Puzikas wrote:Another one.
Quarantine has really got to me.
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Fyderov Avtomat rifle, no reworks, no weird muzzle devices, nothing but lore.
In 1909, the Dnieguan Navy increased funding to its shore based defenses and lit a fuse for what would inevitably become a catalyst for the level of prominence of the Dnieguan Korps Mariner would take over the next century. Included among this funding increase was improvement to shore and lad based Naval fortresses, and the men who would man them. To increase their capability at not just the defense, but the counter attack to dislodge attackers of naval fortresses, the seeds of a new rifle trial were planted. It was to be a calamity of errors, back room deals, invisible hands, and would involve gentlemen of a finely mustachioed vintage from all levels of the Dneiguan Vappenampt, Dnieguan military branches, and, at one point, a scandal involving pirates and prostitutes; because afterall, dont all good stories involve pirates?
The trials described the need for a self loading rifle, with or without the capacity to fire in fully automatic fire modes, with a weight of no greater than 5 kilos unloaded, a length of no more than 1.2 meters, capable of "preforming the combat actions of three or more individual infantry rifles"-a phrase which today seems ludicrous as it is bold, though this has been most traditionally interpreted as having the fire rate of three of Dnieguas standard combat rifles at the era; the Gevar m/91-05.
The competition did not specify cartridge, excepting that it be a rifle cartridge, did not specify if it should have a detachable rifle magazine of a fixed internal magazine, and, in truth, was poorly mismanaged from the start; however, under the circumstances, this is to be expected. The 1909 Naval Act also specified the construction of 24 new ships, rearsenal of 108 large naval rifles, 112 shore guns, 1,022 pieces of naval operated land artillery, 140 naval mortars, and 32 separate naval shore fortifications, ordered over 1 billion cubic meters of concrete, and nearly tripped the size of the Naval Infantry. Regardless, this trial attracted far more interest than the Vappenampt had initially anticipated, receiving some 20 cables from arms makers per day at one point for requests for information, clarification, and, at one point, a request if the naval station knew of any proper pubs in the area of Asinemoth.
The trials eventually attracted seven submissions from five different arms manufactures; always the bitter rivals, Dneiguas Crown rifle Factory of Bofors Sthal und Mascinenfabrik submitted a rifle to compete against Husqvarna Mascine und Munitionfabriken, and were quickly found to be the front runners of the competition; Husqvarnas opposing surface locked rifle fired a short, 42mm length case, 7mm diameter bullet at some 730 meters per second, while Bofors pivoting-locked action fired a 7.65mm, 49mm case length cartridge at 780 meters per second. Both rifles seemed a shure in for what would become Dneiguas first self loading rifle, and trials only seemed to have to commence for the genius of two world renowned arms design houses to shine through.
However, fortune is a fickle mistress. It was perhaps a heavy, pregnant silence when the head of the testing board was revealed to be J. D. Roan, the Naval Infantry Colonel who famously had dragged Dneiguan self-loading pistol trials to their bitter point of breaking, so much so that three different design bureaus withdrew due to the exorbitant cost of keeping up with his chronic demands, requests for minute changes, and the need to keep a production line ready for the immediate needs he would request. Upon his entry to the room, anecdotally, Kelm. V. Forsad, a small arms broker who had submitted a rifle on behalf of the Schul Vappen and Munition Syndikat, stood abruptly, retrieved his rifle from the samples table, and left without saying a word.
The trials initially commenced in February of 1910, and were a quick upset for the two juggernauts of the Dnieguan arms industry. The designers had assumed, perhapse arrogantly, that these rifle trials would be of the Land pattern, involving endurance tests, traditional weathering tests, and finer points of the wood grain. Roan was under no such delusion, and subjugated every of the submitted designs to rigorous scrutiny, exposing them to the harsh reality of maritime service. The Bofors and Husqvarna rifle were left hanging in the gun slit of a bunker overnight in a severe storm, and were found to be sorely weathered, and unable to maintain zero, or operate with any efficacy following such exposure. Indeed, no rifle was deemed satisfactory in Roans "exposure" test, but one rifle did prove to score higher than the rest.
