Rifle gras

During the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871), the French felt a strong shortage of guns, because often the main weapon of the infantry regiments was the outdated Snyder-Schneider rifle, as well as foreign breech-loading rifles (Remington, etc.). And the main French rifle - the Chassault needle system - was rapidly becoming obsolete. The arms race in many European countries in search of a better rifle system forced France to take its rifle under a metal unitary cartridge. It turned out to be the system of artillery captain Bazil Gras, developed at the Tull arms factory and adopted by the French army in 1874. The Gra system did not require any significant restructuring of the arsenals and made it possible to use the production capacities to the full extent, which enabled R. Schmidt to successfully and cheaply remodel the Shasspo rifles under the Gra cartridge in 1869. The shutter and barrel were subjected to alteration, in the breech of which the chamber was deployed. This made it possible to complete re-equipment in a short time, efficiently and economically. As in the case of the Shasspo rifle, the best engineering achievements were used in its design, only the fuse and the store were the exceptions (probably the conservatism of the French command did not follow the example of their neighbors, the Swiss, where the Vetterly rifle was adopted).

The Gra system was a single-shot rifle with a sliding bolt bolt. The modified Mauser system of the sample of 1871 was taken as the basis for the design of the bolt group (the extractor was strengthened, the extraction of cartridges was improved, etc.). The influence of the Beaumont system of the sample of 1871 is also noticeable. The result is a reliable, durable and cheap rifle that surpassed such well-known systems as Mauser and Berdan . One of the features of the Gras shutter of the 1874 sample was the absence of threaded connections. The shutter, consisting of only 7 parts, was disassembled without the use of tools and in a few seconds.

Locking the bore in the Gra rifle was carried out on the bolt ridge, turning a quarter of a turn. The extractor was located in a fixed shutter larva and had a V-shape double-spring. With its upper pen, the extractor entered the cutout of the receiver and, thanks to the transmitted powerful force on the extractor’s tooth, provided reliable grip on the sleeve and reliable extraction. The larval mirror had a pronounced cup, which contributed to a more reliable retention of the sleeve during extraction. The powerful and convenient handle of the shutter greatly facilitated and accelerated the reloading of the rifle.

The shutter trigger had a safety and combat platoon. The trigger was attached to the drummer using a special clasp. Setting on the safety and combat platoons because of the small nipple of an inconvenient shape required attention, the application of significant effort and was dangerous at low temperatures. At the safety platoon, when the trigger was pulled, the striker, although striking the capsule, did not cause ignition, leaving only a trace of the strike on it. The French did not consider such a safety platoon device a disadvantage and more attached importance to the speed of bringing the trigger from the safety into combat position. This was one of the drawbacks of the rifle, since the fuse was, although cheaper, but worse than the Mauser and Berdanov ones.

The shutter was disassembled in this way: it was necessary to turn the larva clockwise and remove it by moving it forward; squeeze the extractor spring with your fingers and pull it forward. Next, it was necessary to roll the trigger along the helical bevel of the bolt stem to loosen the compression of the spring. Now it was possible to rest the drummer on a wooden surface, press the bolt of the shutter firmly, squeezing the spring, then turn the trigger of the trigger so that its slot takes a vertical position. In this position, the clasp, together with the rear end of the hammer, exited the rear rectangular hole of the trigger. Now it only remained to turn the clasp 90 degrees, remove it and carefully separate the drummer with the spring. When separating the hammer, it might be necessary to knock it out with a punch. The shutter lag was made in the form of a screw screwed into the right wall of the receiver. The shutter stem and larva had corresponding milled grooves. To remove the shutter, you had to partially unscrew the delay screw. The shut-off delay of the Gra system originates from the Shasspo design and, despite its shortcomings, was left unchanged by Captain Gra. The reflector of the sleeve was a screw screwed into the receiver from below.

