In the early sixties the swedish soldiers personal armament
consisted of submachinegun m/45, Autoloading rifle m/42 or the
m/96 Mauser. Most of the rest of the western world had already
mostly replaced SMG:s and autoloaders
with a new concept - the assault rifle, a weapon with the SMG:s
rate of fire and the rifles range and precision. The first assault
rifle, Sturmgewehr 44, was developed and manufactured in Germany
during world war 2. It was from that weapon that the young engineer
Michael Kalashnikov developed his famous assault rifle,
the Kalashnikov model 47 (Ak 47). The germans had during the
last months of the war designed an improved version of the StG 44
called StG 45M but when the war ended the plant was destroyed and
the engineers fled abroad. Some engineers under the supervision of
Vorgrimmer ended up in Spain where they continued their work. The
result was a new weapon with technology from the StG 45M - Cetme.
When the situation stabilized in Germany three of them returned to
their country: Heckler, Koch and Seidel. In Oberdorf they founded
the factory Heckler & Koch that in the beginning manufactured
sewing machines until they could purchase the license rights for
the Cetme rifle. After modifications the weapon was adopted by the
west German army with the designation Gewehr 3 (G3).
In Sweden attempts to replace the Ag m/42 and SMG m/45 were made.
Trials with assault rifles were in progress since the fifties.
The weapons tested were:
The Gram was a swedish manufactured assault rifle that was a
development of the Ag m/42 Ljungman. After the initial trials it
was revealed that only the G3 och FN-FAL could face up to the
specifications. After the final trials in the early sixties the
G3 was modified in 40 places and was accepted as the Automatkarbin
4. The G3 was superior to the FN-FAL because of it's higher resistance
to wear and lower price. The Ak 4 was manufactured between 1965-70
at the Carl-Gustaf Rifle factory and at Husqvarna weapons factory
and after that until the end in 1980 only at the Rifle factory in
Eskilstuna.
The principal of operations on the Ak4 is a
roller-delayed blowback breech system. The basic principle is
rollers against tilted surfaces.The mechanism works as mechanical
gears that makes the bolt to initiallymove four times longer
then the bolt face. The purpose is to lessen the rate of fire without
needing a heavy bolt to slow it down. The gas piston moves
backwards through the gas pressure that is directed towards it
through a hole from the barrel and affects the bolt to make it move
backwards.
The Ak4 is used today inin units with fixed assignment
s where the weight of weapon and ammunition is less important. The
Ak 4 is still a very good weapon that will remain in
the inventory for a very long time. With a new swedish developed
armor piercing ammunition the weapon will be a very good and
powerfulsystem well into the twentyfirst century.
