Project of the Delacre Modèle submachine gun 1936 (France. 1936).
The Delacre Modèle 1936 submachine gun project was patented in December 1936 by French developer Henri Delacre. There is information that a working prototype was built, but it is not known for sure. Apparently, it was the first SMG developed according to the “bullpup” scheme …
The weapon was designed to be fired from the forearm. There was a semicircular latch on the side of the magazine, which was worn on the wrist to stabilize the sight and reduce the negative impact of recoil. The automatic system worked on the principle of free bolt recoil. The trigger mechanism had two separate triggers, one of which was intended for automatic firing, and the second for firing single (in self-loading mode).
Performance characteristics: cartridge - 9x19 Para, magazine capacity - 32 rounds, barrel length - 250 mm, loaded weight - 3.97 kg, rate of fire - 500 rounds per minute, effective firing range - 100 meters, muzzle velocity - 380 m/s.
Experimental Godsal rifle (Great Britain. 1902).
Almost at the same time as Thornycroft (whose rifle is also present here) in 1902, a similar system (bullpup) was proposed to the British army by a certain Godsal. The main difference between the Godsal rifle was that the bolt in it did not move parallel to the axis of the barrel, but slightly at an angle downwards …
Thanks to this solution, he hoped to make the reloading of weapons faster and more convenient. The Godsal rifle was also equipped with an integral box magazine designed for 5 rounds. Locking was carried out by a longitudinally sliding rotary bolt with front lugs.
Prototypes of this rifle were made by the famous British company Webley & Scott, but never went into production due to the lack of interest from the British army. The Godsal rifle, with an overall length of 1143 mm, had a barrel length of 756 mm and weighed 3.2 kg without cartridges. (At the end of WWI, Godsal offered the British army an anti-tank rifle for an interesting cartridge.
The project of the Geller automatic rifle (USSR. 1933).
Description of the automatic rifle. To the author’s certificate of G. B. Geller, declared on September 28, 1933 (spr. o perv. No 135438). The issuance of the author’s certificate was published on January 31, 1935. Automatic weapons with a moving forward barrel are known from the action of cutting a bullet into the rifling; cartridge belts with hooks are also not new. In the proposed automatic rifle, the cartridges are not pushed out of the belt during shooting, but remain connected to it. For the passage of the belt, there are cutouts in the receiver, into which the belt enters when running over the cartridge …
In the drawing of Fig. 1 depicts the longitudinal section of the rifle; Fig. 2 — side view; Fig. E is the section along the line AB in Fig. 1; Fig, 4 — cut along the line of the DM to Fig, 2; Fig, 5 — top view of the cartridge belt. Stock 1, receiver 2 and stop 3 (Figs. 1 and 2) are made entirely of steel. The buttstock serves for ease of shooting, and the trigger mechanism and belt feeder are placed in the receiver. In the stop 3 there is a socket 4, which includes the connecting bracket of the casing when connected to the casing, and a hole 5 (Fig. 3) for fastening with a connecting screw. The receiver 2 has two grooves along the length: the first contains the belt feeder, and the second contains the trigger lever, trigger spring and trigger, In the lower part of the receiver there is a handle 8 with a trigger guard 9. Around the edge of the receiver there is a bur: teak 10, which enters the groove of the casing 14 when connected to the casing. The barrel inside is the same as that of a 3-line rifle. At the base of the chamber there is a boring with a transverse slot for placing the cartridge together with the belt, and at the bottom there is a small cutout where the ejector head is placed. To increase the cooling surface, the surface of the barrel is made ribbed or a special radiator is put on it. The belt 6 with cartridges (Fig. 5) is made up of separate sections of twenty-five cartridges each. The link is made of elastic metal in the form of a tape b, on which metal tubes are fixed, into which the cartridge is inserted until it stops in the head of the case, Each tube has a cutout for placing the ejector head. The final two tubes of the link have half the normal height and are located on both sides of the plane passing through the middle of the belt, so that by threading the chuck through such two outermost tubes of the two links, one tape is obtained, or by connecting the ends of one link, a ribbon ring is obtained. Such a ring of one link represents the normal armament of the rifle for all types of combat. For the passage of the belt, there are cutouts in the receiver 2, into which the tape 6 enters when running over the cartridge. To make a shot, press the trigger and thereby bend the trigger lever from the stop, and the barrel under the action of the recoil spring, jumps (puts on) the cartridge; at this point, the firing pin falls into the barrel cutout and the latter, together with the cartridge in the belt, is pressed to