Fedorov Avtomat
Kovrov Machine Gun Plant / Sestroretsk Arms Plant · Assault Rifle · Out Of Production · 1916
Also known as: Avtomat Fedorova, Avtomat Fedorova obr. 1916 g., Fedorov Automatic Rifle, Ruzhyo-Pulemyot Fedorova, Fedorov M1916
Overview
The Fedorov Avtomat is widely regarded as the world's first select-fire service rifle, placing it as the academic ancestor of every modern assault rifle by nearly three decades. Designed by Russian Imperial weapons engineer Vladimir Grigoryevich Fedorov with assistance from his protege Vasily Degtyaryov, the rifle was adopted in limited numbers in 1916 and issued to a detachment of the Izmailovsky Life Guards Rifle Regiment - the first unit in history to be equipped with a select-fire, magazine-fed, intermediate-caliber shoulder arm. The Avtomat operates on a short-recoil action with a pair of vertically tilting locking blocks and a hammer-fired mechanism, fed from a 25-round curved detachable box magazine (itself a pioneering feature for a rifle of that era). Although Fedorov originally developed his own 6.5x57mm rimless cartridge, wartime supply realities forced the adoption of the 6.5x50mm Arisaka because Russia had purchased around 800,000 Japanese Type 38 rifles and their ammunition to offset arsenal shortages of 7.62x54mmR. The 6.5mm Arisaka, comparatively lower in recoil and pressure than the standard Russian full-power round, made controllable automatic fire possible - unintentionally making the Avtomat the first rifle in history to use what modern doctrine calls an intermediate cartridge. Production was concentrated at the newly established Kovrov Machine Gun Plant (founded expressly to build this weapon) and totaled only about 3,200 rifles before manufacture was halted in 1925, with the remaining stocks withdrawn from service by 1928.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 4400 g (155.2 oz) |
| Weight (loaded) | 5200 g (183.4 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1045 mm (41.14") |
| Barrel Length | 520 mm (20.47") |
| Action Type | Short Recoil |
| Firing Mechanism | Hammer Fired |
| Trigger Type | Single Stage |
| Magazine Capacity | 25 rounds |
| Magazine Type | Detachable Box |
| Muzzle Velocity | 660 m/s (2165 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 1960 J (1446 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 300 m (328 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 2100 m (2297 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 600 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Rifling Twist | 200 mm (7.87") |
| Number of Grooves | 6 |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Wood |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- 6.5x50mm Arisaka · primary — also known as 6.5x50mmSR Arisaka, 6.5mm Japanese, 6.5x50 Japanese, Type 38 cartridge
Features
- Firing modes: Semi Automatic, Full Automatic
- Feed systems: Detachable Box Magazine
- Safety mechanisms: Manual Safety Lever, Trigger Guard Safety
- Features: Select Fire Capable, Curved Detachable Magazine, Short Recoil Operation, Barrel Shroud Jacket, Fixed Wooden Stock, Pistol Grip Integral To Stock, Tangent Leaf Rear Sight, Intermediate Cartridge Concept, Muzzle Booster
Variants
- Fedorov Avtomat M1916 Infantry Rifle — Infantry
- Fedorov Avtomat M1916 Light Machine Gun — Light Machine Gun
- Fedorov-Ivanov Twin-Barrel LMG — Experimental
- Fedorov Aircraft Gun — Aircraft Mount
Service history
Operators
- Imperial Russian Army (Izmailovsky Life Guards Rifle Regiment) · adopted 1916 · as Avtomat Fedorova obr. 1916 g.
- Red Army · adopted 1922 · as Avtomat Fedorova
- Finnish Army · adopted 1940 · as Captured Winter War stock
Conflicts
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Russian Civil War (1917-1922)
- Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921)
- Winter War (1939-1940)
- Continuation War (1941-1944)
Production
Estimated total produced: 3,200 · Production years: 1915-1924
Approximately 3,200 rifles total. Initial prototypes built at Sestroretsk Arms Plant 1915-1916; serial production relocated to the purpose-built Kovrov Machine Gun Plant beginning 1918. Production halted in 1925 due to ammunition supply collapse after Japanese trade was disrupted and Soviet industry could not domestically manufacture the 6.5x50mm Arisaka cartridge economically. All rifles withdrawn from front-line service by 1928.
Origin
Country of origin: Russia
Designer: Vladimir Grigoryevich Fedorov
Discontinued: 1928
Notes
The Fedorov Avtomat predates the term 'assault rifle' (Sturmgewehr, coined in 1944) by 28 years and predates the StG 44 itself by three decades. Many historians and the Russian military academically classify it as the first assault rifle in history, though this classification is retrospective - contemporaries called it an 'avtomat' (automatic rifle) or 'ruzhyo-pulemyot' (rifle-machine gun), terms that later became generic Russian vocabulary for any select-fire rifle. Production was crippled by the Russian Civil War, the collapse of Japanese ammunition imports after 1917, and by the Soviet decision to standardize on the M1891 Mosin-Nagant and later the SVT-40. Fedorov went on to become a prominent Soviet small arms theorist and wrote the foundational textbook 'Evolution of Small Arms.' His assistant Vasily Degtyaryov absorbed the short-recoil lessons and went on to design the DP-27 light machine gun, PPD-40 submachine gun, and DShK heavy machine gun - making the Kovrov plant and the Fedorov program the seed of Soviet automatic weapons design. Surviving Fedorov Avtomats are extraordinarily rare; small numbers were captured by Finland during the Winter War and used briefly in the Continuation War.
Background
The Fedorov Avtomat became the world's first select-fire service rifle in 1916 almost by accident - Vladimir Fedorov had designed a reduced-power 6.5x57mm rimless cartridge that made controllable full-auto fire possible, but when war shortages forced Russia to adopt Japanese 6.5mm Arisaka ammunition (left over from 800,000 Type 38 rifles bought from Japan), the Avtomat inadvertently became the first rifle in history to use what later generations would call an 'intermediate cartridge' - three decades before the Germans coined the term 'Sturmgewehr.' Production collapsed when the Bolsheviks couldn't import Japanese ammunition anymore, but Fedorov's apprentice Vasily Degtyaryov carried the lessons forward at the Kovrov plant to design the DP-27, PPD-40, and DShK - making one stalled rifle the seed of nearly every Soviet automatic weapon that followed.