Description: War Thunder is a next generation military MMO game dedicated to...
Characteristics
Modern light machine guns have a significantly smaller caliber than heavy machine guns, and, as a rule, are much lighter and more compact. Some light machine guns, like the Russian RPK, are modifications of existing assault rifle designs and use the same ammunition. Changes from the original weapon usually include a larger magazine for cartridges, a heavy barrel to avoid overheating, a more powerful mechanism for sustained fire, and a bipod for a stand.
Light machine guns are divided according to the directions of their use: general purpose can be used for handheld or bipod shooting. Mounted on a bipod or on a sustained fire machine gun, this is predominantly a mounted machine gun, although it can also be used hand-held when mounted on a bipod and the machine gunner working in a prone position in front of it, firing in short bursts.
Light machine guns are also designed to be fired from the shoulder or on the move to suppress enemy resistance or shackle his actions. Fire on the move is a specific tactic that uses this combat ability.
Supply of ammunition
Many modern light machine guns (like the Bren or the Browning M1918 are magazine-fed. Others, such as the MG-34, can use a belt or magazine. Modern light machine guns are designed to fire longer, but in smaller calibers, and use belt-fed ammunition. or from a removable magazine, in particular the FN Minimi with a belt as the main source and with a magazine as an auxiliary when other ammunition is depleted.
Comparison of the characteristics of light machine guns from different countries
| Comparison of the features of light machine guns from different countries | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type, country | Caliber, mm | Length, mm / barrel length, mm | Weight, kg | rate of fire, shots per minute |
Power type | The principle of operation of automation |
| Browning M1918A2 (USA) | 7.62×63 mm | 1194 (619) | 10 | 370-600 | Removal of powder gases | |
| Chatellerault arr. 1924/29 (France) | 7,5 | 1080 (500) | 9,5 | 550 | 25-round box magazine | Removal of powder gases |
| Chosha (France) | 8 | 1150 (450) | 8,7 | 240 | 20-round box magazine | Long stroke |
| DP (USSR) | 7.62×54 mm | 1266 (605) | 8,4 | 600 | 47-round flat disc magazine | Removal of powder gases |
Story
Light machine guns appeared in the First World War to increase the firepower of infantry. By the end of World War II, light machine guns were used, as a rule, within the framework of one squad or detachment, and in modern troops a special infantry detachment is created with tactics based on the use of light machine guns to conduct suppressive fire.
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A machine gun is a group or individual small-arms automatic support weapon designed to destroy various ground, surface and air targets with bullets. The automaticity of the action, as a rule, is achieved by using the energy of the exhaust gases, sometimes by using the recoil energy of the barrel.
Gatling gun (eng. Gatling gun - a Gatling gun, also a Gatling gun, sometimes just a "Gatling") - a multi-barreled rapid-fire small arms, one of the first examples of a machine gun.
Patented by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling in 1862 under the name Revolving Battery Gun. The forerunner of the Gatling gun is the mitrailleuse.
The Gatling is equipped with a gravity-fed magazine located on top (without a spring). During the 360° barrel rotation cycle, each barrel fires a single shot, is released from the cartridge case, and reloaded. During this time, the natural cooling of the barrel occurs. The rotation of the barrels of the first Gatling models was carried out manually, in the later ones an electric drive was used for it. The rate of fire of models with a manual drive ranged from 200 to 1000 rounds per minute, and when using an electric drive it could reach 3000 rounds per minute.
The first prototype Gatling guns were first used during the American Civil War. Machine guns were adopted by the US Army in 1866 after a representative of the manufacturing company demonstrated them on the battlefield. With the advent of single-barreled machine guns, working on the principle of using the recoil energy of the barrel during its short course, the Gatling gun, like other multi-barreled systems, gradually fell into disuse. It did not have a significant impact on the fate of the Gatlings and their significantly higher rate of fire, since at that time there was no longer any particular need for a rate of fire above 400 rounds per minute. But single-barrel systems clearly outperformed the Gatling machine gun in terms of weight, maneuverability and ease of loading, which ultimately determined the priority of the single-barreled system. But the “gatlings” were never completely ousted - they continued to be installed on warships as air defense systems. Multi-barrel systems gained particular relevance during the Second World War, when the progress of aviation required the creation of automatic cannons and machine guns with a very high rate of fire.
The first real machine gun, using the energy of the previous shot to reload, appeared in the USA only in 1895, by the works of the legendary gunsmith John Browning (John Moses Browning). Browning began experimenting with weapons that use the energy of powder gases to recharge as early as 1891. The first experimental model, created by him chambered for .45-70 with black powder, was demonstrated by him to the Colt company, and businessmen from Hartford agreed to finance further work in this direction. In 1896, the US Navy adopted the Colt M1895 machine gun, designed by Browning, chambered in 6mm Lee, which was then in service with the fleet. During the same period, the US Army purchased a small number of M1895 machine guns (nicknamed "potato diggers" by the troops for their characteristic lever swinging under the barrel) in the variant under the army cartridge. 30-40 Krag. M1895 machine guns received a baptism of fire (side by side with hand-operated Gatling guns) in the US-Spain conflict that took place in Cuba in 1898. Interestingly, in the future, Russia became one of the most massive users of Browning M1895 machine guns, purchasing them in significant quantities (under the Russian cartridge of 7.62mm caliber) after the start of the First World War.
The Colt Model 1895 machine gun used gas-operated automatics with a piston located under the barrel, which rocked back and forth in a vertical plane. In the position before the shot, the gas piston lever was located under the barrel parallel to it, the piston head entered the transverse gas outlet in the barrel wall. After firing, the propellant gases pushed the piston head down, causing the piston arm to rotate down and back around an axis located under the barrel closer to the weapon's receiver. Through a system of pushers, the movement of the lever was transmitted to the bolt, while a distinctive feature of the system was that in the initial period of the bolt opening, its rollback speed was minimal, and the opening force was maximal, which significantly increased the reliability of removing spent cartridges. The barrel bore was locked by tilting the rear of the bolt down. The massive lever swinging under the barrel at a considerable speed required sufficient free space under the barrel of the machine gun, otherwise the lever began to literally dig up the ground, for which the machine gun received the nickname “potato digger” among the troops.
The barrel of the machine gun - air-cooled, non-replaceable, had a fairly significant mass. The machine gun fired from a closed bolt, only with automatic fire. The trigger mechanism included a trigger hidden inside the receiver. The cocking handle was located on the rocking lever of the gas piston. To simplify loading, a cord was sometimes attached to it, with a jerk for which recharging took place. The cartridges were fed from canvas tapes, the cartridge was fed from the tape in two steps - on the rollback of the shutter, the cartridge was pulled back from the tape, and then it was fed into the chamber during the roll forward of the shutter. The tape feed mechanism had a simple design and used a toothed shaft driven by a ratchet mechanism connected to a gas piston by a shutter pusher. Tape feed direction is from left to right. The fire controls included a single pistol grip on the back of the receiver and a trigger, which later became traditional for Browning machine guns. The machine gun was used from a massive tripod machine of a relatively simple design, which had guidance mechanisms and a saddle for the shooter.
In 1905, tests began in Austria to determine a new, promising machine gun system for the armed forces of the empire. In these tests, the already well-tested and tested system of Sir Hiram Maxim and the new, just patented design of the German Andreas Schwarzlose (Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose) came face to face. Currently fairly forgotten, the Schwarzlose machine gun was quite a serious weapon for its time. It was reliable, provided firepower quite comparable to the Maxims (except that the effective firing range was less), and most importantly, it was noticeably simpler and cheaper to manufacture than the Maxim machine gun or the modified Skoda machine gun. In 1907, after two years of testing and improvement, the Schwarzlose machine gun was adopted by the Austrian army. The production of a new sample was established at an arms factory in the city of Steyr (Steyr). In 1912, the machine gun underwent a minor upgrade, receiving the designation M1907 / 12. The main differences of this variant were the improved design of the bolt lever pair and the reinforced design of a number of parts. The external difference was a different form of the receiver cover, in the front part now reaching the rear section of the barrel casing.
It must be said that the machine gun turned out to be successful - following Austria-Hungary, it was put into service in Holland and Sweden (at the same time, both countries established licensed production of Schwarzlose machine guns, which continued until the mid-1930s). In addition, even before the First World War, Schwarzlose machine guns in the calibers adopted in their armies were purchased by Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. After the loss in the First World War and the subsequent collapse of the empire, these machine guns remained in service in the new countries - the former parts of the empire (Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia). During the war, a fair number of Schwarzlose machine guns were captured by the opponents of the empire - Russia and Italy, while in the Russian army the Schwarzlose machine gun was studied at the courses of machine gunners along with the Maxim and Browning machine guns. In Italy, the captured machine guns were kept in storage until the next war, during which the Italian army already used them in the African theater (in the original 8x50R caliber).
The barrel of the machine gun is relatively short, as a rule, it is equipped with a long conical flame arrester, which reduces the blindness of the shooter by muzzle flash when firing at dusk.
Cartridge supply - tape, supply of canvas tape - only on the right side. The cartridge feeding system has an extremely simple design with a minimum of parts. The basis of the tape feed mechanism is a toothed drum, in each slot of which one cartridge is placed in the tape pocket. The rotation of the drum is carried out by a simple ratchet mechanism when the bolt rolls back, while the uppermost cartridge in the drum is removed from the tape back by a special protrusion on the bottom of the bolt when it rolls back and then fed forward into the chamber in the roll of the bolt. Spent cartridges are ejected through a window in the left wall of the receiver.
The Maxim machine gun is a machine gun designed by American-born British gunsmith Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1883. The Maxim machine gun became one of the founders of automatic weapons; it was widely used during the Boer War of 1899-1902, World War I and World War II, as well as in many small wars and armed conflicts of the 20th century, and is also found in hot spots, around the world and in our days.
In 1873, the American inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) created the first model of automatic weapons - the Maxim machine gun. He decided to use the weapon's recoil energy, which had not been used in any way before. But trials and practical use these weapons were discontinued for 10 years, since Maxim was not only a gunsmith and, in addition to weapons, was interested in other things. His range of interests included various techniques, electricity, and so on, and the machine gun was just one of his many inventions. In the early 1880s, Maxim finally took up his machine gun, but in appearance his weapon was already very different from the 1873 model. Perhaps these ten years were spent thinking, calculating and improving the design in the drawings. After that, Hiram Maxim made a proposal to the US government to adopt his machine gun into service. But the invention did not interest anyone in the USA, and then Maxim emigrated to the UK, where his development initially also did not arouse much interest from the military. However, they were seriously interested in the British banker Nathaniel Rothschild, who was present at the tests of the new weapon, and agreed to finance the development and production of the machine gun.
After a successful demonstration of the machine gun in Switzerland, Italy and Austria, Hiram Maxim arrived in Russia with a demonstrative model of a .45-caliber machine gun (11.43 mm).
In 1887, the Maxim machine gun was tested under the 10.67-mm cartridge of the Berdan rifle with black powder.
On March 8, 1888, Emperor Alexander III fired from it. After testing, representatives of the Russian military department ordered Maxim 12 machine guns mod. 1895 chambered for 10.67 mm Berdan rifle cartridge.
The Vickers and Maxim Sons enterprise began to supply Maxim machine guns to Russia. The machine guns were delivered to St. Petersburg in May 1899. The Russian navy also became interested in the new weapon; it ordered two more machine guns for testing.
Subsequently, the Berdan rifle was withdrawn from service, and the Maxim machine guns were converted to the 7.62-mm cartridge of the Russian Mosin rifle. In 1891-1892. five machine guns chambered for 7.62x54 mm were purchased for testing. During 1897-1904. 291 more machine guns were purchased.
By the end of the 1930s, the Maxim design was obsolete. A machine gun without a machine tool, water and cartridges had a mass of about 20 kg. The mass of the Sokolov machine is 40 kg, plus 5 kg of water. Since it was impossible to use a machine gun without a machine tool and water, the working weight of the entire system (without cartridges) was about 65 kg. Moving such a weight around the battlefield under fire was not easy. The high profile made camouflage difficult; damage to the thin-walled casing in battle with a bullet or shrapnel practically disabled the machine gun. It was difficult to use "Maxim" in the mountains, where the fighters had to use homemade tripods instead of regular machines. Significant difficulties in the summer were caused by the supply of water to the machine gun. In addition, the Maxim system was very difficult to maintain. A lot of trouble was delivered by a cloth tape - it was difficult to equip it, it wore out, torn, absorbed water. For comparison, a single Wehrmacht machine gun MG-34 had a mass of 10.5 kg without cartridges, was powered by a metal tape and did not require water for cooling (while being somewhat inferior to the Maxim in terms of firepower, being closer to the Degtyarev light machine gun in this indicator, although and with one important nuance - the MG34 had a quick-change barrel, which made it possible, in the presence of spare barrels, to fire more intensive bursts from it). Shooting from the MG-34 could be carried out without a machine gun, which contributed to the secrecy of the machine gunner's position.
On the other hand, the positive properties of Maxim were also noted: thanks to the shockless operation of automation, it was very stable when fired from a standard machine, gave accuracy even better than later developments, and made it possible to control fire very accurately. Under the condition of proper maintenance, the machine gun could serve twice as long as the established resource, which was already greater than that of the new, lighter machine guns.