the bottom of the casing, At this moment the firing pin breaks the primer and the bullet, acting on the barrel cutouts, pushes it forward; in this case, the spent case together with the belt remains in its place, the forward movement of the barrel begins at a very low speed, due to the large mass of the barrel and the impulse from its movement to the cartridge; This delay eliminates the possibility of sleeve rupture. The barrel, moving forward, releases the feeder pin, which, under the action of its spring, rises up, and when the barrel has already released the case, it turns the feeder and the feeder pin, moving the belt by one cartridge. If you continue to press the trigger, then under the action of the recoil spring, the barrel begins to move back again and the process is repeated as described above. When firing a shot, the ejector plays almost no role in ejecting the case, because under the pressure of powder gases, the case is pre. redly releases itself. The ejector is made only in case of a misfire, when you will have to throw away (or rather, hold by the cap to remove) unfired cartridges. To protect the weapon (with the tape inserted) from accidental shots, from catching the trigger on some object, take the handle 8 and slowo lower the barrel on the cartridge.
Experimental rifle Faucon-Meunier (France. 1918 / 1920).
1) This weapon claims to be one of the first in the world created in the “bullpup” layout. The rifle shown in the photos is based on the experimental Meunier A5 semi-automatic rifle chambered for 6.5x51. The A5 rifle was too ahead of its time. It appeared in 1908, the muzzle velocity of its 6.5 mm bullet was 1020 m/s …
The bolt was similar to the Schmidt-Rubin rifle of the 1896 model, and the automation worked according to the method of gas removal.
Colonel Armand Faucon came up with a concept he called the “balanced rifle”, but he was not the designer of the rifle itself, being the author of only its configuration scheme - that is, the author of the “bullpup” layout. Disputes about the authorship of this scheme have been going on for a long time - at least he is one of the contenders.
2) A characteristic negative feature of almost any small arm, with rare exceptions, is the need to restore aiming after each shot/burst. Under the influence of recoil, the weapon moves back, and the barrel is also tossed. All these features of shooting have a negative effect on the accuracy and accuracy of fire. Attempts to reduce the effect of recoil on the characteristics of fire are made regularly, new versions of self-loading and automatic systems with maximum recoil neutralization are still being developed. One of the first attempts to solve an important problem was the Fusil Équilibré (“Balanced Rifle”) project, the development of which began in the mid-noughties of the last century. The project was developed by Lieutenant Colonel (Lieutenant Colonel) of the French colonial infantry Armand-Frédéric Faucon. In his service, Lieutenant Colonel Faucon had to deal with the shortcomings of existing small arms, which probably led to the emergence of an original proposal to reduce the negative impact of recoil and stabilize weapons.
It is noteworthy that the Fusil Équilibré project did not imply the development of a completely new weapon. A.-F. Faucon proposed only a set of means of special design that could be used with existing and future weapons of various types. By installing the existing rifle units on the Fusil Équilibré design, it was possible to obtain a rifle system with improved accuracy characteristics. In theory, any existing samples could undergo such a redesign. In the future, during the assembly and testing of the “Balanced Rifle”, this approach was used. The new equipment was connected to one of the available rifles. One of the main problems of the existing weapons of A.-F. Faucon considered the incorrect weight distribution and unacceptable mechanical interaction of the rifle with the shooter during the shot. Due to some new ideas, it was planned to ensure the optimal position of the weapon when firing in various conditions, which did not allow the barrel to deviate too much from the required position. To do this, first of all, it was necessary to change the design of the stock and other units of the rifle, which directly affected the ergonomics and method of holding. For the correct distribution of weight and reduction of the toss, it was proposed to shoot from the shoulder. Thus, the Balanced Rifle was supposed to receive the appropriate units. The basis of the system was to be a stock of a specific oblong shape, inside which all the main parts were placed. At the same time, almost the entire volume of the stock was occupied with the details of the mechanisms. Since the weapon no longer needed a buttstock, the corresponding volumes were used with some benefit. In addition, this arrangement led to a reduction in the overall length of the weapon in comparison with existing rifles. The original layout proposed by A.-F. Faucon, allows us to consider his development of the Fusil Équilibré one of the first samples of weapons built according to the “bullpup” scheme.