The trigger mechanism of the Gra rifle is very interesting in technical terms. Structurally, the Gra trigger mechanism is clearly borrowed from the Mauser system rifle of the 1871 model. The whispered spring at one end is screwed to the bottom of the receiver and has a hook for cocking platoons at the other end. But unlike Mauser, the Gra trigger has a semicircular rear of the hook, resting on the semicircular cutout of the receiver's stop. This results in a slightly different force application vector, which explains the unusual shape of the rifle trigger. The receiver with the barrel is mounted in the box with a screw in the shank of the receiver and two powerful false spring-loaded rings. A steel ramrod passes through the entire box and is attached to the stop of the trigger guard. The walnut box has a form that is most suitable for bayonet fighting. The butt plate (like the whole device) is iron . There is a myth that, as if in the butt of a box on the right side, a capsule with holy water was mounted. Perhaps this is a fiction, but on all the gras of the Gra rifles there is a chopped glued into the butt wood with a stamp on the butt.

Sights are represented by a complex frame sight with a double shield, with distances from 200 to 1800 m and an open front sight of a triangular section located on a high base. The fly is shifted to the right of the center of its base. Sighting at distances up to 200 m is carried out from a small narrow rear sight located on the underside of the main bar and representing a triangular cut at the base of the sight. To do this, the scope frame must be thrown forward so that the frame lies on the barrel second completely to the 300 m mark. If you need to shoot at a distance of 300 m, the frame must be folded back. In this case, the frame lays on the block of the sight and aiming is already through the larger and wider in the mane of the rear sight. When shooting at a distance of more than 300 meters, the scope of the sight rises vertically. In this case, the heel of the frame is held by a leaf spring located in the block of the sight and fixed by a screw. Shooting at 350 m is conducted through the bottom slot in a vertically located frame, the clamp must be lifted for this. Shooting at long distances (from 400 to 1100 meters) is conducted through the slot on the mane of the clamp on the scale of the frame, cut on the left side. The slot for firing at a distance of 1200 m is located at the top of the main bar. On the Shasspo rifle, the firing range is limited to a distance of 1200 meters, which is associated with the ballistic capabilities of the cartridge. Therefore, the rifle scope of the Shasspo rifle has only one lifting shield. The unitary cartridge of the new generation, developed by the time the Gra rifle was introduced, had significantly better characteristics compared to the cartridge for the Shasspo rifle. This allowed the rifle to have a ballistic advantage over almost all rifles of that time. Shooting at maximum distances from 1300 to 1800 m is feasible through a triangular slot at the top of the second shield. In this case, elevation values ​​are set on a scale on the right side of the main shield. When firing at a distance of 1800 m, the notch of the shield is located above the notch of the sight by 200 m by more than 90 mm. Of course, convenience and efficiency are minimized. On shortened versions of the Gra rifle, the sight has one shield and a firing range limited to 1000 meters.

The bayonet for the Gra rifle is a blade, trihedral, with a wooden handle. On the rifle, the bayonet is attached on the side to a special protrusion soldered to the barrel on the right side.

Graf rifle barrels were made of pudding steel and had four rifling. The width of the margins was equal to the width of the rifling. The depth of the rifling - 0.25 mm, the pitch of the rifling - 55 cm or 50 calibres.

Rate of fire - 30 rounds per minute, which was superior to Mauser, but was smaller than the American Peabody-Martini rifle (40 rounds per minute).

The Gra rifle was available in several different versions:

• infantry rifle arr. 1874 - total length without bayonet - 1305 mm (with bayonet - 1827 mm), barrel length - 820 mm. The mass of an infantry rifle without a bayonet is 4200 g, with a bayonet - 4760 g.
• cavalry carbine - total length without bayonet - 1175 mm, barrel length - 690 mm. The mass of the cavalry carbine is 3560 g, with a bayonet the carbine was not equipped.
• gendarme carbine - with a barrel length of 690 mm. The mass of the gendarme carbine is 3590 without a bayonet and 4245 g with a bayonet.
• nipple - total length without bayonet - 990 mm (with bayonet - 1563 mm), barrel length - 505 mm. The weight of the fitting without a bayonet is 3260 g, with a bayonet - 3915 g.

The bolt handle was bent for carbines, which reduced the convenience of shooting, but gave an advantage in carrying and storing weapons.

The Gra rifle is a leap forward in relation to other systems of its era, subsequently repeatedly modernized (Gra-Kropacheka, Gra-Vetterli), it earned high marks from the military for its good combat qualities, simplicity and reliability.