The Valmet Recoil Rifle was an unusual rifle, destined by a committee of tool and die makers from the shipbuilding city of Valmet. Irregardless of its proximity to the Valmet naval base and all the potential political pitfalls that would come with this, the Valmet recoil Rifle was objectively the best of the designs submitted. A short recoil operated rifle, the Valmet self-loading rifle fired the standard, without modification, 6.5x55mm Land-pattern cartridge. The shock, made of White Cedar, was more resistant to water than the inland rifles choice of more common poplar. The rifles major operating components were encased in well treated metal, sourced from the Valmet ship building industry. Stock swelling was ineffective due to the unique choice of materials and minimal interference of the wooden stock to the operating components of the rifle. The more simple short recoil operation was more simple to field service, had a greater reliability quotient than the novel forays into experimental operation of the other self loaders, and fed from a 24 round, detachable box magazine that could be loaded with the 6 round chargers of the standard Dneiguan service rifle. The magazines were not of an unconventional construction, size, shape, or make. Indeed, the rifle was very well thought out, logically designed, and was without flamboyance It was elegant in its simplicity and its thoughtfulness to the realities of the environment the rifle would face.
However, the superiority of the Bofors and Husqvarna rifle could not be called into question without significant repocussion. Husqvarna, the sole owners of the only crane in Dneigua powerful enough to lift them, refused to service the 34.5cm naval rifles aboard the HMDS Mammut the lead ship of Dnieguas Battleship fleet, as the guns had been fabricated by the Valmet Cannon and Artillery guild, who had helped to fabricate the Valmet recoil rifle. Their demands were a payment of $70,000 kroner per gun from the Artillery guild, which worked to be 70% of the value of the project; Husqvarna lamented, and instead indicated they would also accept a withdrawal of the Valmet rifle syndicates autoloader from trial. This punitive action was solved when the Husqvarna guilds instead simply built a crane powerful enough to lift the naval rifles themselves, ending Husqvarnas monopoly. Bofors, the crowns prime weapons factory, would send an angry telegram to the Hetmann himself, demanding that Roan be decommission as a naval officer for his "wreckless and frivolous appropriation of crown funds". A third arms manufacturer, Waffenfabrik Steyr, who's recoil rifle had proven to be more promising than both Bofors and Husqvarnas, would hire a prostitute and use her services to attempt to have the lead designer of the Valmet rifle, Hans E. Lundström, arrested by the Gvarde for solicitation; this may have worked, had Lundström not been attending a local church service with his wife, while sitting next to the Capitan of the Gvarde.
The trials would drag through weathering and accuracy tests, incorporating seagoing Marines and land based Marines. Targets fired at included sillouette, steel, masonry, pine, and even motor torpedo boats and shoregoing party craft. Tests ranged from salt water immersion to sand and mud tests. One test simply lit fire to the rifles; the Valmet rifles stock declined to burn due to its metal handguard and heat shield, so it was instead melted with direct application of a welders wand. Another had troops fire rifles in peculiar positions to ensure the rifle was able to function in all positions of fire. Rifles were subjected to underpowered, overpowered, and maximum charges of ammunition powder, incorrect powders, improperly seated projectiles, and corroded ammunition. Rifles were tested for accuracy of fire at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, and 1,000 meters. Roan not only spared no expense in his trial; his initial budget was eventually doubled, and members of the Army Rifle Board quickly came to observe the tests, amending their own protocols for weapons testing well before the trial had ended. Eventually, four rifles remained, and endurance tests commenced.
In its 4000 round endurance trial, the Valmet rifle would fire 2,271 rounds without significant failure. At 2.272, the rifle would suffer its first major failure, requiring removal of the magazine, manipulation of the bolt, reloading and clambering of the round, and firing. In all, the rifle would suffer failure at round 2,272, 2,741, 2,940, 3,441, and 3,990. The chosen test rifle was selected at random from the batch of 13 remaining Valmet autorifles; all thirteen were eventually tested for reproducibility, having an average of 680 rounds between complex failure; the next closest rifle, Husqvarnas, had 500 rounds between failire, Steyr 442, and Bofors 404. The rifle would continue to outshine its competitors in nearly every way until the end of trials in November of 1910, which ended in the Valmet rifles adoption.
