Shosh's submachine gun: an overview, description, features and reviews

Shosh's machine gun was called an individual weapon, which became famous not for positive moments, but won the glory of the worst machine gun with many shortcomings. The command of the French army and other countries used it as an armament of soldiers during the First World War and in subsequent years.

Description of the machine gun

The original appearance of the machine gun with a long barrel does not allow confusing it with other weapons models of that time. The machine gun of the Shosh system in the design consists of a long barrel tube, beneath it is a mechanism on a bulky box. Cartridges are fed from the lower semicircular magazine, thin bipods protrude forward. Two wood handles complete the picture, the butt looks as if asymmetrically short compared to the trunk.

The automatic operation of the machine gun is based on the principle of kickback of a barrel with a long movement, through which the mechanism for the subsequent supply of ammunition is launched. The larva enters the clutch with the trunk laterally and locks the canal. The constantly-activated trigger mechanism performs single shots of continuous action.

Targeting is made by sight on the background of the sectoral sight. The described automatic scheme allows you to fire at a slow pace. Modern weapons theorists unequivocally speak of such a class of triggering mechanism as an unnecessary principle, but in those wartime automatics with a low rate of combat are used quite widely.

The Shosh pistol is characterized by two handles, one of which is located under the butt like a pistol model, the second to keep the balance while shooting is under a long barrel. Permanently installed on folding legs. The production does not require large material costs, therefore in a short time more than 200 thousand units of a kind of automatic machine are produced.

Use in battle

French military ranks immediately after the release of the first models recognize the best weapon as a manual machine gun. The Shosh machine gun is rapidly moving from production workshops to trenches, its use is becoming popular. The weapon refers to hand-held devices, since its weight does not exceed 10 kg with a carbine.

On the left side there are holes on the box allowing them to attach a strap for fastening behind their back in a hike according to the type of rifle. The French army was famous for the concept of "wandering fire" due to the fact that Shosh's machine gun arr. 1915 allowed to shoot from the hip during walking and cross-country rides.

Origin of weapons

The initial task of the designers was to create a self-loading machine gun or an automatic light rifle for shooting with standard cartridges of the Lebel gun. The foremost weapon is the Swiss gunsmith of Hungarian origin Frommer. He is trying to introduce the invented rifle into the army of his country, but the tests revealed the failure of the weapon, and the government responded with a refusal.

Restless inventor appeals to the French, who decide to finalize the concept for equipping soldiers. The automatic rifle Shosha gets its name by the name of the chairman of the French committee, engaged in the creation of this weapon. The letters CSRG appeared in the name of an automatic rifle due to the name of all components of the production units. Clianchat (controlling link), Snlerre (engineer), Ribeyrolle (technologist-technologist), Gladiator (plant). People's rumor called a machine gun named after colonel of the French army Shosh.

Advantages of the machine gun

The design of the weapon is developed taking into account the possibility of its production in non-specialized factories. The Gladiator company, which produced the first inspection lot, is a bicycle factory. The Shosha machine gun CSRG M1915 conquers the vastness of factory workshops and becomes massive. Advantages of the machine gun a little:

• One of them is a small weight, allowing the soldier to maneuver and shoot from different positions.
• The second positive quality is that the slow rate of fire does not allow the use of a large number of cartridges, and the ammunition consumption is significantly reduced.
• The third advantage is the cheapness of manufacture and the simplicity of the device.

At this point, the positive characteristics of the weapons end. Without finishing the cycle of certain tests, the machine gun is sent to arm the army. And already a year after equipping with an automatic rifle, it begins to massively remove c weapons stores of existing military formations. The disadvantages turned out to be greater than the merits.

Disadvantages of the machine gun construction

The weapon is designed with visible flaws, for example, the larva in the trunk is constantly twisted, the machine gun wedges at critical moments. In a long pipe, dust and dirt constantly accumulate, which adversely affects the accuracy of the shooting. The machine gun Shosha is very mediocre hit targets because of the fact that in a light rifle with a shot moving more than 3 kg of heavy parts.

The unsuccessful design and shape of the magazine does not allow all ammunition to get into the trunk in the correct position, the last cartridges are rotated in the chamber rear end forward. This causes the device to stop, requires disassembly and correction of the malfunction. In the conditions of combat, this serves as a waste of time and promises defeat.

Very often, the spring of the carbine becomes unusable and requires replacement, and in the field it is difficult. The novelty for reducing the weight of the machine gun in the form of windows on the walls of the store turns out that its unreliable work is subjected to testing with additional dirt and dust in combat conditions.

