CHAPTER I I RIFLES R O L E A N D C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S The rifle is the Infantry soldier's personal weapon, and is, without doubt, the most efficient short range killing machine in any army. Rifles and ammunition are light and ine.xpensive compared with machine guns, mortars, and field artillery, and each shot may be aimed at the enemy as typified by the rifleman's slogan: "one shot, one enemy less." A high standard of rifle marksmanship will compensate for many short comings in an army, and it is little wonder that so much attention is paid to the development of efficient rifles by all armies. The possibilities of rifle fire have never been better demonstrated than by the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, and more particularly by its rapid fire at Mons, which not only wrought unprecedented carnage amongst Von Kluck's men, but led him to believe that his army was confronted by many more machine guns than was actually the case. Every Infantryman had been trained to fire 15 rounds per minute. The responsibility for this policy has been largely attributed to Major N. R. McMahon, D.S.O., Royal Fusiliers, Chief Instructor of Musketry, Hythe, from 1905 to 1909. He realised the shortage of machine guns in the army and introduced the minimum rate of rapid fire of 15 rounds per minute. He was so insistent on efficiency with the rifle that he earned himself the soubriquet of "The Musketry Maniac"; he was a man of vision, and an expert on machine gun tactics. Brigadier McMahon died in action during the Battle ofYpres on 11th November, 1914. He was a great soldier, about whom too little is generally known.* Continual practice is necessary to enable a man to fire 15 rounds per minute with a practical degree of accuracy, although musketry instruct ors have demonstrated that 36 rounds can be fired with a No. 1 Rifle. However, fatigue will soon reduce the rate. The solution lies with the semi-automatie rifle dealt with later . The characteristics of a military rifle may be summarised as follows:—■ Weight between 7 and 9 pounds. Fast bolt action. Easy to teach and maintain. Suitable for mass production. Reliable sighting suited to all kinds of eyesight. Good extraction (partly an ammunition characteristic), Intel-changeability of parts. Able to maintain its accuracy under field conditions. Lowest possible recoil velocity. M i n i m u m fl a s h a n d s m o k e , * Superiority of Fire, by Major C. H. B. Pridham, Hutchinson's, 1945, contains an interesting account of this period. 133 WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 3 4 P I S T O L S , R I F L E S A N D M A C H I N E G U N S Fire the same round as machine guns, Suitable for snipers with the addition of a telescopic sight. Compensation range. Suitable for a bayonet. Able to discharge grenades. Unaffected by climatic changes and sand, mud, water, etc.. Calibre between .276 in. and .320 in.. Length between 35 and 45 inches. T h e m o d e r n B r i t i s h s e r v i c e r i f l e s a r e : — No. 1 Rifle, .303 in. S.M.L.E., obsolescent 1941, No. 2 Rifle,'.22 in., converted from No. 1 Rifle, No. 3 Rifle, .303 in. PT4 (pattern 1914), Enfield Mauser, obsolescent 1941, No. 4 Rifle, .303 in. A No. 1 redesigned for mass production. No. 5 Rifle, .303 in. A lightened No. 4 Rifle, Nos. 6 and 7 were experimental and never issued. No. 8 Rifle, .22 in. A new design to replace the No. 2. The No. 1 Rifle was introduced in 1902 and, although no longer manufactured, is still in use. Several marks were issued but the alter ations were only of a minor character; the weapon has served the forces well for almost half a century, and two world wars. The No. 2 Rifle has had the barrel and bolt modified to handle .22 in. rimfire cartridges, and is used for training. It will only fire single shots and cannot be used for practicing rapid fire. The No. 3 Rifle was in the experimental stage in 1913-14 with a calibre of 0.276 in. and a semi-rimless case. (Interesting facts when viewed some 38 years later in 1952.) After the outbreak of war the magazine and barrel were modified to handle the .303 in. Mk. 7 cart ridge, and the rifle, fitted with a telescopic sight, was issued to a limited extent, mainly for sniping. The accuracy was superior to the No. 1 due to a heavier barrel and the front locking lugsystem. The breech action was verysimilar to the K. '98 Mauser. The P' 14 rifle was made in the U.S. A. for Great Britain up to 1917 when the Americans joined in the war. As they were short of .30 in. Springfields, they converted the P' 14 rifle to take their .30 in. '06 cartridge and namedit the "U.S. Model, 1917 (Enfield)." The No. 4 Rifle first appeared about 1931 and gradually replaced the No. 1. Basically it is very similar but has been modified to permit a much greater degree of mass production, in that it required far less hand fitting, and the barrel is heavier to aid accuracy. The No. 5 Rifle is actually a carbine and is l-j- pounds lighter than the No. 4. Its main use is for operations such as jungle warfare, where long marches with little transport put a premium on low weight. The shortened barrel necessitates the use of a flash eliminator and the reduced weight causes a greater recoil velocity (kick) which impairs the practical accuracy. The No. 8 Rifle was introduced in 1951 and is a new design which gives a higher degree of accuracy than the No. 2, and should be suitable for competition shooting as well as for training. It is not a modification o f a n o t h e r w e a p o n . WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKRIFLES 135 R I F L E A C T I O N S This section covers modern magazine rifles which may be classified a s f o l l o w s : — 1. Magazine Repeater, 3. Semi-automatic, 2. Bolt action magazine, 4. Automatic. 