Needle rifles. Experiments with needle guns in Russia Unitary cartridge Lefoshe

Development small arms for several centuries it went at a snail's pace, for a long time limited to the improvement of the castle and changes in design. However, the scientific and technological revolution in the 19th century turned this leisurely process into a rapid cascade of successive inventions. Russia, with its lagging industry, did not immediately succeed in keeping up with the leaders, which was vividly demonstrated by the Crimean War. But by the end of the century, the emerging technological gap was overcome.

Development of small arms: from evolution to revolution

For almost four centuries, handguns have remained virtually unchanged. It was a metal tube-barrel, sealed at one end (the blind end was called the "breech") and attached to a wooden stock. A charge of gunpowder was poured into the tube, a ball-shaped bullet was placed, and so that all this would not fall out of the barrel, a rag or paper cork (wad) was hammered from above with the help of a ramrod rod.

When fired, a small amount of gunpowder was set on fire - the so-called "seed", which was located on a special shelf on the side of the barrel. Further, through a small hole in the wall of the barrel, called the seed, the fire was transmitted to the main powder charge. The seed was set on fire with the help of a special mechanism - a lock. Actually, the progress of firearms was initially limited by the development of locks - from a primitive wick, in which the simplest lever brought the tip of a smoldering wick to the seed, to flint, which in its late incarnation provided reliable and practically guaranteed ignition of the charge, could be kept cocked for a long time and operated practically in any weather, except for very very heavy rain.

It was after the invention of the so-called “battery” type of flintlock (this happened in France in 1610) that the design of small arms was “mothballed” for two long centuries. The materials from which the weapons were made became stronger and more durable, the production technology was worked out, but between the musket with which d'Artagnan went on the attack near La Rochelle, and the gun of the French soldier dragging his feet to the Berezina, the difference is mostly purely external, yes and it was small.

Changes to the established design were made only by the turbulent 19th century with its sharp jump in scientific and technical development. Almost simultaneously (by historical standards) two things happened that had the most direct impact on the appearance of small arms. First, "explosive mercury" was discovered - a substance that explodes on impact. For use as a propelling charge, it turned out to be too strong and capricious, but it was successfully able to replace the seed. To do this, it was placed in a small cap, called a piston or primer. Now the ignition of the gunpowder in the barrel was reliable, completely independent of the weather, and, most importantly, it was instantaneous - there was no pause characteristic of flint locks of about half a second, while the seed flashed from sparks knocked out of the flint, and the fire went through the seed hole. This, as well as the absence of a flash of burning seed that occurs right in front of the shooter's face, made it possible to significantly improve the accuracy of shooting, especially at a moving target.

The second factor that powerfully influenced the evolution of small arms was the development of metallurgy, sufficient for the mass and relatively cheap production of rifled barrels. The idea of ​​improving the stability of a bullet's trajectory by spinning it was not new. Back in the 16th century (and according to some sources, even at the end of the 15th century), samples of handmade firearms, in which the barrel bore had screw rifling, twisting the bullet when fired. The bullet, rotating around the longitudinal axis, flew more accurately and much further than the usual one. In addition, it could be given an elongated shape, more streamlined than a sphere - this further increased the range of the shot. The main problem was that if in a gun with a smooth barrel it was enough to roll a bullet into the barrel when loading, then in a rifled one it had to be driven with a ramrod, turning it in rifling, which took a lot of time and effort.

While rifled weapons remained an expensive toy of noble hunters, this was not a big hindrance: carefully load your gun, slowly aim, shoot, admire the result, slowly reload ... But in battle everything is completely different, and the price of a second is incomparably higher. And when it came to the use of rifling in mass army weapons, the question of increasing the rate of fire completely stood up. Many designs have been developed to overcome the problem. The most viable of them turned out to be based on the expansion of the bullet - in them the bullet had a smaller diameter than usual, and fell into the barrel freely without entering the rifling, and then it expanded, due to which it increased the diameter and entered the rifling. In some systems, the bullet was expanded when loaded with ramrod blows, in some it expanded already when fired, under the action of powder gases pressing on it.

However, all these designs were, by and large, only half measures. To completely overcome the problem, a transition to a fundamentally different loading system was required - from the breech, and not from the muzzle. This principle was also not something completely new - almost simultaneously with the first samples of firearms, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bloading from the treasury arose. They tried to put it into practice, but the technologies and materials were too primitive for the full implementation of the idea. Only in the 19th century was it possible to achieve sufficient strength of the metal and the accuracy of its processing to create reliable and massive breech-loading samples. They were no longer charged separately (gunpowder separately, a bullet separately and a wad on top), but with a unitary cartridge - that is, combining both a propelling charge, and what it was throwing, and a primer to ignite the charge. At first, such cartridges were made of paper, later cartridges with a metal sleeve appeared, the design of which has not changed significantly to this day.

This long introduction serves the sole purpose of showing as clearly as possible the complexity of the situation in which the leading powers found themselves in the first half of the 19th century. The gun - the main armament of the infantryman and cavalryman - which had not changed at all for several generations before, suddenly began to develop at a crazy gallop, and those who did not want to be in the position of catching up had to develop, adopt and launch with no less speed into production completely new designs.