1 - fuse, 2 - sight, 3 - lock, 4 - filler plug, 5 - casing, 6 - steam vent, 7 - front sight, 8 - muzzle, 9 - cartridge case exit tube, 10 - barrel, 11 - water, 12 - plug of the pouring hole, 13 - cap, steam vent, 15 return spring, 16 trigger lever, 17 handle, 18 receiver.
The 12.7mm (0.5 inch) machine gun was developed in the USA by John M. Browning at the end of the First World War. This machine gun was, in general, a slightly enlarged copy of the M1917 machine gun designed by the same Browning, and had a water-cooled barrel. In 1923, he entered service with the US Army and Navy under the designation "M1921", mainly as an anti-aircraft weapon. In 1932, the machine gun underwent the first modernization, which consisted in the development of a universal design of mechanisms and a receiver that allowed the machine gun to be used both in aviation and in ground installations, with water or air cooling and the ability to change the feed direction of the tape. This version was designated M2, and began to enter service with the US Army and Navy in both air-cooled (as an infantry support weapon) and water-cooled (as an anti-aircraft weapon). To ensure the necessary intensity of fire in the air-cooled version, a heavier barrel was developed, and the machine gun received its current designation Browning M2HB (Heavy Barrel). In addition to the United States, in the pre-war period, Browning heavy machine guns were also produced under license in Belgium, by the FN company. During the Second World War, almost 2 million 12.7mm M2 machine guns were produced in the United States, of which about 400,000 were in the M2HB infantry version, which was used both on infantry machines and on various armored vehicles.
The Browning M2HB large-caliber machine gun uses the recoil energy of the barrel during its short stroke to operate the automation. The clutch of the shutter with the shank of the barrel is carried out with the help of a locking wedge that is movable in a vertical plane. The design provides for a lever-type shutter accelerator. The barrel has its own return spring and recoil buffer; an additional recoil buffer of the bolt group is located in the back of the receiver. Air-cooled barrel, replaceable (quick-change without adjustments on modern versions). The supply of cartridges is carried out from a loose metal tape with a closed link, the direction of the tape feed is switched by rearranging a special selector on the upper surface of the shutter and rearranging a number of parts of the tape feed mechanism. The cartridge is removed from the tape by the bolt when it rolls back, then it is lowered to the chambering line and fed into the barrel in the roll of the bolt. Spent cartridges are thrown down.
In the United States, the problem of machine guns, which arose acutely with the country's entry into the First World War, was quickly and successfully solved by John Browning (John Moses Browning) in collaboration with the Colt company, in 1917 presenting his analogue of the Maxim machine gun, which, with similar characteristics, was more simple in design. Already the very first prototype of a Browning machine gun with a water-cooled barrel set a kind of record, having used up 20,000 rounds of ammunition in one run without a single breakdown. It is not surprising that by the end of the First World War, the release of these machine guns, which received the designation M1917, went to tens of thousands. The very next year, on the basis of the M1917, Browning created the M1918 aircraft machine gun with an air-cooled barrel, and a year later, the M1919 tank machine gun, also air-cooled. On the basis of the latter, Colt produces several models of "cavalry" machine guns on light machines, as well as export commercial samples for different calibers. In 1936, the M1917 machine gun, which was the main machine gun for the US Army, underwent minor changes aimed at increasing its resource, but its main drawback - the excessive mass (of both the machine gun itself and the tripod machine) has not gone away. Therefore, in 1940, a competition was announced for a new lightweight machine gun for the US Army. A significant part of the contestants were variations on the theme of the Browning design, but there were also purely original systems. However, none of the samples fully met the requirements of the military, and as a result, the Browning M1919 machine gun version was adopted in the M1919A4 version, complete with a lightweight M2 tripod machine. It was the M1919A4 machine gun that became the main weapon of the American troops during the Second World War and the Korean War. However, a significant number of earlier M1917A1 machine guns also actively participated in hostilities in all theaters of war.
In 1941, a competition for a belt-fed light machine gun was also announced in the United States, in which several large corporations and government arsenals participated. It should be noted that the US military, like the Soviets, also wanted too much from a light machine gun, and just like in the USSR, and as a result, the army had to be content with a palliative solution in the form of a modification of an already existing machine gun. And since the US Army did not have a ready-made “normal” light machine gun, the Americans had to follow the path traveled in other countries back in the First World War or immediately after it. This way was the creation of a lightweight "manual" version of the M1919A4 machine gun, which received the designation M1919A6. The result was a way and a reliable and relatively powerful, but very heavy and inconvenient weapon. In principle, special round boxes for a 100-round belt were developed for the M1919A6, attached to a machine gun, but in most cases the infantry used standard 200-round boxes with a belt, carried separately from the machine gun. Theoretically, this machine gun could be considered a single machine gun, since it allowed it to be installed on a standard M2 machine gun (if there was an appropriate kingpin attached to the receiver in the kit), however, in reality, the “big brother” М1919А4, which had more heavy trunk, and. as a result, providing great opportunities for conducting intense fire. Interestingly, the Americans, apparently, were quite pleased with the rate of fire of their machine guns, despite the fact that it was only a third of the rate of fire of the German MG 42 machine gun.
Variants of infantry machine guns of the Browning system were produced under license from Colt in Belgium at the FN factory and in Sweden at the Carl Gustaf factory, and without a license in Poland.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the French army was, one might say, at the forefront of military progress. In particular, it was the French who, back in the years of the First World War, were the first to adopt self-loading rifles for mass armament. They were the first to adopt and massively equip the troops with a fundamentally new class small arms- automatic rifles used as squad-level support weapons ( light machine guns in domestic terminology). It's about about a system that is often not too deservedly attributed to the worst examples of its period, namely, the CSRG M1915 automatic rifle, named after the creators - designers Chauchat, Sutter and Ribeirol, as well as the manufacturing company - Gladiator (Chauchat, Suterre, Ribeyrolle, Établissements des Cycles “Clément-Gladiator”).
This light machine gun was originally designed taking into account the possibility of its mass production at non-specialized enterprises (I remind you that the Gladiator bicycle factory became its main manufacturer during the war years). The machine gun became really massive - its production for 3 years of the war exceeded 250,000 pieces. It was mass production that also became the main weak point of the new model - the level of industry of that time did not allow to provide the right quality and stability of characteristics from sample to sample, which, combined with a rather complex design and a magazine open to dirt and dust, led to increased sensitivity of the weapon to contamination and overall low reliability. However, at proper care and maintenance (and the calculations of these machine guns were recruited from the sergeants and trained for up to 3 months), the CSRG M1915 light machine gun provided acceptable combat effectiveness.
An additional stain on the reputation of the Shosh machine gun was put by the unsuccessful modification M1918, developed by order of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe under the American patron.30-06. In the process of reworking, the machine gun lost its already not too voluminous magazines (from 20 to 16 rounds) in the tank, but most importantly, due to an unknown error in the drawings, the “Americanized” Shoshas had an incorrect chamber configuration, which led to constant delays and problems with the extraction of spent cartridges.
In the post-war period, CSRG system machine guns were in service in Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Poland, France and a number of other countries (in versions for the cartridges of the corresponding calibers adopted in these countries), until they were replaced by more successful models.
Lewis light machine gun (USA - UK)
The American Isaac Lewis developed his light machine gun around 1910, based on an earlier machine gun design by Dr. Samuel McLean. The machine gun was proposed by the designer for arming the American army, but in response there was a harsh refusal (caused by an old personal conflict between the inventor and General Crozier, then head of the US Army weapons department). As a result, Lewis directed his steps to Europe, to Belgium, where in 1912 he founded the company Armes Automatiques Lewis SA to sell his offspring. Since the company did not have its own production facilities, an order for the production of the first experimental batch of Lewis machine guns was placed with the British company Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) in 1913. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, Lewis machine guns were adopted by the Belgian army, and after the start of the war, they began to enter service with the British army and the royal air force. In addition, these machine guns were widely exported, including to Tsarist Russia. In the United States, the production of Lewis machine guns of caliber .30-06 was mainly in the interests of the nascent air force and marines was deployed by Savage arms. In the twenties and thirties, Lewis machine guns were quite widely used in aviation. various countries, while the barrel casing and radiator were usually removed from them. During the Second World War, a significant number of British Lewis were withdrawn from reserves and used to arm territorial defense units and for air defense of small commercial transport ships.
The Lewis light machine gun uses gas-operated automatics with a gas piston located under the barrel with a long stroke. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt on four lugs located radially at the rear of the bolt. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter, only with automatic fire. The features of the machine gun include a spiral return spring acting on the gas piston rod through the gear and gear, as well as an aluminum radiator on the barrel, enclosed in a thin-walled metal casing. The radiator casing protrudes forward in front of the muzzle, so that when fired, air is drawn through the casing along the radiator, from the breech to the muzzle. Cartridges were fed from top-mounted disk magazines with a multi-layered (in 2 or 4 rows, capacity 47 and 97 rounds, respectively) arrangement of cartridges radially, with bullets to the axis of the disk. At the same time, the store did not have a supply spring - its rotation to supply the next cartridge to the chambering line was carried out using a special lever located on the machine gun and driven by the shutter. In the infantry version, the machine gun was equipped with a wooden butt and a removable bipod, sometimes a handle for carrying weapons was placed on the barrel casing. Japanese Type 92 Lewis machine guns (manufactured under license) could additionally be used from special tripod machines.
Bren (Brno Enfield) - English light machine gun, modification of the Czechoslovak machine gun ZB-26. Development of the Bren began in 1931. In 1934, the first version of the machine gun appeared, which was called the ZGB-34. The final version appeared in 1938 and was put into series. The new machine gun got its name from the first two letters of the names of the cities of Brno (Brno) and Enfield (Enfield), in which production was launched. The BREN Mk1 was adopted by the British troops on August 8, 1938.
The Bren was used by the British Army as an infantry squad light machine gun. The role of the easel machine gun was assigned to water-cooled Vickers machine guns from the First World War. The Bren was originally designed for the .303 caliber cartridge, later it was converted to the 7.62 mm NATO cartridge. Machine guns showed good performance in various climatic conditions - from harsh winters Norway, to the hot region of the Persian Gulf.
Light machine gun MG 13 ‘Dreyse’ (Germany)
In the late twenties and early thirties, the German company Rheinmetall developed a new light machine gun for the German army. This model was based on the design of the Dreyse MG 18 machine gun, created during the First World War in the same concern by designer Hugo Schmeisser. Taking this machine gun as a basis, the Rheinmtetall designers, led by Louis Stange, redesigned it for store food and made a number of changes. In the course of development, this machine gun, according to German tradition, received the designation Gerat 13 (Device 13). In 1932, this "device" was adopted by the Wehrmacht, which began to strengthen, under the index MG 13, due to an attempt to deceive the Versailles Commission by passing off a new machine gun as an old development of 1913. By itself, the new light machine gun was quite in the spirit of its time, differing only in the presence of an S-shaped double drum magazine with increased capacity in addition to the traditional box magazine for that period of time.
The MG 13 light machine gun is an air-cooled automatic weapon with a quick-change barrel. Machine gun automation uses the recoil of the barrel during its short course. The barrel is locked by a lever swinging in a vertical plane, located in the bolt box below and behind the bolt and in the forward position of the moving parts supporting the bolt from behind. Shooting was carried out from a closed shutter, trigger mechanism. The machine gun allowed automatic and single fire, the choice of fire mode was carried out by pressing the lower or upper segments of the trigger, respectively. Cartridges are fed from a 25-round box magazine attached to the left, spent cartridges are ejected to the right. For use as an anti-aircraft gun or on armored vehicles, the machine gun could be equipped with a twin drum magazine with a capacity of 75 S-shaped rounds. The machine gun was equipped with a folding bipod, for use as an anti-aircraft gun, a light folding tripod and an anti-aircraft ring sight were attached to it. Distinctive features of the MG 13 were the ability to move the bipod to the front or rear of the barrel shroud, as well as a side-folding metal stock in the standard configuration.
The MG-34 machine gun was developed by the German company Rheinmetall-Borsig by order of the German army. The development of the machine gun was led by Louis Stange, however, when creating the machine gun, the developments of not only Rheinmetall and its subsidiaries, but also other firms, such as Mauser-Werke, for example, were used. The machine gun was officially adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1934 and until 1942 was officially the main machine gun of not only the infantry, but also the tank forces of Germany. In 1942, instead of the MG-34, a more advanced machine gun MG-42 was adopted, but the production of the MG-34 did not stop until the end of World War II, as it continued to be used as a tank machine gun due to its greater adaptability to this compared to MG-42.
The MG-34 is first of all worthy of mention as the first single machine gun ever put into service. It embodied the concept of a universal machine gun developed by the Wehrmacht based on the experience of World War 1, capable of performing the role of both a light machine gun used from bipods, and an easel machine gun used from an infantry or anti-aircraft machine gun, as well as a tank gun used in twin and separate installations of tanks and combat machines. Such unification simplified the supply and training of troops, and provided high tactical flexibility.