1. The Repeater.—Military rifles no longer use repeating actions because they are only suited to low-powered loads, and house the magazine in the butt or in a tube beneath the barrel. The first magazine rifles were of these types, and fired either rimfire or centre-fire cart ridges with round nosed bullets. Since the rounds were end to end in the magazine the set-back due to recoil could have caused firing, had centre-fire cases and pointed bullets been employed; and also the magazine capacity was limited when long cartridges became necessary to accommodate larger loads. The breech action was either operated by a sliding fore-end, or by a trigger guard lever working radially do^v•n- wards; the title "trigger guard lever" was not always descriptively accurate, as the lever was sometimes independent, but mounted in such a manner that the fingers of the right hand passed through it when grasping the small of the butt. Either kind of lever gave a fast re-loading movement. The slide action is known as a "pump" or "trombone action" in the U.S.A. Repeater actions are very satisfactory for rapid fire, particularly the slide type, because both hands remain on the rifle during re-loading, and thereby facilitate the maintenance of its align ment on the target. The slide action has a snag to which the user must accustom himself; this is the movement of the fore-end in the left hand due to play that must be allowed to prevent jamming. .22 in. calibre slide action rifles are popular for small game shooting, and can give excellent accuracy when fitted with telescopic sights and firing high velocity loads. The American Spencer rifle of 1860, and the Winchester '73 are famous examples of the old lever action repeaters. Several good slide repeaters are still made in the U.S.A. The most common breech locking mechanisms are tilting blocks and toggle locks. 2. Bolt Action Magazine Rijles.—All modern military rifles employ the bolt action and magazine beneath. The capacity is usually between five and ten rounds. The actions may be sub-divided as follows:— Bolt Actions Straight Pull Rotating bolt Self-contained Action Rod One piece T wo piece ( R o s s ) ( S c h m i d t ( M a u s e r ) ( S . M . L . E . ) Rubin) The merits of straight pull and rotating bolts have already been discussed in Chapter 4, and the conclusion drawn that the former are WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 3 6 P I S T O L S , R I F L E S A N D M A C H I N E G U N S not often found today. However, the Swiss army use the Schmidt Rubin 7.5 mm. rifle, which has a bolt operated by an action rod mounted on the right side of the body. The bolt is controlled by a knob on the action rod which is only free to move longitudinally. A lug, attached to the action rod, works in a helical slot in the bolt so that its movement forces the bolt to rotate and perform the locking action. Thus a pull on the knob unlocks the bolt and withdraws it, and a push reverses the action. As previously stated the bolt movement is excessive, and the whole mechanism is bulky. The two most common military bolt systems are the S.M.L.E. and the Mauser illustrated in Figure 62. The drawing shows the essential WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKR I F L E S 1 3 7 (d) German 7.92 mm. F.G. 42 Paratroops auto rifle Fig. 63.—Rifles WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 3 8 P I S T O L S , R I F L E S A N D M A C H I N E G U N S parts of both. The S.M.L.E. bolt is stripped from the front, and the head can be replaced to adjust for wear. It is probably the fastest bolt action ever made, and if any criticism can be levelled it is only against the use of rear locking lugs. The Mauser bolt, which is similar to that used in the PT4 rifle, is known as a "one piece bolt" because the head is not detachable, but it must be made in two main parts, and the rear end is closed by a screwed plug. The two different designs of extractor are notable. Both are non-rotating, thus reducing the unsupported part of the cartridge to a minimum, and ensuring good extraction by avoiding friction in the groove of the case. (The S.M.L.E. bolt head does not turn and the Mauser extractor remains stationary with respect to the turning bolt.) The Russian Nagant and French Lebel rifles have rotating bolts with fixed extractors which turn with the bolts, and therefore necessitate large cut away portions in the breech face, and correspondingly less support for the rear end of the cartridge. A burst cartridge head is unpleasant and often dangerous; some rifle designs use a projecting bolt head which enters the chamber about 3/16 inch and provides complete protection. The rate of delivered fire from bolt action rifles is lower than is necessary because of the limited magazine capacity usually provided. A No. 4 Rifle requires recharging after every ten rounds and the chargers only hold five cartridges. A twenty-round magazine could be provided, and changed as is the case with a light machine gun, giving a sub stantial increase in the rate of fire by cutting down the time spent in recharging the magazine. 