#avs-36

The Other Simonov: AVS-36 

Sergei Simonov is perhaps best known for his semi-automatic carbine the SKS, however, before the success of the SKS another of Simonov's self-loading designs was adopted; the AVS-36. 

The '7.62mm Automaticheskaya Vintovka Simonova obraztsa 1936 goda' or Simonov Automatic Rifle, model of 1936 chambered in 7.62x54R was one of the Soviet Union's first widely adopted semi-automatic rifle designs.  Famously, the first to be adopted in any number was the Fedorov Avtomat adopted in 1915, which Simonov would later study carefully when working on his own design.  Simonov began work on what would become the AVS-36 at the beginning of the 1930s with Soviet authorities seeing promise in his prototypes as early as 1931. 

The AVS-36 was gas operated with a short-stroke gas piston above the barrel which had an integral return spring - this piston unlocked and retracted the bolt to open up the breech, eject the spent cartridge case and allow a new round to move up into the breech.  Initially the bolt was locked by a vertically moving block however, this was later replaced with a tilting block.  An interesting design novelty of the AVS-36 was that the bayonet could be attached horizontally with the blade providing a rudimentary 'mono-pod' from which the rifle could theoretically be used in full-automatic mode as a squad support weapon.

The rifle's action was complex and susceptible to jams and stoppages when dirt entered it.  While Simonov's rifle had performed admirably during testing, in the field it was found that due to the AVS-36's complex bolt and tight tolerances even a small amount of dirt in the action could render the weapon inoperable. Another issue with the weapon was that in full-automatic it was uncontrollable. Much like later rifles which would try to use a full-power rifle cartridge for automatic fire (such as the M14) the powerful cartridge caused heavy recoil and muzzle climb.

It first saw action during the Soviet–Japanese Border Wars and later during the Winter War, during which large numbers were captured by the Finnish Army (see images #2 & #3).  These captured rifles were pressed into service by the Finns however they found them as unreliable as the Russian Army had.    On paper the rifle is excellent, with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds it had the largest magazine of any major contemporary service rifle- not to mention the magazine was also detachable. It was also capable of both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire with the rifle's planned roles varying from squad support to a marksman's rifle.  It was also relatively light weighing much less than the BAR, less than the later German G43 and slightly less than the American M1 Garand at just 9.4 lbs.   

Simonov attempted to compensate for the AVS-36's muzzle climb by attaching a large, and easily recognisable, a ported muzzle brake.  However, this proved ineffective and the AVS-36′s complex design, inaccuracy in fully automatic fire and its susceptibility to dirt led the Soviet Army to cease production in 1940 after approximately 34,000 were produced. The design which had originally rivaled Simonov's, the SVT-38/40 designed by Fedor Tokarev, was seen as the better rifle and was more widely adopted.  Due to wartime small arms shortages the remaining AVS-36's saw service during World War Two despite their shortcomings, Simonov would continue to develop firearms for the USSR with his PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle being adopted in 1941 and the SKS being adopted in 1945.

Sources:

Image One Source

Image Two Source

Finnish soldier on the left armed with a AVS-36, 'SA-up/Finnish Armed Forces photograph' (Image Source)

Finnish soldier armed with a captured AVS-36 (source)

Soldier Sights his AVS-36 (source)

'Simonov AVS-36 automatic rifle (Russia)', Modern Firearms (source)

'Simonov AVS-36', Forgotten Weapons.com (source)

Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)