The birth of the rifle, or “our unfortunate rifle drama. Experiments with needle weapons in Russia Lefoshe hairpin guns

Research into this issue revealed that the reason lay not in the shortcomings of the rifle itself, but in the cartridge. Since after the shot the unburned part of the paper sleeve remained in the channel, the bullets of the following cartridges, when moving along the barrel channel when fired, had this residue in front of them; the bullet flew along with the remainder of the cartridge, as a result of which its flight was incorrect,” reducing the accuracy of the rifle.

It was necessary to change the design of the cartridge and ensure that the remainder of the cartridge freely flew out of the barrel without following the bullet.

All these studies led, during the installation of rifle production, to the need to introduce changes both in the rifle and mainly in the cartridge.

Rice. 75. Position of parts of the Karle rifle before firing

The hastily introduced changes, however, could not completely correct the matter. Complaints continued to be received from the troops about the weapons being newly issued to them. The troops pointed out frequent bullet misses, gas breakthroughs into the bolt, and needle breakages. All these shortcomings due to the slowness of the rework forced the abandonment of the Carle system. A total of 200,000 of these rifles were produced.

Carle rifle. The basic data is as follows: caliber - 6 l!in. (15.24 mm), weight with bayonet - 4.9 kg, weight without bayonet - 4.5 kg, length with bayonet - 184 cm, muzzle velocity - 305 m/sec.

The barrel is the same as that of a 6-line muzzle-loading rifle; during the alteration, only the chamber was cut to accommodate the paper cartridge inserted from the treasury. The barrel was screwed into the receiver ab (Fig. 75 and 76), and a trigger spring b was attached to it from below with an upward-curved end, which served as a combat cock d.

To close the barrel treasury when firing, a dd bolt was used (Fig. 77), which was a cylindrical tube with two yazh stands at the rear end and two combat protrusions; between the racks a handle 3 was placed (Fig. 78), rotating on an axis and passing through the racks; in its raised (Fig. 77) and lowered

in its normal (Fig. 75) position, the handle was secured using special plate springs; its combat1 protrusions “were intended to connect the bolt with the receiver; when the bolt was turned, they entered the corresponding recess in the receiver,

Rice. 76. Position of the parts of the Karle rifle after the shot

holding the bolt when firing, just as this is done by the protrusions of the combat cylinder in a modern 7.62-lsh rifle; in front of the shutter there was a movable head, under which there were several leather circles; their goal was to eliminate the breakthrough of powder gases during a shot, similar to how it was done in the Chasspo gun (see Fig. 76).

Rice. 77. Karle rifle bolt

Rice. 78. Karle rifle bolt handle

To break the cartridge primer, the bolt tube contained a firing pin with a mainspring and a clutch with a needle (see Fig. 75).

To fire a shot, the shooter pressed the trigger: the firing pin jumped off the trigger spring and (under the action of the compressed mainspring) rushed forward, as a result of which its needle broke the cartridge primer.

The cartridge for the Karle rifle (Fig. 79) consisted of a paper sleeve, a Minié bullet, a charge of gunpowder and a tray made from several circles of cardboard; a capsule was inserted into the tray; when fired, the front part of the cartridge case broke off at the bandage under the bullet and was carried away from the barrel; the rest of the cartridge case with the pan remained in the chamber chamber. The remainder of this moved forward when the next cartridge was inserted, and when fired, it was thrown out of the bore in front of the bullet.

The cartridge, in comparison with previous paper cartridges for flintlock and percussion rifles, was quite complex - the troops could only collect individual parts of the cartridge sent to them: capsules, pallets, gunpowder, iron cups for Mimieux bullets, which required more precise factory rather than manual fabrication in the troops.

The disadvantages of this unitary paper cartridge, in addition to the complexity of its design, were that the pallet, together with the leather seal in the rifle bolt, did not always protect against gas breakthrough; the part of the cartridge case remaining after the shot, in addition, contaminated the barrel. All these shortcomings forced us to turn to the introduction of cartridges with a metal sleeve.

In the second half of the 19th century. A lot of breech-loading percussion guns appeared (Fig. 1).

The bolt designs of various rifle models were fundamentally no different from each other. The gunsmith designers were faced with the task of ensuring reliable sealing, that is, the tightness of the charging chamber. Capsule breech-loading rifles did not justify themselves, so needle systems with a unitary paper cartridge were rightfully considered more promising at that time, among which Prussian needle guns made by S. Pauli’s student Johann Nikolai Dreyse were especially popular. The first example of such a gun was released in 1827.

Fig.1. Perry breech-loading rifle

The sample, made by the master already in 1836, was a needle gun with a sliding bolt, which used a unitary cartridge, the paper sleeve of which flew out when fired. At first they used an egg-shaped bullet, which was later replaced by a Minié system bullet. The percussion compound cake, replacing the primer, was located in a folder tray under the bullet. The striker needle pierced the powder charge and ignited the capsule with impact. Obturation in the treasury was achieved by tightly compressing the combat cylinder with a deep cup onto the conical edge of the barrel hemp, so that the powder gases did not get into the shooter’s face. I. Dreyze offered his rifle to the French government, but his development was rejected there. Only after comprehensive tests that took place in 1841 in Prussia, the Dreyse gun was adopted by the Prussian troops. The Model 1862 gun underwent minor design changes and was named the Model 1841–1862 gun.

The gun had an iron barrel, caliber 15.43 mm, length 905 mm, as well as four rifling (6 mm wide, 0.76 mm deep). The rifling stroke length (cutting pitch) is 732 mm, or 47.5 calibers. The sight was plate-type with 4 slots for shooting at a distance of up to 600 m. The weight of the gun without a bayonet was 4.65 kg, with a bayonet - 5.3 kg. Length without bayonet - 1424 mm, with bayonet - 1925 mm. The initial bullet speed is 295 m/s.

