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| 122mm A-19 Corps Gun Model 1931 and 1931/37 |
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122mm Corps Gun À-19 Models 1931 and 1931/37
122mm Corps Gun Model 1931 (À-19)Effective use of 120-mm coastal guns on land fronts of the First World War created a desire in the RKKA command to have a Corps Gun with the same ballistics, but on a wheeled gun carriage. In the minutes of the Artillery Committee 1 from 5 January 1927 was the decision about the 122mm gun: "To order the Design Office of the Artillery Committee to develop in 6 month's time the design of a 122mm Corps Gun in two variants:": Engineering designs of 107 mm and 122 mm Corps Guns, the development of which had been started in 1927 under direction of F. F. Lender, have been presented to Moscow for consideration in the beginning of 1928. The development was continued in favour of the 122 mm Corps Gun, due to its more powerful rounds. In 1928 the basic design of the 122 mm, developed by Design Office of the Artillery Committee, was approved, and in the beginning of 1929 the engineering design was approved. Further work on this system was transferred to the Main Office of the Design Bureau of Orudijno-Arsenal Trust in the orders of June, 29th, 1929. In these works the regular employees of the Design Office Artillery Committee, M. J. Krupchatnikov and V. N. Drozdov's artificer officers, and employees of Factory 172 have accepted the most active participation. On June, 17th, 1929 the works-order for development of working plans of a 122mm rifled gun and for manufacture of one gun with two barrels, a limber and a vehicle tow has been given out to the Perm factory. The first pre-production prototype of the gun produced in Perm, arrived on the NIAP test ranges in October 1931. The system arrived with two barrels - one with a muzzle brake, one with a barrel liner and muzzle brake. One barrel can be considered "lined" only conditionally as the casing had been put on while still heated, and the lining tube could not be taken out again. The pre-production prototype of gun was tested by firing 1,525 rounds and towed for a distance of 500 km at speeds up to 17 km/h. According to the records of NIAP from 6 May 1932 the pre-production prototype was shipped when finished. Finishing was originally assigned to Design Office VOAO and, after that was disbanded, GKB-38 (the main office of the design bureau of Factory #38). In 1933 GKB-38 developed the drawings for a test batch of guns and the designation A-19 assigned. The first test batch of three guns was ordered from the Barrikady Factory in 1933 and handed over in March, 1935. Additionally, the Barrikady Factory made a prototype series of 30 guns the same year, from which 27 were accepted. From 1 November until 15 November 1935 on the Luga proving ground, military tests of À-19 were conducted. The commission concluded that the 122mm Gun, Model 1931, could be accepted for use, but it needed testing for winter conditions. The 122 mm Gun Model 1931 (À-19) was finally accepted into use by Order of the STO from 13 March 1936. In July 1936 a construction defect of the suspension mechanism was revealed in the separate limber of the A-19. From 25 August until 3 September 1936 a test was conducted whereby an A-19 was towed mechanically for 635 km. As a result of this test it was decided to discard the original and use the integral limber. This was solved by replacing the limber with the sprung limber from the ML-15 152 mm howitzer. Up to 1936 the A-19 was made with a closed breach and after that with an open breach. Up to 1937 the breach-block was made from the drawings of KB-38, i.e. without any changes from the 152 mm Howitzer, Model 1909/30. In 1937 the Design Office of the Barrikady Factory brought in a series of changes in construction of the breach-block. The barrel of the gun consisted of a tube, a casing and a breach thread. Early guns had no muzzle brake. Breaches were of two types - closed or open. A hydraulic recoil brake and hydro-pneumatic recoil-return mechanism. The recoil-return was arranged in a trough under the barrel. Adjustable recoil. During recoil, the recoil-return mechanism was locked. The main oddity of the system was the overlap of the elevation gear with the spring counterbalance. The proved to be an Achilles' heel of the gun carriage. The gear often stuck, meaning that it could take 2-3 minutes to raise or lower the gun from its full elevation angle. The traversing mechanism was of the screw type. Telescopic stand. Metal wheels, with heavy-duty tyres and 10 spokes. Leaf springs. No stop on the suspension. 