3 & 4. Semi-automatic and Automatic Rifles.—These two are considered together, for there is no fundamental difference between them. The semi-automatic rifle has a disconnector fitted to the trigger mechanism to interrupt the cycle and produce the "one pull one shut" action, whilst the automatic rifle has a selector mechanism to allow single shot or automatic fire. Gas operation has been found most suitable for both types and, mechanically, they are light-weight light machine guns built in the form of idfles. Modern manufacturing techniques permit the weight to be no greater than that of an orthodox rifle; the Russian Tokarev weighs pounds, and the Garand 9f pounds, compared with 9 pounds 3 ounces for the No. 4 Rifle, Figure 63. The gas cylinder is normally fitted above or below the barrel although occasionally it will be found offset to one side in an attempt to oveixome the disadvantages of the top and bottom locations; the Czech C.Z. rifle is an example. A cylinder beneath the barrel forces the designer to adopt a layout similar to that of a light machine gun, using a piston extension which is heavy and inclined to interfere with the feed. The German F.G.42 (10 pounds) is such a design, with a twenty round magazine on the left side. The Garand, with an underslung cylinder, has solved the problem by bringing the piston extension out on the right side of the body and placing the magazine below the feed way. Both these rifles have rotating bolts and front locking lugs. A gas cylinder above the barrel is convenient in most respects, and the WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKRIFLES 139 obvious disadvantage, that of interfering with the line of sight, is obviated by using a straight-through design of butt which requires the siglits to be raised some two and a half inches above the barrel. The gas port is generally situated in the front half of the barrel, and a small cylinder is attached to the gas block. The short stroke mechanism is used, the piston travelling approximately one inch, whilst the kinetic energy of the recoiling parts is used to complete retraction of the bolt. The piston rod is led out through the rifle body above the chamber and strikes a carrier which covers the bolt. The carrier operates the unlocking mechanism, and recoils with it. A cocking handle is usually attached to the carrier, which acts in the same manner as the piston extension of a light macliine gun. Since there is no permanent connec tion between the piston rod and the carrier, the upper opening in the rifle body is left clear for ejection or rectification of any jams, whilst the magazine can be conveniently housed underneath the bolt-way. Clearly a conventional and efficient layout can be achieved with the top mounted cylinder. Recharging of the magazine can be effected through the top of the body opening, though it is more usual to change magazines as with light machine guns. Semi-automatic and automatic rifles should not be equipped with magazines of less than twenty rounds capacity if full advantage is to be taken of the high rate of fire these actions provide. Generally speaking the weapons conform to orthodox rifles in other respects. Provision for ventilation of the barrel and cylinder is made in the fore- end furniture, and protection should be provided to prevent the rifle man from burning his hands on the hot parts. Since the barrel is fixed there are no complications in fitting a bayonet. Special measures for cooling are not necessary because of the relatively small number of rounds a rifleman can carry. In defence, when more ammunition is likely to be available, the rifle will heat up after prolonged rapid fire, but it is not intended for sustained fire; this is the task of machine guns. RECOIL OF RIFLES Before proceeding further it is necessary to know the basic facts about the recoil or "kick" of rifles. As already stated in Chapter 3, the momen tum of the bullet and gases forward is equal and opposite to the momentum of the weapon backwards, so the more powerful the load the greater will be the recoil. It can be absorbed to a large extent by using a heavy weapon. Two aspects of recoil affect the soldier: the recoil velocity and the recoil energy of his weapon. Since momentum equals the product of the mass and velocity, a light rifle will have a higher recoil velocity than a heavy one firing the same cartridge, and although the momentum is unaltered, the recoil energy is also increased because it is equal to (m=mass of rifle, £;=recoil velocity of rifle), and y has increased. A heavy rifle has a low recoil velocity on account of its high mass. It is the higher recoil velocities that hurt, because the rifle butt strikes the shoulder a sharp blow. Now if the rifle has a simple spring buffer system built on to the butt plate, the recoil velocity of the weapon itself will be unaltered, providing WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 4 0 P I S T O L S , R I F L E S A N D M A C H I N E G U N S the weight is unchanged, but the buffer between the rifle and man will distribute the shock of recoil over a longer time interval. This results in the recoil velocity and energy being reduced as the shock