The MG-34 machine gun was equipped with a folding bipod, which could be mounted either in the muzzle of the casing, which ensured greater stability of the machine gun when firing, or in the rear of the casing, in front of the receiver, which provided a larger sector of fire. In the easel version, the MG-34 was placed on a tripod machine of a rather complex design. The machine had special mechanisms that provide automatic dispersion in range when firing at distant targets, a recoil buffer, a separate fire control unit, and a mount for an optical sight. This machine provided firing only at ground targets, but could be equipped with a special adapter for firing at air targets. In addition, there was a special lightweight tripod for firing at air targets.
In general, the MG-34 was a very worthy weapon, but its disadvantages primarily include increased sensitivity to contamination of mechanisms. In addition, he was too labor-intensive in production and required too many resources, which was unacceptable for wartime conditions, which required the production of machine guns in huge quantities. That is why a much simpler and more reliable machine gun MG-42 was born, using more advanced technologies. Nevertheless, the MG-34 was a very formidable and versatile weapon that deserved its place of honor in the history of small arms.
MG 42 (German: Maschinengewehr 42) - German single machine gun of the Second World War. Designed by Metall - und Lackwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß in 1942. Among the Soviet front-line soldiers and allies, he received the nicknames "Bone Cutter" and "Hitler's Circular".
By the beginning of World War II, the Wehrmacht had the MG 34 created in the early 1930s as a single machine gun. For all its advantages, it had two serious drawbacks: firstly, it turned out to be quite sensitive to contamination of mechanisms; secondly, it was too laborious and expensive to manufacture, which did not allow satisfying the ever-increasing needs of the troops for machine guns.
The MG 42 was created by the little-known Grossfuss (Metall - und Lackwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß AG). The authors of the design: Werner Gruner (Werner Gruner) and Kurt Horn (Horn). Adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1942. The machine gun was put into production at the Grossfus company itself, as well as at the factories of Mauser-werke, Gustloff-werke and others. The production of the MG 42 continued in Germany until the end of the war, and the total production amounted to at least 400,000 machine guns. At the same time, the production of the MG 34, despite its shortcomings, was not completely curtailed, since it, due to some design features(easy barrel change, the ability to feed the tape from any side) was more suitable for installation on tanks and combat vehicles.
The MG 42 was developed under very specific requirements: it had to be a single machine gun, as cheap as possible to manufacture, as reliable as possible and with high firepower (20-25 rounds per second), achieved by a relatively high rate of fire. Although the design of the MG 42 used some parts of the MG 34 machine gun (which facilitated the transition to the production of a new machine gun model in war conditions), in general it is an original system with high combat characteristics. The higher manufacturability of the machine gun was achieved due to the widespread use of stamping and spot welding: the receiver, together with the barrel casing, was stamped from a single workpiece, while the MG 34 had two separate parts manufactured on milling machines.
As in the MG 34 machine gun, the problem of barrel overheating during prolonged firing was solved by replacing the latter. The barrel was released by snapping off a special clip. Changing the barrel required a matter of seconds and one hand, did not lead to delays in battle.
The Italians, who used the “ultralight light machine gun” under the Villar-Perosa M1915 pistol cartridge in the First World War with varying success, immediately after the end of the war began to develop light machine guns, and it should be noted here that the most main feature“Italian machine-gun business” was that the development and production of machine guns in Italy, for some reason, was not at all arms companies, in particular, the locomotive building company Breda (Societa Italiana Ernesto Breda). In 1924, the Breda company introduced its first version of a light machine gun, which, along with the light machine gun of the FIAT automobile manufacturer, was purchased in the amount of several thousand pieces. According to the experience of their comparative operation, the Italian army preferred the “locomotive” machine gun to the “car”, and after a series of refinements in 1930, it adopted the Breda M1930 6.5mm light machine gun, which became the main light machine gun of the Italian army in World War II. It must be said that this weapon certainly had a number of positive features (for example, a really quick-change barrel and good reliability), but they were more than “compensated” by a very specific fixed magazine and the need for an oiler built into the weapon for lubricating cartridges. The only user of the Breda M1930 machine guns, except for Italy, was Portugal, which purchased them in the version chambered for 7.92x57 Mauser.
The Breda M1930 light machine gun is an air-cooled automatic weapon with a quick-change barrel. Machine gun automation uses the recoil of the barrel during its short course. The shutter is locked by a rotating sleeve, put on the breech breech. On the inner surface of the sleeve there are grooves, which include the radial lugs of the bolt. When fired, during the rollback process, the sleeve rotates with the help of a protrusion sliding along the spiral groove of the receiver, releasing the shutter. Such a system does not provide reliable preliminary extraction of cartridge cases, therefore, a small oiler in the receiver cover and a mechanism for lubricating cartridges before feeding into the barrel are included in the design of the machine gun. Shooting is carried out from a closed shutter, only with automatic fire. A feature of the ammunition supply system is a fixed magazine mounted on the weapon horizontally to the right. For loading, the magazine leans forward in a horizontal plane, after which 20 rounds are loaded into it using a special clip, the empty clip is removed and the magazine returns to the firing position. The machine gun has a folding bipod, pistol grip fire control and a wooden stock. If necessary, an additional support could be installed under the butt.
The FN model D light machine gun was developed in 1932 by the famous Belgian company Fabrique Nationale (FN) in the development of the FN Model 1930 machine gun, which, in turn, was a modification of the American Colt R75 machine gun, based on the BAR M1918 Browning automatic rifle. The main differences between the Belgian machine gun and the American version were simplified disassembly (due to the introduction of a folding receiver butt plate), a modified trigger mechanism that provided two rates of automatic firing (fast and slow), and most importantly, the introduction of a quick-change air-cooled barrel (hence the model designation D - from Demontable”, i.e. removable barrel). The machine gun was in service with the Belgian army, was widely exported, both before and after the Second World War. In 1957, by order of the Belgian Army, a number of FN model D machine guns were chambered for 7.62x51 NATO, with adaptation for box magazines from the then-new FN FAL rifle. Such machine guns in the Belgian army were designated FN DA1. The production of FN model D machine guns continued until the early 1960s.
The FN model D light machine gun uses gas-operated automatics with a long stroke of a gas piston located under the barrel. Shooting is carried out from an open bolt, the barrel is locked by tilting up the combat larva located at the rear of the bolt. To ensure a reduced rate of fire, an inertial mechanism for slowing the rate of fire is installed in the butt of the machine gun. The machine gun used box magazines with a capacity of 20 rounds, adjacent to the weapon from below. The FN model D light machine gun was standardly equipped with a folding bipod, a pistol grip and a wooden butt. A carrying handle was attached to the barrel, also used to replace the hot barrel. The machine gun could also be used from a special tripod infantry machine.
The Madsen light machine gun is deservedly considered not only the first serial model of this class of weapon in the world, but also one of the longest-lived. This machine gun was created at the end of the 19th - the very beginning of the 20th century at the state arsenal in Copenhagen by its director Rasmussen and artillery captain Madsen, in the future - by the Danish Minister of War. Shortly after the new machine gun was adopted by a group of private investors, Dansk Rekyl Riffel Syndikat A / S (DRRS) was created, the chief designer of which was a certain Jens Shoubo (Jens Theodor Schouboe). The DRRS company, which later added Madsen's name to its name, launched the commercial production of new machine guns, in parallel taking a number of patents for its design in the name of Shawbo, so that for a long time it was he who was considered the author of the design of the Madsen machine gun.
The serial production of the machine gun was launched by the developer company in 1905, the mass serial production of Madsen machine guns continued until the early 1950s, and in the DISA / Madsen catalogs, its variants were presented until the mid-1960s, while the machine gun was offered to customers "in any of the existing rifle calibers from 6.5 to 8mm, including the then-new 7.62m NATO caliber. In the first half of the 20th century, among the buyers of Madsen machine guns were such countries as Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, China, Russian empire, Portugal, Finland, Mexico and many other countries in Asia and Latin America. At the end of the First World War, the licensed production of Madsen machine guns was planned to be deployed in Russia and England, but for various reasons this did not happen. And despite the fact that in most countries these machine guns were removed from mass armament in 1970-80, they can still be found in more remote corners of the planet, to a large extent due to the high reliability and survivability of the design, as well as high-quality production. In addition to infantry variants, Madsen machine guns were widely used in aviation, from the advent of the first armed aircraft until the 1930s.
The Red Army entered the Great Patriotic War having, as the main machine gun (weapons for supporting infantry at the battalion level), fairly outdated Maxim machine guns arr. 1910, as well as a small number of Degtyarev DS-39 machine guns, which had a number of significant drawbacks. The need for a newer and more advanced weapon was obvious, and therefore, in the spring of 1942, the development of a new easel machine gun for a regular rifle cartridge was started. A group of developers led by P.M. Goryunov, working at the Kovrov Machine-Gun Plant, by the beginning of 1943 created new pattern, which in March of the same year entered military trials, and in May 1943 was put into service under the designation “7.62mm easel machine gun designed by Goryunov arr. 1943", or SG-43. At the end of the Great Patriotic War, the machine gun underwent modernization, and under the designation SGM it was produced until 1961 and was in service with the Soviet Army until the mid-1960s, when it began to be replaced by a newer single Kalashnikov machine gun in the easel version (PKS). In the version of the tank machine gun under the designation SGMT, this model was placed on almost all post-war Soviet tanks. In addition, there was an armored personnel carrier version of the SGMB.
SGM was also widely exported and managed to be noted in Southeast Asia (Korea, Vietnam), in addition, its copies and variations were produced in China and other countries.
The SG-43 machine gun is an automatic weapon with an automatic gas engine and belt feed. The gas engine has a long stroke piston, a gas regulator and is located under the barrel. The barrel is quick-change, for ease of replacement it has a special handle. On SG-43 machine guns, the barrel is smooth on the outside, on SGM machine guns - with longitudinal lobes to facilitate and improve heat exchange. Locking the barrel - skew the shutter to the side, behind the wall of the receiver. Food - from non-loose metal or canvas tapes for 200 or 250 rounds, tape feed from left to right. Due to the fact that a cartridge with a rim and a tape with a closed link is used, the supply of cartridges is carried out in two stages. First, when the bolt moves back, a special grip associated with the bolt carrier removes the cartridge from the belt back, after which the cartridge is lowered to the level of the bolt. Then, as the bolt moves forward, the cartridge is sent into the chamber. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter. On the SG-43 machine gun, the loading handle was located under the butt plate of the machine gun, between the twin fire control handles. On the SGM, the loading handle has been moved to the right side of the receiver.
The light machine gun DP (Degtyarev, infantry) was adopted by the Red Army in 1927 and became one of the first designs created from scratch in the young Soviet state. The machine gun turned out to be quite successful and reliable, and as the main weapon of fire support for infantry, the platoon-company link was massively used until the end of World War II. At the end of the war, the DP machine gun and its modernized version of the DPM, created based on the experience of military operations in 1943-44, were removed from service with the Soviet Army, and were widely supplied to countries and regimes "friendly" to the USSR, having noted in the wars in Korea, Vietnam and others. Based on the experience gained in the Second World War, it became clear that the infantry needed a single machine gun, combining increased firepower with high mobility. As an ersatz substitute for a single machine gun in the company link, on the basis of earlier developments, the RP-46 light machine gun was created and put into service in 1946, which was a modification of the DPM for belt feeding, which, coupled with a weighted barrel, provided greater firepower while maintaining an acceptable maneuverability. However, the RP-46 did not become a single machine gun, being used only from bipods, and from the mid-1960s it was gradually forced out of the SA infantry weapon system by a new, more modern single Kalashnikov machine gun - PK. Like previous models, the RP-46 was widely exported and also produced abroad, including in China, under the designation Type 58.
The DP light machine gun is an automatic weapon with automatics based on the removal of powder gases and magazine-fed. The gas engine has a long stroke piston and a gas regulator located under the barrel. The barrel itself is quick-change, partially hidden by a protective cover and equipped with a conical removable flash hider. Barrel locking - two lugs, bred to the sides when the drummer moves forward. After the bolt comes to the forward position, the ledge on the bolt carrier hits the back of the firing pin and starts to move it forward. At the same time, the widened middle part of the drummer, acting from the inside on the rear parts of the lugs, spreads them to the sides, into the grooves of the receiver, rigidly locking the bolt. After the shot, the bolt frame under the action of the gas piston begins to move backward. In this case, the drummer is retracted, and special bevels reduce the lugs, disengaging them from the receiver and unlocking the bolt. The return spring was located under the barrel and, with intense fire, overheated and lost elasticity, which was one of the few drawbacks of the DP machine gun.
Power was supplied from flat disk magazines - "plates", in which the cartridges were located in one layer, with bullets towards the center of the disk. This design provided a reliable supply of cartridges with a protruding rim, but it also had significant drawbacks: a large dead weight of the magazine, inconvenience in transportation, and a tendency for magazines to be damaged in combat conditions. USM machine gun allowed only automatic fire. There was no conventional fuse; instead, an automatic fuse was located on the handle, which turned off when the hand covered the neck of the butt. The fire was fired from fixed folding bipods.
The Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD) was developed in 1944 and became one of the first samples adopted for service in the USSR chambered for the then-new 7.62x39 mm cartridge. From the early 1950s to the mid-1960s, the RPD served as the main fire support weapon at the infantry squad level, supplementing the AK assault rifles and SKS carbines in service. Since the mid-1960s, the RPD has been gradually replaced by the RPK light machine gun, which was good from the point of view of the unification of the small arms system in the Soviet Army, but somewhat reduced the firepower of the infantry. However, RPDs are still stored in the warehouses of army reserves. In addition, the RPD was widely supplied to "friendly" USSR countries, regimes and movements, and was also produced in other countries, including China, under the designation Type 56.
