Caliber: 7.62×54mmR
Length: 1260 mm
barrel length: 627 mm
The weight: 4.2 kg empty
rate of fire: 800 rounds per minute
Score: 15 rounds
The Red Army began the first tests of self-loading rifles back in 1926, but until the mid-thirties, none of the tested samples met army requirements. Sergei Simonov began the development of a self-loading rifle in the early 1930s, and exhibited his developments at competitions in 1931 and 1935, however, only in 1936, a rifle of his design was adopted by the Red Army under the designation "Simonov's 7.62mm automatic rifle, model 1936", or ABC -36. Experimental production of the ABC-36 rifle was started back in 1935, mass production in 1936-1937, and continued until 1940, when the ABC-36 was replaced in service with the Tokarev SVT-40 self-loading rifle. In total, according to various sources, from 35,000 to 65,000 ABC-36 rifles were produced. These rifles were used in the battles at Khalkhin Gol in 1939, in the winter war with Finland in 1940. And also in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. Interesting. That the Finns, who captured rifles designed by both Tokarev and Simonov as trophies in 1940, preferred to use the SVT-38 and SVT-40 rifles, since the Simonov rifle was significantly more complex in design and more capricious. However, that is why the Tokarev rifles replaced the ABC-36 in service with the Red Army.
The ABC-36 rifle is an automatic weapon that uses the removal of powder gases and allows single and automatic fire. The fire mode translator is made on the receiver on the right. The main mode of fire was single shots, automatic fire was supposed to be used only when repulsing sudden enemy attacks, while with the consumption of cartridges in bursts of no more than 4 - 5 stores. The gas outlet unit with a short stroke of the gas piston is located above the barrel. The barrel is locked using a vertical block that moves in the grooves of the receiver. When moving the block up under the action of a special spring, it entered the grooves of the shutter, locking it. Unlocking occurred when a special clutch connected to the gas piston squeezed the locking block down from the shutter grooves. Since the locking block was located between the breech and the magazine, the trajectory for feeding cartridges into the chamber was quite long and steep, which served as a source of delays in firing. In addition, because of this, the receiver had a complex structure and a long length. The device of the bolt group was also very complicated, since inside the bolt there was a drummer with a mainspring and a special anti-bounce mechanism. The rifle was powered from detachable magazines with a capacity of 15 rounds. Shops could be equipped both separately from the rifle, and directly on it, with the shutter open. To equip the magazine, regular 5-round clips from the Mosin rifle were used (3 clips per magazine). The barrel of the rifle had a large muzzle brake and a mount for a bayonet - a knife, while the bayonet could adjoin not only horizontally, but also vertically, with the blade down. In this position, the bayonet was used as a one-legged bipod for firing from the stop. In the stowed position, the bayonet was carried in a sheath on the fighter's belt. The open sight was marked in range from 100 to 1,500 meters in increments of 100 meters. Some ABC-36 rifles were equipped with an optical sight on a bracket and were used as sniper rifles. Due to the fact that the spent cartridges are ejected from the receiver up and forward, the optical sight bracket was attached to the receiver to the left of the weapon axis.
The design of Vladimir Grigorievich Fedorov was removed from production and from service. However, the very idea of creating a highly effective automatic weapon was not forgotten. The baton was picked up by a student of V. G. Fedorov, who by this time had taken the position of director of the Kovrov Arms Plant.
This student, as you probably already understood, was none other than Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov.
While still acting as a senior foreman at the Kovrov Arms Plant, he often worked together with the leading designers of the plant and was engaged in the creation of individual weapon assemblies. Soon, the accumulated experience allowed Simonov to continue the work of Fedorov and begin to develop an automatic rifle of his own system, designed to use a rifle cartridge of the 1908 model.
The first project of an automatic rifle was created by Simonov already at the beginning of 1926. The main distinguishing feature of the operation of its mechanism was the removal of powder gases from the muzzle of the barrel, which were formed during the shot. In this case, the powder gases acted on the gas piston and thrust. The locking of the bore at the time of the shot was achieved by entering the reference combat stump into the cutout of the bolt in its lower part.