On the lower surface of the stock, near its center, a pistol grip with a trigger covered with a protective bracket was to be placed. Next to them was a safety flag. The controls on the stock had to be connected to the firing mechanism of the rifle used using a rod system and other similar means. Also, the stock of the “Balanced Rifle” was supposed to receive windows for loading and ejecting cartridge cases, as well as other necessary components. In front of the shooter’s shoulder when using the weapon there had to be a folding stop. In 1910, the original idea of using a special “conversion kit”, which made it possible to turn any self-loading rifle into a weapon with increased accuracy characteristics, was enshrined in the French patent No422154. A little earlier, the author of the project began preparations for preliminary tests of the Fusil Équilibré, during which it was planned to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the original proposal. Before A.-F. Faucon, gunsmiths did not propose placing the rifle on the shoulder instead of the traditional butt to the shoulder. For this reason, no one could say how convenient such weapons would be and what features of operation future users of “Balanced Rifles” would have to face. Since the first tests with the study of the ergonomics of the weapon did not require firing, it was decided to conduct them using a simple model. Back in 1909, the designer and his colleagues made a full-size model of the Fusil Équilibré system. The wooden product with metal elements had the dimensions of a full-fledged rifle of the original design, and its weight corresponded to the design parameters of a combat weapon. The designer conducted the first tests on his own, after which he involved officers of the Vincennes shooting school in them. They got acquainted with the original development, but did not show much interest. The first reviews also did not speak of the enthusiasm of the testers. The wooden full-size model of the Fusil Équilibré rifle was 1040 mm long and weighed about 5.5 kg. For comparison, the serial Lebel rifle of the 1886/93 model, which was in service with the French army, had a length of 1300 mm and weighed (with cartridges) about 4.4 kg. An interesting feature of the “Balanced Rifle” was the advantage in length compared to the existing model, while at the same time significantly superiority in weight. Thus, in the future, the military could criticize the new project due to the unacceptable increase in the mass of weapons and therefore refuse to implement it. The project needed to be improved and the main characteristics improved. Armand-Frédéric Faucon continued to work on the development of the Fusil Équilibré system and worked on the project until the outbreak of the First World War. In mid-1914, France entered the war, which is why the development of many new projects was suspended or postponed. Thus, A.-F. Faucon had to perform his direct duties, not being able to continue designing promising small arms. It was possible to continue work only after the end of the war. It was not until 1918 that the Fusil Équilibré project was continued. By this time, its author had managed to apply a number of new ideas aimed at improving characteristics. In addition, the ergonomics of the promising “conversion set” was improved. All this work, which was carried out by Lieutenant Colonel Faucon during the war, made it possible to bring the project to the stage of preparation for new tests. This time It became possible to produce full-fledged prototypes of small arms, suitable for studying both usability and real combat characteristics.
