Last time in the article "Prospective weapons of the XXI century what they can be" we talked about the concept rifle (or the concept carbine of the American Martin Greer and the associated improvement of existing small arms systems related to this project. And the situation today is truly strange. that in weapons with a gas engine the limit of perfection has been reached, and it is difficult to disagree with this. Not without reason, all the improvements in modern automatic rifles go mainly along the path of upgrading and weighing them with all sorts of Picatinny rails. Well, they figured out how to place the reloading handle both on the right and on the left, especially for left-handed people. handle. "But … they do it. They increase the level of convenience. But on the new Kalashnikovs they didn't bother with this and … oh so they got worse from this? On the M16, too, the handle is not rearranged and nothing, somehow shoots.
A mock-up rifle using the latest cube design principles: "our answer to Martin Grier"!
Specifically, from the new after the war, only the bullpup system appeared, according to which there are several production models of weapons - for example, the French FAMAS rifle, the British SA-80 and the Swiss AUG. The goal, as everyone knows, was the best - to shorten the length of the weapon, and leave the barrel length the same. A long barrel is good ballistics and no one disputes that. But the French are rejecting their "Cleron". Although why would it be? Here is the data on the pros and cons of this weapon.
Pros:
The rifle is compact.
Possesses a high accuracy of the battle.
It can be quickly modified for both right and left shoulder shooting.
Allows you to shoot various types of rifle grenades, including mounted fire.
The weapon is quite ergonomic, there are removable bipods that increase the accuracy of fire.
The reloading handle is accessible for both hands, and does not go beyond the dimensions of the rifle body.
Has a high rate of fire, with a relatively low loss of accuracy.
Has a composite body.
It is considered a reliable design.
Minuses:
On the F1 model, the 25-round magazine can be inserted upside down.
There are only two rear sights on the sight: at 100 m and at 300 m.
When firing rifle grenades, two types of cartridges are used, if the wrong cartridge is used, the grenade can explode right on the barrel.
Has great recoil when firing a direct-fire rifle grenade.
The magazine capacity is considered insufficient.
Requires custom steel sleeve.
Not everyone likes the non-adjustable stock, the rear balance and the ejection of the shells near the shooter's face.
As a result, the Germans with the Heckler & Koch HK416 rifle and the Belgians with the FN SCAR are fighting for a new machine gun for the French army. Moreover, both rifles have a traditional design with a gas engine located above the barrel, a modular system and are equipped with all fashionable innovations, such as telescopic butts and numerous rails for attaching optical and collimator sights, tactical lights, target designators and all kinds of attachments.
Previous attempts to create "automatic rifles of the future" have failed anywhere, not in Europe, in France, or in the United States. The resulting samples had a lot of weight, about 8.5 kg, and turned out to be very expensive due to the presence of all kinds of expensive electronics on them.
The same rifle. Right view.
However, time passed, and electronics fell in price. Many technologies have been worked out, new high-strength plastics have appeared. That is, there is simply a mass of ready-made cubes, from which today you can, like from a Lego constructor, assemble anything you want. An example is the American rifle AR-18. In fact, the same M16, but with a gas piston. Stores for 20, 30 and even 40 rounds, that is, for every taste. The reliability is higher than that of the 16th, which was helped in spreading around the world not so much by quality as by good marketing. The Japanese began to produce it, but for a number of political reasons, they subsequently refused to release it. By the way, its barrel length is 494 mm, while the FA MAS has 488 mm, the SA-80 has 518 mm, and the AUG, depending on the modification, is 407-508 mm.
Left view. The electronic control unit is removed.
Hence the first conclusion: the barrel of a promising rifle should be long, with a relatively small overall length. The buttstock is necessarily adjustable in length, that is, the bullpup scheme disappears immediately. The modular design principle is a must. The rate of fire must be high, not less than 750 rounds / min, the bullet speed is not less than 950 m / s, and it is better that the entire 1000 m / s and above. The magazine has a minimum capacity of 25 rounds, but 50 is best.
And here is the second conclusion, so to speak "for growth", and its essence is that in the near future weapons should be manufactured at enterprises … making computers, and not those that are equipped with a whole arsenal of turning, drilling, milling and other machines., and transferring whole mountains of metal shavings. All this should be reduced to a minimum and, pay attention, all this is precisely what the development of technologies is going to do today!