The rifle made according to this project existed only in a single copy. Factory tests have shown that, despite the completely reliable interaction of its automation mechanisms, the design of the rifle has a number of significant drawbacks. First of all, this concerned the unsuccessful placement of the gas outlet mechanism. For its fastening, the right side of the muzzle of the barrel was chosen (and not the upper, symmetrical, as, for example, it was later done in the Kalashnikov assault rifle). The shift of the center of gravity to the right during firing caused a significant deflection of the bullet to the left. In addition, such placement of the vent mechanism greatly increased the width of the forearm, and its insufficient security opened up access to the vent device for water and dust. The defects of the rifle could also be attributed to its low performance. So, for example, in order to remove the bolt, it was necessary to separate the butt and remove the handle.
The noted shortcomings led to the fact that in April 1926. The artillery committee, which was considering the Simonov automatic rifle project, rejected the inventor's proposals to produce a trial batch of weapons and conduct official tests. At the same time, it was noted that, although an automatic rifle does not have advantages over already known systems, its device is quite simple.
Simonov's attempts in 1928 and 1930 were also unsuccessful. submit to the commission's court improved models of an automatic rifle of their design. They, like their predecessor, were not allowed to field tests. Each time, the commission noted a number of design flaws that caused delays in firing and breakdown of automation. But the failures did not stop Simonov.
In 1931, he created an improved automatic rifle, the operation of which, like that of its predecessors, was based on the removal of powder gases through a side hole in the barrel. In addition, for the first time in a weapon of this class, the barrel bore was locked with a wedge that moved in the vertical grooves of the receiver. To do this, a wedge was vertically placed in front of the receiver, which was included in a cutout made in front of the bolt from below. When the bolt was unlocked, the wedge was lowered by a special clutch, and when it was locked, the wedge was raised by the bolt driver, against which the bolt spring rested.
The trigger mechanism had a striker-type trigger and was designed for single and continuous fire (the translator for one or another type of fire was on the receiver at the rear on the right). The rifle was fed from a removable box magazine that held 15 rounds. A muzzle brake compensator was placed in front of the muzzle of the barrel.
In the new project, Simonov managed to bring the range of aimed fire to 1500 m. At the same time, the highest rate of fire with single fire with aiming (depending on the shooter's training) reached 30-40 rds / min (against 10 rds / min of the Mosin rifle model 1891 / 1930). In the same 1931, the automatic rifle of the Simonov system quite successfully passed the factory tests and was approved for field tests. In their course, a number of defects were discovered. Basically, they were constructive. In particular, the commission noted the low survivability of some details. First of all, this concerned the muzzle tube of the barrel, on which the muzzle brake compensator, the bayonet and the base of the front sight and the muzzle release wedge were attached. In addition, attention was drawn to the very short sighting line of the rifle, which reduced the accuracy of fire, significant weight and insufficient reliability of the fuse.
Another model of an automatic rifle of the Simonov system arr. 1933 passed field tests more successfully and was recommended by the commission for transfer to the army for military tests. In addition, on March 22, 1934, the Defense Committee adopted a resolution on the development in 1935 of capacities for the production of automatic rifles of the Simonov system.
However, this decision was soon reversed. Only after, as a result of a series of comparative tests with samples of automatic weapons of the Tokarev and Degtyarev systems, which took place in 1935-1936, the Simonov automatic rifle showed the best results, was it put into production. And although individual copies failed prematurely, but, as the commission noted, the reason for this was mainly manufacturing defects, and not design. “Confirmation of this,” as indicated in the protocol of the firing commission in July 1935, “can serve as the first prototypes of the ABC, which withstood up to 27,000 shots and did not have such breakdowns that were observed in the tested samples.” After such a conclusion, the rifle was adopted by the rifle units of the Red Army under the designation ABC-36(“Automatic rifle of the Simonov system arr. 1936”).