passes through the buffer to the shoulder. The sharp blow has become a hard push. A considerable recoil energy can be sustained by a man providing the velocity is low. A muzzle brake actually absorbs energy by turning the muzzle blast gases through an angle, but it increases the blast effect on the firer and is, if possible, to be avoided. On a small arm a muzzle brake is the last resort. From the service point of view a light weight rifle with low recoil velocity is desirable, but in practice a compromise has to be accepted. The weight of the rifle must be balanced against the acceptable recoil velocity; if low weight is the dominant factor then more "kick" must be accepted, but if smooth action is the primary consideration the weight can be raised. If the reduction of both factors is insisted upon, the user will have to accept a lower powered cartridge, a muzzle brake, or a buffer. The straight-through design of butt is compared with the orthodox design in Figure 64. Rifles, having developed from muskets, have the butt set down through an angle so that the force of recoil can be taken on the flrer's shoulder, and he can also align the sights comfortably. Cof G Fig. 64.—Top: Recoil of a conventional rifle. Bottom: Recoil of the straight line design. R = Recoil force, P=Resistance. The upper diagram shows how the recoil exercises a turning moment tending to raise the barrel and move the line of sight off the target, entailing a conscious effort to re-align the sights. In actual fact the pre sence of the shoulder makes very little difference; the rifle turns about its centre of gravity and the shoulder gives way to the recoiling butt. The reason for this is the magnitude of the forces involved. The gas pressure in a .303 in. rifle breech exerts a backward thrust of 1.9 tons weight, enduring only for an instant otherwise it would be unsupportable. {Mote: the centre of gravity of a body may lie outside its boundaries.) During the last war the Germans produced several designs of rifle and light machine gun of the form shown in the lower diagram of Figure 64. The WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKRIFLES 141 butt is roughly in direct prolongation of the barrel axis, thereby reduc ing the turning moment to an insignificant figure, but the sights have been raised about two and a half inches above the normal position in order to bring them into line with the eye. The resultant weapon is much steadier and the disturbance of the line of sight much reduced. The dis advantage of protruding sights can be overcome by pivoting them near the base to allow for folding flat. There is no difficulty providing the pivots are properly designed. Examples of the straight through form are: the .280 in. Enfield rifle, the E.G.42 automatic rifle, the M.G.34, and the M.G.42, the latter two being dual purpose machine guns. Another incidental merit of this design is the facility with which the rear end of the bolt way can be built into the butt, to make a compact ■weapon of short overall length. No space is wasted, the return spring being brought right up to the butt plate. THE 7mm. (.280 in.) ENFIELD RIFLE The needs of security must be served at the time of writing, so it is only possible to summarise the information that has already been released, together with a few remarks of a general charaeter, on automatic rifles. The automatic rifle is not a new weapon. Hirain Maxim made one in 1884, and the Americans and Russians both introduced one into their armies about 1936, whilst Germany began in 1941, and produced several models in the next three years. Attempts were made in this country, during the first World War, to convert the No. 1 Rifle to semi automatic action. Some specimens still exist and, although rather clumsy, show the same fundamental characteristics as the modern article. The calibre of the new rifle has been allotted the official nomen clature of 7 mm., but it is more convenient to use inches when com paring with other calibres known in inches. Construction A photograph of the rifle is shown in Figure 63. Modern warfare demands a lighter weapon than has been used in the past; the weight of the 7 mm. rifle is about 84 pounds. The rifle and cartridge have been especially designed for a specific purpose and include the best features selected from other weapons. The .303 in. cartridge is 3 inches long and the 7 mm. has been reduced to 24 inches; the reduction allows a shorter feed stroke and assists in shortening the overall length of the rifle. The bullet weight is 140 grains and the muzzle velocity is 2530 feet per second. The illustration shows that a straight-through design has been adopted together with a telescopic sight mounted at a convenient height. The sight mounting has been built in the form of a carrying handle so that the telescope is automatically protected to some extent. It has unit magnification which in addition to eliminating all focussing difficulties (see Chapter 8, telescopic sights), allows a good view of the field of fire. Iron sights are provided in case the telescope is damaged. There is no dead wood in the butt, the interior being fully occupied. The fore-end is made of wood and has a full left-hand grip to prevent the fingers reaching the hot gas cylinder; incidentally the grip provides an excellent WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKNext >