Conical trunk

Conical barrel - the barrel of a hand or artillery weapon having an internal conical (tapering) transition from the rear of the barrel to the front. The diameter of the part of the cone facing the breech of the trunk is larger than the diameter of the part of the cone facing the muzzle.

The taper of the trunk can begin either directly from the bullet (shell) entrance, so often and at a considerable distance from it. At the end of the conical narrowing is usually located a cylindrical section of the trunk.

A conical barrel can be either threaded or smooth ( choke ), or combined, for example, with a smooth conical part and a threaded cylindrical (“ Paradox ” drill).

Conical trunks were used to increase the initial velocity of the projectile (bullet). The principle of increasing the velocity of the projectile in the conical trunks is a complex modified principle of "plugs and needles." At the beginning of the projectile movement, the pressure of the powder gases acts on a large area of the bottom of the projectile. When the projectile moves along the conical barrel, the pressure of the powder gases begins to fall, but this drop is compensated by a decrease in the volume of the barrel compared to the usual cylindrical one. At the same time, the projectile area also decreases, but when the leading shell shells are squeezed in the barrel, a high degree of powder gas obturation remains, reducing their losses.

The mass of a projectile fired from a conical barrel is always less than the mass of a conventional caliber projectile (initial caliber of a cone), which brings firing from conical trunks closer to firing from conventional barrels with subcaliber shells .

Content

1 History
- 1.1 In the USSR
2 Miscellaneous
3 See also
4 notes
5 Literature

History

Attempts to use a conical barrel in firearms have been undertaken since the beginning of its development, but there was no clear awareness of the purpose of such a barrel. Attempts to use the conical barrel were repeatedly made by gunsmiths who made hunting smoothbore weapons in order to improve the density of the scree of shotgun charge at long distances. Currently, smooth-bore hunting weapons use trunks with a slight taper with a narrowing, for example, the so-called trunks “with pressure” or with an extension, for example, the so-called trunks “with a bell”. In order to obtain new ballistic characteristics of rifled firearms, the German gunsmith K. Puff, the inventor of Puff's bullet , used the conical barrel.

The perfection of the rifled conical barrel was made by the German gunsmith G. Gerlich . Gerlich used both fully conical full-length trunks and limitedly conical trunks, that is, with a conical section along the length of the barrel. Such limited tapering made it possible to simplify production technology.

Later it was found out that a “ Gerlich type ” bullet (shell) receives sufficient stabilization by rotation if it receives rotation in the cylindrical part adjacent to the chamber ( chamber ) of the weapon, and then moves in a smooth conical narrowing, crushing protruding leading belts (see Puff ; Gerlich). Getting rid of cutting conical trunks further simplified the technology and allowed to begin the introduction of "limited conical" trunks in military equipment .

Since 1940, the German army began to receive anti-tank artillery guns with a conical barrel. Below are the designations of anti-tank and tank guns. The numerator indicates the largest caliber (diameter) of the gun in centimeters at the projectile entrance, in the denominator the caliber (diameter) of the compressed projectile at the muzzle:

Heavy anti-tank rifle (actually a light anti-tank gun) 2.8 / 2cm s.Pz.B.41 (1940)
Tank gun 2.8 / 2 cm KwK.42
Anti-tank gun 4.2 cm Pak 41 (initial caliber 4.2 cm, final caliber 2.9 cm). (1941)
7.5 cm Pak 41 anti-tank gun (initial caliber 7.5 cm, final caliber 5.5 cm). (1942)

German engineers tested a number of experimental tools with a conical barrel:

Anti-tank 4.2 cm Gerät 2004; Gerät 2004; Gerät 2005; Gerät 1004 ;
Gerät 65F anti-aircraft gun of 15 cm caliber, with a smooth conical barrel under an arrow-shaped feathered projectile ;
Tank Gerät 725 initial caliber 7.5 cm, final 5.5 cm.

the latter was to be installed on the prototype VK 3601 (H) of the Tiger heavy tank, but due to the need to use tungsten (tungsten carbide) shells in the core of which there were no deposits in Germany, the 88 mm classic artillery gun was installed on the Tiger tank .

Also, the production and use in Germany of conical barrel artillery anti-tank guns (as well as sub-caliber armor-piercing shells ) was stopped not as a result of technical difficulties, but as a result of operations carried out by intelligence agencies of the United States and Great Britain to block tungsten ore concentrates from entering Germany. As a result of operations carried out by special services of the Allies, the supply of tungsten concentrate from the USA (through intermediaries) to a deposit near Mill City, Bishop, Klaimaks, from Spain to the deposits in the mountains of Boralia, Panashkeira, from China to a deposit near Daiyu, Luyakan was completely blocked .

The last serious source of tungsten for Germany (deposits in Brazil ) was closed in 1942, as a result of the US operation "Golden Jug" ( Eng. Golden Jug ), which included the occupation of Brazil, which did not take place only due to Brazil's diplomatic refusal to cooperate. with the Third Reich (severance of diplomatic relations). ^[one]

In addition to small and medium-caliber guns, German engineers also developed conical barrels and ammunition for large-caliber guns. Trunks and adapters (adapters for converting cylindrical trunks into conical) were developed for long-range guns of special power caliber 240 mm (24-cm) K.3. The initial caliber was 240 mm, and the final caliber of the projectile with two crushable belts (flanges) 210 mm. Gun firing range K.3. increased from 30.7 km to 50 km.

In May 1945 , Soviet troops managed to capture the K.3 gun. with conical adapter and its designers.

In the USSR

Before the war in the USSR , research was carried out in the framework of the creation of a powerful anti-tank gun on conical trunks, but at that time no success was achieved. The German experience in the design of conical barrel guns was used in the development of domestic guns with conical trunks that continued after the end of the war, which were carried out at TsNII-58 and OKB-172.

Already in 1947, V. G. Grabin developed the light anti-tank gun S-40 of the initial caliber 76 mm and the final caliber 57 mm (76/57). According to ballistic data and armor penetration, the domestic anti-tank gun surpassed its prototype, the German anti-tank gun 7.5 cm Pak 41, and could fight any types of tanks of potential opponents at any battle distances of that time.

Miscellaneous

The conical barrel is mentioned in the novel “ Thieves in the House ” by V. Kiselyov : when arrested, a foreign intelligence officer kills a KGB officer, an amateur and expert on weapons, from a pistol with the “barrel of the Gerlich engineer”. ^[2]

Notes

↑ NG Forums (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment January 7, 2015. Archived on February 8, 2015.
↑ Kiselev V. L. Thieves in the house. - M.: Young Guard, 1966

Literature

Shirokorad A. God of War of the Third Reich M .: "AST", 2003
Markevich V.E. Hunting and sporting small arms St. Petersburg .: Polygon, 1995.
Grabin V. The weapon of victory M .: Politizdat, 1989.
Shirokorad A. Genius of Soviet artillery M .: "AST", 2003.

[1] NG Forums (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment January 7, 2015. Archived on February 8, 2015.

[2] Kiselev V. L. Thieves in the house. - M.: Young Guard, 1966