As in previous models, the operation of automation ABC-36 was based on the principle of removal of powder gases formed during firing from the muzzle of the barrel. However, this time Simonov placed the gas exhaust system not, as usual, on the right, but above the barrel. Subsequently, the centered placement of the vapor mechanism was used and is currently used on the best examples of automatic weapons operating on this principle. The trigger mechanism of the rifle was mainly designed for single fire, but it also allowed fully automatic fire. The muzzle brake compensator and a well-located bayonet, which, when rotated 90 °, turned into an additional support (bipod) contributed to an increase in its accuracy and efficiency. At the same time, the rate of fire ABC-36 single fire reached 25 rds / min, and when firing bursts - 40 rds / min. Thus, one fighter of a rifle unit, armed with a Simonov automatic rifle, could achieve the same density of fire as was achieved by a group of three or four riflemen armed with
rifles of the Mosin system arr. 1891/1930
. Already in 1937, more than 10 thousand rifles were mass-produced. 
On February 25, 1938, the Director of the Izhevsk Arms Plant A.I. Bykovsky reported that the Simonov automatic rifle was mastered at the plant and put into mass production. This made it possible to increase their production by almost 2.5 times. Thus, by the beginning of 1939, the troops received more than 35 thousand rifles. ABC-36. For the first time, a new rifle was demonstrated at the May Day parade in 1938. The 1st Moscow Proletarian Division was armed with it.
The further fate of the automatic rifle of the Simonov system arr. 1936 in the historical literature has an ambiguous interpretation. According to some reports, the decisive role was played by the phrase of I. V. Stalin that an automatic rifle leads to unnecessary waste of ammunition in wartime conditions, since the ability to conduct automatic fire in combat conditions that cause natural nervousness allows the shooter to perform aimless continuous shooting, which is the reason for the waste of a large number of cartridges. This version in his book "Notes of the People's Commissar" is confirmed by B. L. Vannikov, who held the post of People's Commissar of Armaments before the Great Patriotic War, and during the war - People's Commissar of Ammunition of the USSR. According to him, starting from 1938, I. V. Stalin paid great attention to the self-loading rifle and closely followed the design and manufacture of its samples. “Perhaps it rarely happened that Stalin did not touch on this topic at meetings on defense.
ABC-36 also had an airborne version
Expressing dissatisfaction with the slow pace of work, talking about the advantages of a self-loading rifle, about its high combat and tactical qualities, he liked to repeat that a shooter with it would replace ten men armed with a conventional rifle. That the SV (self-loading rifle) will preserve the fighter’s strength, allow him not to lose sight of the target, since when shooting he can limit himself to only one movement - by pressing the trigger, without changing the position of the hands, body and head, as you have to do with a conventional rifle , requiring reloading the cartridge. In this regard, “initially it was planned to equip the Red Army with an automatic rifle, but then they settled on a self-loading one, based on the fact that it made it possible to rationally spend cartridges and maintain a large aiming range, which is especially important for individual small arms.” 
Recalling the events of those years, the former Deputy People's Commissar of Armaments V.N. Novikov writes in his book “On the Eve and in the Days of Trials”: “Which rifle should be preferred: the one made by Tokarev, or the one introduced by Simonov?” The scales fluctuated. The Tokarev rifle was heavier, but when checking for "survivability" it had fewer breakdowns. The elegant and light Simonov rifle, which in many respects surpassed Tokarev's, malfunctioned: the striker in the bolt broke. And this breakdown is only evidence that the striker was made from insufficiently high-quality metal, - essentially decided the outcome of the dispute. The fact that Tokarev knew Stalin well also played a role. Simonov’s name didn’t tell him much. Simonov’s rifle was also recognized as unsuccessful and a short bayonet, similar to a cleaver. In modern machine guns, he won a complete monopoly Then someone reasoned like this: in a bayonet fight it is better to fight with an old bayonet - faceted and long. and the Defense Committee. Only B. L. Vannikov defended the Simonov rifle, proving its superiority.