122 mm Gun Model 1931/37.The 122mm Corps Gun Model 1931/37 was created by placing the barrel of the 122mm Gun Model 1931 on the gun carriage of the 152mm Howitzer Model 1937. The work was conducted under direction of Petrov. Pre-production prototypes Were made in Factory #172. Tests of the system were conducted at NIAP in September-October 1938. The results of the tests were deemed satisfactory and from 29 April 1939 the system has been accepted into use under the designation "122 mm Corps Gun Model 1931/37". It should be noted that in service the 122 mm Gun Model 1931/37 was still called À-19. The tank version of the gun was used in the self-propelled gun JSU-122 and the JS-2 and JS-3 tanks under the designation "D-25". Ammunition and ballistics of the 122mm Gun Model 1931 are completely identical to those of the Gun Model 1931/37. Experimental versions of the 122mm Gun A-19According to the plans to transfer all medium calibre artillery to complete shell loading (the 122mm used separate charge and projectile), the order was given to the Barrikady Factory to produce a barrel for the A-19 with complete-shell loading. The factory produced the barrel and designated it BR-3. On 16 March 1937, barrel BR-3 arrived from the Barrikady at NIAP for testing. At NIADe 221 shots were fired from barrel BR-3, on a regular A-19 gun carriage. The breach-block on BR-3 worked very badly. In the conclusion of the commission of 28 December 1937, it was stated: "Accuracy on BR-3 is the same as for the À-19 with separate charging. Unlike separately-charged guns, there is no sleeve to protect from the heat generated in the chamber.". Generally, Br-3 did not pass trials successfully. From 1933-1936, NIAP conducted firing tests from 122 mm guns, Model 1931, with rifled shells. For this a barrel had been made with rifling tapped at 12 calibres, depth of rifling grooves of 3 mm and chamber capacity of 9,889 dm3. Shooting was conducted with a shell rifled to 3 mm depth. In test firing 6 October 1936, shells from drawing 6105, with a 5 Kg charge and muzzle velocity of 550 m/s achieved a range of 14,300 metres at an angle of elevation of 35 degrees. However, along with the weight advantage, rifled shells had some drawbacks as at an increase of the length of the round over 5 calibres caused a marked dropping in grouping. Loading guns with rifled shells required "art" (to ensure the rifling on the shells engaged with the rifling in the barrel) that led to an effective reduction in the rate of fire. In 1937 tests with rifled shells were stopped. 122mm Gun Model 1931 on a fully-tracked chassisIn 1933, Artillery Department issued the order to Factory #38 to produce a tracked drive for the 122 mm Gun Model 1931 due to its poor cross-country capability on wheels during tests. Factory #38 produced one, using the tracks from the T-26 tank. The working plans for the tracked version were approved by Artillery Department in 1934. The pre-production prototype of the 122mm gun on a fully-tracked carriage was ordered from the Barrikady Factory which produced it in 1936. The basic changes consisted of replacing the wheels with tracks, which consisted of a track from the T-26 and two idlers with rockers. So as to not modify the design of the tracks, gun axle was extended. The width of the wheel-base was increased from about 1,915mm to 2,180mm. The system could travel both on tracks and on wheels. The trail was shortened in the march position to 825mm, from the regular Model 1931 length of 1,485mm. Speed of towing on tracks was 20-25 km/h and on wheels (after removing the tracks) up to 30 km/h. The top speed of towing for the regular Model 1931 gun was 17 km/h. On 20 December 1936, the gun on a fully-tracked carriage arrived at NIAP from the Barrikady Factory. From 14 January until 10 April 1937 NIAP tested the system by firing 186 rounds and towing for 357 km. Rate of fire with correction of aiming was about 5 shots per minute. The accuracy and grouping on the fully-tracked carriage was better than the wheeled version. Towing was conducted behind a "Komintern" tractor and a YaG-10 truck. Speed of towing on rough ground did not exceed 15 km/h as the "Komintern" and YaG-10 could not pull it. During towing it was found the tracks were not strong enough - links, pins and cotters were broken and wheel axles and bearings seized. Capability on asphalt and cobbles were satisfactory - a speed of 30 km/h was achieved on the highway and 12-15 km/h on cobbles. Trucks and tractors did not have sufficient power to move it quicker. According to the conclusion of the commission "the System has not sustained a full range of tests and cannot be admitted to military tests". Production of 122mm guns Models 1931 and 1931/37.The 122mm guns were made in the Barrikady Factory from 1933-1940. For 1941 an order for 588 122 mm Model 1931/37 was given to the new Factory #352 (Novocherkassk). From 1941-1946 production of guns Model 1931/37 was carried out in Factory #172. By 1 November 1936, there were 74 122 mm guns Model 1931 in the RKKA, of which 12 required major repair. The 122 mm Gun Models 1931 and 1931/37 participated in the Winter War. By 1 March 1940 at the front there were 127 122 mm guns Model 1931 and 1931/37. During the war 3 guns were lost. By 22 June 1941 there were 1,255 guns Models 1931 and 1931/37 in the Red Army. By 1 May 1945 there were 289 122mm guns Models 1931 and 1931/37 in the corps artillery, as well as 309 more guns in High Command Reserves.
In 1947 the production was cancelled. This table contains data only for field guns (tank guns are not included)
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