Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov (; 15 May O.S. 3 May">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 3 May1874 – 19 September 1966) was a Russian and Soviet scientist, weapons designer, professor, lieutenant general of the Soviet technical-engineering service and a founder of the Soviet school of automatic small arms.Владимир Григорьевич Фёдоров, учёный и конструктор
/ref> In 1900, Vladimir Fyodorov graduated from Mikhailovskaya Artillery Academy and was transferred to the artillery committee of the Chief Artillery Directorate (Главное артиллерийское управление). He designed several

automatic rifle An automatic rifle is a type of Self-loading rifle, autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic firearm, automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally selective fire, select-fire weapons capable of firing in Semi-automatic firearm, semi ...

s: one chambered in 7.62 mm (1912), another in 6.5 mm for a cartridge of his own design (1913), and one of the first prototype

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

s in the world: the Avtomat Fyodorova (1916), which was originally designed to fire a shortened

Arisaka The Arisaka rifle () is a family of Japanese military bolt-action service rifles, which were produced and used since approximately 1897, when it replaced the Murata rifle (, ) family, until the end of World War II in 1945. The most common model ...

6.5mm rifle cartridge, but saw service firing the full-sized 6.5 mm

rifle cartridge due to reliability issues in testing and foresight of logistical problems. Automatic weapons designed by Fyodorov were used during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, Fyodorov was appointed head and technical director (1918–1931) of the first Soviet weapons plant, which produced submachine guns of his design. In 1921, he organized and headed a design bureau at the automatic small arms factory. In 1922, Fyodorov designed the Fyodorov-Shpagin machine gun with his protégé

Georgy Shpagin Georgy Semyonovich Shpagin (; 17 April 1897 – 6 February 1952) was a Soviet weapons designer. He is best-known as the creator of the PPSh-41, a submachine gun that saw widespread use by the Red Army on the Eastern Front. He also worked with fe ...

, who would later design the

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a selective-fire, open-bolt, blowback submachine gun that fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev round. It was designed by Georgy Shpagin of the Soviet Union to be a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. The PPSh-41 saw ...

submachine gun. From 1931 to 1933, Fyodorov worked as a standardization consultant at a weapons and machine gun trust. He then published several works on automatic weapons and was appointed a small arms consultant at Narkomat and with the Ministry of Arms (1942–1946). Between 1946 and 1953, Fyodorov was a member of the Academy of Artillery Sciences. He tutored prominent Soviet arms designers, Shpagin,

Vasily Degtyaryov Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov (; 2 January 1880, Tula – 16 January 1949, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian engineer who specialized in weapons design. He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour in 1940. Biography He was a factory ...

, Sergei Simonov and others. Vladimir Fyodorov authored some scientific works on the history, design, production, and combat use of small firearms.

Honours and awards

Hero of Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievements in Soviet ...

* Two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

140 лет основоположнику отечественной школы автоматического стрелкового оружия
/ref> *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

, 1st class *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

References

External links

* 1874 births 1966 deaths Firearm designers Inventors from the Russian Empire Soviet engineers Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Engineers from Saint Petersburg Soviet lieutenant generals Soviet military personnel of World War II {{USSR-engineer-stub