To continue work on his project, A.-F. Faucon received two Meunier A5 semi-automatic rifles of the 1908 model. This weapon was developed by the designers of the Section Technique de l’Artillerie under the leadership of Etienne Meunier and was an intermediate version of a promising semi-automatic rifle for the army. Later, E. Meunier created a new version of the rifle, and all previous samples made for testing turned out to be unnecessary. A couple of such rifles, which no longer had any future, were handed over to A.-F. Faucon for use in his experiments. The Meunier A5 rifle used a 6.5x61 mm cartridge and was equipped with gas automatics. A rotary bolt was used, which locked the barrel with a set of lugs. Cartridges were fed from an integral box magazine. The trigger mechanism was built according to the hammer scheme. The rifle had an open mechanical sight and was equipped with a wooden stock with an upper barrel plate. The first prototype of the Faucon-Meunier rifle was assembled by mid-1918. The basic A5 semi-automatic rifle lost its wooden fittings, and also received new firing control systems. The remaining parts of the rifle were installed on a new stock of a characteristic shape, equipped with a pistol grip, shoulder rest, etc. For this reason, a folding sight appeared on the left side surface of the receiver, and the front sight was shifted relative to its original position. It was proposed to reload the weapon using clips placed in the window at the rear of the weapon. Later, another prototype of the Faucon-Meunier system was manufactured. It differed from the first product in a different form of wooden stock, which served as the basis for weapons. So, the shape of the front part of the stock, to which the fire control handle was attached, changed. The height of the rear of the stock was reduced, which no longer covered the upper elements of the receiver. The pistol grip and internal mechanisms of the Fusil Équilibré system have also undergone some changes. The base rifle was retained in its current configuration. The second sample was presented to potential customers in the late spring of 1920. After being shown to the military, both experimental self-loading “Balanced Rifles” were tested at the shooting range. The designer, together with representatives of the army, studied the features of the operation of the new weapon, as well as determined its real characteristics in certain conditions. Based on the results of the two tests, certain conclusions were drawn. During the tests of both prototypes of the Fusil Équilibré system based on the E. Meunier rifle, it was found that the existing fire control systems had insufficient reliability characteristics. The use of the trigger mechanism in the initial configuration suited the potential customer, but equipping the weapon with a set of rods for “remote” firing control led to negative consequences. The rods could not provide the required reliability of operation. Because of this, there were malfunctions of mechanisms, which manifested themselves in the form of delays in firing. Nevertheless, during the tests, it was found that the new rifle is simpler and more convenient when used for its intended purpose. It turned out that when firing from the “Balanced Rifle” for a long time, the shooter gets less tired than in the case of similar weapons of the classic layout. The original arrangement of the weapon contributed to a different distribution of weight and recoil impulse, which significantly reduced the fatigue of the shooter.
In 1920, representatives of the French army got acquainted with the next version of the original small arms and drew conclusions about its further fate. The commission responsible for the tests decided that the Fusil Équilibré system developed by A.-F. Faucone is of no interest to the army and cannot be put into service. The exact reasons for this decision are unknown, but you can imagine why the army abandoned an interesting project. First of all, the fate of the development could be negatively affected by the non-standard layout of the weapon. It demanded that personnel be retrained, as well as some methods of combat use of weapons be updated. In addition, a serious disadvantage was the low reliability of the remote trigger and its rods. According to the test results, France did not adopt the Armand-Frédéric Faucon Balanced Rifle. With some advantages over existing systems of the “classical” layout, the Fusil Équilibré product had serious shortcomings that could have a significant negative impact on the combat use of weapons. As a result, serial production and subsequent operation of such systems turned out to be impractical. After the military refused in 1920, all work on the Fusil Équilibré project was stopped. No attempt has been made to improve the weak mechanisms. Both samples were apparently dismantled as unnecessary. The Fusil Équilibré project was not developed due to serious shortcomings. The original set of additional equipment, capable of turning a semi-automatic rifle into a system with increased accuracy characteristics, never left the testing stage.
Manual reloading with a longitudinal sliding pistol grip, the bolt moves at an angle to the barrel in the ridge of the butt, the magazine is integral (with a capacity of 5 rounds) with clip loading. The ejection of spent cartridges, apparently, upwards, through the window for loading the magazine, right in front of the shooter’s nose. There were both conventional sights and a telescopic sight mounted on the left side.
And so, in 1945, John Cantius Garand himself decided to make his native army happy with weapons in the fashionable bullpup layout. It fully retained the automatics, only the ring gas piston now encircled the barrel and transmitted the force backwards, behind the fire control handle using a special rod. But, Mr. Garand, trying to maintain the front centering of the rifle in the situation of moving the main mechanisms back, and even aggravated by a 20-round magazine, made the barrel as long as that of the original classics, and the total length of the T31 prototype came out of course a little less than that of the M1: 848 mm versus 1103 mm.
