History of the American copy of the Swedish submachine gun 1945 Year of release, almost become caseless weapon of the future
The first US patent, associated with the idea of caseless ammunition, dates back to 22 January 1856 of the year. The patent described a cartridge for the gun Volcanic - tapered lead bullet with a cavity in the base. It was filled with black powder and closed cork or brass cover with built-in capsule.
Gunpowder inside the bullet was placed a little, so that the rifle pistol were low quality, but this project has led Horatio Smith (Horace Smith) and Daniel Wesson (Daniel Wesson) to the creation of companies, which produces weapons still.
after 150 s engineers Smith & Wesson tried to invent caseless ammunition again, but the reason for this was the war in Vietnam.
Before you start fighting, US Navy purchased from the Swedish game submachine guns Carl Gustav M / 45 Special Forces. It is easy to manufacture weapons in demand on the international market, even though, that only shoot in automatic mode.
but, when in 1966 year against the background of the beginning of large-scale ground operations in South Vietnam relations in Sweden and the United States have cooled, and the supply of weapons ceased, US Naval Ministry sent Smith & Wesson official order to develop a new 9 mm submachine gun.
Company representatives met with the "sea lions" team of SEAL (basic tactical unit of the US Navy Forces Special Operations) at the naval base in San Diego, California State, to discuss the project.
Before designers S&W set the task to construct as soon as possible reliable, neprihotlivoe, expensive weapons, which would have a shop on 36 caliber 9 mm and a rate of 600-800 rounds per minute.
in short, S&W had to set up production of American counterparts Swedish Carl Gustav M / 45.
The project was assigned to the head of Research and Development Company - Duane Charron (Dwayne Charron). A specialist with his experience to copy the Austrian machine pistol was not difficult - the prototypes were ready by January 1967 of the year.
The upgraded version of the Swedish original was called S&W Model 76. She had a two-way fuse-translator fire mode, allows for a semi-automatic or, or fully automatic fire, and got ribbed on the inside of the neck of the store. Now the dirt gets accumulated there in the grooves without compromising the reliability of the mechanism.
It would have been an ordinary project, but Charron decided to develop it into something more.
To do this, the designer hired Austrian engineer and researcher Hubert sat (Hubert Lousy). Austrian directed electrochemical laboratory and for several years studied the prospects for a caseless ammunition. Now, however, he had to realize their development.
In order not to attract undue attention to the project, S&W to find a well-equipped laboratory at the Brazilian factory for the production of explosives EXPLO.
created there 9 mm cartridge has a standard diameter, but instead the sleeve at its base was placed 124-sided (about 8 gram) charge of compressed explosive, pierced by a metal rod. The exact composition of the explosives is unknown, as well as the composition of the protective lacquer, which was to prevent the charge from the heat and moisture. For the new cartridge manufactured completely insensitive to shock capsule. Charron and sat decided to use electrical ignition.
The first experiments on the original designers put Carl Gustav M / 45, but soon the development focus has shifted to S&W Model 76.
Immediately before a trigger mounted designers compartment for 30-volt battery Burgess U20. His coupled to a pair of electrodes, mounted to the end of the elongated shutter for better obturation.
Failure of the sleeves and the electrical ignition allowed to simplify the structure of the already simple sub-machine gun. Now he needed no extractor, our striker.
Power was supplied to the electrodes upon activation of a switch on the machine pistol grip, who served as a second fuse. To feed ammunition used the standard retail box store.
Upgraded SMG got the serial number X219. According to reports from the test, he shot with less impact, compared with the standard model. Muzzle velocity corresponded to ordinary 9 mm cartridge, but caseless ammunition was on 30% easier.
The first public demonstration S&W X219 held 2 November 1967 year at the landfill in New Jersey.
To invite many journalists. designers S&W did not hesitate to call his invention a major achievement in the field of small arms from the time of the invention of a unitary cartridge, but their optimism was premature. the, What worked well in the laboratory and bad - on the range, It proved to be unsuitable for use "in the field".
What efforts were exerted to Hubert sat, and a lacquer composition used whatever, he can not make a new cartridge is sufficiently reliable to use the army. The protective coating could not be compared in strength with an ordinary sleeve, but worth it cause cracks, soon dampen cartridge.
probably, development would continue and further, but the "seals" found, that warfare in the jungles of Vietnam AR15 and M16 rifles fit much better, than submachine guns.
Navy orders to cut cost, as a prototype S&W X219 lost commercial potential and finally got into the museum's collection at the Springfield armory, where there is still.
Subsequently Smith & Wesson sold submachine guns 76 model police officers and private persons, but with the market the company pushed even more adept in copying competitors with their own low-quality, cheap but embodiments Karl-Gustav M / 45.
/Igor Santry, kalashnikov.media/
