Sturmgewehr Usage

Some of you may have wondered when the Soviets noticed that the Sturmgewehr has joined the arsenal of German infantry. Wonder no more! Via kris-reid:

"To the People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union, comrade I.V. Stalin:

Since the Spring of this year, forces of the Kalinin, and then Volkhov and Leningrad Fronts have captured, among other weapons, several specimens of new German automatic 7.92 mm carbines, which are a new type of infantry weapon that has not been previously used by the Germans in large amounts until recently."

The date on this document is April 16th, 1943. Here's the intel obtained on this mysterious weapon:

"Enemy tactics and technology

Engineer-Captain Ya. Krutik

1. New German handheld machinegun

The German army has recently adopted a new handheld machinegun, using an intermediate round (an average between a rifle round and a pistol round). The machinegun's designation is "MK belash 42 (H)". The automatic mechanism is driven by redirection of gases through an opening in the barrel.

The machinegun can fire automatically or in single shots, for which a switch is present in the trigger guard, next to the pistol grip.

The machinegun is fed with a box magazine, which holds 35-38 rounds.

• Caliber: 7.9 mm
• Length: 935 mm
• Mass: about 5 kg
• Round mass: 16.8 g
• Bullet mass: 8.2 g"

The translator was a little presumptuous. "MKb" stands for Maschinen Karabiner, or machine carbine. Also, the magazine capacity has grown somewhat from the 30 rounds it actually contained. Otherwise, this intelligence is correct.

High Capacity

I am sure that many of you have seen those comedic 100-round magazines for AK assault rifles that can barely feed 5 or 6 without jamming up. What you probably didn't know is that the idea isn't exactly new.

These photos are from magazine trials of 30, 40, 50, and 100 rounds. 

Precision Comparison

In 1948, it was clear that the PPSh has served its time, and a new, more powerful automatic infantry weapon was necessary, using an intermediate 7.62x39 mm mod. 1943 cartridge. Several weapons were designed to Tactical-Technical Specification #3131 and tested along with their submachinegun ancestor and the German Sturmgewehr for comparison.

The columns represent the radii of dispersion for bursts while prone and single fire while prone. R100 gives the full radius, and Ч50 gives the mean radius. The rifles are as follows:

• AS-44 type 7 (with 3 vent openings)
• AS-44 (no changes)
• Kalashnikov assault rifle
• Dementyev assault rifle
• Bulkin assault rifle
• Korobov assault rifle
• Submachinegun model 1941 (PPSh)
• MP-44 (Sturmgewehr)

And the last row is the precision requirement. The summary reads:

"The AS-44 with vent openings (type 7) surpasses all other assault rifles: in Ч50 by 2-4 times, and in R100 by 2.3-7 times. The precision when firing in full auto mode matches requirements."

It is also interesting to note that the famous Kalashnikov made the list. Despite being less precise than the modified AS-44 and failing TTT#3131, the weapon surpasses the Sturmgewehr in all criteria except single fire mode while prone, where the latter has a slight advantage.