Mikhail Tukhachevsky, the head of the ordnance department between 1931 and 1934, ordered the development of universal (with 360° traverse) and semi-universal divisional pieces.

GKB-38 was closed in 1933, and V. G. Grabin, the leading developer of the team that was working on the A-51 project - became the head of a design bureau of the new Novoye Sormovo (no.

In 1934 the A-51 - redesignated F-20 - was finished, but Grabin wasn't satisfied with the result and started to work on a new gun, the F-22.

Factory trials started on 8 May; on 9 June prototypes were brought to the Sofrinsky firing ground near Moscow.

On 14 June the gun, along with other artillery pieces, was demonstrated to the country leaders including Joseph Stalin.

Production rate was slow because of more sophisticated construction compared to older guns and because of constant need to fix faults in the design.

The modifications included rechambering for a bigger cartridge, a modified recoil system, elevation controls that were moved to the left side of the barrel where the sights resided.

In Romania, some captured F-22s were mounted on a T-60 light tank chassis to create the TACAM T-60 self-propelled gun.

The Finnish Army captured 29 guns and bought an additional 47 from German surplus stocks during World War II.

It lacked 360° traverse and its muzzle velocity fell behind that of even the old 76 mm AA gun model 1915/1928 (730 m/s).

The breech automatic mechanism was failing at elevations higher than 60°, reducing the rate of fire.

Employment in the anti-tank role was hindered by inconvenient placement of sights and elevation controls on different sides of the barrel.

It offered some advantages in range and armor-piercing capability over the 76-mm divisional gun M1902/30, but wasn't significantly better.