The Shosha machine gun won a negative attitude by the fact that when firing from it, spare parts could fly out. The trunk box, casing and metal frame are fastened together by one bolt, which is not tightened firmly due to the thickness of the layer and is twisted out of the hole under the influence of vibration. The loss of the fastening element ends with the cessation of the shooting.

Modifications of the machine gun

For years, the changes in models look like this:

• In 1915, the model Mle 1915 was released using a cartridge from a French rifle.
• 1918 was marked by the beginning of the production of a machine gun for the use of an American cartridge of 7.62 caliber.
• The modification version for Belgian ammunition 7.65 was launched in production in 1927.

Use of machine gun in other countries

Characteristics of the lame quality could not attract other countries to purchase such a machine gun, but it turned out not to be so. The orders of the director of the military department of the American army were enough to transfer about 16,000 weapons to the battlefields in eastern France for the arming of American soldiers who fought there.

Simultaneously, Col. Isaac Lewis establishes in America the production of reliable machine guns, but the head of the department because of personal dislike to him stops the choice of low-quality weapons and supplies the army with the Shosh-machine gun. Americans, accustomed to a comfortable war, for a long time did not exercise such weapons. While one of the military fired, two more quickly tried to charge out-of-order shops.

The director of the military department decides to release a new version for the American cartridge and in 1918 produces a shipment of updated Shosh machine guns in the number of more than 19 thousand pieces. The new model is not much better than the first. The number of cartridges in the store is reduced to 16, and the error in the drawings turns the barrel chamber into an uncomfortable shape, which makes it difficult to remove the cartridges.

The use of an automatic Shosh gun in Russia

During the First World War, at the end of 1916, the Russian Empire supplied 500 Shosha machine guns from France. The further period of military operations required the transfer of the French invention in the amount of 5,600 units. This weapon was successfully used by the Red Army for civil war. The use continued after its termination.

Western countries

In France, the machine gun F.Shosh CSRG 1915, released under the patron of full-time production, used to arm the army in early 1915, but withdrawn from the application in 1924.

The first world characteristic for the German Empire was the arming of the army with a small number of automatic machine guns, received as trophies in military operations on the western direction of the front. During the Second World War, the Third Reich also uses the Shosh trophy machine gun as a modification for French, Belgian and Yugoslav cartridges.

Finland equips soldiers of its army with machine guns twice - during the Finnish-Soviet war and in the war against the Soviet Union until 1944. Deliveries mean the purchase of 5,000 pieces of machines.

Romania, which took part in the First World War, uses for the whole period 7,200 weapons. In Poland at the same time, 5 thousand pieces of rifles are delivered. In Italy, the command quickly understands what a Shosha machine gun is, so automatic rifles did not gain a visible advantage. But a certain amount is provided for arming the crews of armored vehicles.

Actions to disassemble the Shosha machine gun 1915

• The machine gun is discharged.
• Pressing the stopper at the back of the box from the bottom removes the plate with the springs.
• The springs are separated, then the clutch is released.
• The casing is separated from the box by retracting the handle for cocking back, the connection bolt is removed, the contactor is rotated head down.
• Shoot the dispatcher with the handle of the platoon and the direction bar and remove it from the hole in the receiver.
• After removing the box, the trigger is disassembled.

Assemblage of an automatic machine-gun is made upside-down.

Opinions of experts on the design of weapons

R. Lidshun and G.Vollert describe in their book "Small arms yesterday" the Shosha machine gun as a weapon, which is acceptable for use by infantrymen, since a soldier can carry it on himself during the assault. If we talk about a massive application, then such machine guns significantly raised the firepower during the attack and retreat. In the modern world, the value of weapons is reduced to nothing, but in that situation, its use was justified.

Knowledge of the history of France says that this country was not in step with the then world, hence the creation of a machine gun. This rifle serves as an apple of discord among the American lovers of weapons. Many enthusiasts say that the machine gun should be welded tight and not be used in military operations. Such thoughts are expressed by Ford R. in the book "The hellish mower".

Russian commander Fedorov believed that the gun in the form of a machine gun, characterized by a long pullback, is considered obsolete, and relief in shooting is achieved by shortening the trunk.

So, the Shosha machine gun of 1915 is not considered a very successful example of automatic weapons. Its use in battle by many countries suggests that this machine gun was one of the first prototypes of subsequent successful models.