There is also a version that the automatic rifle of the Simonov system arr. 1936, having passed the test of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, showed low performance, and its design for industrialists turned out to be low-tech. The trigger mechanism, designed with the possibility of conducting a variable type of fire, provided continuous fire at too high a pace. However, even the introduction of a pace retarder into the design of the rifle during continuous fire did not give satisfactory marksmanship. In addition, the trigger spring for servicing two sears was cut into two parts, which significantly reduced its strength. The wedge, designed to unlock and lock the barrel, could not simultaneously serve as a satisfactory stop of the shutter. This required the installation of a special bolt stop located in front of the wedge, which greatly complicated the entire automatic rifle mechanism - the bolt and receiver had to be lengthened. In addition, the shutter was open to dirt when moving forward and backward. The shutter itself, in pursuit of reducing the mass of weapons, had to be reduced and lightened. But it turned out that this made it less reliable, and its manufacture was too complicated and expensive. AT 
overall automation ABC-36 worn out very quickly and after a while worked less reliably. In addition, there were other complaints - a very loud sound of a shot, too much recoil and concussion when fired. The fighters complained that during disassembly ABC-36 there was a real opportunity to pinch your fingers with a drummer, and the fact that if, after complete disassembly, the rifle is inadvertently assembled without a locking wedge, it is quite possible to send a cartridge into the chamber and fire. At the same time, with great speed, the bolt bouncing back could cause significant injury to the shooter.
One way or another, but already in 1939, the production of the Simonov system rifle was reduced, and in 1940, it was stopped altogether. Military factories formerly engaged in the production ABC-36, were reoriented to the manufacture of self-loading rifles of the Tokarev system
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On May 1, 1938, at the traditional military parade on Red Square, the Simonov ABC-36 automatic rifle was demonstrated to the general public for the first time. Adopted by the Red Army two years earlier, this newest, as they said then, “self-firing” weapon was proudly carried in the parade by the soldiers of the “court” 1st Moscow Proletarian Division. And to this day, "authoritative" opinions about the success of the design of the first serial auto-rifle of the Land of the Soviets, developed for the "insidious" and very strong our regular flange cartridge 7.62x54K, are contradictory to the extreme. Nevertheless, against this motley background of various judgments, the fact remains fundamentally unshakable that the pilot production of the remarkable in many ways system of Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov, to the envy of all foreigners, was mastered by Soviet industry back in 1934. It's no secret that it was the interwar years in the USSR that became the time of almost titanic efforts to arm the infantry with self-loading and automatic individual small arms. Work and care to create a competitive self-loading system chambered for 7.62-mm cartridge arr. 1908, domestic designers have been puzzled since the beginning of the 20s. and, as they say, seriously and for a long time. Among gunsmiths with a name and very young, there was even a kind of socialist competition. And although the Fedorov, Degtyarev and Tokarev rifles submitted for competitive testing in January 1926 could not satisfy the military either in terms of reliability or simplicity of design, searches in this area of “weapon building” continued. Following the results of the March 1930 competition, the Revolutionary Military Council even considered a decision on the industrial production of an experimental batch of Degtyarev rifles, "to accelerate the introduction of individual automatic weapons into the troops." On December 28, the scientific and technical committee of the Art Administration granted the Degtyarev brainchild the official name “7.62-mm self-loading rifle mod. 1930". But already in the next year, 1931, the new system of S.G. Kovrovets began to claim the title of absolute leader. Simonov, fully automatic ... Starting from the concept of his debut design at the beginning of 1926 and stubbornly continuing its cardinal development, Simonov made significant progress in this field. The work of an improved model, created by him in 1931 (not without the help of his small design bureau, organized at the Kovrov plant after the announcement of the next state competition for the creation of an autorifle), was based on the then newfangled principle - the removal of powder gases when fired through a side hole in a fixed barrel, followed by using their pressure on the gas piston. The gas outlet