The RPD is an automatic weapon with an automatic gas engine and belt feed. The gas engine has a long stroke piston located under the barrel and a gas regulator. The barrel locking system is a development of Degtyarev's earlier developments and uses two combat larvae movably fixed on the sides of the bolt. When the shutter arrives in the forward position, the protrusion of the shutter frame pushes the combat larvae to the sides, driving their stops into the cutouts in the walls of the receiver. After the shot, the bolt frame on its way back, with the help of special curly bevels, presses the larvae to the bolt, disengaging it from the receiver and then opening it. The fire is conducted from an open shutter, the fire mode is only automatic. The barrel of the RPD is not interchangeable. Cartridge supply - from a non-loose metal tape for 100 rounds, made up of two pieces of 50 rounds each. Regularly, the tape is located in a round metal box suspended under the receiver. The boxes were carried by machine gun crew in special pouches, but each box also has its own folding handle for carrying. A folding non-removable bipod is located under the muzzle of the barrel. The machine gun was equipped with a carrying strap and allowed firing "from the hip", while the machine gun was located on the belt, and the shooter held the weapon in the line of fire with his left hand, placing his left palm on top of the forearm, for which the forearm was given a special shape. Sights are open, adjustable in range and elevation, the effective range is up to 800 meters.
In general, the RPD was a reliable, convenient and powerful fire support weapon, anticipating the later fashion for belt-fed light machine guns (M249 / Minimi type, Daewoo K-3, Vector Mini-SS, etc.)
Heavy machine gun Degtyarev - Shpagin DShK DShKM 12.7 (USSR)
The task to create the first Soviet heavy machine gun, designed primarily to fight aircraft at altitudes up to 1500 meters, was issued by that time to the already very experienced and well-known gunsmith Degtyarev in 1929. Less than a year later, Degtyarev presented his 12.7mm machine gun for testing, and since 1932, small-scale production of a machine gun under the designation DK (Degtyarev, Large-caliber) began. In general, the DK repeated the design of the DP-27 light machine gun, and was powered by detachable drum magazines for 30 rounds, mounted on top of the machine gun. The disadvantages of such a power supply scheme (bulky and heavy stores, low practical rate of fire) forced the production of the DC to be stopped in 1935 and to improve it. By 1938, the designer Shpagin developed a belt feed module for the DC, and in 1939 the improved machine gun was adopted by the Red Army with the subdesignation "12.7mm Degtyarev-Shpagin heavy machine gun model 1938 - DShK". The mass production of the DShK was launched in 1940-41. They were used as anti-aircraft weapons, as infantry support weapons, mounted on armored vehicles and small ships (including - torpedo boats). According to the experience of the war in 1946, the machine gun was modernized (the design of the tape feed unit and the barrel mount were changed), and the machine gun was adopted under the designation DShKM.
DShKM was or is in service with more than 40 armies of the world, is produced in China ("type 54"), Pakistan, Iran and some other countries. The DShKM machine gun was used as an anti-aircraft gun on Soviet tanks post-war period (T-55, T-62) and on armored vehicles (BTR-155). At present, in the Russian Armed Forces, the DShK and DShKM machine guns are almost completely replaced by the Utes and Kord heavy machine guns, which are more advanced and modern.
In the mid-1950s, the Soviet Army began a program to develop a new small arms complex designed to replace the Kalashnikov AK assault rifle, the SKS carbine and the RPD light machine gun. The complex was supposed to include an assault rifle and a light machine gun as unified as possible with it (weapon to support the squad), both chambered for 7.62x39 M43. According to the results of the competition in 1961, a modified Kalashnikov AKM assault rifle and a Kalashnikov RPK light machine gun unified with it in design and magazines were adopted by the SA. The RPK remained the main weapon of support for the squad until 1974, when it was replaced by its counterpart chambered for 5.45x39, the RPK-74 light machine gun.
The Kalashnikov RPK light machine gun uses the same automation scheme and basic design solutions as the AKM Kalashnikov assault rifle, that is, gas-operated automatics with barrel locking by turning the bolt. The receiver is stamped from steel sheet, more durable compared to the AKM box to increase the resource. The barrel is elongated compared to the AKM, it has no possibility of replacement in case of overheating. The trigger mechanism is completely similar to that of the AKM, it allows firing with single shots and bursts, firing is carried out from a closed bolt. Cartridges are fed from detachable magazines compatible with AK / AKM assault rifles. For the RPK, two types of high-capacity magazines were additionally developed and put into service - a box-shaped (horn) magazine for 40 rounds and a drum magazine for 75 rounds. Early versions of box magazines were made of steel, later ones were made of plastic. The drum magazines were of steel construction and were notable for their high cost and slow loading of cartridges. The RPK was equipped with a folding bipod mounted under the barrel, a special-shaped butt and a sight with the possibility of introducing lateral amendments. The RPKS variant, developed for the airborne troops, had a side-folding stock. In addition, variants of the RPKN and RPKSN were produced with a strap mounted on the receiver for attaching night sights.
Currently, on the basis of the RPK-74M, the RPKM machine gun chambered for 7.62x39 is being produced, intended primarily for export.
It should be noted that, as a light machine gun, the RPK had significant drawbacks - the small capacity of the power supply system, the inability to conduct intense automatic fire due to a non-replaceable barrel and firing from a closed bolt. Its main advantage was a high degree of unification with the standard AKM assault rifle, and a somewhat greater range and accuracy of fire compared to it (due to a longer and somewhat heavier barrel).
A single machine gun MAG (Mitrailleuse d'Appui General (French) - Universal Machine Gun) was developed by the Belgian company FN (Fabrique Nationale) in the 1950s and very quickly gained almost worldwide popularity. A fairly simple and reliable design, combined with flexibility of use and adequate ammunition, provided this mule gun with a place in the armament system of more than 50 countries of the world, including Belgium itself, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, the USA, Sweden and many other countries. In many countries, including England and the USA, these machine guns are produced under license.
The FN MAG machine gun is built on the basis of gas-operated automatics, developed by John Browning for his BAR M1918 automatic rifle, with the only difference that the FN MAG locking unit is turned upside down relative to the M1918, and the magazine feed is replaced with a tape, made according to the German type machine gun MG-42. The gas outlet assembly is located under the barrel and has a gas regulator to control the rate of fire and adapt to external conditions. Locking is carried out using a special rocking lever mounted on the gate and connected to the gas piston rod. When locking, the lever turns down, engaging with a stop in the bottom of the receiver and thereby supporting the bolt from behind.
The barrel of the machine gun is quick-change, it has a carrying handle used when replacing a hot barrel, as well as a flash suppressor and a front sight on a high base. Power is supplied from a metal tape (usually loose), the supply of cartridges to the chamber is direct.
The machine gun in the basic version is equipped with a light folding bipod on a gas outlet, a pistol grip with a trigger, and a butt (wooden or plastic). At the bottom of the receiver, made of stamped steel parts, there are mounts for mounting a machine gun on infantry machines or equipment. On the top of the receiver is open sight, on machine guns latest releases a Picatinny type rail can also be installed, allowing you to put any optical and night sights with the appropriate mounts.
The NK 21 machine gun was developed by Heckler-Koch (Germany) in the early 1960s based on the G3 automatic rifle as universal weapon, suitable for use both as a light machine gun (from bipods), and as an easel machine gun - from equipment or a tripod machine. Later, on the basis of this machine gun, a number of samples and modifications were developed, including the 5.56mm HK 23 machine gun (created in the late 1970s for the American competition for the SAW light machine gun), as well as the HK 11 light machine guns of caliber 7.62x51 and HK 13 of caliber 5.56 mm. Machine guns of the HK21 series are produced under license in Portugal and Greece, they were supplied to African, Asian and Latin American countries. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the production of all machine guns of the HK 21 / HK23 line in Germany has been discontinued.
Based on the experience of the Second World War, Soviet military experts appreciated the German idea of a universal (or single) machine gun, and set the task of creating such a machine gun for the Soviet army. The first experimental models, launched in the late 1940s, used existing samples as a base, such as RP-46 or SGM, but they were considered unsuccessful. Only by 1957 did a fundamentally new model appear, more or less satisfying the requirements of the army - a single Nikitin machine gun. It was an original design, using automatic gas venting with automatic adjustment and a specially designed open-link belt that provided a simple straight-line feed of the cartridge into the barrel. In 1958, it was decided to release a large batch of Nikitin machine guns for military testing, but almost at the same time, the GRAU of the General Staff of the USSR decided on the need to “speed up” the process of fine-tuning the PN, for which he ordered the design group of M.T. Kalashnikov a similar machine gun. It should be noted that just at that time Kalashnikov was busy fine-tuning the AKM / RPK complex, but he nevertheless accepted the challenge. According to the test results, the hastily created Kalashnikov machine gun was recognized as superior to the Nikitin machine gun (the decision to adopt and produce which had already been practically taken), and it was the Kalashnikov machine gun that was adopted in 1961. This machine gun was created in four versions at once, which had the same basic mechanisms and design - a manual PC (on a bipod), an easel PKS (on a machine designed by Samozhenkov), an armored personnel carrier PKB and a tank PKT (with an elongated heavy barrel and remote electric trigger). According to the experience of operation in the army, the basic design of the machine gun was modernized by some lightening and hardening of parts, as well as the transition to a lighter universal infantry machine designed by Stepanov. In 1969, a new family of PKM / PKMS / PKMB / PKMT machine guns entered service with the Soviet Army, and until now these machine guns are the main ones in the Armed Forces of Russia and many countries - the former republics of the USSR. The production of PCM copies (with or without a license) has been established in Bulgaria, China, Iran, and the former Yugoslavia.
Machine guns of the PK / PKM series are highly reliable and enjoy well-deserved popularity among the troops, despite the somewhat overcomplicated two-stage system for feeding cartridges from the belt into the barrel.
The Kalashnikov machine gun uses gas-operated automatics with a gas piston located under the barrel with a long stroke. The barrel is quick-change, has a carrying handle, also used to replace the hot barrel. The gas outlet unit is equipped with a manual gas regulator. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt. Cartridges are fed from a non-loose metal tape with a closed link. Tapes are assembled from pieces of 50 links using a cartridge. The standard capacity of the tapes is 100 (in the manual version) or 200 (in the easel version) cartridges. The feed direction of the tape is from right to left, the windows for feeding and exiting the tape are equipped with dust covers, as is the window for ejecting spent cartridges. The supply of cartridges from the tape is two-stage - first, a special grip pulls the cartridge back from the tape when the shutter frame is rolled back, after which the cartridge is lowered to the chambering line and, when the bolt rolls, is sent to the barrel. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter, only with automatic fire. Standard controls on the infantry variant include a pistol grip, trigger, manual safety and frame stock. In the armored personnel carrier version, it is possible to install a special butt plate with twin handles and a release key instead of the butt, in the tank one, an electric remote trigger mechanism is used. In the infantry version, the machine gun is equipped with a folding bipod, in the easel version, a universal tripod machine with an adapter for anti-aircraft fire is additionally used.
The Pecheneg light machine gun was developed at the Central Research Institute of Precision Engineering (Russia) as a further development of the standard PKM army machine gun. Currently, the Pecheneg machine gun has passed army tests and is in service with a number of units of the army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs participating in the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya. In general, reviews of the new machine gun from the troops are positive. Due to the lack of an interchangeable barrel, the machine gun has become more mobile and, therefore, more adapted to modern warfare.
The main task in creating the Pecheneg was to increase the efficiency of fire and get rid of such a disadvantage of most modern single machine guns as the need for a replaceable barrel. The result of the work of TsNIITochMash was the creation of a barrel with forced ejection air cooling of the barrel. The Pecheneg barrel has a specially designed outer finning and is enclosed in a metal casing. When firing, powder gases leaving the muzzle of the barrel at high speed create the effect of an ejection pump in the front of the casing, pulling cold air along the barrel. The air is taken from the atmosphere through the openings in the casing, made under the carrying handle, at the rear of the casing. Thus, it was possible to achieve a high practical rate of fire without the need to replace the barrel - the maximum length of a continuous burst from Pecheneg is about 600 shots - that is, 3 boxes with tapes of 200 rounds, or a standard wearable ammunition load. When conducting a long battle, a machine gun can fire up to 1,000 rounds per hour without deteriorating combat performance and reducing the barrel resource, which is at least 30,000 rounds. In addition, due to the encasing of the barrel, thermal moiré (fluctuations of hot air over a heated barrel during intense fire) disappeared, which prevented accurate aiming. Another modification in relation to the PKM was the transfer of bipods under the muzzle of the barrel. This was done to increase the stability of the machine gun when firing from bipods, however, this position of the bipods is not always convenient, as it limits the sector of fire along the front without moving the shooter and / or weapons.
In general, Pecheneg retained up to 80% of the common parts with PKM (receiver with all mechanisms, machine), and the increase in fire efficiency ranged from 150% when fired from a machine tool to 250% when fired from a bipod (according to the developers).