Race for the Leaders

It was especially hard during this period. Russian Empire. Undeveloped production made it catastrophically difficult to introduce any cardinal innovations. Brilliant designers, in whom the country has never lacked, could offer brilliant solutions, but everything stalled at the implementation stage due to the fact that there were neither technologies nor capacities for their implementation. For example, for a relatively long time, when compared with European states, there was a transition from a flintlock to a capsule lock. In public official documents, it was said that, they say, a soldier with his rough fingers would not be able to fit the capsule into place, would lose it, and in general he would be uncomfortable, so let him fight with the good old flint. The real reason for the delay was that for the production of mercury fulminate in the required quantity in Russia there was simply no chemical production corresponding level, and it had to be hastily developed from scratch.

British soldiers during the Crimean War - photograph by Roger Fenton

Crimean War 1853–56 clearly demonstrated to the Russian military that the outgoing train of progress must be hastily caught up. If the Russian army still managed to switch to capsule ignition by the time it began, then the situation with rifled weapons was much worse - only a few selected shooters had fittings (rifled carbines), the bulk of the soldiers were armed with smoothbore guns. Accordingly, British and French soldiers, armed almost without exception with rifled guns, were able to accurately fire from distances at which the Russians had no chance of hitting back. Sighting range British guns "Enfield", for example, exceeded the aiming range of the Russian gun of the 1854 model in four times and was even more than the Russian guns!

The military did not wait long and ordered a rifled gun with an expanding bullet. Since an elongated bullet weighed more than a round bullet of the same caliber, and pushing it through the rifling required a larger charge of gunpowder than a smoothbore counterpart, the recoil increased significantly, and it became clear that it was necessary to reduce the caliber of the weapon. Instead of the previously standard 7 lines (17.78 mm), they decided to make the caliber 4 lines (10.16 mm) standard. However, it quickly became clear that for the production of such thin barrels, and even rifled ones, there are no tools of appropriate accuracy. After a series of discussions, they settled on a caliber of 6 lines (15.24 mm). The officer commission of the Artillery Committee developed the design of a new weapon, and in 1856 the “6-line rifled rifle” entered service. It was at this moment that the term "rifle" was first used in official documents. He was considered understandable and simply explaining to the soldier the principle of the device of a new weapon, and he really instantly took root.

Private of the Sofia Infantry Regiment and clerk of the Divisional Headquarters. The private has a rifle of the 1856 model.
army-news.ru

In the production of rifles of the 1856 model, they tried to switch from hand-made parts to machine parts, as well as to the use of steel instead of iron in the barrel, but neither one nor the other was completely successful. Machine tools for metalworking had to be purchased foreign, and they were very expensive, and then Russia simply produced too little steel, and it was not enough for rifles for the entire army.

The 1856 rifle of the year turned out to be extremely successful and noticeably outperformed foreign analogues, including the British, which were considered the most advanced. The evil irony of fate turned out to be that while it was being developed and put into production, progress made another leap - breech-loading rifles began to enter the armament of foreign states en masse. War Minister Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin said bitterly:

"... technology moved forward with such rapid strides that before the proposed orders were tested, new requirements appeared and new orders were made."

And it began what the same Milyutin called "our unfortunate gun drama". From 1859 to 1866, a specially organized commission tested more than a hundred and fifty weapon systems - about 130 foreign and more than 20 domestic. As a result, they settled on the design of the English gunsmith William Terry, modified by the master of the Tula Arms Factory Ivan Norman. It was adopted in 1866 under the name "Terry-Norman rapid-fire primer rifle".

The rifle was a remake of the 1856 model rifle - the breech was cut off, and a longitudinally sliding bolt was installed in its place. Having opened the shutter, the shooter put a paper cartridge into it and closed the shutter, after which he cocked the hammer and installed the primer. When fired, the primer set fire to the paper shell of the cartridge, and gunpowder ignited from it. A simple ingenious system made it possible to use huge stocks of old rifles instead of producing completely new weapons, so that the problem seemed to be solved. But that was only the beginning of the gun drama. The train of progress accelerated again, and suddenly it turned out that ignition with a separate primer had already become obsolete. Geopolitical competitors were already armed with "needle rifles" - they had a primer in the cartridge itself, behind the bullet, and it was broken by a long needle piercing the cartridge. The Terry-Norman rifle did not stand in service even for a year, after which it was removed with the wording "obsolete".

She was replaced by the system of Johannes Friedrich Christian Carle, a German who lived in England. It was also a conversion kit for an old rifle of the 1856 model of the year and was very perfect, surpassing similar designs. The Carlet rifle was adopted in 1867. At a large number of factories, both public and private, its production was launched. Several hundred rifles, made first, passed military tests in Turkestan and deserved positive reviews, but ... Yes, yes, that's right - progress again managed to go ahead. Paper cartridges were no longer in honor, they were replaced by metal ones. The metal cartridge was waterproof, could not be accidentally broken by hastily loading the weapon, and it did not clog the barrel with the remnants of unburned paper. The production of the Karle rifle was suspended - they did not remove it from service and withdraw it from the troops, but they did not make new ones.