The cartridge case is paper (1.5 turns), with a glued cardboard bottom - a circle; the mass of the powder charge was 4.8 g - the relative charge was 1: 6.4. In front of the charge there was a folder spigel (bullet tray) with a cake of impact composition behind and a socket for an egg-shaped bullet in front.

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Rice. 2. Dreyse needle rifle model 1841. A schematic section of the breech of the rifle shows the moment of impaling the flammable composition

The bullet had a caliber of 13.51 mm, i.e. smaller than the caliber of the barrel itself. It was inserted into a deep socket of a folder tray, which cut into the rifling, compressed the bullet and gave it rotation. Bullet weight - 30.42 g. Cartridge weight - 40 g.

The Dreyse gun was the first breech-loading military gun, firing a unitary cartridge. At that time, the Prussian army, armed with breech-loading guns, was ahead of the armies of other states, equipped with cap and flintlock guns, which were loaded from the muzzle.

The Prussian needle gun Dreyse received its first baptism of fire during the campaign in Denmark in 1846. In the victorious battle of Almine, in which two companies of the 12th Prussian regiment, armed with needle guns, took part, experts noted their excellent fighting qualities.

However, for a long time there were doubts about the quality of the combat of needle guns, which were dispelled and finally refuted only 25 years later, after the campaigns of 1864–1866. during which the “new” rifle proved itself (especially in the Battle of Sadovo) with the most the best side. After this, all states hastened to arm their armies with breech-loading rifles. To do this, specialists from some countries, following the example of Prussia, began to convert muzzle-loading rifles to breech-loading ones, while others immediately switched to new breech-loading rifles.

Fig.3. Minie bullet for Veltishchev cartridge

The disadvantages of the Draize system compared to the new French Chassepot needle guns (model 1866) became apparent during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. Even before the war, the German inventor Beck proposed an improved Dreyse rifle using a conical bullet built on the “plug and needle” principle*. Such a bullet increased the range from 600 to 1200 steps, qualitatively changing the trajectory and enhancing the penetrating effect of the bullet. Back's proposal was not accepted, but it was remembered during the war of 1870–1871, when the advantages of the Chassepot gun were discovered.

But time was lost and this interesting development was never brought to life. The Dreyse system lasted in Prussia for 30 years - a fairly long period for a time when new weapon systems became obsolete within 10 years.

As we remember, Dreyse offered his rifle to the French government, but was refused. And we must pay tribute to the French, they justified their refusal, albeit with a delay of 30 years. In 1866, the foreman of the arms factory A.A. Chassepot (1833–1905) offered the French government his 11 mm rifle, which was more advanced than Dreyze's gun. All the parts in the Chasspo system were well designed, using the latest developments in gun mechanisms. The bolt of the gun was sliding, the barrel was locked by turning the handle to the right, the bolt rotated 90° and its ridge entered into the cutout of the receiver. The trigger was not cocked automatically, but required a separate technique to cock it. There was a roller under the trigger to facilitate sliding of the shutter. Obturation was achieved using rubber circles placed on the front part of the bolt, which fits into the breech of the barrel.

These guns were chambered for a paper cartridge; the primer was placed in the breech of the cartridge, which was located behind the powder charge in the cartridge's cardboard tray. Thanks to this design of the cartridge, the firing pin needle was significantly shorter than in the Dreyse rifle, and therefore stronger. When fired, the cartridge case partially burned out and partially flew out of the barrel. If the cardboard tray remained in the chamber, then during the next loading it was pushed forward (in general, an ejector was not needed in needle guns).

The mass of the bullet was 23 g, the powder charge was 5.5 g. The maximum flight range of the bullet was 1800 m. The initial speed of the bullet was 430 m/s. The sight had divisions up to 1200 m, the length of the aiming line was 690 mm. The highest rate of fire is 19 rounds per minute without aiming, with aiming - 8–10 shots. The Dreyse rifle fired 5–9 rounds per minute, but had better combat accuracy. The barrel length of the Chasspo shotgun is 825 mm; rifle length without bayonet - 1313 mm; with a bayonet - 1890 mm, gun weight - 4100 g. The Chasspo gun showed excellent performance during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).

It must be said that losses from needle rifle fire in battles where one of the sides was armed with percussion muzzle-loading guns was 1:9! That is why interest in the needle system has continuously increased. In Russia, perhaps the first needle weapon was a pistol made in 1835 in Reval (now Tallinn) by G.F. Bartner. In 1856, in Riga, Andrei Gunst made the first needle gun, which had a very complex and unreliable bolt.

In the 60s of the 19th century. The weapons commission examined and tested a number of needle systems proposed by Russian gunsmiths: Adjutant General Totleben (1866), gunsmith Lebedev (1860), engineer-captain Vyatkin (1867), mechanical engineer from Riga Ludwig Andre (1867), Captain Kletochnikov (1868), Captain Galindo (1868), gunsmith Trummer, Staff Captain Terentyev (1860), Colonel Chagin (1865), Lieutenant Tishcheninsky (1865). ), Andreev (1867, with a sliding shutter), Averyanov (1868), Norman (1868), Konchevsky (1868).

For one reason or another, some systems were rejected, while tests of others were constantly postponed. In 1866, the Englishman I. Karle proposed his needle system. Comprehensive tests were carried out under the leadership of a prominent gunsmith, Colonel N.I. Chagina. During the tests, many shortcomings were identified. The Karle rifle needed a radical overhaul. I. Karle did not bother remaking his own rifle; a group of Russian gunsmiths led by the above-mentioned N.I. took on this work. Chagin. The masters of the Tula and Izhevsk arms factories worked on its improvement. Significant changes to the needle rifle were made by Taile, Zwickert and Fedor Nagel. Under Chagin's leadership, the shape of the charging chamber was changed, seven different samples of paper cartridges were tested, until finally they accepted the cartridge with the Minier bullet proposed by the chairman admissions committee Sestroretsk plant by Colonel Veltishchev.