The development of heavy machine guns for especially powerful 14.5mm caliber cartridges, originally created in the USSR for anti-tank rifles, was started in 1942 in response to numerous demands from the troops. The main purpose of such a heavy machine gun was to be the fight against lightly armored enemy vehicles (light tanks and armored personnel carriers), unarmored ground vehicles and enemy aircraft. In 1944, it was decided to develop the design of the machine gun proposed by Vladimirov, however, the fine-tuning of the machine gun and installations for it was delayed and the Vladimirov heavy machine gun was adopted only in 1949, in the version of the infantry machine gun on the Kharykin wheeled machine (under the designation PKP - Large-caliber Infantry Machine Gun Vladimirov system), as well as in the anti-aircraft version on several land and sea installations, which had one, two or four Vladimirov machine guns. In 1955, a tank version of the Vladimirov KPVT machine gun appeared, which replaced the KPV / PKP in production and was used both for arming armored vehicles (BTR-60D, BTR-70, BRDM), and in anti-aircraft machine gun installations ZPU-1, ZPU-2 and ZPU-4 . In the anti-aircraft version, the KPV was used during the fighting in Vietnam, in addition, these machine guns were widely used Soviet troops in Afghanistan and during the Chechen campaigns. Copies of KPV machine guns were produced under license in Poland and China.
Until recently, the Vladimirov heavy machine gun was the most powerful weapon in its class (caliber less than 20mm), but a few years ago China developed its own version of a machine gun chambered for 14.5x115 of the original design. Thanks to a powerful cartridge with an armor-piercing bullet weighing 60 grams and an initial speed of 1030 m / s ( muzzle energy about 32,000 Joules) CPV penetrates 32mm of steel armor at a distance of 500 meters and 20mm of armor at a distance of 1000 meters.
The Vladimirov KPV-14.5 large-caliber machine gun uses automatic recoil energy with a short barrel stroke. The locking of the barrel at the time of the shot is carried out by rotating the clutch attached to the bolt; the inner surface of the coupling has lugs in the form of segments of discontinuous thread, which, when rotated, engage with the corresponding lugs on the breech breech. The rotation of the coupling occurs when the transverse pin interacts with curly cutouts in the receiver. The barrel is quick-change, enclosed in a perforated metal casing and removed from the body of the machine gun along with the casing, for which there is a special handle on the casing. Cartridges are fed from a metal tape with a closed link, assembled from non-loose pieces for 10 cartridges each. The connection of pieces of tape is carried out using a cartridge. The standard capacity of the tape is 40 rounds for the PKP and 50 for the KPVT. The supply of cartridges from the tape to the barrel is carried out in two steps - first, a special extractor, on the rollback of the shutter, removes the cartridge from the tape back, after which the cartridge is lowered to the chambering line and is sent to the barrel in the roll forward of the shutter. Spent cartridge cases are ejected down and forward through a short tube on the receiver; the spent cartridge case is pushed out of the grooves holding it on the shutter mirror by the next cartridge or a special lever - rammer (for the last cartridge in the tape). Shooting is carried out from an open shutter, only with automatic fire. The trigger mechanism is usually placed on a machine or installation, in the infantry version, the controls on the machine include two vertical handles and a trigger key between them, in a tank machine gun it is equipped with a remote electric trigger.
The large-caliber machine gun "Kord" was created at the Kovrov plant named after. Degtyarev (ZID) in the 1990s to replace the NSV and NSVT machine guns in service in Russia. The name "Kord" itself comes from the phrase "Design of gunsmiths-Degtyarevtsev". The main reason for the development of the Kord machine gun was the fact that the production of NSV machine guns after the collapse of the USSR ended up on the territory of Kazakhstan. In addition, when creating the Korda, the goal was to increase the accuracy of fire compared to the NSV-12.7. The new machine gun received the index 6P50 and was put into service Russian army in 1997. Serial production was launched at the ZID plant in 2001. Currently, Kord machine guns are used both as infantry support weapons and are installed on armored vehicles, in particular, on T-90 tanks. In addition, due to the compatibility of the Kord and NSV / NSVT machine guns in terms of attachments to the installations, it is possible to replace the NSVT machine guns that have exhausted their service life on the new Kord without any modifications on the installations.
The large-caliber machine gun "Kord" uses gas-operated automatics with a long stroke of the gas piston located under the barrel. The barrel of the machine gun is quick-change, air-cooled, on the machine guns of new releases it is equipped with an effective muzzle brake. The barrel is locked by a rotary bolt. The design of the machine gun provides for a special buffer of moving parts, which, in combination with a muzzle brake, significantly reduces the peak recoil of the weapon when firing. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter. Ammunition supply - from a non-loose metal tape with an open (open) link from the NSV machine gun. The tape is assembled from pieces of 10 links using a cartridge. The supply of cartridges from the tape - directly into the barrel. The standard direction of tape movement is from right to left, but it can be easily reversed.
Of the controls on the body of the machine gun, there are only a trigger lever and a manual fuse. Fire controls are located on the machine or installation. In the infantry version, they include a pistol grip with a trigger and a cocking mechanism mounted on the cradle of the 6T7 machine. Additionally, the infantry machine is equipped with a folding butt with a built-in spring recoil buffer.
The Minimi machine gun was developed by the Belgian company FN Herstal in the mid-late 1970s and early 1980s and has been in mass production since around 1981. It is in service with many countries, including Belgium itself, the United States (under the designation M249 SAW), Canada (designated C9), Australia (designated F-89) and many others. The machine gun enjoys well-deserved popularity for its high mobility, combined with firepower that is noticeably superior to the firepower of such light machine guns as the RPK-74, L86A1 and others, built on the basis of machine guns, and not created from scratch like machine guns. Distinctive feature Minimi - the ability to use for shooting both a metal tape (standard method) and rifle magazines of the NATO standard (from the M16 rifle, a backup version) without any changes in the design (the Czech Vz.52 light machine gun, created 30 years earlier, had a similar capability ). Minimi machine guns are used to increase the firepower of infantry squads, providing effective fire at ranges up to 600-800 meters, combined with high mobility.
Minimi is a light (manual) machine gun, built on the basis of gas automatics, the barrel is locked by turning the bolt. Feed - metal loose tape or box magazines (the magazine receiver is located on the left side of the weapon under the tape receiver, the magazine is inserted at an angle of approximately 45 degrees downward from the horizontal). When using a tape, the window of the receiver for magazines is blocked by a dust-proof curtain; when a magazine is inserted (with the tape removed), the open shutter blocks the path for feeding the tape. When using a tape, part of the energy of the gas engine is spent on pulling the tape, therefore, with a tape, the rate of fire is lower than with store food. The tape is usually fed from plastic boxes or canvas "bags" on a metal frame, adjacent to the machine gun from below, with a capacity of 100 or 200 rounds.
The barrel of the machine gun is quick-change, equipped with a flame arrester and a folding carrying handle. Barrels are produced in three main sizes - a standard length of 465 mm, a "landing" length of 349 mm and a "special purpose" length of 406 mm. The bipod is collapsible, located under the barrel on the gas outlet tube.
Depending on the country of manufacture and modification, Minimi may have stocks and forearms. various designs, mounts for optical and night sights, etc. Fire control - using a pistol grip with a trigger, the fire mode is only automatic.
When creating families of small arms, their manufacturers are primarily guided by a certain basic version (most often an assault rifle and its love spell), which is usually known general public. For example, when talking about the Steyr AUG, we first of all remember the assault rifle. And only then we will talk about modifications of the carbine, machine gun or submachine gun. However, we should not forget that many types of weapons, primarily known for their basic options, are also actively used in modifications.
So, the modular rifle complex, known as the "army universal rifle" ("Armee Universal Geweh" or AUG), produced by the Austrian arms company "Steyr-Mannlicher AG" is associated primarily with the well-known assault rifle of the same name. However, other AUG variants should not be forgotten, such as the Steyr AUG H-Bar light machine gun. As the name of the machine gun itself clearly implies, this weapon is equipped with a long heavy barrel (more than 100 mm longer than the basic assault rifle). The AUG H-Bar light machine gun is designed to be used as a fire support weapon for a rifle infantry squad. It should be noted that the Steyr AUG H-Bar light machine gun is fundamentally no different from the Steyr AUG assault rifle and can be easily modified into it by replacing the long barrel with a standard one (508 mm long). In addition to the barrel, the main differences of the AUG Heavy-Barreled Automatic Rifle are an elongated magazine with a capacity of 42 rounds (the capacity of the rifle magazine is 30 rounds) and the presence of a folding bipod. This weapon is produced by Steyr-Mannlicher AG as an independent sample, and as one of the Steyr AUG assault rifle modules.
As for the principles of automation, the general layout and principles of operation of the Steyr AUG H-Bar machine gun, they are absolutely identical to the principles of the Steyr AUG assault rifle. At the moment, two versions of this light machine gun are being produced: the Steyr AUG H-Bar directly and the Steyr AUG H-Bar / T. The first of the options is equipped with a handle for carrying weapons with a built-in optical sight (close to the Steyr AUG A1 handle). In the AUG H-Bar/T variant, the machine gun is equipped with a special rail (bridge) designed to mount various night and/or optical sights. For special needs, both versions of the light machine gun can be converted to fire from the rear sear. In this case, a new USM assembly (trigger mechanism) is mounted in the weapon butt module. In addition, the bolt frame module is equipped with a new handle. However, it does not affect the main characteristics of the weapon of firing from the rear sear.
The Steyr AUG H-Bar light machine gun fully possesses all the advantages (but also disadvantages) of the bullpup system and, like the Steyr AUG assault rifle, is one of the most interesting examples of modern small arms.
The HK MG-43 light machine gun has been developed by the famous German company Heckler-Koch since the second half of the 1990s, and its prototype was first shown to the general public in 2001. The new machine gun has become a direct competitor to such a popular model as the Belgian FNMinimi / M249 SAW, and is designed for the same role - a light and mobile fire support weapon of the infantry squad level. This machine gun in 2003 was adopted by the Bundeswehr (Army of Germany) under the designation MG4, and in 2007 the first export contract was signed with Spain. In the German army, the MG4 will gradually replace the heavier but more powerful 7.62mm NATO single machine gun MG3 used as a light machine gun.
Like the HK G36 rifle of the same company, the HK MG4 machine gun marks the transition from Heckler-Koch systems based on roller-braked semi blowback automation to gas-operated automatic systems.
The HK MG4 machine gun is a belt-fed automatic weapon with gas-operated automatics and an air-cooled barrel. The gas piston is located under the barrel and is rigidly connected to the bolt carrier, on which the rotary bolt is located. On the upper part of the shutter frame there is a roller that drives the tape feed mechanism. The barrel of the machine gun is quick-change, equipped with a flame arrester and a folding handle for carrying and changing the barrel. The machine gun is powered by a standard loose belt, which is fed from the left side of the weapon. A special box can be attached to the machine gun, containing a tape for 100 or 200 rounds. Ejection of empty links of the tape - to the right, spent cartridges - down. The HK MG4 machine gun can only fire automatically, the ambidextrous safety is located above the pistol grip. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter. The charging handle is located on the right. The machine gun has a plastic butt folding to the left, a light plastic forearm and a folding bipod mounted on a gas outlet unit. In addition, it provides mounts for installation on equipment or an infantry machine. Sights include a front sight on a folding base and an adjustable quick-release rear sight mounted on a Picatinny-type rail on the receiver cover. The rear sight is graduated from 100 to 1000 meters, instead of it (or together with it) it is possible to install various day and night sights with standard mounts.
Due to the obsolescence of the 7.62mm NATO 7.62mm NATO MG 3 machine guns in service with the Bundeswehr (German army) (the production of which in Germany has long been discontinued) in 2009, the well-known German company Heckler-Koch (HecklerundKoch) introduced its new experimental single machine gun HK 121 under cartridge 7.62x51 NATO. This machine gun was developed on the basis of the 5.56mm HK 43 / MG 4 light machine gun, and in 2013 was adopted by the Bundeswehr and received the official index MG5
The HK 121 / MG5 machine gun uses gas automatics, a gas piston with a long stroke is located under the barrel. The design includes a manual gas regulator. The barrel is locked by a rotary bolt with two lugs. The barrel of the air-cooled machine gun, quick-change, is equipped with a flash suppressor and a folding handle for carrying and changing the barrel. The HK121 machine gun fires from an open bolt, with automatic fire only.
The machine gun is powered by a loose metal tape with an open link, which is fed from the left side of the weapon. On the left side of the receiver, a round plastic cartridge box from MG3 can be flushed to the machine gun, holding a tape for 50 rounds, or the tape can be fed from separate boxes with a capacity of 200 rounds.
The NK 121 / MG5 machine gun has a left-folding plastic buttstock and a folding bipod mounted on a gas unit. Under the gas piston tube there is a plastic folding handle (for hand-held shooting), which, when folded, forms a small fore-end. In addition, the machine gun has standard mounts for installation on vehicles or infantry machines from MG 3. Sights include a front sight on a folding base and an adjustable quick-release rear sight mounted on a Picatinny-type rail on the receiver cover. Various day and night optical sights can also be mounted on the same rail.