First Russian weapons under a metal cartridge was a rifle designed by the American Hiram Berdan. She was adopted in 1868, but she did not receive much distribution. Around the same time, a rifle designed by the Italian Augusto Albini appeared, modified naval officer Nikolay Baranov. She was considered as a candidate for adoption when the rifle of Sylvester Krnk, an Austrian citizen of Czech origin, appeared. The Albini-Baranov rifle was simpler, the Krnk rifle was cheaper.

As a result of comparative tests, the latter was chosen (according to a number of researchers, the commission was biased and deliberately "drowned" Baranov's system, but there is no evidence for this). Both went into production - in 1869, the Krnka rifle became the main armament of the army (receiving the expected nickname “lid” from the soldiers), and the Albini-Baranov rifle was adopted by the navy (it was produced a little - about 10,000 copies).

Krnk rifle model 1869

It would seem that the goal has been achieved - rifles of a perfect design have been adopted, and you can calmly exhale. But, as in previous times, everything was by no means over. The fact is that the metal cartridge was, for obvious reasons, noticeably heavier than the paper one. Accordingly, the ammunition carried by the soldier decreased, there were difficulties with the supply, and others of the same kind. The solution was found - to reduce the caliber of the rifle again. Fortunately, over the past dozen years, technology in Russia has improved enough for the mass production of small-caliber barrels, so the same 4 lines that were not approved in 1856 were adopted as the standard caliber.

The rifle for the new caliber was offered by Khayram Berdan, already familiar to us. Unlike the previous model, it did not have a hinged, but a longitudinally sliding shutter and a number of other improvements. It was put into service in 1870 under the name "Berdan's rapid-fire small-caliber rifle No. 2" (and the previous model, accordingly, was henceforth called the Berdan rifle No. 1). It was this successful model in all respects that finally completed the “unfortunate gun drama” of the Russian army, becoming its main weapon for two decades. It was replaced only by the legendary "three-ruler" Mosin, which was put into service in 1891. But even after its appearance, the Berdan rifle continued to be in service until the beginning of the 20th century. She earned the nickname "Berdanka", which was heard, probably, even by those who are in no way interested in the history of weapons. There were a huge number of berdans released, and they are still found in the hunting version.

Needle gun

paper cartridge

Comparison of Dreyse and Chassepo paper cartridges

Needle gun- the first type of breech-loading rifled gun (rifle) loaded from the breech with a paper cartridge. When the trigger was released, the bolt needle pierced the bottom of the paper sleeve of the cartridge and ignited the percussion cap located on the bottom of the bullet. The bullet easily entered the rifling, and the paper sleeve burned out along with the powder gases, and its remnants were ejected 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 muzzle-loading guns. The first sample was introduced in the Prussian army in 1840. The Prussian military highly valued the qualities of the new weapon and kept its data secret, designating in the documents with a vague “light primer 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. And 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 sleeves that did not burn out 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 when filling. The problem of obturation of powder gases has not been solved.

Dreyse rifle

The Dreyse gun cartridge consisted of a paper cartridge case with a powder charge, a folder spiegel with a percussion cake pressed in at the back and a recess in front, and an egg-shaped bullet that was inserted into this recess and held in front by the crimped edges of the cartridge case. To ignite the primer, a needle was arranged, passing through the bottom of the channel, which was first hit by an ordinary rifle lock trigger, and then the latter was replaced by a sliding lock with a spiral spring. Since before loading, first of all, it was necessary to cock the trigger, that is, pull the end of the needle back from the channel, otherwise a shot was inevitable during loading, and since it was always expected that the shooter in battle would forget to cock the needle first before driving the cartridge from the muzzle, then Dreyse proposed to do 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 the frequent loss of a cartridge from a loaded gun. Thus, Dreyse inevitably came to the need to load from the treasury. They developed a sliding shutter; the diameter of the folder spiegel 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 cut into the rifling and, tightly squeezing the bullet, told it to rotate.

Proposed in Prussia in 1836, the 4.8-linear Dreyse gun, after careful testing, was adopted for the infantry under the name arr. 40 g., 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 even as harmful and dangerous from the point of view of wasting cartridges and difficulties in in combat, keep 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 firing prone, from a horse, through loopholes, when using a ramrod was inconvenient; nevertheless, attention was drawn 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 being tested in the 1850s, Dreyse guns were also found to be inconvenient. Only after civil war in the USA (1861-1865) and especially after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, especially at the battle of Königgrätz, when the Prussians easily outmaneuvered the Austrians, the success of the Prussians was wholly attributed to their gun and the needle gun attracted the attention of other states.

Chasseau rifle

In France, in 1866, a 4.3-line rifle was adopted, the bolt of which, developed by the worker Chasseau, was better than that of Dreyse in terms of obturation, thanks to rubber circles under the cap of the fungus inserted in front of the bolt, as well as shortening the needle, as a result of which she broke less often; the shortening of the needle was achieved by placing the primer in the folder bottom of the sleeve; the bullet of the compression system cut itself into the rifling, so there was no need for a spigel for the bullet. The cocking of the trigger was carried out not in two, as in Dreyse, but in one step when the shutter was closed. Thanks to good obturation and a more significant initial bullet speed (420 m / s instead of the then usual 300 m / s), the accuracy of the Chasspo gun was greater.