unit with a short piston stroke was placed at that time rather unusually and boldly, above the barrel. Perhaps for the first time in a weapon of this class, the locking of the bolt (and hence the bore) was carried out by a special wedge, spring-loaded and moving in the vertical grooves of the receiver, which “made it possible not only to optimally distribute the load on the locking assembly at the time of the shot, but also somewhat reduce the mass of the bolt and all weapons. ”In an effort to maximize the lightness of the rifle, literally every gram of weight was taken into account. The bevel located in the front of the bolt stem was responsible for raising the wedge during locking, and for lowering it when unlocking - a special frame-shaped part connected by a rod to a gas piston and called a cocking clutch. Stepping back, she squeezed the locking block-wedge down from the slots of the shutter, releasing the latter. A thin return spring found its place in the removable cover of the receiver. The trigger mechanism, which allowed single or continuous fire, was of the striker type. Inside the shutter there was actually a drummer with a mainspring, there was also a special anti-bounce device for the shutter stem, which eliminated misfires or shots when the wedge was not fully raised. To protect against a shot in the event of sending a cartridge into the chamber, “occupied” with a previously sent cartridge, a safety limiter (cut-off) mechanism was assembled in the lid of the rifle box. The extraction and reflection of the spent cartridge case were carried out by a spring-loaded ejector in the upper part of the bolt body and a two-blade reflector fixed at the bottom of the receiver. The store is a quite successful detachable box-shaped one, designed for as many as 15 staggered cartridges. By the way, filling the store could be done without separating it from the rifle, using standard 5-cartridge clips. After the ammunition was completely used up, the shutter remained in the "open" position, convenient for subsequent loading - the empty magazine feeder included a special shutter delay. The sector-type sight was notched at a distance of 100 to 1500 meters in increments of 100 m. An integral bayonet - a folding four-sided needle - always remained with the weapon. , having "mastered" all the field tests of the period 1931-32. Some copies of this weapon withstood up to 27,000 shots without serious damage. Success at the shooting ranges initiated an order for the production of 25 rifles for military testing of their viability, but even before their production was completed, the size of the experimental batch was increased to 100 units with a delivery date of January 1, 1934. The plans were very grandiose - in the first quarter of 1934 to launch another large batch of rifles into production, and from the beginning of the second half of the year to prepare for gross output. The development and production of the new Simonov rifle was carried out at the Izhevsk Arms Plant. Since the new "secret" weapon of the Red Army was supposed to be on the assembly line, even before being put into service, in the spring of 1933, the designer, willy-nilly, had to go on a business trip to Izhevsk, where amazing nuances were revealed - neither technologically nor morally an enterprise with an outdated equipment was not ready for the future serial production of such a sophisticated and elegant system. The design of an automatic rifle was far ahead of its appearance. At the plant, feverishly fulfilling the plan for the Mosin "three-ruler" arr. 1891/30, the development of the production of AVSok was given only secondary importance. Simonov was forced to write to Moscow... The personal intervention of the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, with the allocation of the necessary financial and technical resources, helped to cope with a hopeless situation. In the shortest possible time, a special workshop was created for the assembly of ABC, Simonov was appointed to the position of head of the design bureau and experimental workshop. During the emergency testing of the technological process and the improvement of the system as a whole, the weapon acquired new features and, in some ways, unique qualities. The newly introduced muzzle brake of impressive size began to absorb about 35% of the recoil energy and, accordingly, slightly increased the accuracy of fire. The initially integral four-sided bayonet was replaced by a removable bladed one. An interesting detail is that the new bayonet, attached to the rifle, as it should be, horizontally, after turning the 30-cm blade 90 ° down, could well serve as an additional support-bipod during automatic firing (though later such a bright feature of ABC was abandoned for a number of reasons). Also, in the process of technological improvement of the rifle, the configuration of the receiver, the fastening of the handguard (shortened and having a metal tip), and the design of the base of the front