The pace of testing the rifle was amazing. Having barely fired 2000 shots from it, on March 28, 1867, the needle rifle was put into service.

The great contribution of Russian gunsmiths to the creation of the needle rifle was also mentioned in the order of the GAU (Main Artillery Directorate): “... due to many inconveniences indicated by experiments in the original Karl model, significant changes were made to it, so that the real sample of the needle rifles adopted by us is no longer can be considered identical with the original Karl model.As a result of this... rifles converted and manufactured using the needle system are given the name “quick-firing needle rifles.”

V. Buyanovsky and P. Belderling, who took part in the creation of the needle rifle, noted the originality of its design, and D.A. Milyutin (Minister of War 1861–1882), comparing it with the then considered the most advanced French Chassepot rifle, wrote on January 6, 1869 in his report to the Tsar that the Chassepot rifles “in all respects should be recognized as inferior to our needle ones.” The 1867 model needle rifle had a caliber of 15.24 mm, a weight of 4.5 kg, and a length of 1340 mm.

The Minie bullet, weighing 34.64 g, developed an initial speed of 305 m/s. Sighting range the infantry rifle had a range of 600 paces (427 m), the rifle rifle had a range of 1,200 paces (853 m), and the rate of fire was 9–10 rounds per minute.

The haste with which the army was rearmed with needle rifles (the reasons are clear - the results of the Crimean War) led to the fact that those proposed in 1867–1868. The Armory Commission rejected the samples of needle rifles of Russian gunsmiths, despite the fact that they were recognized as “superior” in comparison with the “quick-fire needle rifle” of the 1867 model adopted for service.

Many Russian gunsmiths proposed their development of needle rifles, and among them were captain-captain Terentyev (1867), engineer-captain Vyatkin (four-line rifle chambered for the Potte cartridge with pyroxylin (smokeless) gunpowder (1867), gunsmith Vasily Lebedev.

Needle rifles were the fastest-firing rifles chambered for paper cartridges. Their rate of fire was 9–10 rounds per minute. They passed military tests, during which all noted shortcomings were identified and then eliminated. After extensive testing, the production of Veltishchev cartridges was established in Russia, and 215,500 of the rapid-fire rifles themselves were produced.

They entered service with the troops of the Caucasus, Turkestan, Orenburg, West Siberian, and East Siberian military districts. The rearmament of these districts ended in 1874. Russian soldiers fought with these rifles on the Caucasus Front during the Russian-Turkish War in 1877–1878. and they took Kare and Ardagan, Erzurum and Bayazet.

In the late 60s - early 70s of the 19th century. the armies of some states were armed with repeating rifles chambered for a metal cartridge (Spencer, Henry-Winchester in the USA, Vetterli in Switzerland), and the needle rifle with its unitary paper cartridge had already become an anachronism. YES. Milyutin wrote on this occasion that such a rifle could only be adopted “pending the introduction of another, more advanced weapon.”

The unitary paper cartridge used in the needle rifle was replaced by a unitary metal cartridge, which opened a new page in the history of small arms.

In 1809, a young German, Johann Dreyse, came to Paris. After some time, he became an apprentice to the famous gunsmith Samuel Pauli, who produced shotguns and pistols, and also produced original products and finished cartridges. By the way, he is the author of one of the unitary cartridges.

In September 1812, Pauli patented a gun loaded from the breech with metal cartridges, which immediately attracted the interest of the military and, most importantly, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. However, the complex device and the need to supply each specimen with “individual” cartridges prevented mass production, and the following year the emperor had no time for it... Returning to his homeland, Dreyse created five new smooth-bore weapon systems with flintlocks. At the same time, he ingeniously attached the primer to the bottom of the bullet. The firing pin, passing through the charge, pierced the capsule.

Inventor Draize

The inventor Dreyse managed to interest the Prussian military in needle rifles and receive funds from them to improve the needle gun. It took him a decade, but he eventually came up with a successful design. His rifle was loaded from the breech with ready-made cartridges that had a paper sleeve with a cardboard bottom. Dreyse did not forget the experiments of his Parisian mentor. The capsule was located between the bullet and gunpowder in a special tray - Spiegel.

At first, Dreyse used an egg-shaped bullet, and from the late 40s - a pointed one, created by Minier, already known to us. By the way, paper cartridges made it possible to simplify the supply of ammunition to troops, since they could be made in any army workshop. The breech of the rifle was locked with a horizontally sliding tubular bolt, and its front part - the combat cylinder - rested against the edge of the barrel, providing a reliable seal.

Cross-section of a Dreyse system needle rifle:

1 - cartridge, 2 - needle, 3 - hammer, 4 - spring. The position of the parts is shown at the moment of the shot.

Inside the bolt was a spiral mainspring that wrapped around a firing pin with a long needle at the end. There were 4 grooves in the barrel, the range of aimed fire reached 600 m. In general, Dreyza managed to immediately solve the main problems - range, rate of fire (5 - 6 rounds per minute) and ease of loading.

The design of the cartridge for the Dreyse system needle rifle:

1 - bullet, 2 - Spiegel, 3 - capsule, 4 - gunpowder.

In 1840

In 1840, the Dreyse needle rifle was tested, approved, and after some time adopted by the Prussian army under the vague name “light cap gun model 1841.” The fact is that, having immediately appreciated the merits of the Dreyse rifle, the Prussian military leaders tried to classify it and for a number of years it represented the most important military secret of Prussia, which was almost disclosed during the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1848 - 1849, when the rebels broke into the Berlin arsenal.

The new weapon first made its appearance in 1864, in the war against Denmark. It is curious that the winners were most concerned about the unexpectedly high consumption of ammunition, because now the shooter only had to pull back the bolt, insert a cartridge, return the bolt to its place, take aim and press the trigger. No manipulations with gunpowder, bullet, wad or cleaning rod! When fired, the paper cartridge burned out, and its remains were thrown out through the barrel with powder gases; It was possible to shoot while lying down, which at first, of course, irritated the ardent “fruntoviki”, who saw a coward in every soldier who lay down.

Cartridge for the Karle system needle rifle:

1 - Minie bullet, 2 - expansion cap, 3 - gunpowder, 4 - primer.

Combat experience of the Austro-Prussian War 1866

The combat experience of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 accelerated the revision of tactics. So, at first, according to a long-standing tradition, the Austrians went on the offensive in closed columns, which presented an excellent target for the Prussians armed with long-range rifles. The result was immediate - on June 27, in the battle of Trautenau, the Austrians, coming under concentrated enemy fire, lost over 3.5 thousand soldiers and officers, while the losses of the Prussians were three times less.

After this war, almost all armies finally abandoned attacks in dense combat formations; soldiers began to be taught to look for natural shelters on the ground, to camouflage themselves, and to lie down under fire. The war showed the undoubted advantage of breech-loading needle rifles over muzzle-loading guns, and many countries began to hastily acquire them.

Prussian infantry needle rifle of the Dreyse system, model 1851. Total length - 1420mm, barrel length - 910mm, caliber - 15.4mm.

The French, defeated in the war of 1870-1871, soon created their own designs. Master of the artillery arsenal A. Chaspo used an improved cartridge with a primer on the bottom of the cartridge case. This made it possible to shorten the needle, which improved its strength. The rifle has become more reliable. In Russia, a similar rifle was adopted for service in 1867.

In the same year, the Italians acquired similar weapons, developed by an artillery officer from Turin, S. Carcano. By the way, since then French and Italian rifles began to be called by the names of the inventors.

The first example of a Lefoshe gun (1832), which used cartridges with fire tubes. Total length - 1140 mm, barrel length - 710 mm, caliber - 15.6 mm.

Cartridge with fire tube for Lefoshe's first gun.

By the end of the 70s, needle guns, rifles and pistols had significant shortcomings. Long and thin needles often broke, and the weapon was out of action for a long time; unburned shreds of cartridges accumulated in the barrel; powder gases sometimes broke through the bolt and hit the shooter in the face. And yet, the Dreyse system fulfilled its purpose, opening up the possibility of mass production and use of breech-loading, rifled rifles.

French hunting rifle of the Lefoshe system.

Total length - 1160mm, barrel length - 760mm, caliber - 17.8mm.

K. Lefoshe

History of manual firearms would be incomplete without a story about the once famous designs of the Frenchman K. Lefauchet. By the way, it was from them that the development of combat and hunting systems diverged. After seven years of hard work, in 1832, Lefauchet patented a lightweight double-barreled shotgun. Undoubtedly, he was strongly influenced by Pauli, who developed unitary cartridges; on early samples he even indicated the place of manufacture: “Pauli’s former workshop.”

The Lefoshe gun barrels were positioned horizontally and, when reloading, folded down, opening the breech for storing cartridges. Such guns began to be called breaking guns. To be fair, let us recall that similar structures existed back in the 18th century, but the Parisian found a more advanced way of locking the barrels.

The fact is that its predecessors used a simple latch, which became loose over time, and the weapon became unsafe for the owner. In Lefoshe’s “break”, the barrels were held tightly by a special eccentric, which entered into two under-barrel hooks after the shooter turned the long lower lever. This locking system was usually named after its creator.

French double-barreled 25-round revolver shotgun chambered for a pin cartridge, produced by the Lefoshe company in the 60s of the 19th century.

Total length - 1000 mm, barrel length - 565 mm, caliber - 9.5 mm.

Lefoshe unitary cartridge

In addition, Lefoshe invented a unitary cartridge, consisting of a metal case with gunpowder, a bullet (or shot), a wad and a fire tube for the primer welded on top. This was precisely the gunsmith’s original idea - to place the fire tube not on the weapon itself, as it was before, but on the cartridge case. Now the owner of the gun could carry several fully loaded cartridges in his bandoleer, which only needed to be inserted into the breech.

We must pay tribute to Lefoshe - quickly assessing the merits of his cartridge and identifying its shortcomings, he promptly, by 1837, created the now famous improved pin cartridge. It is quite possible that the protruding fire pipe gave him the idea to find some kind of replacement for it. Lefoshe removed the primer inside the sleeve, and from it brought out a small pin-pin. After the trigger hit it, it moved and pierced the capsule.

English hunting rifle of the central fire of the Lancaster system.

Total length - 1170mm, barrel length - 770mm, caliber - 18mm.

Lefoshe sleeve

The Lefoshe cartridge case itself was cardboard, with a copper bottom, next to which a pin was mounted, by which this ammunition can be easily identified. A cut was made for it in the breech, and when reloading, the shooter grabbed the pin and pulled out the spent cartridge case to insert a new cartridge. The impact mechanism was a modified capsule lock with a flat trigger head to make it easier to hit the pin.

Lefoshe hairpin guns

In the 40-50s, many manufacturers produced Lefoshe pin guns and also imitated his products. Thus, the famous Prague master A. Lebeda positioned the barrels vertically, the Frenchman Gastinn-Renette made guns in which the barrels moved away when reloading, but the mechanism turned out to be too complex and capricious.