Carle rifle

The system proposed at about the same time by the Belgian Karl, in general very similar to the Chasspo system, was used in Russia to convert a 6-line rifle into a breech-loading one in 1867. In the Karlet shutter, the needle was even shorter, and in the obturator the rubber circles were replaced by leather ones. For his patron, Karle took the former and muzzle-loaded Russian 6-line guns with a Minier bullet with a cup in the bottom and placed it more than half into a paper sleeve with a folder pallet glued from three circles, with an average of smaller diameter , the primer was pressed in; and near this mug, the sleeve is crimped on the outside and tied with a woolen thread, which contributed to a better obturation. The shutter needle needed to pierce only the rear circle when fired. Several hundred converted rifles successfully passed combat tests in Turkestan. But in view of 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 Carle system was suspended, and the rest of the rifles were converted according to the Krnk system for a cartridge with a metal sleeve, proposed in 1868. Needle rifles in Russia were almost immediately replaced by the Berdan No. 1 rifle in 1868 (an episode of the "unfortunate gun drama").

Shutter operation.
Shutter in cocked position:

Half platoon; safety trigger:

The shutter operation is somewhat baggy. First you need to pull the trigger back completely. Then you need to pull down the lever in front of the trigger and open the shutter. Then everything is like in other rifles with longitudinally sliding bolts - we insert the cartridge, close the bolt, shoot. If the shot is not fired, the cartridge is removed using a special hook.

Carcano took something from a Doersch & von Baumgarten rifle that the Italians liked but showed flaws.

Pavlov 26.03.2016 - 22:30

Patron Carcano. Although it is similar to the Dreyse cartridge, it has several significant differences. The cartridge obturates with a rubber disk at the bottom of the paper sleeve; in Dreyse and Chaspo, obturation is carried out by the shutter itself. The bullet is expanding, type Minié and cuts into rifling, caliber 17 mm; the pallet is only for installing the capsule. At Dreyze, a pallet crashes into the rifling, which is much more massive than Karkan's.

Pavlov 26.03.2016 - 22:38

There are four models of needle Carcano. Top down:

* Moschetto d "Artiglieria (the engineering troops have the same)
* Moschetto da Carabinieri Reali a piedi (for mounted gendarmes, the carbine is the same, only the side swivels)
*Carabina da Bersaglieri
* Fucile da Fanteria

Bayonets in the same order:

Pavlov 26.03.2016 - 22:45

But Carcano is also a very rare rifle. Although some 400,000 of them were converted, few survived. Many were converted to shotguns, many simply went to the scrap. The presence of a bayonet is also pleasing. And the carbine is in very good condition, so although Carla's absence is even more striking, I am very pleased with the new toy.

Pavlov 27.03.2016 - 18:19

Doulo Carcano. The caliber is 17.4 mm, although in fact it can be as much as 17.8 mm.

Sighting range of the carbine = 300 m. Pay attention to the axis of the aiming bar - this is how the derivation is corrected.

Chernomor 27.03.2016 - 18:43

Amazing.
I was always amazed at how actively the gunsmiths of the 19th century dug the topic.
Nicholas, congratulations on your purchase!

Sergey S St. Petersburg 28.03.2016 - 15:10

How interesting ..., Nikolai, I join in the congratulations ... Regards

Pavlov 28.03.2016 - 18:07

The rifle was in service for a short time, but managed to fight. For example, in 1870 during the capture of Rome.

TerMind_LT 29.03.2016 - 08:42

On right side the barrel has a strange protrusion, as the basis for a capsular nipple. Could it be that barrels (or blanks) from capsule rifles were used for the barrels of this rifle?

Sergey S St. Petersburg 29.03.2016 - 09:03

At the very beginning, Nikolai indicated that these carbines were a remake of muzzle-loading models 1844 ... With SW

swiss2 29.03.2016 - 13:43

Thank you very much for reviewing a very rare rifle!

Can I ask a few more questions?

Pavlov
Model 44/67 modification of the muzzle-loading carbine mod. 1844

And why are there no traces of alteration on the tree? Or were the boxes all new?

Pavlov
The hammer is fully cocked, but the mainspring is removed from the platoon. Carcano will transfer this decision to his next model, arr. 1891

Comparison of shutters Carcano arr. 44/67 and arr. 91:

This one how? How does it work? Yes, and immediately the question is - shutter elements, even the main elements from the 60s could migrate to the 90s?

Pavlov

Shutter Carcano. Unlike the bolts of other needle rifles, it does not obturate, the cartridge does.

Three of the four needle rifles in service in large numbers - Dreise, Chaspeau, Carcano. Missing Carla...

How do you compare these rifles in your opinion? It is clear that Dreyze is the oldest, but Chaspo, Carcano and Carla are almost the same age. There was an almost unfounded opinion that Carle was the most perfect, after him - Carcano, so it would be very interesting to know your opinion.

Pavlov 29.03.2016 - 16:56

And why are there no traces of alteration on the tree? Or were the boxes all new?

