about the original design. They suggested that the inventor increase the caliber of the system to 9 mm and recommended that the pistol be adopted by the Bundeswehr. A 9 mm cartridge with a "cut-off cone" bullet (with a flat front platform, crushing the tissue of a living target when hit and causing shock) was specially developed for the pistol. With the increase in the caliber of the "Parabellum", its striking qualities have increased so much that they make an impression in our time. In 1908, this weapon system was adopted by the German army under the code name Pistol 08m (die Pistole 08). The fighting qualities of the new weapon were fully manifested in the maneuverable partisan and semi-partisan large-scale conflicts that swept around the globe after the First World War. At that time there was no better weapon of this class. "Parabellum" began to be produced in China, Mexico, Iran, Turkey, Spain. It was in service in Switzerland, Holland, Bulgaria and other states under the name "Borchardt-Luger".
The automatic pistol is based on a short back stroke. The movable weapon system is a barrel with a receiver, inside which parts of the locking mechanism and the percussion mechanism are mounted. The barrel with the front sight on the muzzle is connected to the receiver by means of a threaded connection. The receiver is fork-shaped. A shutter with an impact mechanism and an ejector is placed and moved inside the fork. The shutter is articulated with a connecting rod, and the latter with a bloodworm. The bloodworm has a massive tooth that interacts with the beveled surface of the pistol frame when braking the moving system after rollback. All articulated linkage on the device is a crank mechanism, in which the slide is a bolt. The barrel and receiver assembled with their parts can move in the grooves in the longitudinal direction. The bloodworm in the joints with the connecting rod has two rollers with a notched surface, made with it as a whole, which give the weapon an unusual look. Two deep cutouts on these frames allow the bloodworm to rest on the receiver so that the center pivot pivot is below the front and rear pivot pivots.
In the forward position, the bolt is locked, since the connecting rod and the crank form an obtuse angle with each other, facing downward. When fired, the pressure of the powder gases is transmitted through the sleeve to the bolt. The receiver prevents an increase in the obtuse angle between the hinge and the crank, and under the influence of the recoil force, the entire system described above moves back about 6 mm when locked. Unlocking begins after the bullet leaves the barrel, when the rolls of the bloodworm "run over" on the profile surfaces of the frame. The bloodworm begins to turn upward with the rollers, the articulated link quickly passes through the dead position, after which the bloodworm receives a sharp increase in angular velocity, due to the curvilinearity of the profile surfaces. The connecting rod and bloodworm are folded, the shutter opens. When the bolt is opened, the connecting rod cocks the drummer with a cocking tooth. The bloodworm is connected by means of a transmission lever with a return spring located in the handle, which returns the movable system to its original position after the cessation of the recoil energy. When moving forward, the bolt picks up the cartridge from the store and sends it into the barrel. When the trigger is pressed, the transmission lever mounted in the trigger cover acts on the release lever mounted on the receiver. The release lever pivots on the axle, releases the hammer that breaks the capsule. A shot is fired and the reloading process starts over. When the barrel with the receiver moves backward relative to the frame, the uncoupler "runs over" the lateral surface of the transmission lever and is installed inside the body. In this position, shooting is still impossible - you need to release the trigger.
In this case, the transmission lever moves to the side and releases the disconnector, which, under the action of a spring, enters from the housing of the release lever and becomes under the transmission lever. If you press the trigger now, the shot will be repeated. The trigger mechanism allows only single fire. Fuse in the "Gesichert" position - the flag is lowered, the fuse bar blocks the trigger. Locking the cocked striker is very reliable.
To load the "Parabellum" press on the magazine latch, then remove the magazine, equip it with cartridges. We insert the equipped magazine into the handle. The bloodworm grabs the rollers, moves up and down until it stops and releases. The weapon is ready to fire. The raised position of the ejector serves as an indicator of the presence of a cartridge in the chamber. This opens the inscription "Geladen" - charged. When the last cartridge is used up, the bolt is locked with a slide delay and the movable system stops in the movable position. In order to close the shutter, it is necessary to remove or slightly release the magazine and slightly feed the bloodworm back. In the presence of cartridges in the store and an open moving system, the crank is also fed back behind the rollers - in this case, the bolt comes off the slide delay.
Parabellum works very reliably. The supply of a cartridge from the magazine to the chamber eliminates distortions and sticking of cartridges - in the cramped space of the fork of the steel box, the cartridge simply has nowhere to "wriggle out". The pistol is not afraid of sand and dust - they are "blown out" up after a shot from a small opening window of the receiver after the spent cartridge case by the residual pressure of powder gases. The resource of "Parabellum" is 25 thousand rounds. It is interesting that the older and more "splashed" the mechanism, the softer its recoil and, accordingly, it "throws" less when fired. Due to the inevitably generated backlash between the parts of the moving system, the recoil impulse consistently acts on each of them and is not felt so sharply. With a preserved and well-groomed bore, the wear of the mechanism has practically no effect on the accuracy of the battle.