Light (light) machine gun "7.62mm KvKK 62" ('Kevyt KoneKivaari', Finnish for "light machine gun") has been developed by Valmet since the late 1950s to replace the obsolete Lahti-Salorant LS-26 machine gun. The first prototypes of the KvKK 62 machine guns appeared in 1960, in 1962 it was adopted by the Finnish Army (Finnish Self-Defense Forces, SSF), deliveries to the troops began in 1966. KvKK 62 is still in service with the FSF, and was also delivered to Qatar. Currently, there are plans in Finland to partially replace the KvKK 62 with single PKM machine guns purchased in Russia, as providing greater firepower and reliability.
KvKK 62 is built on the basis of automation with a gas engine. Fire is fired from an open bolt, locking is carried out by tilting the bolt up, behind the receiver cover. The receiver is milled from steel, the return spring is located in a hollow metal butt. Food is supplied from canvas round bags (with a metal frame) adjacent to the machine gun on the right. Each bag holds a metal belt for 100 rounds. Extraction of spent cartridges - down, the window for ejection of cartridges is located under the tape receiver.
In general, KvKK 62 has a rather clumsy appearance, largely due to a primitive pistol grip without a trigger guard and a metal butt to which a long ramrod is attached to the outside on the right. The machine gun has a side-folding carrying handle located in front of the tape receiver, and a folding bipod under the barrel, as well as mounts on the bottom of the receiver for installation on vehicles. It should be noted that the lack of a trigger guard (it is replaced by a vertical bar in front of the trigger) is due to the need to ensure shooting in winter, when soldiers wear thick gloves or mittens.
Of the advantages of the machine gun (according to user reviews), it should be noted the high accuracy of firing bursts, low recoil, interchangeability of ammunition with standard Finnish machine guns, and a high rate of fire. The disadvantages are, first of all, the increased (compared to machine guns) sensitivity to contamination and moisture ingress into the weapon, and the lack of a quick-change barrel, which does not allow more or less continuous automatic fire. In addition, KvKK 62 is somewhat heavy for its combat characteristics.
Light machine gun L86A1 - SA-80 Light Support Weapon (UK)
The L86А1 light machine gun was developed in the UK as component the SA-80 program, which included the IW assault rifle and the LSW light machine gun, built on a single "platform" with maximum unification in terms of components. Initially, development was carried out under an experimental English cartridge of 4.85x49mm caliber, after the Belgian version of the SS109 5.56x45mm cartridge was adopted as a NATO standard in the late 1970s, further developments were carried out under it. The machine gun was ready by 1989, and began to enter service under the designation L86A1. Need to say. that the machine gun inherited all the problems and troubles of the L85A1 assault rifle, including low reliability, inconvenience in handling, and so on in the same vein. Due to the low reliability, this "machine gun" could actually be used more as an ersatz sniper rifle, thanks to the long heavy barrel and good optical sight. Even with reliability issues, the lack of a quick-change barrel and low magazine capacity severely limited the L86A1's ability as a support weapon. And if the problems of the L85A1 rifle were solved by a major upgrade to the L85A2 configuration, then the machine guns, produced in much smaller quantities, were not modified. Instead, the British armed forces are purchasing FN Minimi machine guns, which will take on the role of squad-level fire support weapons. The L86A1 weapon will also remain in service with the troops for the time being to ensure aimed firing with single shots and short bursts at ranges inaccessible to the L85A2 assault rifles and Minimi machine guns, which have a shorter barrel.
Multi-barreled machine gun M134 / GAU-2 / A 'Minigun' (Minigun) (USA)
The development of a 7.62mm multi-barreled machine gun was started by the American company General Electric in 1960. These works were based on the 20mm M61 Vulcan 6-barreled aircraft gun (M61 Vulcan), created by the same company for the US Air Force based on the Gatling gun multi-barrel gun system. The first experimental six-barreled 7.62mm machine guns appeared in 1962, and already in 1964, such machine guns were installed on the AC-47 aircraft for firing perpendicular to the aircraft's course (from the windows and doors of the fuselage) at ground targets (North Vietnamese infantry). Upon the successful use of new machine guns, called 'Minigun' (Minigan), General Electric launched their mass production. These machine guns were adopted under the M134 (US Army) and GAU-2 / A (US Navy and Air Force) indices. By 1971, the US military had more than 10 thousand Miniguns, most of which were installed on helicopters operating in Vietnam. A number of Miniguns were also installed on small river boats of the US Navy, operating in Vietnam, including in the interests of special forces.
Thanks to high density fire, Miniguns proved to be an excellent means of suppressing lightly armed North Vietnamese infantry, but the need for electrical power and a very high consumption of cartridges limited their use mainly to vehicles. Some time after the end of the Vietnam War, the production of Miniguns was practically curtailed, however, since the early 1990s, the involvement of the United States in a number of conflicts in the Middle East led to the fact that the production of modernized versions of the machine gun, which received the M134D index, was deployed under license from the American company Dillon Aero . New machine guns are mounted on helicopters, ships (on light boats for special forces support as a means of fire support, large ships as a means of protection against enemy speedboats and boats), as well as on jeeps (as a means of fire suppression to combat ambushes, etc. .).
It is interesting that the photos of Miniguns on infantry tripods in most cases are not related to military service. The fact is that in the United States, in principle, the possession of automatic weapons is allowed, and a number of citizens and private companies own a certain number of Miniguns produced before 1986. These machine guns can be seen at shootings periodically organized for everyone, such as the Knob Creek machine gun shot.
As for the possibility of shooting from the M134 in Hollywood style - i.e. from the hands, then here (even distracting from the mass of weapons and ammunition to it) it is enough to remember that the recoil force of the M134D Minigun machine gun at a rate of fire of “only” 3,000 rounds per minute (50 rounds per second) averages 68 kg , with a peak recoil force of up to 135 kg.
The M134 ‘Minigun’ multi-barrel machine gun (Minigun) uses automation with an external drive mechanism from a DC electric motor. As a rule, the engine is powered from the carrier's on-board network with a voltage of 24-28 Volts with a current consumption of about 60 Amperes (M134D machine gun with a rate of fire of 3000 rounds per minute; power consumption of the order of 1.5 kW). Through a system of gears, the engine rotates a block of 6 barrels. The firing cycle is divided into several separate operations carried out simultaneously on different barrels of the block. The cartridge is fed into the barrel, as a rule, at the upper point of rotation of the block, by the time the barrel comes to the lowest position, the cartridge is already fully loaded into the barrel and the bolt is locked, and a shot is fired in the lower position of the barrel. When the barrel moves up in a circle, the spent cartridge case is removed and ejected. The locking of the barrel is carried out by turning the combat larva of the shutter, the movement of the shutters is controlled by a closed curved groove on the inner surface of the machine gun casing, along which the rollers placed on each shutter move.
Based on the German experience in the creation and use of single machine guns, accumulated during the Second World War, immediately after its end, the US Army began searching for its own version of a single machine gun. The first experiments were carried out under cartridge 30-06, but soon the army switched to the new T65 cartridge, under which an experienced single machine gun T161 was created, based on German developments (FG42 rifle and MG42 machine gun). In 1957, a modified version of the T161E2 was adopted by the US Army and Navy under the designation M60. At first glance, it was a very promising and powerful weapon, but in an effort to create a machine gun suitable for the role of a manual one, its creators overly lightened the design and made a number of engineering miscalculations. As a result, the machine gun turned out to be not very reliable, periodically self-disassembled from vibration during firing, allowed incorrect assembly of the gas outlet assembly, and had a tendency to spontaneous firing when parts were worn or broken. Due to the placement of bipods on the barrel, changing a hot barrel became quite inconvenient. In short, the machine gun was unsuccessful, which did not prevent it from becoming the main weapon in support of the American infantry during the Vietnam War and a number of subsequent, smaller operations. In addition to the United States, M60 machine guns were supplied to El Salvador, Thailand and a number of countries that received American military assistance. It must be said that a number of shortcomings of the M60 machine gun were soon corrected in the M60E1 variant, however, for unknown reasons, this variant was not launched into the series. But on the basis of the M60, options were created for arming armored vehicles and helicopters.
The LW50MG light heavy machine gun, developed by General Dynamics Corporation, is a development of the American XM-307ACSW / XM-312 program, in recent times experiencing financial difficulties. In fact, the LW50MG machine gun has become a simplified and cheaper version of the XM-312 machine gun, having lost the ability to change the caliber, feed direction of the tape and having simplified sights. This machine gun is currently being tested by the US Army, and current plans are for it to enter service in 2011. According to the same plans, LW50MG light machine guns will have to complement the significantly heavier Browning M2HB machine guns of the same caliber in the mobile units of the US Armed Forces: airborne, mountain troops and special forces.
A distinctive feature of the new machine gun, in addition to its low weight, American testers call the very high accuracy of shooting, which makes it possible to effectively hit relatively small targets at ranges up to 2,000 meters. Thanks to this, the new machine gun can become, among other things, an effective means of combating enemy snipers or individual shooters hiding behind more or less light obstacles.
The LW50MG heavy machine gun is a belt-fed automatic weapon with an air-cooled barrel. The barrel of the machine gun is quick-change. Automation works according to the gas outlet scheme, the barrel is locked by turning the shutter. In this case, the barrel, with a bolt box and a gas outlet assembly mounted on it, can move inside the machine gun body, forming a movable automation group. The movement of the movable group is limited by a special damper and return spring. The feed is carried out using a standard loose metal tape with any cartridges of 12.7x99mm caliber, the feed of the tape is only from left to right.
In 1982, the US Armed Forces adopted the new M249 light machine gun (FNMinimi), but in view of the “childish problems” inherent in all new systems, the introduction of M249 SAW machine guns into the troops did not go too smoothly. As a result, in 1986, ARES offered the military a new Stoner 86 light machine gun (Eugene Stoner worked closely with ARES at that time). This machine gun was a direct development of the old Stoner 63 system in the direction of simplifying and reducing the number of possible configuration options (to two - a machine gun with belt or magazine feed), as well as increasing reliability. The machine gun turned out to be quite successful, but neither the US military nor foreign buyers showed much interest in it. Continued problems with the 5.56 mm M249 SAW machine guns in the late eighties and early nineties prompted Stoner to further simplify the design of his Stoner 86 machine gun, and he, already working for KnightsArmament, created a new machine gun, known as the Stoner 96. This 5.56 caliber machine gun mm had only tape power and, due to the competent calculation of automation, provided a small peak return, which, in particular, increased the efficiency of firing a machine gun from hand, including on the move. Knights Armament has released a small series (about 50 units) of Stoner 96 machine guns, and is still trying to push them into service both in the United States and in other countries, however, so far without visible success.
The ARES Stoner 86 light machine gun uses gas-operated automatics with a gas piston located under the barrel with a long stroke. Air cooled barrel, quick change. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter, only with automatic fire. Barrel locking - rotary bolt. Cartridges are fed from standard loose metal tapes with an M27 link, alternatively the receiver cover with a tape feed mechanism can be replaced with a cover with a box magazine receiver (compatible with the M16 assault rifle). Since the sights are located along the longitudinal axis of the weapon, the magazine receiver is not directed vertically upwards, but at an angle to the left. The ARESStoner86 machine gun is equipped with a fixed tubular stock and a folding bipod under the gas cylinder.
The Stoner 96 / Knights LMG light machine gun is structurally a simplified version of the Stoner 86 machine gun. It excludes the possibility of magazine feeding, increased reliability and survivability of mechanisms. To increase the maneuverability of the weapon and reduce its mass, the machine gun barrel was shortened, and a sliding buttstock from the M4 carbine was installed. Picatinnyrail type guides are made on the receiver and on the forearm. Instead of conventional bipods, a vertical GripPod handle with built-in small retractable bipods is placed on the lower rail of the forearm, which ensures a stable hold of the machine gun both when shooting from hand and when firing from a stop.
The 12.7mm QJZ-89 / Type 89 heavy machine gun was developed in the late 1980s as the most lightweight infantry support weapon, allowing for high weapon mobility (including self-carrying) combined with the ability to attack ground and air targets at the level of heavier analogues of the same caliber. Currently, the 12.7mm QJZ-89 heavy machine gun is entering service with individual units and divisions of the PLA. It should be noted that this machine gun is one of the lightest in its class, being noticeably lighter than the Russian Kord machine gun and practically the same weight as the latest experimental American LW50MG machine gun of 12.7x99 caliber.
The 12.7mm QJZ-89 heavy machine gun uses mixed-type automation: to unlock the rotary bolt, a gas vent mechanism is used with direct exhaust of gases from the bore to the bolt through a gas tube under the barrel, and the recoil energy of the moving block (barrel and receiver) inside is used to drive the automation. body of the weapon. With a short rollback of the movable block, its energy is transferred to the bolt carrier through the accelerator lever. such a scheme can significantly reduce the peak recoil force affecting the installation, due to the "stretching" of the recoil action of the shot over time. The machine gun is equipped with a quick-change air-cooled barrel. The cartridges are fed from a metal tape with an open link, while the machine gun can use both standard 12.7x108 caliber cartridges and cartridges developed in China with armor-piercing sub-caliber bullets. The machine gun controls include a pistol grip with a trigger and a stock with a shock absorber buffer. The machine gun is mounted on a special lightweight tripod that allows firing at both ground and air targets. Most often, the machine gun is equipped with an optical sight, although conventional sights are also provided.
