LAND WARFARE Brassey’s New Battlefield Weapons Systems and Technology Series into the 21st Century Editorin-Chief: Colonel R G Lee OBE, Former Military Director of Studies, Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK ‘The success of the first and second series on Battlefield Weapons Systems and Technology and the pace of advances in military technology have prompted Brassey's to produce a new Land Warfare series. This series updates subjects covered in the original series and also covers completely new areas. The new books are written for military personnel who wish to advance their professional knowledge. In addition, they are intended to aid anyone who is interested in the design, development and production of military equipment, Volume i sic Manual - G M Moss, D W Leeming Volume 2 Cannons — DF Allsop Volume 3 Guns, Mortars and Rockets, Revised Edition —M P Manson Volume 4 Surveillance and Target Acquistion Systems, Second Edition —M A Richardson et al. Volume 5 Guided Weapons, Third Edition — R G Lee et al Volume 6 Small Arms: General Design —D F Allsop and M A Toomey (indian Edition By Ritana Books) Volume 7 Battlefield Command Systems — M J Ryan Volume 8 Guided Weapons, Fourth Edition — J F Rouse (Indian Edition by Ritana Books.) Forthcoming volume Volume 9 Military Rotorcraft — P Thickness Ad K M Kellett, A Mowat, M Edwards” 7" ¥ Knowles,SMALL ARMS General Design D F Allsop and M A Toomey Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK J rw wee, japanThis Indian edition published 2004 by Ritana Books 81, Defence Colony, Flyover Market, New Delhi-110024 Tel. : 24617278 Fax : 24636063 Email : ritana@vsnl.com website : wwwritanabooks.com By arrangement with Brassey's A member of the Chrysalis Books Group Ple © 1999 D F Allsop and M A Toomey All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means; electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers. DF Allsop and M A Toomey have asserted their moral right to be identified as the authors of this work. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data available British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1 85753 250 3 Hardcover - UK Edition. ISBN - 81-85250-35-9 Hardcover - Indian Edition Published by Rock Furtado for Ritana Books and Printed at Print Perfect, New DelhiPreface THE SERIES This series of books is written for those who wish to improve their knowledge of military weapons and equipment. It is equally relevant to professional sol- diers, those involved in developing and producing military weapons or indeed anyone interested in the art of modern warfare. All the texts are written in a way which assumes no mathematical knowledge and no more technical depth than would be gleaned from school-days. It is intended that the books should be of particular interest to army officers who are studying for promotion examinations, furthering their knowledge at spe- cialist arms schools or attending command and staff schools The authors of the books are, or have been, military or civilian members of the staff of the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, which comprises a unique blend of academic and military experts. They are not only leaders in the technology of their subjects, but are aware of what the military practitioner needs to know. It is difficult to imagine any group of persons more fitted to write about the application of technology to the battlefield. VOLUME 6 This book provides a solid grounding in the application, design and methods of operation of this very important class of weapons. The scope and application of military small arms as used by modern military powers is discussed and their performance and limitations are explained. The methods of achieving auto- matic operation, both by self power and external power, are explained and the advantages and disadvantages of each type of operating method are given. Small arms ammunition is covered, giving design and construction details. The individual components of small arms, such as breeches, locking