Ludwig Vorgrimler

Ludwig Vorgrimler

Ludwig Vorgrimler (born September 7, 1912 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † February 23, 1983 ) was a German engineer, weapons designer and inventor who developed automatic firearms of the recoil loader type with a movably supported , as opposed to a firmly locked one , Roller lock has become known. His contribution is thus the innovation of rolling contempt cordoned to roll delayed closure system aufschießender self-loading rifles .

After his time at the French Center d'Etudes et d'Armament de Mulhouse (CEAM) under Theodor Löffler, immediately after the end of the Second World War and the development of the Spanish CETME rifle under Werner Heynen , he established the tradition of barrel locking weapons from Heckler & Koch .

Early career

Born in Freiburg in what was then the German Empire , Vorgrimler worked as an engineer for several weapons manufacturers. He worked briefly for Krupp from January to November 1936 . From there he was poached by Ott-Helmuth von Lossnitzer (1898–1989), the then director of the Mauser works . Vorgrimler stayed with Mauser throughout the Second World War and beyond until August 1945. He was eventually assigned to Division 37, which was responsible for military small arms up to 15 mm caliber. Vorgrimler headed the department responsible for the construction of aircraft weapons. In January 1944, Vorgrimler received orders to construct a heavy machine gun that used the roller-delayed recoil system developed at the time for military rifles. In response, Vorgrimler attempted to convert the gas- pressurized roller - locked MG 215 into a roller-delayed system. The work was not completed until the end of World War II. Vorgrimler later claimed that he also participated in the development of the MG 45 , a conversion of the roller-locked MG 42 to roller-delayed operation.

After the Second World War

After the end of the war, Mauser's Development Group Department 37 was placed under the control of the French Department of the War Ministry Direction des Etudes et Fabrication d'Armament (DEFA) . The Mauser factory was renamed DEFA Development Center, Oberndorf am Neckar . The French continued their work until 1946 when workers and equipment were moved to the Mulhouse area in Alsace. This became the Center d'Etudes et d'Armament de Mulhouse (CEAM) . The transfer of the business to Mulhouse was completed by March 1948. In February 1948 Vorgrimler was assigned to Mauser engineer Theodor Löffler for the development of decelerated carabiners for France. They worked separately on carbines for the experimental cartridge 7.65 × 35 mm , which had been developed by the Cartoucherie de Valence . Its development was based on the prototype of the Sturmgewehr 45 , which Mauser had been developing before the end of the war. The French eventually abandoned their 7.65 × 35mm cartridge in favor of the US .30 Carbine cartridge . Vorgrimler and Löffler then set about developing carbines with a roller-retarded lock for the latter cartridge. Ultimately, Löffler's designs prevailed. Vorgrimler then devoted himself to improving Löffler's designs. Eventually Vorgrimler got tired of the work and left CEAM in late June 1950.

Vorgrimler has now been hired by CETME in Spain under the direction of Werner Heynen . The French initially tried to prevent him from leaving France, but Vorgrimler and family were eventually allowed to move to Madrid in September 1950 . Once there, Vorgrimler worked on a roller-delay lock designed for use with the experimental 7.92 × 40mm cartridge. Former Rheinmetall engineers under the direction of Hartmut Menneking already had a nine-month lead with their gas-pressure charging CETME Modelo 1 , but Vorgrimler and his team of former Mauser engineers completed their recoil- charging CETME Modelo 2 prototype in December 1950. The Spanish government selected the CETME Modelo 2 for further development in July 1952.

CETME Modelo B

In addition to the interest in Spain, the CETME Modelo 2 also attracted the attention of the Federal Border Police , which was looking for a new service rifle at the time. Not willing to accept a cartridge outside of the NATO specification, the Germans asked CETME to develop a 7.62 × 51 mm NATO version ( .308 Winchester ) of the rifle. However, due to a misunderstanding of the German request, CETME developed a 7.62 × 40 mm version of the 7.92 × 40 mm cartridge. The Germans then had to correct that they actually wanted a version for the 7.62 × 51 mm NATO standard. Instead, the resulting CETME Modelo A was chambered for the 7.62 × 51 mm CETME ammunition, which had identical chamber dimensions, but reduced performance compared to the standard NATO cartridge. The further development of the CETME Modelo 2 led to the development of the CETME Modelo B , which had been improved with the help of Heckler & Koch and received some modifications, including the ability to fire with a closed bolt in both semi-automatic and automatic fire modes. The sheet metal hand protection (on earlier models, the folding bipod was the fore grip), improved ergonomics and a slightly longer barrel with a grenade cup were different. In 1958 this rifle was introduced to the Spanish army as Modelo 58. For his efforts in developing the rifle, Vorgrimler was awarded the Encomienda de Alfonso X el Sabio .

In 1956, the Federal Border Police canceled its planned procurement of the CETME rifle and instead ordered the FN FAL from FN Herstal , which was issued to the troops as the G1. However, the newly formed Bundeswehr showed interest in Vorgrimler's work and soon bought a number of CETME rifles for further testing. The CETME Modelo B then came to be known as the G3 rifle , successfully competing against the SIG SG 510 , G2 and G4 ( AR-10 ) to replace the previously favored G1. In January 1959, the Bundeswehr officially accepted the CETME rifle. The CETME design was licensed by the West German government and production was transferred to the German manufacturers Heckler & Koch and Rheinmetall . Heckler & Koch subsequently went on to develop a whole family of weapons based on the HK33 rifle, including the HK21 and the MP5 submachine gun.

Later years

In the summer of 1956, Vorgrimler moved back to West Germany. Despite the recruiting efforts of the technical director of Heckler & Koch and former colleague of the Mauser department 37 Alex Seidel , Vorgrimler returned to Mauser as head of research and development. By then, Mauser and CETME had entered into a working alliance. Soon thereafter, Vorgrimler developed an accompanying machine gun based on the CETME rifle design. While it was commercially unsuccessful, years later it inspired the Hecker & Koch HK21 .

Vorgrimler continued to receive patents for his work in the 1960s and 1970s. This included work on commercial sports rifles, caseless infantry rifles and an automatic cannon with Mauser and the Karlsruhe industrial works .

source

• Vorgrimler, Ludwig, development history of CETME rifle - German Bundeswehr rifle G3, 1977.

Web links

• International patents from Ludwig Vorgrimler

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} R.Blake Stevens: Full Circle: A Treatise on roller Locking . Collector Grade Publications, 2006, pp. 14-19 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Daniel D. Musgrave: The world's assault rifles and automatic carbines . tape 2 . TBN Enterprises, 1967, p. 64 .
3. ^ ^{A b} John Walter: Guns of the World . 3. Edition. Krause publications.