How do you rate these rifles in comparison?

swiss2 29.03.2016 - 17:33

Student2 30.03.2016 - 15:26

First of all - congratulations! A rare item, and a nice one.
It is also interesting that the trunk, or rather, its rear part, has become a receiver. It can be seen that the stop for the shutter was the place where the nipple was placed, on which the primer was put on.
But this required precise work, the "window and cutout" was slightly filled up, and that's all, the aiming ones look sideways with an inclination.
Compared to Jaspo, the shutter looks too sophisticated, the advantages of a longitudinally = sliding shutter are not realized. An extra action to unlock the shutter, and cocking the trigger could already be invented, even when the shutter moves back, even when sending.
Searching time, what to say..

Pavlov 30.03.2016 - 20:36

Compared to Jaspo, the shutter looks too sophisticated

All three bolts require separate cocking by hand. At Draize, you still need to compress the spring after closing the shutter, you need to press the trigger forward - an extra movement.

Franc53 07.04.2016 - 12:31

Always admiring the old weapons, the thoroughness of execution, the work of the masters, but how sad that almost everything was destroyed in our country ... and they continue, it’s nice to look at,., but to have?

Varnas 07.04.2016 - 14:33

Patron Carcano. Although it is similar to the Dreyse cartridge, it has several significant differences. The cartridge obturates with a rubber disk at the bottom of the paper sleeve; in Dreyse and Chaspo, obturation is carried out by the shutter itself. The bullet is expanding, type Minié and cuts into rifling, caliber 17 mm; the pallet is only for installing the capsule. At Dreyze, a pallet crashes into the rifling, which is much more massive than Karkan's.

Pavlov 07.04.2016 - 16:33

obturation .. How could Dreyza and Chaspo allow it?

By the end of the life of Dreyse rifles, a Beck modification appeared, where the obturation was improved by using a rubber obturator (but not like Chaspo, the design is different, see the scan below). This made it possible to significantly increase the muzzle velocity of the bullet. However, the bulk of the Dreyse was without an obturator.

why an expanding bullet for breech loading?

Varnas 07.04.2016 - 22:01

Dreyse does not have a separate obturator, they counted on the exact fit of the shutter to the breech breech. Contact surfaces under the cone, the breakthrough was retracted forward.

By the end of the life of Dreyse rifles, a Beck modification appeared, where the obturation was improved by using a rubber obturator (but not like Chaspo, the design is different, see the scan below). This made it possible to significantly increase the muzzle velocity of the bullet.

As already said, Carcano is a remake. They have a wide range of calibers, from 17.4 to 17.8 mm. An expanding bullet will work equally well for everyone.

The Dreyse pallet performs several functions:
* Gives rotation to the sub-caliber bullet.

* Lead bore is avoided.

only there was a salted felt circle (Carcano has a rubber one):

Pavlov 07.04.2016 - 23:11

But didn’t such a long needle get wedged from soot

And what are the speeds of the mass of the bullet?

It’s a pity they didn’t think about pressing the obturator with powder gases

does the bullet slide along the rifling fields?

the pallet (wooden?) should have some recesses

Varnas 07.04.2016 - 23:52

Chaspo has an initial bullet speed of over 400 m / s.

I mean, how did you not think of it? This is how the obturator works with Chaspeau.

Podevils-Lindner is not a needle rifle. The shutter larva was easily changed, see the drawing above.

Pavlov 08.04.2016 - 12:12

something between a needle rifle and a hairpin cartridge

like Reffy's card case, over 500

Varnas 08.04.2016 - 02:12

A system with a semi-unitary cartridge with external ignition - a primer like that of a "donor" (Podevils-Lindner converted from a Podevils muzzle-loading rifle, a Lindner bolt and cartridge). The fire impulse from the primer burned through the paper wrapper of the semi-unitary cartridge. That is, they are not relatives of either needle or hairpin.

They thought about the recoil of a rifle with such a muzzle velocity

Pavlov 08.04.2016 - 02:26

Chaspeau is not a conversion rifle, 11 mm caliber lasted a very long time in many rifles and was considered "small". But the 11 mm bullet is also quite heavy, which at a speed of 420 m / s gave quite a strong return. The later Gra M1874, Mauser M1871, Vetterli and others had no higher speed.

In principle, the limiting factor is a person, what kind of return a soldier will endure. For example, the recoil of the Martini-Henry was considered by many to be almost unbearable.

Varnas 08.04.2016 - 11:31

Thanks for the info 😊.

swiss2 08.04.2016 - 13:24

The needle did not stick, but the needle is a weak point in all needles. The Dreyse needle changes easily and quickly, you don’t even need to disassemble the shutter. Chaspeau and Carcano need a disassembly.

and how often were the needles supposed to be changed for different needle rifles?

Pavlov 08.04.2016 - 16:50

I do not know exactly how many shots were supposed to be. Probably a lot, since spare needles were issued to sergeants, not soldiers.

Ulix 27.04.2016 - 19:40

2 Pavlov
Do you have any information on Dreyse pistols?

Pavlov 28.04.2016 - 16:23

Finally managed to upload a photo.

Ulix 03.05.2016 - 23:56

Pavlov
What are Dreyse models?

Ulix 04.05.2016 - 12:01

the images are not loading..