Electronic control unit. Basically, it is a "cell phone" for communicating with your rifle. The microprocessor in it monitors the number of shots in the barrels, is responsible for aiming, communicates with the unit commander's computer….
Now let's imagine what you can come up with knowing all this and based on the trends and conclusions we know. At first glance, the conclusion is paradoxical: the rifle of the future must be a bullup, and at the same time it must not be a bullup. It should have a long barrel, but be short, have a minimum of "mechanics" and a lot of "electronics", but so that all of its cubes work with maximum reliability. Can all this be combined? It turns out - you can, if you think about it. True, what you see here in the photo is just a concept. It is clear that in metal this design may look completely different. But … for now, at the level of ideas, it looks like this. The name of the EVSH-18 rifle (Shpakovsky electronic rifle, 2018). And it is very possible that she will never see the light at all, but it is known that thought is material. Suddenly someone more knowledgeable, someone more intelligent reads, thinks and … will do much better.
Here it is, shown in the photographs presented here. The device (not shown on them and it is clear why - the concept is "not metal") is as follows: inside the case made of impact-resistant plastic there is a block of 25 barrels with vertical or longitudinal ribbing (which one should look better) for better cooling. There is empty space between the trunks. On the muzzle, respectively, there are air outlet holes located around each barrel. A flame arrester is located at the end of the housing. When fired, gases, escaping from the barrel, create thrust and thus pump air through the rifle body. The more intense the shooting, the stronger the thrust, that is, the well-proven cooling principle applied to the Lewis machine gun, which had a record rate of fire of 1200 rounds / min for its time, is implemented here. And did not overheat! Barrel length 610 mm, that is, longer than that of the RPK-74 light machine gun (590 mm). In this case, the total length of the rifle is only slightly more - 715 mm. Why did it happen? The fact is that in rifles and machine guns of a traditional design, behind the barrel there is a bolt, a return spring, a shock absorber and, in addition, a butt. There is practically nothing behind the barrels here, except for five vertical cylindrical gates, locking five barrels at a time. Each of them has a bevel gear at the top, and above all the gates there is a horizontal shaft also with five bevel gears and one cylindrical. The latter is turned by a worm gear at the end of the shaft, which goes above the rifle body into a small protrusion in its nose. It also has a pair of bevel gears and a three-position shutter control handle - forward, all the way to the left and all the way to the right. It is spring-loaded, that is, some effort must be applied to operate this handle. It is equally convenient for right-handers and left-handers to work with it. This transmission is needed in order to turn the shutters 90 degrees before loading. And it doesn't matter which way you turn the handle. The gates will turn and … a small hole will open against each barrel for air outlet. Why is this needed?
Rifle and accessories: control box and two cartridges. However, the last soldiers can take a lot.
The electronic control unit is installed. It can be installed both left and right!
But why, since the barrels are also chamber chambers, they can only be loaded in the old fashioned way, from the barrel! For this, two chargers are provided for the rifle - two cartridges, one of which contains 25 shots, and the second - 50, and the charging holes on them coincide with the barrels. The cartridges have spherical compressed air cylinders. The cartridge is inserted into the flame arrester, the cylinder turns left or right, a valve opens inside it and compressed air pushes the warheads into the barrels. But since they enter them very tightly, the air from the barrels is just vented through the holes in the gates, and the charges themselves reach the end of the barrels.
Muzzle and flash suppressor.
Now it remains to raise the lever, the protrusion of which locks the cartridge inside the flame arrester, and the air pressure remaining in the barrels will simply throw it out. The solution, as you can see, is unusual, but there is nothing super complicated in it. The usual magazine is replaced as follows: first, the empty one is removed (while the magazine latch is pressed), after which a new magazine is inserted and the bolt is cocked. In this rifle, the handle is turned to the side (this removes the lock inside the flame arrester, which otherwise prevents the cartridge from being inserted), then the cartridge is inserted, the cylinder is turned all the way, charging takes place, after which the lock lever is released, the cartridge is automatically removed, and the shutter control handle put in the forward position. That is, the number of movements is approximately the same.
Two cartridges. Latch view.
Two cartridges. View from above.
Rifle Mechanics. Two handles close each other.
The shutter control handle is in the "left" position. The cartridge lock is up. Now, in theory, air pressure will throw the empty cartridge out of the flame arrester receiver.
That's all the "mechanics" of the reloading system …
