Пулемет Schwarzlose M.7: История и особенности конструкции.

The Maschinengewehr (Schwarzlose) M. 7, also known as the Schwarzlose MG, is a medium machine gun, used as a standard issue firearm in the Austro Hungarian Army throughout World War I. It was utilized by the Dutch, Greek and Hungarian armies during World War II. It was routinely issued to Italian colonial troops, alongside the Mannlicher M1895 rifle. The primary producers were the ŒWG in Steyr, and FÉG in Budapest.

In 1901 Schwarzlose designed a toggle delayed pistol, but it went nowhere. However, in 1902 he applied for a patent on a toggle delayed lock for a machine gun, and another one in 1903 for a belt feeding mechanism. Since he had only had the experience of designing handguns before, the design tooks several more years to finalize. The Schwarzlose M. 7 was a belt fed machine gun, usually mounted on a tripod, designed by the Prussian firearms designer Andreas Schwarzlose. While its water cooled barrel gave it an appearance broadly resembling the family of Maxim derived machine guns (such as the British Vickers and the German Maschinengewehr 08), internally the Schwarzlose was of a much simpler design, which made the weapon comparatively inexpensive to manufacture. Its unusual delayed blowback mechanism contained only a single spring. The initial variants of the M.7/12 had a cyclic rate of about 400 rounds/minute. During World War I this was increased to 580 rounds/minute by using a stronger mainspring. The Schwarzlose was robust and reliable, if used in its intended role as an infantry weapon. It met with less success when it was used in roles it had not been designed for, unlike the highly adaptable Maxim derived machine guns.

The Schwarzlose enjoyed moderate export success in the years leading up to World War I. Apart from the armies of the Austro Hungarian empire (8mm caliber) it was adopted by the armies of Greece (6.5mm caliber), the Netherlands (6.5mm caliber) and Sweden (using the 6.5×55mm cartridge and designated kulspruta m/1914). In addition, the British ammunition company Kynoch produced a machine gun based on the Schwarzlose patent in 1907, using the .303 British cartridge.

For infantry use, the Schwarzlose was usually employed as a traditional, tripod mounted, heavy machine gun served by a crew of at least three soldiers, one of whom was the commander, usually an NCO, a gunner who carried the weapon, a third soldier who served as an ammunition carrier and loader and he would presumably also carry the tripod although in practice a fourth soldier might be added to the team to carry the tripod. Another less commonly seen method of deployment was the more compact 'backpack mount'. In this configuration the gun was fitted with a backwards folding bipod attached to the front of the water jacket near the muzzle. The backpack mount itself consisted of a square wooden frame with a metal socket in the center. When the gun was fully deployed the frame was laid on the ground, the gun's central mounting point that usually attached to a tripod now had a small mounting pin attached to it instead which was inserted into the mounting socket in the center of the wooden backpack frame and finally the bipod was folded forward. The Schwarzlose would also have seen service as a fortress weapon in which case it would have been deployed on a variety of heavy and specialized fixed mountings and it also saw some use as a naval weapon aboard ships. During World War I, the Schwarzlose was also pressed into service as an anti aircraft gun, and, as such, it was deployed using a variety of (often improvised) mountings.

After World War I the Schwarzlose equipped the armed forces of Czechoslovakia, where it was adapted (vz. 7/24) and manufactured (vz. 24) as the těžký kulomet vz. 7/24 (heavy machine gun model 7/24) by the Janeček factory (adapted from 8 mm calibre to standard Czechoslovak munition 7,92 Mauser). When Czechoslovakia started building fortifications against Nazi Germany in 1935 1938, light fortifications, known as types 36 and 37, were partially armed with the Schwarzlose vz. 7/24.

Apart from its use as a heavy infantry machine gun and as an anti aircraft weapon, the Schwarzlose saw service with the Austro Hungarian Luftfahrtruppe during World War I as an aircraft machine gun, a role for which it was not entirely suited. The Schwarzlose was used both as a fixed forward firing gun and as a flexible, ring mounted, defensive weapon. Until these synchronization problems had been overcome, it was not uncommon to see the Schwarzlose deployed in a removable forward firing Type II VK gun container which had been developed by the Luftfahrtruppe's Versuchs Kompanie at Fischamend. The Type II VK, which received the macabre nickname 'baby coffin' due to its shape, is remarkable in that it was possibly the first example of what today would be called a gun pod. It was usually mounted on the centerline of the upper wing of Austro Hungarian fighters and two seat combat aircraft during the early phases of World War I and remained in use on two seat combat aircraft until the end of the war. In its role as an aircraft weapon, the Schwarzlose was initially used unmodified — other than that the distinctive cone shaped flash hider seen on most of the infantry weapons was removed. The Schwarzlose was further modified for aircraft use, much as the German Empire's own lMG 08 Spandau ordnance had been modified early in 1915, by cutting slots into the water jacket's sheetmetal to facilitate air cooling. In 1916, the water jacket was removed entirely, and the resulting weapon was re designated as the Schwarzlose MG 16 and MG 16A when fitted with a stronger spring and a blowback enhancer to increase the gun's cyclic rate, which was eventually brought up to 880 rounds per minute in some versions of the MG 16A. As a defensive ring mounted gun, the Schwarzlose usually retained its normal twin firing handles and trigger button, although some MG 16 aircraft guns were fitted with enlarged pistol shaped handles and a handgun style trigger. All ring mounted defensive guns were equipped with specialized sights and a box for the ammunition belt, which allowed quick and trouble free reloading. After the end of World War I, the Schwarzlose saw limited use as an aircraft gun with various East European air forces. The best known post war operator of the Schwarzlose was probably the Polish air force, who acquired and used significant numbers of surplus Austro Hungarian aircraft and used them against Soviet forces during the Polish Soviet War. The Schwarzlose was, however, quickly phased out of service as an aircraft weapon when more suitable equipment became available.

MG M.7, MG M.7/12, MG 16, MG 16A in 8×50mmR Mannlicher.

Kynoch Machine Gun was manufactured by the Kynoch ammunition company, presumably in .303 British,

Schwarzlose Janeček vz.07/24 (or vz. 24, or Š 24): The M.7/12 Machine Gun was modified by inventor František Janeček. Modifications include: rechambering to 7.92×57 mm Mauser, a lighter bolt, shorter recoil spring and extension of the barrel by 100 mm. Manufacture and adaptation of these guns took place in the Zbrojovka Brno factory. During 1922 and 1934 there were 4937 modified Schwarzlose M.7/12 MGs to vz.7/24 and 2253 newly produced vz.24 MGs.

M08, M08/13, M08/15 in 6.5×53mmR.

MG M.07/31 converted from original 8×50mmR Mannlicher to 8×56mmR. Same as their Mannlicher M1895 rifles.

Kulspruta m/1914 in 6.5×55mm. First 511 guns were bought from the ŒWG, but starting from 1917 Sweden began producing them at Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori state small arms factory in Eskilstuna, where additional 753 were produced using tooling acquired from ŒWG after the WWI. Its m/14 tripod design was so liked by the Swedish military that it remained even after it the gun itself was superseded by Browning, and stayed in service until 1980.