Ulix 04.05.2016 - 08:30

2Pavlov
Thank you .. Now I will puzzle over the translation))

Student2 30.08.2016 - 12:18

Varnas
But as I understand it, there is sub-caliber only to the depth of the rifling, the bullet slides along the rifling fields? Should the pallet (wooden?) have some kind of recesses, or be hexagonal (the bullet is in the back too) so that it does not rotate relative to the bullet?

when fired, the force of inertia pressed the bullet into the pan, under its action the pan burst with gases, pressing into the rifling, and the bullet "settled" into the pan with slight longitudinal and transverse deformation. Those. could not turn it, tk. she wedged in the pan.
In the same way, any arrow-type bullet in modern hunting rifles settles on the shank: with soft lead, it literally floats, losing its shape (because bullets with Mayer-type axial channels fly poorly on smokeless powder - the channel swims, belts too, and it flies like a lead cylinder ).
It is clear that a lot depended on the quality of the pallet, and therefore there were sometimes complaints about the accuracy of Dreyse rifles. It is too difficult to ensure uniformity in the production of spiegels and when shooting through a dirty barrel.

Let's Live 30.08.2016 - 22:08

Pavlov
In the museum, I could not move away from the model of the machine, which drilled the bore of the guns, and also turned the trunnions - again, the Cadets did it.

Let's Live 08/30/2016 - 22:21

And here is a photo of the prototype of the Carle needle rifle. The one that in 1866 was brought to Russia by the Haburg residents of Karle and Sons. This rifle was somewhat different from the one that in 1877 entered service with the RIA due to refinement.

The cartridge and ignited the percussion composition of the primer, located on the bottom of the bullet. The bullet easily entered the rifling, and the paper sleeve burned out along with the powder gases, and its remnants were ejected 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 muzzle-loading guns. The first sample was introduced in the Prussian army in 1840. The Prussian military highly appreciated the qualities of the new weapon and kept its data secret, designating in the documents with a vague “light primer 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. And 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 sleeves that did not burn out 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 when filling. The problem of obturation of powder gases has not been solved.

Dreyse rifle

The Dreyse gun cartridge consisted of a paper cartridge case with a powder charge, a folder spiegel with a percussion cake pressed in at the back and a recess in front, and an egg-shaped bullet that was inserted into this recess and held in front by the crimped edges of the cartridge case. To ignite the primer, a needle was arranged, passing through the bottom of the channel, which was first hit by an ordinary rifle lock trigger, and then the latter was replaced by a sliding lock with a spiral spring. Since before loading, first of all, it was necessary to cock the trigger, that is, pull the end of the needle back from the channel, otherwise a shot was inevitable during loading, and since it was always expected that the shooter in battle would forget to cock the needle first before driving the cartridge from the muzzle, then Dreyse proposed to do 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 the frequent loss of a cartridge from a loaded gun. Thus, Dreyse inevitably came to the need to load from the treasury. They developed a sliding shutter; the diameter of the folder spiegel 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 cut into the rifling and, tightly squeezing the bullet, told it to rotate.

Proposed in Prussia in 1836, the 4.8-linear Dreyse gun, after careful testing, was adopted for the infantry under the name arr. 40 g., 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 even as harmful and dangerous from the point of view of wasting cartridges and difficulties in in combat, keep 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 firing prone, from a horse, through loopholes, when using a ramrod was inconvenient; nevertheless, attention was drawn 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 being tested in the 1850s, Dreyse guns were also found to be inconvenient. Only after the American Civil War (1861-1865) and especially after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, especially in the Battle of Königgrätz, when the Prussians easily outplayed the Austrians, was the success of the Prussians entirely attributed to their gun and the needle gun attracted the attention of other states .

Chasseau rifle

In France, in 1866, a 4.3-line rifle was adopted, the bolt of which, developed by Lieutenant Chasseau, was better than that of Dreyse 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 she broke less often; the shortening of the needle was achieved by placing the primer in the folder bottom of the sleeve; the bullet of the compression system cut itself into the rifling, so there was no need for a spigel for the bullet. The cocking of the trigger was carried out not in two, as in Dreyse, but in one step when the shutter was closed. Thanks to good obturation and a more significant initial bullet speed (420 m / s instead of the then usual 300 m / s), the accuracy of the Chasspo gun was greater.

Carle rifle

In 1868, the German Carle, who lived in Great Britain, received a patent for his own needle gun system, in general very similar to the Chasspo system. This system was used in Russia to convert a 6-line rifle into a breech-loading one. In the Karlet shutter, the needle was even shorter, and in the obturator the rubber circles were replaced by leather ones. For his patron, Carle took the former and loaded from the muzzle of Russian 6-line guns with a Minier bullet with a cup in the bottom and placed it more than half into a paper sleeve with a folder pallet glued from three circles, and on average, of a smaller diameter, the primer was pressed in; and near this mug, the sleeve is crimped on the outside and tied with a woolen thread, which contributed to a better obturation. The shutter needle needed to pierce only the rear circle when fired. Several hundred converted rifles successfully passed combat tests in Turkestan. But in view of 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 Carle system was suspended, and the rest of the rifles were converted according to the Krnk system for a cartridge with a metal sleeve, proposed in 1868. Needle rifles in Russia were almost immediately replaced by the Berdan No. 1 rifle in 1868 (an episode of the "unfortunate gun drama").

