Last time we settled on a relatively "ancient" Norwegian rifle, after first describing later samples of rifles of the Swedish army … here. And then there's Maxim's machine guns, who, by the way, was also involved in rifles … But in this case something else is important, namely that already around 1890, several such famous gunsmiths as Hiram Maxim, John Moses Browning and von Mannlicher decided that the time is coming for the so-called automatic rifles. And an automatic rifle is primarily a self-loading rifle. In appearance, and overall design, size and weight, it is similar to a conventional hand-loaded rifle. But she only shoots much more often than usual! However, the military around the world at that time was not interested in self-loading rifles. They were pleased with the five-round magazine rifles, which were durable and reliable. They wanted the soldiers to save ammunition, and not fire into the white light, as a pretty penny!
Swedish automatic rifle Ag m / 42B 6, 5x55 mm. Pay attention to the holes of the gas compensator on the barrel, up to the front sight. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
Nevertheless, automatic rifles began to be developed, and during the First World War, attempts were made to introduce them into infantry service in France and in Russia.
German rifle Automatgevär М1943. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
In Sweden, interest in the semi-automatic rifle woke up only in 1938. At first, several designers, led by Eric Walberg, tried to convert conventional rifles into semi-automatic ones. But it turned out that nothing would come of it. An interesting project came from the Finnish captain Pelo. He proposed a rifle with a barrel recoil with its short stroke. This system is very reliable, but heavy due to the design features.
But the Ag m / 42, designed by Eric Eklund of AB C. J. Ljungmans Verkstäder in Malmö around 1941 and put into mass production at Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori in Eskilstuna in 1942, turned out to be just the weapon that … the Swedish military liked. Moreover, about 30,000 units were manufactured for the Swedish army. In general, not much, and in the meantime, the standard rifle of the Swedish army remained the 6, 5-mm m / 96 "Mauser".
An early type of corrugation on the receiver cover of the Ag m / 42 rifle.
Norwegian "police forces" trained in Sweden during World War II also received Ag m / 42s and brought them to Norway after the German occupation units surrendered to the Allies in 1945. These rifles were not modified until the later version Ag m / 42B (and later this appeared).
This work was carried out in the period from 1953 to 1956, and the revised rifles were just designated as Ag m / 42B. This sample received a stainless steel gas tube, two characteristic handles on the receiver cover, new magazines and a new ramrod. The Ag m / 42B rifle in the mid-1960s, in turn, was replaced by the AK4 (the G3 rifle obtained from Heckler & Koch).
In the early 1950s, the license for the production of the Ag m / 42B was sold to Egypt, as a result of which the Hakim rifle was produced there, in which the Mauser cartridge 7, 92 × 57 mm was used. Sweden also sold factory equipment to Egypt, so the Hakim was produced on the same machines as the Swedish rifle. In the end, "Hakim" was converted into a carbine for the Soviet cartridge 7, 62 × 39 mm, which was named "Rashid".
Such funny "horns" appeared on the Ag m / 42B modification.
TTX rifle: caliber - 6.5 mm; barrel length - 1217 mm; barrel length - 637 mm; the number of rifling in the barrel - 6; weight - 4, 1 kg; magazine capacity - 10 rounds 6, 5x55 mm; sighting range - 700 m.
From top to bottom: Ag m / 42B, "Hakim" and "Rashid", on which a completely normal bolt handle has already appeared.
Well, now let's take a closer look at this rifle. It’s a very original and interesting sample. Let's start with the fact that the Swedish army weapons have always been distinguished by a certain originality, primarily concerning, as noted in one of the previous materials, the accuracy of fire. Actually, they somehow "did not want to create their own weapons," so the Swedish army was armed with Mauser rifles and Nagant revolvers. They adopted either Mauser rifles or Nagant revolvers … They borrowed a lot, even in what they had already done themselves. For example, in the Ag m / 42 rifle, they used a number of ideas from our SVT-38, which interested them in the most obvious way. But at the same time, the Swedes did not plan to re-equip their army with semi-automatic rifles completely: the main infantry weapons were still Mauser rifles. The bayonet on the Ag m / 42, by the way, was used from the same "Swedish Mauser".
Cover of the manual on the construction and handling of the Ag m / 42B rifle.
And here is about how to use the fuse, attach the bayonet and all the necessary accessories.
As for the originality and differences between the Ag m / 42 and the SVT, in Lyngman (this is also the name of this rifle by the name of the company where its creator worked), the first of them is this: the rifle does not have a gas piston. As in the M16 and MAC49, the powder gases are simply discharged from the barrel through a tube to the front of the bolt, and put pressure on it, throwing it back. As it turned out later, this only worsened the accuracy of the rifle's battle, which began to fall as the barrel heats up when firing. The lack of a gas regulator made the rifle more sensitive to the quality of the cartridges.
Diagram of the gas engine of the rifle Ag m / 42.
Interestingly, on the detachable magazine for the Ag m / 42B rifle, they installed not one, but two magazine retainers at once, both in front and behind. It is not very convenient to work with them. Therefore, it is easier to load the rifle from the clip, alternately inserting them one after the other from above. Why Eklund did just that is hard to say. In addition, the rifle is equipped with only one magazine. So it's better not to lose it under any circumstances. Although … well, why were the Swedes greedy? Well, we did at least … two!
Above the opening of the chamber, the branch pipe is clearly visible, from which the powder gases flow.
Since the rifle cartridge is flangeless, in this regard it is more convenient than our AVS-36 and SVT. But on the other hand, it is very difficult to activate it. Rather, it is not difficult, but you need to know how it is done. It will not work intuitively to charge and fire from the Ag m / 42B!
This is how the rifle is loaded from the clip. Cartridges without welts are, of course, very convenient in all respects.
The fact is that in order to charge it, you need to take hold of the conical protrusions on the receiver cover and push it forward until it stops, although usually all moving parts in the weapon during the loading process are usually moved just back! In this case, the receiver cover engages with the bolt carrier. Now the bolt group, that is, the frame with the lid, should be moved back. Now you can fill the magazine with cartridges from the clips, or insert the already filled one from below and slightly move the bolt group back and forth. As a result, the cover with the bolt frame will be disengaged, and the return spring will send it forward. The cartridge will be chamfered, the barrel bore will be locked by tilting the rear of the bolt down, and the lid will remain behind. Only now the rifle can be considered ready to fire.
Rifle magazine Ag m / 42.
Such a clearly sophisticated design takes a lot of practice and is supposedly designed to prevent its use in the event that it ends up in the hands of the enemy. Of course, we can say that the weapons of the opposite side are usually studied in advance, but in this case it is clearly not enough to simply “study” such a non-trivial mechanism. Here you will need constant training so as not to forget in battle what to move and in what sequence!
Rifle magazine Ag m / 42B.
Many shooters answer that the stream of gases from the gas tube hits the face when firing, and this is somewhat annoying. Very distracting when aiming and unusual, sticking out to the sides of the "horns" on the cover of the receiver of this rifle.
A device for firing blank cartridges, screwed onto the barrel.
True, the recoil when firing is small, as is the toss of the muzzle of the barrel, since both the mass of the rifle is significant and its balancing is good. A convenient sight is calibrated from 100 to 700 m, with a step of 100 m. So, in general, you can shoot from this rifle and hit the target, but you need to adapt well to it, otherwise you can get injured if you are not used to it …
