Punched, Folded, and Welded
Punched, Folded, and Welded
The stamped receiver is an innovation that we take for granted in the firearms world. The story behind the first major use comes from the dying years of Nazi Germany, where a process developed out of desperation continues to influence firearms design to this day. Lets take a look at the history of this process.
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The Germans were facing a failing assault on the Soviet union and were simultaneously struggling with material acquisition. The German homeland is not rich in many of the trace minerals needed to strengthen steel in the same way Russia or other European countries were. The mineral deposits were running thin, the factories were not fast enough, and the possibility of having to arm the Volkssturm loomed. The K98, while well made, was becoming obsolete as a bolt action system. The army wanted a new weapon that married the roles of a submachine gun, with the effective range of an infantry rifle.
The breakthrough
The lucky break came in the form of the Sturmgewehr (lit. “assault rifle”) which was adopted as the Machinenpistole 1944, or MP44. I will probably dedicate a post to it in the future, but it brought several innovations to the table. The greatest change technologically was that the main receiver was stamped out of a thin sheet of steel. Over other rifles' receivers which were milled from a solid block, this technique cut down on weight, production time, and material usage dramatically. Instead of having all the pressure bearing surfaces machined in a block, each piece (known as a trunion) is separate and riveted in place.
Influence
The truth is, stamped receivers were not an entirely new concept. The British STEN predates this slightly. The Sturmgewehr was however, the time the process was shown to work outside the "last ditch" context like the STEN was. The MP44’s design documents were captured by the Russians and heavily influenced the AK-47. Hugo Schmiesser, the STG’s inventor, personally aided Mikhail Kalashnikov in its design as well. German weapons like the G3, MLP, and MP5 also implemented stamped receivers. The Spanish used the process for the CETME, and the US used stamped receivers in the M3 and AR-18.
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Like what I said? Have something interesting to add? Lets have a conversation in the comments below! See you in the next one and don't forget to follow for more!
-- @roofcore
** All photos marked in this way are distributed by Wikimedia or Pixabay under CC licenses. I do not own this photograph.