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Literature

• Military Encyclopedia / Ed. V. F. Novitsky and others - St. Petersburg. : Society of I. V. Sytin, 1911-1915.
• In pursuit of power. Technology, armed forces and society from the XI-XX centuries / McNeill, Ulyam - M .: Publishing House "Territory of the Future", 2008.- p.287

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An excerpt characterizing the Needle Gun

In October 1805, Russian troops occupied the villages and cities of the Archduchy of Austria, and more new regiments came from Russia and, weighing down the inhabitants with billeting, were located near the Braunau fortress. In Braunau was the main apartment of the commander-in-chief Kutuzov.
On October 11, 1805, one of the infantry regiments that had just arrived at Braunau, waiting for the review of 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), the non-Russian people, who looked at the soldiers with curiosity, the regiment had exactly the same appearance as any Russian regiment preparing for a show somewhere in the middle of Russia.
In the evening, on the last march, an order was received that the commander-in-chief would watch the regiment on the march. Although the words of the order seemed unclear to the regimental commander, and the question arose of 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 on the grounds that it is always better to exchange bows than not to bow. And the soldiers, after a thirty-verst march, did not close their eyes, they repaired and cleaned themselves all night; adjutants and company officers counted, expelled; and by morning the regiment, instead of the sprawling disorderly crowd that it had been the day before on the last march, represented a slender mass of 2,000 people, each of whom knew his place, his business, and of whom each button and strap was in its place and shone with cleanliness. . Not only the outside was in good order, but if the commander-in-chief had been pleased to look under the uniforms, then on each he would have seen an equally clean shirt and in each knapsack he would have found a legal number of things, “an awl and a soap,” as the soldiers say. There was only one circumstance about which no one could be calm. It was shoes. More than half of the people had their boots broken. But this shortcoming did not come from the fault of the regimental commander, since, despite repeated demands, the goods from the Austrian department were not released to him, and the regiment traveled a thousand miles.
The regimental commander was an elderly, sanguine general with graying eyebrows and sideburns, thick and broad more from chest to back than from one shoulder to the other. He was wearing a new, brand-new uniform with crumpled folds, and thick golden epaulettes, which, as it were, raised his stout shoulders upwards rather than downwards. The regimental commander looked like a man happily doing one of the most solemn deeds of life. He paced in front of the front and, as he walked, trembled at every step, slightly arching his back. It was evident that the regimental commander was admiring his regiment, happy with them, that all his mental strength was occupied only by the regiment; but, in spite of this, his trembling gait seemed to say that, in addition to military interests, the interests of social life and the female gender also occupy a considerable 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), “I got nuts this night. However, it seems, nothing, the regiment is not bad ... Eh?
The battalion commander understood the cheerful irony and laughed.
- And in the Tsaritsyn Meadow they would not have driven out of the field.
- What? the commander said.
At this time, on the road from the city, along which the machinations were placed, two horsemen appeared. They were the adjutant and a Cossack riding behind.
The adjutant was sent from the main headquarters to confirm to the regimental commander what was unclear in yesterday's order, namely, that the commander-in-chief wanted to see the regiment in exactly the position in which he walked - in overcoats, in covers and without any preparations.
A member of the Hofkriegsrat from Vienna arrived at 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 advantageous, 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 that the worse the position of the regiment, the more pleasant it would be for the commander in chief. Although the adjutant did not know these details, however, he conveyed to the regimental commander the indispensable demand of the commander-in-chief that people be in overcoats and covers, and that otherwise the commander-in-chief would be dissatisfied. After hearing these words, the regimental commander lowered his head, silently shrugged his shoulders and spread his arms with a sanguine gesture.
- Done business! he said. - So I told you, Mikhailo Mitrich, that on a campaign, so in overcoats, - he turned with a reproach to the battalion commander. – Oh, my God! he added, and stepped forward resolutely. - Gentlemen, company commanders! he called out in a voice familiar to command. - Feldwebels! ... Will they come soon? he turned to the visiting adjutant with an expression of respectful courtesy, apparently referring to the person he was talking about.

In the second half of the nineteenth century a lot of breech-loading capsule guns appeared (Fig. 1).

The designs of the shutters of various types of rifles did not fundamentally differ from each other. The designers-gunsmiths were faced with the task of ensuring reliable obturation, that is, the tightness of the charging chamber. Capsule breech-loading rifles did not justify themselves, therefore, 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 sample of such a gun was produced in 1827.

Fig.1. Perry primer breech-loading rifle

The sample, made by the master already in 1836, was a bolt-action needle gun, which used a unitary cartridge, the paper sleeve of which flew out when fired. Initially, an egg-shaped bullet was used, later it was replaced by a Minié bullet. The percussion cake, replacing the primer, was in a folder tray under the bullet. The striker needle pierced the powder charge and ignited the primer with a blow. Obturation in the treasury was achieved by tight compression of the combat larva with a deep cup onto the conical edge of the barrel stump, so that the powder gases did not hit the shooter in the face. I. Dreyse 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 1862 pattern gun underwent minor design changes and was named the 1841–1862 pattern gun.

The gun had an iron barrel, caliber 15.43 mm, length 905 mm, as well as four grooves (6 mm wide, 0.76 mm deep). The length of the rifling stroke (thread pitch) is 732 mm, or 47.5 caliber. The sight is plate 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 speed of the bullet is 295 m / s.