Maintenance, conservation, cleaning and lubrication of the Parabellum are carried out as usual. It should be noted that the German weapon steel, in contrast to the Russian one, is very "fond of rusting." Therefore, you have to clean it more thoroughly. The bore of the Parabellum is not chrome-plated. The Germans, like us, at that time did not know how to chrome barrels. The design of the "Parabellum" is thought out to the smallest detail and calculated with true German precision. In fact, this is a compact firearm, where the work of parts and mechanisms is based on the strictest engineering calculation. Every detail, its mechanical and weight balance in the process of interaction with other parts and mechanisms, metal resistance, are carefully calculated. From a mechanical point of view, the system is ideal - it uses the energy of the powder charge to the maximum to eject the bullet and minimally to reload the weapon. This is achieved due to the relatively small mass of the shutter and the specificity of its interaction with the rest of the moving parts. The weapon system designed only in this way could accelerate a relatively heavy (7, 9 gr.) Bullet to a speed of 330 m / s. short - 85 mm barrel. The barrel itself is drilled into a light taper and processed very cleanly. The accuracy of the "Parabellum" battle is absolute and has not been surpassed on combat automatic pistols so far - the spread of bullets at a distance of 25 meters fits within the diameter of a five-kopeck coin. The main sample - the short-barreled holster "Parabellum" confidently "gets" the target in the head at a distance of up to 100 meters. Pistols were also produced with a barrel length of 200 mm and an aiming bar, like a rifle, notched at a distance of 300 meters, with an initial bullet speed of 390 m / s. With an attached butt-holster, such a pistol was actually a lightweight automatic carbine. There was also a training version of the "Parabellum" caliber 5, 6 mm and a special model with a silencer for silent shooting.
Pistols, produced before the war at various factories in Germany, were of very high quality, with a large margin of safety with the highest manufacturing accuracy, and impeccable cleanliness of the working surfaces of the parts. "Parabellums", admitted in other countries from much worse materials, made not so carefully, also fired very decently - the quality of firing was determined by the engineering calculation inherent in the design.
The 9x19 cartridges used for firing from the "Parabellum" (they are called "08 Parabellum"), in terms of their tactical and technical characteristics and design features, turned out to be almost the most practical for the operation of pistol automatics. The sleeve of such an ammunition tapers slightly from the middle of the body to the muzzle (by 0.3 mm), which provides easy extraction after the shot. With the advent of submachine guns designed for this cartridge, the production of ammunition with the "cut-off cone" bullet ceased, and Germany switched to the production of "08 Parabellum" cartridges with an ogival (egg-shaped) bullet, most suitable for the automatic operation of a submachine gun. turned out to be so successful that since then they are still used for firing from the vast majority of pistols and submachine gun systems. Parabellum "bullet of such a cartridge accelerated to a speed of 470-500 m / s.
The features of the mechanism provide the pistol with a high rate of fire and increased bullet action on a target at long distances for pistol fire. It was designed for trained and trained shooters, but even a novice is easy to shoot and easy to hit. Thanks to the orthopedic handle, "Parabellum" sits in the hand like a glove. The barrel is located low - almost at the level of the shooting hand. The locking system opens up, and therefore the weapon "knocks off" when fired slightly. From the "Parabellum" you can make a quick quick fire. Some of the inconvenience of loading is compensated for by the amazing accuracy of shooting - at a line-of-sight distance in the forest, where he aimed, he got there. Moreover, he hit right away, from the first shot. It is very good to shoot from this pistol, keeping the enemy at a respectful distance. The inclined handle allows you to effectively shoot offhand from the abdomen, without aiming at the silhouette, by ear in the dark. This weapon is ideal for shooting at running targets. The mechanical strength of the pistol allows it to be used as a brass knuckle in hand-to-hand contact. Therefore, "Parabellum" was indispensable for frontline intelligence officers, saboteurs, special missions, mercenaries and terrorists.
In essence, "Parabellum" was the weapon of an aristocrat-hunter, but it could only hunt people with it. His appearance and the physical sensations it evoked aroused feelings of confident superiority and brutal inflexibility, in accordance with the fascist theory of the superman. These qualities of weapons amused both the sporting excitement of the German rangers in the fight against poorly armed partisans, and the bloodthirstiness of the SS officials, who amused themselves by shooting at the civilian population.
At the front, this pistol did not particularly show itself. Its accuracy and range turned out to be unclaimed against the background of the work of other automatic weapons, which solve tactical tasks with increased fire density. However, our officers did not miss the opportunity to remove "Parabellum from the killed German - as a personal holster weapon, it was incomparably better than a service TT."
Operatives, ours and the Germans, did not like Parabellum. It was not adapted to be carried in a pocket, there was no self-cocking, so necessary for a sudden oncoming collision, it was impossible to do with one hand to bring the weapon to the "fight" position. The fuse did not turn on inconveniently and did not lock the moving parts - when the fuse was turned on, the shutter opened. With severe pollution, in the cold, with a defect in the cartridge, thickening of the lubricant, the bloodworm did not completely close the shutter - the disconnector reached the transmission lever, and in this position the locking system stopped, because the force of the return spring was not enough. At long distances this did not play a role - to send a cartridge, it was enough to slap the bloodworm with your hand from above, but at close distances of a detective fight "point-blank" any delay could be the last.
Parabellum was difficult to manufacture. Its manufacturing technology required a lot of milling operations. Even the shop was milled. Therefore, since 1938, the Germans preferred the Walter P-38, not so accurate and ergonomic, but more practical and adapted to the conduct of sudden fire at close distances, although the Parabellum continued to be produced until the last days of the war. I saw a 1945 ersatz pistol with plastic grip cheeks and a magazine stamped from roofing iron.
After the Second World War, the production of Parabellum combat pistols was discontinued. It was not modernized - no one was able to create a more advanced automation system. Attempts by other designers to design weapons that work on the same principle have not been crowned with success. The concept of the relationship between the design of the "Parabellum" and the layout of its mechanism remained unsolved. The phenomenon of the effect of the external design of this pistol on the shooter's psyche has not yet been studied. In many countries, the combat version of the "Parabellum" is declared a weapon of targeted destruction and is prohibited from use. Despite the fact that over the past 50 years, a huge number of these pistols were sent for melting down, Parabellum has survived to this day. Interest in it does not disappear: "Parabellum" is a lust for weapon collectors and a hot commodity in military antiques stores. There are such weapons in museums, and in … arsenals of special forces - for particularly accurate work.