sight were changed. A movable shield was added to cover the cutout of the receiver for the passage of the reloading handle, and a ramrod mounted on the right side. The flag switch for the fire modes was also located on the right rear of the receiver, simultaneously acting as a lid lock. 1936 (ABC-36, GAU index 56-A-225)." On February 26, 1938, the director of the Izhevsk plant reported on the complete and final development of the mass production of ABC-36. As for the production figures, in 1934 106 Simonov automatic rifles were assembled, in 1935 - another 286, and after the adoption of the AVSki, tens of thousands of pieces went into production. In 1937, 10,280 rifles were produced, in 1938 - already 23,401. Each automatic rifle was supplied with a leather pouch for carrying two magazines. According to some reports, by the time of the conflict at Khalkhin Gol, more than 30 thousand ABC-36 had managed to enter the units of the "invincible and legendary". With Simonov's weapons, the Red Army continued to fight in the battles of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 and in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. Part of the ABC-36 was used as a sniper weapon and was equipped with a 4x PE optical sight. On the left wall of the receiver there was a longitudinal groove for the "optics" bracket, shifted to the left from the barrel axis due to the features of the extraction of spent cartridges. In total, about 66 thousand ABC-36 rifles were produced. This is a brief history of the appearance of the ABC-36 in service with the Red Army. Undoubtedly, for its time, this was a huge achievement of Soviet weapons thought, and technology, of course, too. None of the leading foreign states could then boast of having a light and powerful automatic rifle in service with their armies, which was also produced in droves. Despite the general attractiveness of the idea, the level of technological development often simply did not allow creating a fail-safe system that could adequately work in the most difficult conditions. Only America, getting out of the Great Depression, stubbornly “stepped on its heels”, forcing the final development and delivery of the design of John Cantius Garand to the troops, but, alas, only self-loading ... As usual, the fighting became a severe test for ABC-36. It suddenly turned out that the rifle, which is rather laborious and expensive to manufacture (the price of a planned purchase of one unit was 1393 rubles, which is 1.8 times more expensive than the DP-27 light machine gun), is not easy to study, is sensitive to shock, abundant lubrication, temperature fluctuations and pollution. True, one could hardly expect ideal operating results from the domestic first-born of such a serious weapon class, given the time of action, the culture of production, and the state of materiel. Among the front-line soldiers "made happy" with ABCs, the most frequent complaints were caused by the high mass, considerable length of the weapon and, of course, the possibility of accidental (!) loss of a detachable magazine. The regulator in the gas outlet unit also did not always turn out to be understandable and convenient. They didn’t even think about the complete disassembly of the weapon, not to mention the subsequent assembly - “extra” parts could easily remain. But most of all the surprises lay in the mechanism itself of the rifle. A lot of problems were actually caused by the wedge locking principle, which seemed to be reliable in theory: it was difficult to deal with numerous delays during reloading. Since the locking wedge was located between the breech and the magazine, the trajectory for feeding cartridges into the chamber was quite long and steep, which served as a source of frequent sticking and failures when firing. By the way, the wedge itself (designed by definition to have enviable strength and increased survivability) was a non-interchangeable part, adjusted during assembly to the size of the allowable gap between the barrel hemp and the bolt cup individually for each rifle. The shock and, especially, the trigger mechanisms from the positions of today can generally cause even a trained fighter a quiet horror - the number of small complex parts, studs and springs was too large. A characteristic touch - the tail of the openwork trigger lever was held by only one rather weak feather of a long leaf spring , another pen forced to press the sear. And the design of the fuse, based on a mechanical limitation of the turn of the trigger, could not insure against an accidental shot during a strong shock of a loaded rifle, also precisely because of the low effort of both feathers of the said spring. Moreover, for a long time in the production of ABC-36, not everything went well with the correct heat treatment of critical components. During the operation of the striker trigger, significant loads arose, causing increased wear of parts and making it difficult to manually open the shutter. Another key factor