Cartridge sleeve - 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 was a folder spiegel (bullet pallet) with a percussion cake behind and a nest for an egg-shaped bullet in front.

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Rice. 2. Dreyse needle rifle of the 1841 model

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 nest of a folder pallet, which cut into the rifling, compressing the bullet and giving it rotation. Bullet weight - 30.42 g. Cartridge weight - 40 g.

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

The Prussian needle gun Dreyse received its first baptism of fire during a 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, specialists noted their excellent fighting qualities.

However, for a long time there were doubts about the quality of the battle of needle guns, 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 Sadov) from the very better side. After that, all states hastened to arm their armies with breech-loading rifles. To do this, the specialists of some countries, following the example of Prussia, began to remake rifles loaded from the muzzle into those loaded from the treasury, while others immediately switched to new breech-loading guns.

Fig.3. Minier bullet to Veltishchev's cartridge

The disadvantages of the Dreyse system compared to the new French Chasseau needle guns (model 1866) appeared during Franco-Prussian War 1870–1871 Even before the war, the German inventor Back proposed an improved Dreyse rifle using a conical bullet built on the principle of "cork and needle" *. 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 Chasspo gun were discovered.

But time was lost and this interesting development was never implemented. The Dreyse system lasted 30 years in Prussia, long enough for a time when new weapon systems were obsolete for 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, though with a delay of 30 years. In 1866, the master of the arms factory A.A. Chasseau (1833-1905) offered the French government his 11 mm rifle, which was more advanced than the Dreyse gun. In the Chasspo system, all the details were well designed; for this, latest developments gun mechanisms. The bolt of the gun is sliding, the locking of the barrel was carried out by turning the handle to the right, the bolt turned 90o and with its crest entered the cutout of the receiver. The trigger was not automatically cocked, but required a separate technique for cocking it. Under the trigger was a roller to facilitate the sliding of the shutter. Obturation was achieved using rubber circles worn on the front of the bolt, which is part of the breech breech.

These guns were chambered in paper cartridges, with the primer placed in the breech of the cartridge, which was behind the powder charge in the cartridge's cardboard tray. Thanks to this arrangement of the cartridge, the firing pin was much shorter than in the Dreyse rifle, and therefore stronger. When fired, the sleeve partially burned out, and partially flew out of the barrel. If the cardboard pallet remained in the chamber, then the next time it was loaded, it was pushed forward (in general, the ejector was not needed in needle guns).

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

I must say that the losses from the fire of needle rifles in battles where one of the parties was armed with capsule muzzle-loading guns were 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, Andrey Gunst manufactured the first needle gun, which had a very complex and unreliable bolt.

In the 60s of the XIX century. the weapons commission reviewed and tested a number of needle systems proposed by Russian gunsmiths: Adjutant General Totleben (1866), weapons master 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 bolt), Averyanova (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 guidance of a prominent gunsmith, Colonel N.I. Chagin. During the tests, many shortcomings were revealed. Carle's rifle needed a radical overhaul. I. Carle did not begin to remake his own rifle; a group of Russian gunsmiths, headed by the above-mentioned N.I., took up 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 the leadership of Chagin, the shape of the charging chamber was changed, seven different samples of a paper cartridge were tested, until, finally, they accepted a cartridge with a Minier bullet, proposed by the chairman of the selection committee of the Sestroretsk plant, Colonel Veltishev.

The pace of testing the rifle was amazing. Having barely made 2000 shots from it, on March 28, 1867, the needle rifle was adopted.

The great contribution of Russian gunsmiths to the creation of a needle rifle was also mentioned in the order of the GAU (Main Artillery Directorate): "... due to many inconveniences indicated by experiments in the original sample of Karl, significant changes were made to it, so that the real sample of the needle rifles adopted by us is no longer can be considered the same as the original Karl model.As a result of this ... rifles, converted and made according to 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 Chasseau rifle, wrote on January 6, 1869 in his report to the Tsar that Chasspo rifles "in all respects should be recognized as lower than our needle ones." The needle rifle of the 1867 model had a caliber of 15.24 mm, a mass of 4.5 kg, and a length of 1340 mm.

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

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

Many Russian gunsmiths offered their developments of needle rifles, among them Staff Captain Terentyev (1867), engineer-captain Vyatkin (four-ruler chambered for Potte with pyroxylin (smokeless) gunpowder (1867), gunsmith Vasily Lebedev.

Needle rifles were the fastest firing paper rifles. 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 lengthy testing in Russia, the production of Veltishchev cartridges was also established, and 215,500 quick-firing rifles themselves were produced.

They entered service with the troops of the Caucasian, Turkestan, Orenburg, West Siberian, East Siberian military districts. The rearmament of these districts was completed in 1874. Russian soldiers fought with these rifles on the Caucasian front during the Russian-Turkish war in 1877-1878. and took Kare and Ardagan, Erzerum and Bayazet.

In the late 60s - early 70s of the XIX 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 has already become an anachronism. YES. Milyutin wrote on this occasion that such a rifle could only be adopted "until the introduction of another, more advanced weapon."

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