St. Petersburg master Florian Vishnevsky proposed a cartridge in which the pin was located not on the side, but in the center of the cartridge case - in fact, this was the prototype of the central firing cartridge that appeared a little later.

The cartridge was ignited by the percussion composition of the primer, located at the bottom of the bullet. The bullet easily entered the rifling, and the paper cartridge burned along with the powder gases, and its remains were thrown out through the barrel. The gun was proposed in 1827 by the German gunsmith I. N. Dreyse, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to fire a unitary cartridge from guns loaded from the muzzle. The first model was introduced into the Prussian army in 1840. The Prussian military highly appreciated the qualities of the new weapon and kept its data secret, denoting vaguely in the documents “a light capsule gun of 1841.”

The appearance of unitary cartridges with a metal sleeve in 1860 led to the displacement of needle rifles, the shortcomings of which were no longer tolerated. But the shortcomings were serious - the needle that ignited the primer was in the chamber during the shot, which did not contribute to its durability. The Prussians considered it normal to have three needles for 60 rounds of ammunition - so often they failed. Scraps of paper cartridges that did not burn completely when fired clogged the barrel, leading to increased wear. The rotary-sliding bolt (which gave rise to the most common bolt design) often crushed the paper sleeve during chambering. The problem of obturation of powder gases was never solved.

Dreyse rifle

The Dreyse gun cartridge consisted of a paper cartridge case with a powder charge, a folder pin with a percussion compound cake pressed into the back and a recess in the front, and an egg-shaped bullet, which was inserted into this recess and held in front by the compressed edges of the cartridge case. To ignite the primer, a needle was arranged passing through the bottom of the channel, which was first struck by an ordinary trigger of a gun lock, and then the latter was replaced by a sliding lock with a coil spring. Since before loading, first of all, it was necessary to cock the hammer, that is, to pull the end of the needle back from the channel, otherwise a shot was inevitable during loading, and since one could always expect that a shooter in combat would forget to first cock the needle before hammering the cartridge from the muzzle, then Dreyse suggested doing without a ramrod, making a cartridge with a gap so that under the influence of weight it easily reached the bottom of the channel when loading; but this resulted in poor accuracy, the possibility of partial misfires and frequent loss of a cartridge from a loaded gun. Thus, Dreyse inevitably came to the need to load from the treasury. He developed a sliding shutter; the diameter of the folder pin in the cartridge was slightly larger than the diameter of the barrel along the margins; when the trigger was pulled, the needle pierced the bottom of the cartridge case, passed through the charge and ignited the primer; when fired, the spiegel crashed into the rifling and, tightly squeezing the bullet, imparted rotation to it.

The Dreyse 4.8-line gun, proposed in Prussia in 1836, after careful testing, was adopted for infantry under the name mod. 40, the use of a unitary paper cartridge and a sliding bolt increased the rate of fire by 4-5 times, but did not cause imitation in other armies for a long time, since many military authorities recognized the rate of fire of a gun as even harmful and dangerous from the point of view of wasting cartridges and difficulties in in battle, maintain fire control in the hands of the commander; loading from the treasury and a unitary cartridge were considered useful only in view of the convenience of loading when shooting while lying down, from a horse, through loopholes, when using a ramrod was inconvenient; nevertheless, attention was paid to a completely satisfactory obturation. Therefore, in France, where Dreyse began his work before turning to Prussia, his gun was not accepted. In Russia, after testing in the 1850s, Dreyse guns were also considered inconvenient. Only after Civil War in the USA (1861-1865) and especially after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, especially in the Battle of Königgrätz, when the Prussians easily outplayed the Austrians, the success of the Prussians was entirely attributed to their gun and the needle gun attracted the attention of other states.

Chassepot rifle

In France, in 1866, a 4.3-line rifle was adopted, the bolt of which, developed by Lieutenant Chassepot, was better than that of Draize in terms of obturation, thanks to the rubber circles under the cap of the fungus inserted in front of the bolt, as well as the shortening of the needle, as a result of which it broke less often; the shortening of the needle was achieved by placing the primer in the folder bottom of the sleeve; the compression system bullet cut itself into the rifling, so there was no need for a bullet pin. The hammer was cocked not in two steps, as with Dreyse, but in one step when closing the bolt. Thanks to a good seal and a higher initial bullet speed (420 m/s instead of the then usual 300 m/s), the accuracy of the Chassepot gun was greater.

Carle rifle

In 1868, the German Karle, who lived in Great Britain, received a patent for his own needle gun system, in general very similar to the Chassepot system. This system was used in Russia to convert a 6-line rifle into a breech-loading one. In the Karle shutter the needle was even shorter, and in the shutter the rubber mugs were replaced by leather ones. For his cartridge, Karle took the Minié bullet with a cup in the bottom, which was also used in Russian 6-line guns loaded from the muzzle and placed it more than half in a paper sleeve with a folder tray glued together from three circles, with an average smaller diameter, the capsule was pressed in; and near this mug, the sleeve is crimped on the outside and tied with woolen thread, which contributes to a better seal. When firing, the shutter needle had to pierce only the rear circle. Several hundred converted rifles successfully withstood combat tests in Turkestan. But due to the high cost of conversion and the difficulty of manufacturing cartridges, as well as the general shortcomings of paper cartridges, further conversion of guns according to the Karle system was suspended, and the remaining rifles were converted according to the Krnka system for a cartridge with a metal sleeve, proposed in 1868. Needle rifles in Russia were almost immediately replaced by the Berdan rifle No. 1 in 1868 (an episode of the “unhappy gun drama”).