was not slow to add to the sad picture described above. Both at the training grounds and in units of the active army, an extremely insufficient accuracy of combat in automatic mode was regularly noted - the shooters simply could not cope with the recoil and “withdrawal” of the rifle after each shot. Only the first shot in the queue (regardless of its length) turned out to be aimed. Ultimately, it was the latter aspect that decided the fate of fully automatic rifles. The aimless expenditure of ammunition, after the appropriate parting words of the wise Stalin, was recognized as intolerable and the attention of gunsmith designers again turned to a self-loading rifle, requiring a separate trigger pull for each shot. With an average rate of fire of 25 rounds per minute, such a rifle had quite acceptable combat accuracy, close to that of a conventional magazine rifle. On May 22, 1938, by a joint order of the People's Commissars of Defense and the defense industry, another competition was announced for the development of a purely self-loading rifle. And quite soon, the "self-firing" ABC-36 in parts of the Red Army began to actively force out the "Svetki" - self-loading Tokarev SVT-38 ... Weight without bayonet and magazine - 4.05 kg; Weight with bayonet, optical sight and magazine - 6 kg; The mass of the equipped magazine is 0.675 kg; Length without bayonet - 1260 mm, with bayonet - 1520 mm; Barrel length - 615 mm; The length of the rifled part of the barrel - 557 mm; Number of barrel rifling - 4 right; The initial speed of the bullet - 840 m / s; Sighting line length - 591 mm; Sighting range -1500 m; Practical rate of fire: - 20-25 rds / min with single fire, - 40 rds / min when firing bursts.
Since 1926, the Soviet Union has been making its first timid attempts to create a new full-time army self-loading rifle. However, until 1935, none of the submitted copies could not adequately satisfy the requirements for this weapon by the military leadership.
At the very beginning of the 1930s. S. Simonov decides to change the current situation and starts a project to create a new rifle. He sends his prototypes to an expert jury in 1931, and after improvements - in 1935. Nevertheless, success comes to the master only in 1936, when a rifle of his design easily overcomes all stages of testing, as a result of which it was recommended for mass production for further arming of the Red Army soldiers. Simonov's creation falls into the army under the official index "7.62-mm Simonov automatic rifle of the 1936 model", abbreviated as ABC-36.
The first test batch of rifles of a rather small volume was released back in the middle of 1935, and weapons were sent to mass production in 1936-1937. This continued until 1940, when another domestic gunsmith, Tokarev, introduced his new SVT-40 rifle, which ousted the ABC-36 from the ranks of the Soviet Army.
According to very inaccurate estimates, about 36-66 thousand ABC-36 units were assembled. The weapon proved to be excellent in the ruthless battles at Khalkhin Gol (1939) and in the bloody winter conflict with the Finns (1940). Of course, she remained in service at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War, helping the Soviet soldier in the fight against the German intervention.
There is an interesting fact that indicates that the soldiers of sunny Finland, who captured the rifles of both Simonov and Tokarev systems during the battle, nevertheless preferred to use the SVT-38 and SVT-40. This is due to the fact that the Simonov weapon had a noticeably more complex design and was more sensitive to operating conditions. By the way, this was noted not only by the Finns, and that is why Tokarev rifles were preferable for the Red Army than ABC-36.
As for the ABC-36, this is an automatic weapon, the system of which functions on the basis of a scheme with the removal of powder gases. USM model provides firing in both automatic and single mode. The fire mode translator can be found on the left side of the receiver.
The main mode of fire for ABC-36 is considered to be single. In turn, the automatic fire function was planned to be used only in case of force majeure (for example, an unexpected enemy attack). The gas piston and the entire gas exhaust system are structurally provided above the rifle barrel. Reliable locking of the barrel is implemented due to the vertical block moving in special grooves in the receiver. When this block was shifted upwards, under the influence of a special spring, it entered the grooves of the shutter, locking it.
Due to the fact that the locking block was installed between the breech and the magazine, the path of each cartridge from the magazine to the chamber was very long and steep, which caused regular delays in firing. In addition, for the same reasons, the receiver had a complex device and significant dimensions.
The device of the bolt assembly was also very difficult, since the bolt itself had a spring-loaded drummer and an intricate anti-bounce mechanism.
