Fedorov Avtomat

Fedorov Avtomat Rifle
A Fedorov Avtomat captured during the Winter War
Type	Assault Rifle
Place of origin	Russian Empire
Service history
In service	1915–1940
Used by	Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Wars	World War I, Russian Revolution, Russian Civil War, Winter War
Production history
Designed	1915
Manufacturer	Kovrov Arms Factory, (Now V. A. Degtyarev Plant, OJSC)
Produced	1915–1924
No. built	42,400
Specifications
Weight	4.4 kg (Loaded; 5.2 kg)
Length	1,045 mm
Barrel length	520 mm
Cartridge	6.5×50mmSR Arisaka
Action	Short recoil operation
Rate of fire	350–400 Rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	2,145 feet per second (654 m/s)
Feed system	25-round detachable box magazine
Sights	Iron sights

The Fedorov Avtomat (also anglicized as Federov, Russian: Автомат Фёдорова) was an automatic rifle, designed by Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov in 1915 and produced in the Russian Empire and later in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. A total of 43,200 Fedorov rifles were manufactured between 1915 and 1924 in the city of Kovrov; the vast majority of them were made after 1920. The weapon saw combat in World War I, but was used more substantially in the Russian Civil War and in the 1939–1940 Soviet-Finnish war.

The Fedorov Avtomat is a short-recoil operated, locked-breech weapon which fires from a closed bolt. The bolt locking is achieved by two dumbbell-shaped locking plates, mounted at either side of the breech, latching barrel and bolt together through lugs on the bolt. Those plates are allowed to tilt slightly down after about 10 mm of free recoil, unlocking the bolt. A bolt hold-open device is fitted and the firing mechanism is of hammer type.

Captain V. Fedorov began a prototype of a semi-automatic rifle in 1906, working with future small arms designer Vasily Degtyaryov as his assistant. A model was submitted to the Rifle Commission of the Russian army in 1911, which eventually ordered 150 more rifles for testing. In 1913, Fedorov submitted a prototype automatic rifle with a stripper clip-fed fixed magazine, chambered for his own experimental rimless 6.5 mm cartridge, called the 6.5mm Fedorov. This new rimless ammunition was more compact than the rimmed Russian 7.62×54mmR, better suited for automatic weapons and produced less recoil. When fired from an 800 mm barrel, this experimental cartridge propelled a pointed jacketed bullet weighing 8.5 grams at an initial velocity of 860 m/s with a muzzle energy of 3,140 J as opposed to the 3,550 J muzzle energy of 7.62×54mmR ammunition from a barrel of the same length. 6.5 mm Fedorov rifles were tested late in 1913 with favorable results.