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Literature

• Military Encyclopedia / Ed. V. F. Novitsky and others - St. Petersburg. : company of I.V. Sytin, 1911-1915.
• In pursuit of power. Technology, armed forces and society from the 11th to the 20th centuries / McNeil, Ulyam - M.: Publishing house "Territory of the Future", 2008. - p. 287

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Excerpt characterizing the Needle Gun

They stood silently opposite each other. The old man's quick eyes were directly fixed on his son's eyes. Something trembled in the lower part of the old prince’s face.
- Goodbye... go! - he suddenly said. - Go! - he shouted in an angry and loud voice, opening the office door.
- What is it, what? - asked the princess and princess, seeing Prince Andrei and for a moment the figure of an old man in a white robe, without a wig and wearing old man’s glasses, leaning out for a moment, shouting in an angry voice.
Prince Andrei sighed and did not answer.
“Well,” he said, turning to his wife.
And this “well” sounded like a cold mockery, as if he was saying: “Now do your tricks.”
– Andre, deja! [Andrey, already!] - said the little princess, turning pale and looking at her husband with fear.
He hugged her. She screamed and fell unconscious on his shoulder.
He carefully moved away the shoulder on which she was lying, looked into her face and carefully sat her down on a chair.
“Adieu, Marieie, [Goodbye, Masha,”] he said quietly to his sister, kissed her hand in hand and quickly walked out of the room.
The princess was lying in a chair, M lle Burien was rubbing her temples. Princess Marya, supporting her daughter-in-law, with tear-stained beautiful eyes, still looked at the door through which Prince Andrei came out, and baptized him. From the office one could hear, like gunshots, the often repeated angry sounds of an old man blowing his nose. As soon as Prince Andrei left, the office door quickly opened and the stern figure of an old man in a white robe looked out.
- Left? Well, good! - he said, looking angrily at the emotionless little princess, shook his head reproachfully and slammed the door.

In October 1805, Russian troops occupied the villages and towns of the Archduchy of Austria, and more new regiments came from Russia and, burdening the residents with billeting, were stationed at the Braunau fortress. The main apartment of Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov was in Braunau.
On October 11, 1805, one of the infantry regiments that had just arrived at Braunau, awaiting inspection by the commander-in-chief, stood half a mile from the city. Despite the non-Russian terrain and situation (orchards, stone fences, tiled roofs, mountains visible in the distance), despite the non-Russian people looking at the soldiers with curiosity, the regiment had exactly the same appearance as any Russian regiment had when preparing for a review somewhere in the middle of Russia.
In the evening, on the last march, an order was received that the commander-in-chief would inspect the regiment on the march. Although the words of the order seemed unclear to the regimental commander, and the question arose how to understand the words of the order: in marching uniform or not? In the council of battalion commanders, it was decided to present the regiment in full dress uniform on the grounds that it is always better to bow than not to bow. And the soldiers, after a thirty-mile march, did not sleep a wink, they repaired and cleaned themselves all night; adjutants and company commanders counted and expelled; and by morning the regiment, instead of the sprawling, disorderly crowd that it had been the day before during the last march, represented an orderly mass of 2,000 people, each of whom knew his place, his job, and of whom, on each of them, every button and strap was in its place and sparkled with cleanliness . Not only was the outer part in good order, but if the commander-in-chief had wanted to look under the uniforms, he would have seen an equally clean shirt on each one and in each knapsack he would have found the legal number of things, “stuff and soap,” as the soldiers say. There was only one circumstance about which no one could be calm. It was shoes. More than half the people's boots were broken. But this deficiency was not due to the fault of the regimental commander, since, despite repeated demands, the goods were not released to him from the Austrian department, and the regiment traveled a thousand miles.
The regimental commander was an elderly, sanguine general with graying eyebrows and sideburns, thick-set and wider from chest to back than from one shoulder to the other. He was wearing a new, brand new uniform with wrinkled folds and thick golden epaulettes, which seemed to lift his fat shoulders upward rather than downwards. The regimental commander had the appearance of a man happily performing one of the most solemn affairs of life. He walked in front of the front and, as he walked, trembled at every step, slightly arching his back. It was clear that the regimental commander was admiring his regiment, happy with it, that all his mental strength was occupied only with the regiment; but, despite the fact that his trembling gait seemed to say that, in addition to military interests, the interests of social life and the female sex occupied a significant place in his soul.
“Well, Father Mikhailo Mitrich,” he turned to one battalion commander (the battalion commander leaned forward smiling; it was clear that they were happy), “it was a lot of trouble this night.” However, it seems that nothing is wrong, the regiment is not bad... Eh?
The battalion commander understood the funny irony and laughed.
- And in Tsaritsyn Meadow they wouldn’t have driven you away from the field.
- What? - said the commander.
At this time, along the road from the city, along which the makhalnye were placed, two horsemen appeared. These were the adjutant and the Cossack riding behind.
The adjutant was sent from the main headquarters to confirm to the regimental commander what was said unclearly in yesterday's order, namely, that the commander-in-chief wanted to see the regiment exactly in the position in which it was marching - in overcoats, in covers and without any preparations.
A member of the Gofkriegsrat from Vienna arrived to Kutuzov the day before, with proposals and demands to join the army of Archduke Ferdinand and Mack as soon as possible, and Kutuzov, not considering this connection beneficial, among other evidence in favor of his opinion, intended to show the Austrian general that sad situation , in which troops came from Russia. For this purpose, he wanted to go out to meet the regiment, so the worse the situation of the regiment, the more pleasant it would be for the commander-in-chief. Although the adjutant did not know these details, he conveyed to the regimental commander the commander-in-chief’s indispensable requirement that the people wear overcoats and covers, and that otherwise the commander-in-chief would be dissatisfied. Having heard these words, the regimental commander lowered his head, silently raised his shoulders and spread his hands with a sanguine gesture.
- We've done things! - he said. “I told you, Mikhailo Mitrich, that on a campaign, we wear greatcoats,” he turned reproachfully to the battalion commander. - Oh, my God! - he added and decisively stepped forward. - Gentlemen, company commanders! – he shouted in a voice familiar to the command. - Sergeants major!... Will they be here soon? - he turned to the arriving adjutant with an expression of respectful courtesy, apparently referring to the person about whom he was speaking.