Designated Rekylmanömovyy Gevar, or Recoil-Actuated rifle, m/1, an initial order for 3,200 rifles was placed. The rifles were to be issued to one per platoon of the Dnieguan Korps Mariner in their static fortresses, and two per platoon for sea-going forces. These rifles first entered service with the 1st Regiment of the Korps Mariner on the Island Dar Palats, a chain of block islands surrounding the Dnieguan mainland. These rifles would eventual rise to 14,531 total produced, and would give generally good service. By the time of the first Skandar war, rifles were commonplace within the Dneiguan Navy, and would eventually find themselves within combat at the front, mostly to defend Machine Guns, or to attack them. In 1922, 27,650 were recorded in all inventory.
Those who submitted autoloading rifles to the trial knew well it was worth as much to enter as it was to win. The Navy trails were certainly to be a precursor to Army trails, which was to be where true capital gains could be made. It was uncertain why the largest small arms manufacturing firms were so determined to prevent the Valmet from winning Navy trials; this was not a major victory financially for the Valmet Rifle syndicate, who would run a profit of 36 kroner (adjustment for inflation, about $225 USD C. 2019) per rifle made, far less than they could have theoretically made by submitting a bid for retooling of the Naval Mortars or for production of new barrels for the 14cm L/60 naval guns that were so common on virtually every Dnieguan destroyer or light cruiser. However, as we will explore in our next entry (my next drawing), Valmet had far greater plans from an inside source, and the Recoil Rifle was only the initial entry to this plan.
The rifle trial alone would have opened many doors to Valmet for army adoption, perhapse a widespread use of the autorifle by the Army, had not it been for war preventing the Army Automatic trials from commencing. The Valmet rifle would never see high usage among the Dnieguan Royal army, who soldiered on with manual action rifles without significant augmentation nthrough most.of the war. The Valmet rifle would see front line service with the Korps Mariner, the Bastards in Blue Jackets, everywhere they went, and would give excellent service in the hands of a navy in a land war, but would inevitably be replaced post war. By 1932, all RmG m/1 rifles were withdrawn from military service, and given to the Homeguard and Gvarda. By 1940, only 1,120 were recorded in service, with most sold off to bulk arms tradrers. In 1948, one rifles was found to still be in service, modified as a line throwing rifle aboard the Submarine Moray, SS-277, a supply submarine, an unfabulous end to Dneiguas first self loading rifle.
However, the RmG m/1 above, like most rifles in the collection of the Dnieguan Royal College of War, has a story.
The above m/1, Serial No. A5716, ws issued to C. Company. Dieguan Korps Mariner 3rd Reg., stationed at Block Island naval station E, Thimble Islands, Tuxis Island. On the night of March 28th-29th, 1920, the Estovian Navy would launch a daring raid to seize the outboard islands of the Island der Palats, preventing their naval rifles from keeping the Estovian navy from sending a wave of Motor Torpedo boats to attack the Gasworks at Yarmouth. The island battery endured hours of shelling before coming over infantry attack by Estovian raiders and shore parties. Soon, the 25 square kilometer island, populated by some 2400 civilians and 270 Marines, would feel the touch of the great war. The attacking force of 4200 Estovians would attack the island over and over, and would be beat back by the battery of marines and armed civilians. At the end of the battle, the Estovians would claim the island and proceed to attempt to take the next in the Thimble Islands, Horses Neck, before being repelled by shoreland Motor Torpedo Boats and destroyers. The Estovians, for their part, would capture only 388 from Tuxis island; all else were killed. Among them was a Korps Mariner Lieutenant, found unconscious in the № 2 bunker of the № 1 West Dynamite Gun, clutching his RmG m/1 with three rounds in the magazine. This Lieutenant was taken aboard to HMEvNS Trunnen, which was torpedoed by Dneiguan MTBs, and sunk. He would later swim to Chimney Island naval Station, where he would give a full account of the actions undertaken at Tuxis. For actions, all civilians and military at Tuxis were awarded St. Raums cross, the Dnieguan Navys 4th highest combat honor.