Ammunition ABC-36 was produced from removable magazines that could hold up to 15 ammunition. Store equipment was allowed both separately from the rifle and directly in it, unlocking the bolt. To equip the shops, classic clips from the Mosin rifle were used (3 full clips were required for 1 magazine).
A massive muzzle brake was installed on the ABC-36 barrel, as well as a bayonet-knife, which could be mounted not only in the horizontal plane, but also in the vertical one, pointing the tip down. Obviously, in this position, he played the role of a one-legged bipod for the introduction of shooting from the stop. On the march, the bayonet should be worn in a regular sheath on a waist belt.
All basic technical parameters of ABC-36 are given in the table below:
Sights - open, with marks for a distance of 150 to 1,500 meters. It is worth noting that a small batch of ABC-36 rifles was equipped with an optical sight (sniper version).
Caliber: 7.62×54mmR
Length: 1260 mm
barrel length: 627 mm
The weight: 4.2 kg empty
rate of fire: 800 rounds per minute
Score: 15 rounds
The Red Army began the first tests of self-loading rifles back in 1926, but until the mid-thirties, none of the tested samples met army requirements. Sergei Simonov began the development of a self-loading rifle in the early 1930s, and exhibited his developments at competitions in 1931 and 1935, however, only in 1936, a rifle of his design was adopted by the Red Army under the designation "Simonov's 7.62mm automatic rifle, model 1936", or ABC -36. Experimental production of the ABC-36 rifle was started back in 1935, mass production in 1936-1937, and continued until 1940, when the ABC-36 was replaced in service with the Tokarev SVT-40 self-loading rifle. In total, according to various sources, from 35,000 to 65,000 ABC-36 rifles were produced. These rifles were used in the battles at Khalkhin Gol in 1939, in the winter war with Finland in 1940. And also in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. Interesting. That the Finns, who captured rifles designed by both Tokarev and Simonov as trophies in 1940, preferred to use the SVT-38 and SVT-40 rifles, since the Simonov rifle was significantly more complex in design and more capricious. However, that is why the Tokarev rifles replaced the ABC-36 in service with the Red Army.
The ABC-36 rifle is an automatic weapon that uses the removal of powder gases and allows single and automatic fire. The fire mode translator is made on the receiver on the right. The main mode of fire was single shots, automatic fire was supposed to be used only when repulsing sudden enemy attacks, while with the consumption of cartridges in bursts of no more than 4 - 5 stores. The gas outlet unit with a short stroke of the gas piston is located above the barrel. The barrel is locked using a vertical block that moves in the grooves of the receiver. When moving the block up under the action of a special spring, it entered the grooves of the shutter, locking it. Unlocking occurred when a special clutch connected to the gas piston squeezed the locking block down from the shutter grooves. Since the locking block was located between the breech and the magazine, the trajectory for feeding cartridges into the chamber was quite long and steep, which served as a source of delays in firing. In addition, because of this, the receiver had a complex structure and a long length. The device of the bolt group was also very complicated, since inside the bolt there was a drummer with a mainspring and a special anti-bounce mechanism. The rifle was powered from detachable magazines with a capacity of 15 rounds. Shops could be equipped both separately from the rifle, and directly on it, with the shutter open. To equip the magazine, regular 5-round clips from the Mosin rifle were used (3 clips per magazine). The barrel of the rifle had a large muzzle brake and a mount for a bayonet - a knife, while the bayonet could adjoin not only horizontally, but also vertically, with the blade down. In this position, the bayonet was used as a one-legged bipod for firing from the stop. In the stowed position, the bayonet was carried in a sheath on the fighter's belt. The open sight was marked in range from 100 to 1,500 meters in increments of 100 meters. Some ABC-36 rifles were equipped with an optical sight on a bracket and were used as sniper rifles. Due to the fact that the spent cartridges are ejected from the receiver up and forward, the optical sight bracket was attached to the receiver to the left of the weapon axis.