Russian needle rifle "Karle system"

Needle weapons in Russia are one of the stages of the famous “gun drama” of the 1860s, one of the attempts to create modern weapons V as soon as possible. The path from a muzzle-loading capsule rifle to systems chambered for a metal unitary center-fire cartridge Russian empire overcome quickly, but along the way she had to test many different weapon systems and even adopt some of them. One of the most important milestones along this path was the adoption of the needle rifle, known in Russian and foreign literature as the "Carle system".

Needle weapons were known in Russia much earlier than the events described in the 1860s. Moreover, it was produced in small quantities by private craftsmen, as they would now say, for civilian circulation. And when the need arose to urgently change the rapidly outdated muzzle-loading rifle to something more modern, such a weapon did not stand aside. Along with a number of two-bullet and breech-loading capsule systems, many “needle varieties” were tested, both foreign and domestic inventors.

Really serious testing of needle guns began in 1865. This was the famous “Dreyse system.” In Berlin, 50 of these guns mod. 1862, which were transferred to the Guard for testing. The test results showed the rate of fire of German rifles was 2-3.5 times higher than that of domestic muzzle-loading rifles; other characteristics were considered mediocre.

The Weapons Commission of the Artillery Committee considered it inappropriate to introduce Prussian-style guns into Russia, but when designing new weapons, it recommended paying special attention to this system.

Next, another classic example of needle systems was tested - the French “Chassepot”. Its rate of fire was 2.5 times higher than the “muzzle-loading” one, and its operational and combat characteristics were recognized as satisfying the “requirements of military weapons,” but... the French cartridge made of thin tissue paper was recognized as brittle and unsuitable for the army. Cartridges made of thicker paper rendered the “French woman” inoperative. Sometimes, due to unburned remains of cartridges, it was impossible to fire the next cartridge.

Thus, the two most famous needle systems were declared unsuitable for arming the Russian army. And in the summer of 1866, an order was issued to Russian arms factories for the production of 115 thousand rapid-fire capsule rifles of the Terry-Norman system. These were breech-loading capsule rifles chambered for an ordinary paper cartridge, which did not have a capsule. The capsule, as in muzzle-loading systems, was put on a seed rod. But the needle systems have one unexpected ally. It was the summer war of 1866 between Prussia and Austria, which ended in a crushing victory for Prussia, which covered Prussian needle rifles with the glory of an invincible weapon, resistance to which is useless.

In August 1866, two residents of the city of Hamburg, the Englishman I. Carle and E. Sons, offered the Russian government an improved needle gun. The proposed system was very convenient for converting Russian 6-line rifles.

At that time, the captain of the guards artillery, N.I. Chagin, was abroad; he was instructed to urgently inspect the proposed system. The captain examined the gun and found it worthy of the closest attention. Karla and Zons were given a Russian muzzle-loading rifle with the requirement to convert it into a needle rifle according to their system. Having completed this work, the inventors arrive in St. Petersburg and... their rifle is considered not entirely satisfactory. The tests carried out confirm the unsuitability of the rifle as a military weapon.

A variant of the needle rifle proposed by I. Karle and E. Zons

Karle and Zons leave Russia, and Colonel Chagin is instructed to modify their rifle until it actually meets the requirements for weapons that can be armed with an army and which should be obtained by converting used muzzle-loading 6-line rifles. Chagin begins work at A. Brown's private mechanical plant, which is subsequently continued at factories in St. Petersburg and Tula. In the original system, almost everything was altered: the technical solution of the most important components was improved, the dimensions of the rifle parts were changed, and the cartridge was also modified.

In the process of designing a new rifle, problems arose due to the fact that the barrels of the old rifles submitted for conversion were worn out, their caliber could exceed the normal value (6 lines) by 0.1-0.2 lines. Get a universal system that will give good results when using barrels with different calibers, failed. It was decided to consider the 6.1-line as the normal caliber and develop developments based on it.

The next problem was the movement of the cartridge forward in a loaded rifle. To avoid this, it was decided to make a conical chamber instead of a cylindrical one. The cartridge was also adjusted for it. Subsequently, when full production began, all the shortcomings of such chambers were revealed, associated with the complexity of their production.

After eliminating, at first glance, all the shortcomings, on March 28, 1867, the rifle was awarded the Highest approval and the Tula plant was instructed to produce exemplary copies. The need to adapt the rifle for factory production forced Chagin to continue working. In fact, he introduced a whole range of changes to the rifle related to the convenience of its machine production.

Experiments on the use of a cylindrical chamber were again begun. A new cartridge was designed, which was manufactured as follows: a cardboard circle with a hole in the center sealed with lard was inserted into a cartridge case rolled into two layers of cartridge paper. A cloth circle was placed on it, and then a tray with a capsule made of cap paper. The cartridge case was filled with gunpowder, a cardboard wad with a diameter of 6.3 lines was placed on it, and the excess paper was taped over the ring. The resulting powder casing was inserted into the outer one and a bullet wrapped in writing paper was installed on it. The edges of the outer sleeve were bent and tightened with glass (special thread).