This rifle was found, as the Marine had described, in said battery, and recovered.
Puzikas wrote:Blah Blah Blah.
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Update; added a rack number, some production marks, and more correctly categorized details. Included are a property mark, the Mariner Vappenampt, and an arsenal mark, HqV.Puzikas wrote: Valmet had far greater plans from an inside source, and the Recoil Rifle was only the initial entry to this plan.
Now for some expansion on this, kinda.
The HqV crown proofing mark is an unusual one. The traditional Dnieguan Tre Kroner mark had, until this point, graced every rifle accepted for Dneiguan service, and was proofed at either Bofors Vappenfabrik, the Crowns Rifle Factory, at the Royal Ignition works, located at Ang, within the Bofors Vappenfabrik industrial complex, or at the Saldsheim Arsenal. To this point, only Bofors, a company as old as Dniegua, was the only certified private entity allowed to certify arms for service. Independent proofing houses did exist, but none were certified to send proofers to certify whole batches of arms; until, that is, the HqV arsenal mark.
Valmet was, historically, the foundation of Dnieguan naval cannons. Since 1858, the Valmet Artillery factories had produced the largest Naval Rifles for the Dneiguan Navy, and had been souly responsable for proofing and certifying these cannons due to the exorbitant cost of moving these guns. Valmet Vappenfabrik, having won the contract for the recoil rifles, sought to break the monopoly on what they perceived to be Bofors ownership of the proofing of arms not within their own relm of production. When the first batch of 200 rifles were sent to Bofors, as is tradtion, to receive the Tre Kroner stamp, Bofors immediately rejected all rifles for service. Curiously, the freight company logs indicate the shipment offloaded on Mar. 11th at 1022 hours, and Valmet received the rejection notice by Telegram at 1131 hours the same day. Valmet had prepared for this contingency, and sought to put a plan they had for some time into motion.
Valmet had long since had a small orgnization of proofers, gathered under the Valmet Guild of Powdermakers. Valmet, capable of certifying massive cannons of 30cm diameter, could certianly certify small arms for service. Within a week, Valmet had pettitiooned the crown for the right to proof their own arms, pleading that, under Bofors, exorbitant cost was spent sending batches of extremely expensive rifles some 450 kilometers, only to be returned and distibuted again, and citing Bofors competition with Valmet in the rifle competition. The crown agreed, and granted Valmet their proofing certification, issuing them the proofing code "HqV", or Hamarnstandard Quod Valmet.
This designation has caused confusion among the collectors market, who sometimes assume HqV to be the manufacturing code of Husqvarna, whos actual code is VfH; Husqvarna, in spite of being the second largest metalworks in Dniegua, did not receive a wartime or post-war proofing certification, and now operate under the proof HqHv since 1954.
This, in spite of seeming a minor footnote, was a devastating blow to Bofors. This, in effect, meant that Valmet no longer required Bofors to proof any of their arms, which included Quick Fire naval rifles, including the ubiquitous 14cm naval rifle, of whom some 600 types were built; each gun would cost some 8000 kroner per proof, a blow that would cost Bofors some (adjusted for inflation) $75,000,000 USD, and, more critically, prevent Bofors from being certified from reinstalling these weapons at all. This, in effect, pulled the land-locked Bofors, located 84 kilometers from the nearest shore and 110km from the nearest ship building port, out of the naval weapons game for a decade.
Each rifle bore the single crown proof; the tre kroner proof represented the three families of the royal houses of Haconen, Aytreus, and Veniventov. The singe crown, instead, represented the crown and souly the crown, the Hettmann, which, though a small motion, granted some favor from the Hettmann.
This was not my next piece. The next piece with this deep dive into the lore of the Hettmanate of Dnieguas idiosyncrasies will be the Valmet Machinerifle, which will definitely NOT be a Madsen Machine Gun; this was Valmets REAL goal, and we'll see how well that plays out.