In 2008, the well-known military-industrial corporation Rheinmetall decided to return to the small arms market, and began developing a heavy machine gun (chambered for 12.7x99 NATO) with an external drive of mechanisms (from a built-in electric motor). This machine gun, created under the specific requirements of the Bundeswehr, is intended primarily for installation on armored vehicles and helicopters, including remotely controlled turrets. The main features of this system, which received the factory designation RMG 50, are a small weight (25 kg versus 38 kg for an M2NV veteran of the same caliber), an adjustable rate of fire, a built-in shot counter, and a dual cartridge supply system. In addition, to defeat individual point targets, the machine gun has a so-called "sniper" firing mode, in which fire is fired with single shots from a closed bolt. In normal mode, automatic fire is conducted from an open shutter. Another feature of this machine gun, which its creators rely on, is the especially durable design of the barrel and locking assembly, which allows it to use not only any standard 12.7x99 NATO cartridges, but also reinforced ammunition of the same caliber specially developed by Rheinmetall. It is assumed that such "reinforced" cartridges will be able to accelerate a standard 42-gram bullet to 1100 m / s or a heavier 50-gram bullet to 1000 m / s. At the time of writing these words (autumn 2011), it is planned to withdraw the RMG 50 machine gun for serial production and military trials by the German army in 2013-14.
The heavy machine gun Rheinmetall RMG 50 uses an externally powered electric motor located in the rear of the receiver to drive the weapon mechanisms. The shutter is connected to the electric motor by a crank mechanism. Shooting can be carried out both from an open bolt (automatic fire) and from a closed bolt (single shots). Air cooled barrel, quick change. The supply of cartridges is double, switchable (on both sides of the receiver), using mechanisms driven by the main electric motor of the machine gun. The supply of cartridges is linkless, that is, the cartridges are fed from the boxes into the machine gun without the help of a belt, using special conveyors, the spent cartridges are returned back to the boxes to the place of the spent cartridges. Thanks to the electronic control of the electric drives of the machine gun, it is possible to smoothly adjust the rate of fire up to 600 rounds per minute, as well as modes of firing bursts of limited length with a cut-off for any desired number of shots (2, 3, 5, etc.) and a given rate in the queue. The machine gun in the basic version does not have any of its own sights and fire controls, as it is supposed to be used only from special installations or turrets.
The newest 7.62-mm infantry machine gun "Pecheneg-SP" (GRAU index - 6P69), created on the topic "Warrior" by FSUE "TsNIITOCHMASH", was first presented at the Rosoboronexpo-2014 exhibition in Zhukovsky in August 2014.
The Pecheneg-SP machine gun, unlike the base Pecheneg (6P41 index), has an additional short barrel with a PMS (quiet firing device), which provides increased fighter mobility when performing special operations in urban conditions.
Additionally, "Pecheneg-SP" received an ergonomic tactical fire control handle, which serves for the convenience of holding the machine gun when firing while standing, and a stock that can be folded and adjusted in length. Also, the machine gun has a removable bipod, which can be installed both in the muzzle of the barrel (like the 6P41) and on the gas chamber (like the PKM). On the cover of the receiver there is a Picatinny rail for mounting optical and night sights.
To reduce clanging when moving with a machine gun, the entire inner surface of the box for the machine gun belt was covered with plastic. The aiming bar of the mechanical sight is marked up to 800 meters.
At the international presentation of weapons "Army-2016", held in September 2016, the RPK-16 machine gun, the brainchild of domestic gunsmiths, was demonstrated. It will be discussed in this article.
New domestic machine gun Kalashnikov
The RPK-16 was created with the aim of potentially replacing the RPK-74 machine gun both in the conventional arms of Russia and among special forces.
Without deviating from the traditional layout of the device models or automatic) Kalashnikov, the designers implemented all the developments obtained during the creation of the same automatic gas exhaust system with a long piston stroke, a lockable bolt, firing from a closed bolt.
Mounting of an additional body kit is provided for. Drawing an analogy with the latest innovations in domestic weapons, it should be noted that the RPK-16 is presented with an interchangeable barrel. It is possible to install a short barrel for firing at a short distance or in a confined space, as well as a long one for fighting in open areas. The kit also includes a quick-detachable silencer for special operations.
The RPK-16 machine gun is capable of using any AK-74M or RPK-74 magazines. Also specially designed for this model is a drum magazine for 96 rounds.
Machine gun-rifle
In the conditions of warfare in our time, it is always necessary to have weapons at hand that can adapt as much as possible to the conditions in which the battle takes place. This was the goal pursued by the Kalashnikov concern, creating a new RPK-16 machine gun.
Creating a weapon that combines a machine gun and an assault rifle is far from the first attempt. Suffice it to recall the Israeli Galil assault rifle, the development of Israel Galili based on the Kalashnikov assault rifle. An attempt to combine these types of weapons was not successful.
Another thing is the Singapore model Ultimax 100, created by a team of engineers by James Sullivan. This model is still in demand today. It is for this reason that the concern was given the task of creating such weapons, which will not only be in demand as weapons for military units or special forces, but will also be exported.
Advantages and disadvantages
The appearance of the new weapon allows us to conclude that the product is intended for combat in urban environments. Power is supplied by cartridges mm. It is believed that the National Guard of Russia and the special services will be interested in the new product.
- Due to its light weight, the RPK-16 with an interchangeable barrel is easy to use. The drum magazine allows you to forget about frequent reloading.
- There is no need to collect ammunition, because the classic common caliber of the AK cartridge is used.
- The light machine gun RPK-16 has a low recoil coefficient, which increases the accuracy and accuracy of fire.
Of the negative aspects of the new weapon, only the assumptions of a number of skeptics regarding whether this weapon will justify itself. If the already proven "Pecheneg" was created in order to maintain control over the territory, then the new RPK-16 was created more for lightning attacks.
However, a capacious magazine for 96 rounds and the possibility of installing an elongated barrel make it clear that the possibility of using it for the same purpose as the mentioned "Pecheneg" is still present.
Ultimax 100 vs RPK-16
The machine gun, performance characteristics and other information about which have been kept secret for a long time are of interest to many. But at the moment there are no official sources that allow us to draw conclusions about the existing characteristics of the new weapon.
However, if we assume that the concern's intentions include the goal of pushing the Ultimax 100 out of the world market, then we should consider the characteristics of these weapons in order to get an idea of what the RPK-16 is in the first place - a machine gun.
The characteristics of the Ultimax 100 reveal that the machine gun was designed to be powered by 5.56 caliber, has a length of 1024 millimeters from the beginning of the butt to the end of the barrel. At the same time, the muzzle itself is 508 mm long.
4 kilograms and 900 grams is the weight of the gun without cartridges. Accordingly, the rate of fire varies from 400 to 600 rounds per minute. With a magazine capacity of only 100 bullets, you won’t shoot much. Sighting range covers 800 meters. The characteristics of the most common model Mk 3, which has been mass-produced since the second half of the 1980s, are presented.
Compared to an ancestor
Speaking about the new Kalashnikov RPK-16 light machine gun, we should also mention its predecessors.
The RPK model was put into service in 1961 to replace the obsolete Degtyarev RPD-44 machine gun. The novelty was almost a third lighter than its predecessor and has proven itself in the ranks of Soviet motorized riflemen, paratroopers and marines.
Models with a folding buttstock were also developed, called RPKS, later, after modernization, it became possible to mount optical sights of the NSPUM and NSPU brands of domestic production.
The appearance of the PKK was a landmark event in the field of the domestic defense industry, because the Soviet military was the first in the world to receive an automatic machine gun and a machine gun of similar designs.
The RPK-16 machine gun inherited the best qualities inherent in the manufacturer of this weapon line: high strength, reliability and a very long service life.
TTX RPK
Due to the analogy of the structure of a machine gun and an assault rifle, there is no need to search for the necessary spare parts.
For 15 years, the PKK remained the leader in the armament of the Soviet army.
PKK in other countries of the world
In addition, the PKK is in service in about 19 countries around the world to this day. In 1964, the machine under the code Model K was adopted by the troops. In terms of its functions and appearance, this is the same domestic RPK.
Yugoslavia, Romania and Vietnam to this day produce exact copies of the RPK or slightly modernized versions of the domestic machine gun.
The appearance of RPK-74
With the development of domestic weapons and the emergence of a new cartridge for the AK-74 assault rifle, the next step was the creation of a machine gun, which would be powered by a new caliber.
So the RPK-74 was born. This model suffered the same fate - a folding version of the RPKS-74 appeared and variations with optical sights RPKN-74 and RPKSN-74.
It was mentioned above that the new Russian machine gun RPK-16 should come to replace the RPK-74. For a better understanding, you should consider the performance of the predecessor machine gun.
Obvious flaws
With the spread of the RPK-74, the question of the advantages and disadvantages of the new model began to develop widely.
The 45-round magazine has a not very convenient design in terms of both use and transportation in military uniforms. Foreign analogues at that time already had a much more convenient tape-box ammunition supply. Because of this, I had to use stores from AK-74, designed for 30 rounds.
Another drawback is common to all world machine guns developed on the basis of a machine gun or an assault rifle - this is a non-removable barrel. The muzzle of a machine gun subject to wear begins to have a negative effect on the rate of fire over time.
These shortcomings identified long ago formed the basis of the task of creating a new RPK-16 5.45 mm. These omissions should have been avoided.
Advantages
These include the most obvious advantages based on the identity of the machine gun and machine gun from the same manufacturer. This is the undoubted presence of interchangeable nodes and elements.
An innovation in the design of the RPK-74 was a chrome-plated barrel with a thick wall, which allows for the most intense shelling, and folding bipods were also installed on the machine gun for firing while lying down or from cover.
Compared to the RPK, the stock was reinforced many times over. The new Russian light machine gun RPK-16 incorporates all the best from its predecessor.
Tape or store?
Returning to the world arms market, one should pay special attention to the fact that simultaneously with the advent of the PKK in the 70s, there was an increasing interest in weapons with replaceable power. And here you can’t go past the Belgian FN Minimi machine gun, which proved to be excellent at that time.
The power system "Minimi" consists of a small-caliber NATO cartridge. It is worth noting that the developers abandoned the idea of bringing the machine gun model into line with the range of assault rifles produced by the same company. That is, FN Minimi was created from scratch and has a unique design.
What this is fraught with, what risks associated with the search for the necessary parts (if necessary, replacement), the designers went, can be assumed without going into a detailed study of the design documentation. The risk paid off.
The main feature of Minimi is replaceable food. The choice between tape feed and magazine feed is the subject of long-standing discussions among weapon designers around the world. More than a dozen children and more than a dozen people worked on this issue. And every time one of the parties prevailed in the discussion, while the other remained in its own opinion and on its own path of development. As a result, various models of weapons were created with various types ammunition. That is, machine guns and assault rifles (with magazine type separately), belt machine guns.
On the one hand, the belt links weigh extremely little, loaded with cartridges - they fit comfortably into machine gun boxes of any shape, which allows you to carry a significant amount of ammunition. On the other hand, the details of the tape are easily subject to corrosion, which, once in the cartridge chambering system in a machine gun, can lead to a misfire or completely disable the weapon. Not to mention the fact that with such a system for supplying cartridges, dirt, dust and sand can also get into the chamber, which will definitely lead to a stop in the operation of the weapon, if not immediately, but after a certain time.
Stores make this task much easier. It implies the use of an assault rifle magazine, which is very convenient, but this way of feeding is bad for the amount of ammunition and transportation, which does not go well with the carrying weight.
Loose, designed for 200 rounds, is placed in a plastic box. The ribbon supply compartment is located on the left side of the product. In this case, the box with cartridges is attached from below. This functionality was implemented on the Soviet RPD long before the appearance of the FN Minimi.
If the tape ends, and the other was not at hand, the use of an assault rifle magazine with the same cartridges is provided. It is this principle that has incorporated the new RPK-16.
Gun Conclusion
If we take into account all the listed samples that the designers intend to surpass when creating the RPK-16 weapon, and also remember that in addition to this machine gun, the Turner assault machine gun is also being developed as part of the Soldier of the Future equipment called Ratnik, the brainchild of the domestic arms industry should make a splash in the world market.
Progress does not stand still, the need to create advanced types of weapons that meet modern realities of warfare and objective global integration processes requires constant improvement of both the economic and defense industries. The products of the Kalashnikov concern are known all over the world. Samples of the famous machine gun are still in service in many states.
What will be the new Kalashnikov RPK-16 light machine gun, how it will prove itself, will be known very soon.
In the second half of the forties, the Soviet army mastered several types of small arms under the intermediate cartridge 7.62x39 mm. With a difference of several years, the RPD light machine gun, the SKS carbine and the AK assault rifle were adopted. This weapon made it possible to significantly increase the firepower of motorized rifle units and thereby increase their combat potential. However, the development of small arms continued, resulting in several new models. The Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD) was replaced by the Kalashnikov light machine gun (RPK).
The development and use of weapons under one cartridge made it possible to significantly simplify the supply of ammunition to the troops. In the early fifties, a proposal appeared to continue the unification of existing systems, this time through the creation of weapon families. In 1953, the Main Artillery Directorate developed tactical and technical requirements for a new family of small arms chambered for 7.62x39 mm. The military wanted to receive a complex consisting of a new machine gun and a light machine gun. Both samples were supposed to have the most similar design using common ideas and details. The terms of reference implied that the new “lightweight” machine gun in the near future would replace the existing AKs in the troops, and the machine gun unified with it would become a replacement for the existing RPDs.