Tests of the already redesigned rifle-cartridge complex revealed another problem: the new cartridge gave good accuracy for rifles with fired barrels (6.1 and 6.2 lines), but the nominal 6-line barrel showed disgusting results. This was due to the fact that the paper covering the bullet flew with it. It was decided to freeze the barrels with a nominal diameter. Chagin found a more elegant way out of this situation by creating an artificial shot of the muzzle (a cylindrical ledge with a length of 10 lines and a diameter of 6.5 lines was made with a roller cutter). At this point, the powder gases overtook the bullet and tore off the remaining paper. After these measures, both nominal and worn barrels began to give satisfactory results.

Variants of tested cartridges for the Russian rapid-fire needle rifle

On September 20, 1867, the already seriously modernized rifle was again approved by the highest authorities. Work on it continued until November, and as a result, no serious comments were made. The new Russian needle rifle provided a practical rate of fire of 13 rounds/min (the Prussian needle rifle produced a maximum of 6, the French - 5).

What was this rifle? A barrel with a cut chamber from a muzzle-loading rifle, a receiver in the form of a cylindrical tube with a shank and a trigger spring installed on the bottom. The bolt also has the shape of a cylindrical tube with a handle. There are two combat protrusions on it, which, when it moves, move in the reciprocal grooves of the receiver, and when the bolt is closed, they enter an inclined annular groove and hold the bolt when fired.

A cone is screwed into the front part of the bolt, inside of which there is a movable head with a rod having a channel for the passage of the firing pin. Several leather circles are placed under the head, which, compressing when fired, serve as a seal. A firing pin, hollow inside, is placed in the cylindrical channel of the bolt stem; a mainspring with a button in contact with the end of the handle is inserted into its tail; the front button of the mainspring and the firing pin needle are screwed into the front part of the firing pin.

On the middle part of the firing pin tube there is a circular belt that serves as a sear for the trigger spring bit. The lifting bolt handle plays an important role. It serves to control the bolt when pulling it out of the box and to compress the main coil spring.

Russian rapid-fire needle rifle mod. 1867 (final version by N.I. Chagin)

In the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, engineering troops and signal troops, samples with different designs of sighting devices are stored

Despite the completion of work on the rifle, experiments with cartridges continued. One of the main tasks was to solve old problem to find the optimal cartridge that would work well in the 6-6.2 line caliber range and would not require changes to the new 6 line barrels. At the same time, problems of increasing reliability were solved; for example, the issue related to lard in the cartridge mug protecting the primer was relevant. Its usefulness was determined to be less important than its potential for misfires.

So, the rifle has been accepted for service. The question arises: why is this rifle now called the “Karle system”? Why they forgot about Zons is understandable; he performed administrative roles under Karl and did not directly participate in the development of the system. But it would be much more fair to call the rifle the “Chagin system.”

In fact, everything was regulated by the GAU circular of October 13, 1867 No. 45, which states that the official name of the weapon is “rapid-firing needle rifle” and stipulates that this is no longer the Karle system, but a separate system that has significant differences from the original one. That is, officially there are simply no names in the name of the rifle.

The next stage has arrived - mass production of the new model. The production of rifles is entrusted to state arms factories and private enterprises: Nobel and Shuf in St. Petersburg, Shmaltser in Libau and the representative of Tula gunsmiths Vinogradov in Kyiv.

The most difficult fate fell on the Tula gunsmiths: they were forced to fulfill the contract not in Tula, but in Kyiv, quite distant from it. And this was due to pressure from the tenant of the Tula arms factory, Standerskjold, who tried in every possible way to get rid of competitors who offered cheaper re-production of rifles. Due to the obstacles that arose, Vinogradov transferred the contract to an American from Vienna, Bohlmann, who violated the delivery terms and gave the contract to the Hamburg merchant Menke. Further ups and downs brought adjustments to the number of supposed producers.

The actual conversion of rifles began only in 1868; on January 1, 1869, the report to the War Ministry contained the data reflected in the table.

The quality of the products was very low. For example, rifles from Nobel did not meet the acceptance requirements at all: only one out of six such rifles met the requirements for accuracy. Moreover, the main problem was not the inability to do it efficiently, but in extracting the maximum profit from the ongoing process. In fact, the production of needle rifles was delayed for longer periods.

The failure of state factories (which were leased at that time) to fulfill their obligations led to the creation of a special commission at the end of 1868, which identified shortcomings associated with the very principle of leasing factories.

To these problems, another one was added - the heir to the throne Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich. He came under the influence of the manufacturer (and, in fact, adventurer) Putilov, who promoted the system of his friend, naval lieutenant Baranov. Moreover, they planned the organization of production of the Baranov system at Putilov’s enterprise, which demanded that all old muzzle-loading rifles be transferred to him for production. This whole epic lasted quite a long time; the production of needle rifles was slowed down, but did not stop.

In part, these events worked for the good; Putilov produced just under 10,000 rifles of the Baranov system, which was far from ideal, but already designed for a metal unitary center-fire cartridge. At this time, Guard Colonel Baron Gann brings a Krnka system gun from Vienna, which turned out to be very successful. And in February 1869, a commission was created to resolve issues regarding the introduction of a metal cartridge and the choice new system for conversion of 6-line rifles. On March 15, 1869, two commissions were created that began to deal with the production of rifles using the Krnka system.

What is the fate of the Russian needle rifle? There were quite a few of them made. In fact, this is the most successful and perfect example of military needle weapons. On January 1, 1877, there were 150,868 needle rifles in service, with another 51,096 in reserve. They armed the troops of the Caucasus, Turkestan, Orenburg, West Siberian and East Siberian districts.

It is difficult to say exactly when needle rifles were removed from service, but circulars dating back to 1880 contained instructions on the rules for their maintenance.

When preparing the materials, images of the sample stored in the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps were used.