Um, not sure perhaps the experts can answer that. I wouldn't have thought it was push through with a rim the size it is, it would really chew everything up.
Dave.
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My favourite shell. SZAKATS 19 X 114/R
- Thread starter SG500
- Start date
Um, not sure perhaps the experts can answer that. I wouldn't have thought it was push through with a rim the size it is, it would really chew everything up.
Dave.
I just looked up the article in the UK ECRA journal Sept 1997.
"The Szakatz guns employed a push-out type, non disintegrating metallic link belt, fed from a 100-round container and a new rimmed ammunition which had to be lubricated before use"..............
It makes you wonder where all the containers full of 100 rounds went:tinysmile_cry_t2:
Dave.
genkideskan
Honoured Member RIP
hm - reading the last sentence it is a pull out to the rear type ????
Like in a Maxime system? I have a pic somewhere - of a piece of links -
riveted together and filled with 13mm AT rifle cartridges. These didnt fit very good.
Like in a Maxime system? I have a pic somewhere - of a piece of links -
riveted together and filled with 13mm AT rifle cartridges. These didnt fit very good.
I don't suppose you can find the picture and post a photo of the links can you please?
You'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge on this one, perhaps one of the more knowledgeable people on the operation of weapons can step in here (Tony W where are you??)........anyway, to quote some of the information out of Chinn, Chapter 6, page 523:
"When the inter allied control commission inspected German armament plants shortly after the armistice it found an aerial cannon being developed for intended use against the allies. It was the Szakats belt fed air cooled automatic canon having a rate of fire of 450 shots a minute. It was designed primarily for aircraft use although two experimental models did have a provision for water cooling. this weapon was the invention of a Polish arms designer named Gavriel Szakats then serving as an ordnance engineer at the Fahrzeug Fabrik of Frankfurt, Germany.
The first successful model was was produced by this company late in 1918 but although manufactured under high priority none were completed in time to get into combat. In all four distinct types (SZA-1, SZA-2, SZB and SZC) were made in the early development of this gun. The SZA-1 and SZA-2 could both be water cooled, if desired, the only difference in their construction being in the housing for the unusually large barrel return spring. The SZB was made much lighter than the original guns and was air cooled only. It had radial fins on the barrel and an air brake for checking recoil , made in the form of a dash pot to dampen out the sudden shock. In this design a device was incorporated for rotating the feed, thus facilitating the loading of the first cartridge. No provision was made for single rounds to be fired, the selector switch being on either safe or fully automatic. The SZC represents the final improved model and its modivied components were finished in fronze to eliminate undue friction.
Each Szakats cannon was based on the operating principal of blow back and employed a push out type metallic link belt. The most novel construction feature was the revolving feed that, actuated by a lug on the bottom of the bolt during recoil, rotated a cartridge into position for chambering, By utilising the powerful recoil stroke to index the round, the weapon had enormous belt pull.
The buffering system was also extraordinary. A heavy spring arrangement bore the brunt of the shock but if it could not absorb it completely the back of the bolt then made contact with a piston. The resulting sudden air compression gave the recoiling parts their final check. This system of buffering, knows as dash pot has been used extensively since Szakats first introduced it in his cannon.
The spring loaded firing pin release was so timed that it tripped a few thousandths of an inch before the cartridge was all the way home in the chamber. This allowed the forward thrust of the bolt to back up the cartridge when the explosion took place. As the weapon was not locked at the instant of firing, it was necessary to grease the cartridges used with the cannon. The inertia of fast travelling bolt and spring pressure served as the only lock. The action was straight blow back, no provision being made for retarding the movement.
The weapon could be mounted either flexibly or fixed in aircraft. When installed in the wings it was possible to synchronise its front seared action to fire through the propeller arc. When so installed, an ammunition box holding 100 cartridges was seated near it.
To fire the Szakats the linked cartridges must first be brought out of the container and the first round placed in the fluted portion of the revolving feeder. This part of the feed must be disconnected from the rear portion by means of a throw-out device. The flutes can then be rotated by hand until charging of the gun indexes it into place.
The fore and aft members of the feed are again connected and the gun is ready to be manually cocked. This is cone as the operating parts are pulled as far as possible to the rear and then released to go into battery. The positioned round is now chambered and the firing pin cocked. By turning the left-hand grip, the trigger bar with its ball-shaped end is pulled rearward, camming the sear out of engagement with the projection on the rear of the firing pin. The latter flies forward, firing the gun.
The projectile clears the bore before the case is withdrawn and the chamber pressure is reduced far enough to prevent rupture from the initial shock of explosion. Having been lubricated the empty case slips back with the recoiling bolt, being held in position by the extractor claw until it strikes the ejector, located about 8.5 inches to the rear of the chamber. At this point the ejector pivots the case around the extractor and knocks it to the left through the opening in the receiver.
The stud on the bottom of the bolt that actuates the feed rides in comparatively free movement for the first 5 inches of recoil, but now the angle is accelerated. The flutes on the feed wheel are rotated rapidly one space, rolling a cartridge up through the floor of the feedway. The round is then held in place by its link and the nose of the projectile. This is slightly behind a guide ramp that leads it into the chamber. The bolt, in finishing its recoil stroke, compresses the buffer spring. It also starts a sudden compression of the dash pot and then begins conterrecoil. The rib on the bottom of the bolt contacts the base of the indexing cartridge, shoving it out of its link and starts to chamber it. At a distance of 0.75 inch from complete battery, the sear engages the lug on the firing pin, holding it there by commencing to compress its spring.
If the trigger is still held back, the sear device will rock out of engagement for a few thousandths of an inch before full counterrecoil is completed allowing the firing pin to explode the powder charge. Thus the peak pressure in the bore coincides with the full force of the forward travelling bolt. This not only insures a better support behind the fired cartridge, but also prevents collision of parts on counterrecoil from the fast shuttling mechanism.
As the Szakats did not get much beyond prototype stage and the Allied Commission prevented future development, the only trace left of its existence lies in its many good features that have since been copied. The Soviets, for instance have used a similar feed system in practically all of their aircraft cannon.
Hope this helps (its a good job I can touch type:neutral
Dave.