mechanisms, barrels, triggers and firing mechanisms, ammunition feed and sights are described and the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to component design are discussed. Future developments in the search for improved weapon performance and the direction these developments are like- ly to take are also discussed in detail. Geoffrey Lee, ShrivenhamAcknowledgements The authors greatly appreciate the generosity of DDOR (LtWpns&Sim) and the ATSA Directorate of Engineering in allowing them to use some of the line draw- ings from AESP 1000-A-002-013. ‘Thanks are also due to all those who taught this subject at The Royal Military College of Science in the past for the accumulated knowledge to be found in this book. Disclaimer The views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not neces- sarily reflect those of Her Majesty's Government. Infrequently some of the data given in this book may show some slight discrepancies due to the different con- ditions under which it was produced.Contents List of Tables List of Figures Chapter 1 The Military Requirement Chapter 2 Other Support Weapons Chapter 3 Small Arms Ammunition Chapter 4 Barrels Chapter 5 Introduction to Operating Mechanisms Chapter 6 Blow Back Operation Chapter 7 Recoil Operation Chapter 8 Gas Operation Chapter 9 External Power Operation Chapter 10 Locking and Mechanical Safety Chapter 11 Extraction and Ejection Chapter 12 Feed Systems Chapter 13 ‘Trigger and Firing Mechanisms Chapter 14 Weapon Ancillaries Chapter 15 Sights for Small Arms Chapter 16 Dynamic Analysis of Operating Cycles Chapter 17 ‘The Future Glossary Bibliography Index 41 51 69 91 109 127 133 159 175 209 241 279 291 293List of Tables Table Description Page 1.1 Incapacitation Criteria 5 1.2 Suppression Criteria 8 1.3. Energy for Penetration 12 14 Target Penetration Ranges 15 1.5 Bullet Drop for some Muzzle Velocities 16 1.6 Weapon Recoil Energies 18 3.1 CRISAT Body Armour Penetration 39 6.1 Comparisons Makarov, Stechkin & VZ61 74 6.2 — Comparison Oerlikon & Hispano Suiza 88 6.3 Types of Blow back Summary 89 10.1 Methods of Locking 136 13.1 | Summary of Applied Mechanical Safety 239List of Figures Figure Number Subject Ll CRISAT Body Armour 12 Wound Path AK74 13 Chance of Incapacitation 14 Percentage Target Availability with Range 15 Bullet KE with Range 21 Russian 30mm AGS17 2.2 American 40mm M19 31 Ammunition Construction 32 Cartridge Hardness Gradient 33 Rim Types 34 Percussion Ignition Methods 35 Ball and Tracer Comparison 3.6 $109 and AK74 Comparison 37 Armour Piercing Bullets 38 Duplex Round 39 Flechette Round 3.10 Shotgun Cartridge BL Cased Telescoped Round 3.12 Velocity against Range (5.56, 7.62 & 127mm) 3.13 Fall of Bullet with Range (5.56, 7.62 & 12. 7mm) Al Make up of Barrel 42 Case and Chamber Clearances 43 Positioning of a Rimmed Round in the Chamber 4.4 Positioning of Cartridges in a Chamber 45 Square Land and Groove 46 ‘Trapezoid Rifling 4.7 Recoiling Barrel Arrangement 48 Quick Change Barrel Cotter Joint 49 Ribbed Joint Quick Change Barrel 5 Barrel Pressure/Time Curve 52 Cartridge Case Obturation 5.3 Rotating Chamber Obturation 54 Cartridge Headspace, Rimmed Round 55 Cartridge Headspace, Rimless RoundSmall Arms: General Design Heat at Bore and Barrel Surface Single Barrel Heating Two Barrel Heating Barrel Cooling Rate Barrel Mass and ‘Temperature Fluted Chamber Simple Blowback Advanced Primer Ignition Differential Breech Delay French AAS2 German G3 Hispano Suiza 20mm Cannon Johnson LMG Recoil Operation Long Recoil Rarden 30mm Cannon Short Recoil Recoil Intensifier Accelerator in M85 MG3 Short Recoil MG3 Rate of Fire Device 9mm Browning Pistol Luger Pistol Gas Operation Long Stroke Piston L7A1 Cupped Piston EN FAL Short Stroke M1 Carbine Short Stroke Czech VZ52 Wrap Around Piston Direct Gas M16 Variable Gas Track BREN Variable Gas Track Goryunov M43 LTA2 Gas System M60 Gas System Variable Expansion Chamber Variable Stroke Length L94A1 Chain Gun ARWEN 37 Gatling Gun 25mm ADEN Chain Gun Cycle Chain Gun Principle 123 123 127 128 129 129 130 131