During World War I, a certain number of rifles were converted into mortars designed by Captain Guidetti (at the same time, the rifle barrel was shortened to 100 mm, a cylindrical chamber was installed on the remainder of the barrel: for firing a single cartridge of a 77-mm fragmentation grenade weighing 550 grams or for firing 65- mm fragmentation grenade). Mortars entered service with the French army.

During the Vietnam War, there were cases of the use of Gra rifles by partisans of the NFLUJU, the chamber of which was remade for firing .410 caliber rifle cartridges ^[1] .

•   France - adopted in 1874, after the rearmament of the French army with the Lebel rifle model 1886, it was transferred to the arsenal of colonial and auxiliary units or sent to warehouses of a mobilization reserve. After the outbreak of World War I , due to the lack of rifles in the army, the rifles were used for armament of auxiliary parts, a certain amount was converted to a cartridge of 8 × 50 mm R Lebel .
•   Russian Empire - during the First World War, 450 thousand Gra rifles and 105 thousand Gra-Kropachek rifles ^[2] were delivered from France to the Russian army, these rifles were used during the First World War due to the lack of modern rifles ^[3] .
•   RSFSR and   USSR - part of the rifles was used during the revolution and civil war by parts of the Red Guard and the Red Army , ^[4] , in the 1920s a significant number of gras removed from service were converted into single-shot hunting rifles ^[5] , but some were stored in warehouses to the beginning of World War II . Until December 1925, Gra's rifles (369 units) were armed with units of the Railways Guard of the NKPS USSR ^[6] . In autumn 1941, single-shot rifles Gra arr. 1874 were issued to the people's militia for the protection of order in cities, guard duty and the fight against saboteurs. For example, they were received by the Tula working regiment ^[7] .
•   Greece - in 1877 it was adopted by the army under the name τυφέκιο Γκρα , 77 thousand. rifles arr. 1874 and a number of Mle 1874-14 rifles chambered for 8x50 mm Lebel remained in service after the end of the First World War ^[8] , some remained in warehouses of the mobilization reserve by the beginning of the Second World War.
•   Chile - were used during the Pacific War of 1879-1883. . As of 1893, the Chilean army had 70 thousand Gra rifles, later on they were gradually replaced by 7-mm Mauser rifles of the Spanish model of 1892, adopted for service in 1893 ^[9] .
•   Kingdom of Serbia - On March 20, 1916, at a meeting of the Entente countries, a decision was made on the complete rearmament of the Serbian army with French-made weapons, and until October 1, 1916, the Serbian army received 20 thousand gras from France and a significant number of French rifles other systems ^[10]
•   Second Spanish Republic - 11,700 gras rifles were used by republican troops during the war in Spain ^[11]
•   Ethiopia - by the beginning of 1898, the Gra rifle arr. 1874 was the most common type of rifle in the Ethiopian army ^[12] , there were also a number of Gra-Kropachek magazine rifles ^[13] , they remained in service with the Ethiopian army at the beginning of the 20th century ^[14]
•   RPAU - were transferred to the Makhno brigade by the command of the 2nd Army so that if necessary it was possible to leave it without cartridges ^[15]
•   Germany - after the occupation of Greece in April 1941, a number of Gra rifles and carbines were captured by the Germans, they were used for arming auxiliary security and police units (Gra rifles were named Gewehr 306 (g) , Gra rifles - Karabiner 561 (g) ).

A number of Gra rifles were used by paramilitaries in Africa on the territory of the former French colonies in the period after the end of World War II ^[16] .

Cartridge Gra consisted of a 59-mm brass sleeve, a charge (5.25 g) and a bullet of pure lead in a paper wrapper, and weighed 25 g. Between the gunpowder and the bullet was a prosalnik, which consisted of 4 parts of wax and one part of lamb. At the central fire sleeve, the capsule was covered with a special cap from the outside; subsequently this device was removed. The initial velocity of the bullet is 450 m / s, which is 20 m / s higher than the corresponding indicator of the Shasspo rifle .

• Aazen system bomb ( throwing charge was a sleeve for the Gra rifle)

• Gra // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Yuri Maximov. The French single-shot rifle of the Gra system of the sample of 1874 // Magazine Master-gun, No. 11 (128), November 2007. p. 38-42

• Rifles Gra (sample 1874, Gra-Kropachek sample 1884 (store), Gra-Vetterly sample 1885 (store).
• The French rifle of the Gra system, model 1874.