Vladimir Fedorov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov was born on May 15, 1874 and died on September 19, 1966. He was a scientist, weapons designer, professor, lieutenant in the corps of military engineers, and founded the Soviet school of automatic small arms and Hero of Labour.
History
Fedorov came from a military family and enrolled into the Artillery Academy at the age of 22 where graduating in 1900. For his efforts in the engineering field, he was awarded a senior position at the Sestroretsk arms plant, where he oversaw the production of Maxim guns. While at the plant he worked on several rifles, including several prototypes. One in 1912, 1913, and what is considered by some to be the world's first assault rifle, 1916. Some 3000 Fedorov Avtomat rifles were produced and issues in limited numbers during WWI and the Russian Civil War. While at Sestroretsk, he took on an apprentice, Vasily Degtyaryov.
During the October Revolution of 1917 the Red Army ordered 9,000 Avtomat rifles in 1919, but due to the economic situation, the order could not be delivered and end up being cancelled. After the October Revolution, Fyodorov was appointed head and technical director of the Kovrov Arsenal weapons plant between 1918–1931. In 1922, Fyodorov designed the Fyodorov-Shpagin machine gun. Between 1931–1933, Fyodorov worked as a standardization consultant at a weapons and machine gun trust where he then published a number of works on automatic weapons and was appointed to a small arms consultant at Narkomat and with the Ministry of Arms from 1942 to 1946. Between 1946 and 1953, Fyodorov was a member of the Academy of Artillery Sciences. He was a tutor of Vasily Degtyaryov, Georgi Shpagin, Sergei Simonov and several others. Vladimir Fyodorov authored a number of scientific works on the history, design, production, and combat use of small firearms..
Awards
- Hero of Labour
- Two Orders of Lenin
- Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class
- Order of the Red Star
Notable Designs
- Avtomat Fyodorova
- Fyodorov-Shpagin machine gun