Several leading gunsmiths took part in the competition for the creation of a new shooting complex. Your options promising weapons suggested V.V. Degtyarev, G.S. Garanin, G.A. Korobov, A.S. Konstantinov and M.T. Kalashnikov. The latter submitted two models of weapons to the competition, which were subsequently adopted under the names AKM and RPK. The first tests of the proposed weapons took place in 1956.
Testing and refinement of the proposed machine guns and machine guns continued until 1959. The result of the first stage of the competition was the victory of the Kalashnikov design. In 1959, the AKM assault rifle was adopted by the Soviet army, which to a certain extent predetermined the choice of a new light machine gun. The Kalashnikov machine gun itself was put into service two years later. During this time, the designer improved its design and, while maintaining the necessary degree of unification, brought the characteristics to the required level.
At the request of the customer, the new light machine gun had to repeat the design of the machine being developed simultaneously with it as much as possible. As a result of the RPK designed by M.T. The Kalashnikov was similar in many of its features to the AKM assault rifle. Naturally, the design of the machine gun provided for some differences related to its intended use.
The RPK machine gun was built on the basis of gas automatics with a long piston stroke. This scheme has already been worked out in the AK project and passed to AKM and RPK without significant changes. In terms of the general layout of components and assemblies, the new machine gun also did not differ from the existing and future machine guns.
The main part of the RPK machine gun was a rectangular receiver. To access the internal units, a removable cover with a latch in the back was provided. A barrel and a gas tube were attached to the front of the receiver. The experience of using RPDs and other similar weapons showed that a new light machine gun could do without a replaceable barrel. The fact is that a heavy barrel with relatively thick walls did not have time to overheat even during the use of the entire wearable ammunition load. To increase firepower in comparison with the basic machine gun, the RPK machine gun received a barrel 590 mm long (415 mm for AKM).
Directly above the barrel was a gas tube with a piston. The middle part of the receiver was assigned to the shutter and magazine mounts, the back - to the trigger mechanism. characteristic feature RPK machine gun has become an updated receiver. It almost did not differ from the corresponding part of the machine, but had a reinforced design. The box and lid were stamped from a steel sheet, which simplified production in comparison with the milled units of AK assault rifles.
All details of automation without changes were borrowed from the base machine. The main element of the gas engine was a piston rigidly connected to the bolt carrier. The barrel was locked before firing by turning the bolt. When moving forward, while sending the cartridge into the chamber, the bolt interacted with the figured groove on the bolt carrier and rotated around its axis. In the extreme forward position, it was fixed with the help of two lugs, which were included in the corresponding grooves of the receiver liner. The bolt carrier with its rear part was in contact with a return spring located directly under the receiver cover. To simplify the design, the bolt handle was part of the bolt carrier.
The requirements for the resource of the barrel and various parts of automation led to the need to use chrome plating. The coating received the bore, the inner surface of the chamber, the piston and the bolt rod. Thus, protection was received by parts in direct contact with powder gases that can cause corrosion and destruction.
At the rear of the receiver was a trigger-type trigger mechanism. In order to preserve the maximum possible number of common parts, the RPK machine gun received a USM with the ability to fire single and in automatic mode. The flag of the fuse-translator of fire was located on the right surface of the receiver. In the raised position, the flag blocked the trigger and other trigger parts, and also did not allow the bolt carrier to move. Due to the continuity of the design, the shot was fired from the front sear, with a sent cartridge and a locked barrel. Despite the fears, the thick barrel and firing mostly in short bursts did not allow spontaneous firing due to overheating of the cartridge case.
For ammunition, the RPK machine gun had to use several types of magazines. The unification of the design with the AKM assault rifle made it possible to use the existing 30-round sector magazines, but the need to increase the firepower of the weapon led to the emergence of new systems. Kalashnikov light machine guns were equipped with two types of magazines. The first is a two-row sector for 40 rounds, which was a direct development of an automatic magazine. The second store had a drum design and could hold 75 rounds.
Inside the body of the drum magazine, a spiral guide was provided, along which the cartridges were located. In addition, when equipping such a store, the machine gunner had to cock the spring mechanism for feeding cartridges. Under the action of a cocked spring, a special pusher led the cartridges along the guide and pushed them to the neck of the magazine. A characteristic feature of the drum mechanism was certain difficulties with its equipment. This process was more complicated and took more time than working with a sector store.
For aiming, the shooter had to use a front sight mounted above the muzzle of the barrel and an open sight on the front of the receiver. The sight had a scale with divisions from 1 to 10, which made it possible to fire at a distance of up to 1000 m. It also provided for the possibility of making lateral corrections. By the time the new machine gun was adopted, the production of a device for firing at night had been mastered. It consisted of an additional rear sight and a front sight with self-luminous dots. These parts were installed on top of the base sights, and if necessary, could recline, allowing the use of the existing rear sight and front sight.
The ease of use of the RPK machine gun was ensured by the presence of several wooden and metal parts. To hold the weapon, a wooden forend and a pistol grip should have been used. In addition, a wooden butt was attached to the receiver. The form of the latter was partially borrowed from the RPD machine gun that was available in the troops. When firing prone or with the bipod resting on any object, the machine gunner could hold the weapon with his free hand by the thin neck of the butt, which had a positive effect on the accuracy and accuracy of fire. Behind the front sight mounts on the barrel were bipod mounts. AT transport position they folded and placed along the trunk. In the unfolded position, the bipods were held by a special spring.
Light machine gun designed by M.T. Kalashnikov turned out to be noticeably larger and heavier than a unified machine gun. The total length of the weapon reached 1040 mm. The weight of the weapon without a magazine was 4.8 kg. For comparison, an AKM assault rifle without a bayonet-knife had a length of 880 mm and weighed (with an empty metal magazine) 3.1 kg. The metal magazine for 40 rounds weighed about 200 g. The weight of the drum magazine reached 900 g. It should be noted that the RPK with ammunition was noticeably lighter than its predecessor. The RPK with an equipped drum magazine weighed about 6.8-7 kg, while the RPD with a tape without cartridges pulled 7.4 kg. All this increased the mobility of the fighter on the battlefield, although it could affect some of the combat characteristics of the weapon.
Well-developed automation, borrowed from the existing model, made it possible to achieve a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. The practical rate of fire was less and depended on the operating mode of the trigger. When firing single shots per minute, it was possible to make no more than 40-50 shots, with automatic fire - up to 150.
With the help of a barrel of increased length, it was possible to bring the initial velocity of the bullet to 745 m / s. The aiming range was 1000 m. The effective range of fire against ground targets was less - 800 m. From a distance of 500 m it was possible to conduct effective fire at flying targets. Thus, most of the combat qualities of the RPK machine gun remained at the level of the RPD available in the troops. At the same time, there was a significant gain in weight and unification of the design with the machine gun. The requirements for the normal combat of RPK and RPD machine guns were the same. When firing from 100 m, at least 6 out of 8 bullets had to hit a circle with a diameter of 20 cm. The deviation of the midpoint of impact from the aiming point could not exceed 5 cm.
RPKS machine gun
Simultaneously with the RPK light machine gun, its folding version of the RPKS was developed, designed for airborne troops. Its only difference from the basic design was the folding stock. To reduce the length of the weapon to 820 mm, the butt was folded to the left and fixed in this position. The use of a hinge and some related parts led to an increase in the weight of the weapon by about 300 g.
Later, a "night" modification of the machine gun appeared. The RPKN product differed from basic version the presence of a mount on the left side of the receiver, on which any suitable night sight could be mounted. The NSP-2, NSP-3, NSPU and NSPUM sights could be used with the RPK machine gun. As sighting devices developed, the target detection range increased, although even the most advanced night sights did not allow firing at the maximum possible distance.
The Kalashnikov light machine gun was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1961. Serial production of new weapons was launched at the Molot plant (Vyatskiye Polyany). Machine guns were massively supplied to the troops, where they gradually replaced the existing RPDs. Light machine guns of the new model were a means of strengthening motorized rifle squads and, from the point of view of a tactical niche, were a direct replacement for existing RPDs. It took several years to completely replace obsolete weapons.
Having provided its own army with new weapons, the defense industry began to export them. Approximately in the mid-sixties, the first batches of RPK machine guns went to foreign customers. Soviet-made machine guns were supplied to more than two dozen friendly countries. In many countries, such weapons are still used and are the main light machine gun in the troops.
Some foreign countries have mastered the licensed production of Soviet machine guns, and have also developed their own weapons based on purchased RPKs. So, in Romania, the Puşcă Mitralieră model 1964 machine gun was produced, and Yugoslavia, since the beginning of the seventies, has been collecting and using Zastava M72 products. Yugoslav specialists further modernized their development and created the M72B1 machine gun. In 1978, the Yugoslavs sold the license for the production of the M72 to Iraq. There, this weapon was produced in several versions. There is information about their own modernization projects.
Iraqi military with RPK machine guns. Photo En.wikipedia.org
Back in the sixties, Vietnam became the most important customer for RPK machine guns. The Soviet Union supplied at least several thousand units of such weapons to friendly troops participating in the war. The establishment of relations between the USSR and many developing countries in Asia and Africa, among other things, led to the use of PKK machine guns in many armed conflicts on several continents. This weapon was actively used in Vietnam, Afghanistan, in all the Yugoslav wars, as well as many other conflicts, up to civil war in Syria.
In the early seventies, Soviet gunsmiths developed a new intermediate cartridge 5.45x39 mm. The military decided to make it the main ammunition for small arms, for which several new machine guns and machine guns were developed. In 1974, the AK-74 assault rifle and the RPK-74 light machine gun designed by M.T. Kalashnikov, using a new cartridge. The transfer of the army to the new ammunition affected the further fate of the existing weapons. Outdated AK assault rifles and RPK machine guns were gradually replaced with new weapons and sent to storage, disposal or export. However, the replacement of old weapons continued for a long time, which affected the terms of its operation.
The Kalashnikov RPK light machine gun has become an important milestone in the history of the development of modern domestic small arms. With the help of this machine gun, a serious issue of unification of various rifle systems was resolved. Through the use of general ideas and some unified units, the authors of the project managed to significantly simplify and reduce the cost of the production of weapons while maintaining characteristics at the level of the existing RPD. This was the main advantage of the new machine gun.
Posters for the operation of RPK machine guns. Photo Russianguns.ru
However, the RPK machine gun was not without flaws. First of all, it is necessary to note the decrease in ready-to-use ammunition. The RPD machine gun was completed with a tape for 100 rounds. The RPK included a sector magazine for 40 rounds and a drum magazine for 75 rounds. Thus, without replacing the magazine, the shooter could fire at least 25 fewer shots. At the same time, however, it took less time to replace the magazine than to refill a new tape.
Another drawback of the RPK machine gun was associated with the automation used. Most machine guns fire from an open bolt: before firing, the bolt is in its rearmost position, which, among other things, improves barrel cooling. In the case of the RPK, the cartridge was sent into the chamber before the trigger was pressed, and not after, as in the case of other machine guns. This feature of the weapon, despite the heavy barrel, limited the intensity of fire and did not allow firing in long bursts.
RPK machine guns were actively used by the Soviet army for several decades. Some armies still use this weapon today. Despite its considerable age, this weapon still suits the military of many countries. You can argue for a long time about the pros and cons of the Kalashnikov light machine gun, but the half-century history of operation speaks for itself.
The idea of unifying the automatic small arms of a platoon and squad on the basis of one system in the USSR was worked out back in the 20s under the leadership of Fedorov, and after the adoption of an intermediate cartridge of the 1943 model of the 7.62 mm caliber, they took a clear direction to select and develop a basic sample for further unification . As a result, the Kalashnikov assault rifle became such after its modernization. In the 56th year, several light machine guns and “light” machine guns were tested - the Kalashnikov (Izhevsk), Konstantinov (Kovrov), Korobov (Tula) systems were presented at the competition, and the power of the Korobov machine gun was tape. In the 59th year, the AKM assault rifle was adopted by the USSR Army, and in the 61st - the RPK light machine gun (product index 6P2, "Kalashnikov light machine gun"), created on its basis.
The RPK is practically similar in design to an assault rifle, their components and parts are mostly interchangeable. The main differences are an elongated heavy barrel, a folding bipod and a regular larger capacity magazine. The barrel, whose length is 590 millimeters, made it possible to increase the effective firing range to 800 meters. Increasing the capacity of the store and increasing the thickness of the walls of the barrel allows for more intense fire. When firing from the stop, the bipod improved accuracy.
In automation, a scheme for the removal of powder gases through a side hole made in the barrel wall is implemented. By turning the bolt, the barrel bore is locked, while a pair of bolt lugs enter the grooves of the receiver. The gas piston and rod with the bolt carrier are rigidly connected. The bolt carrier is the leading link of automation: the frame sets the direction of movement of the moving parts, most of the shock loads are perceived, the return spring is placed in its longitudinal channel. The reloading handle and the bolt frame are made in one piece and located on the right. During the shot, powder gases move into gas chamber, the bolt carrier and the gas piston begin to move backward. After the frame moves to the required distance, the exhaust gases exit into the atmosphere through the holes that have opened in the gas tube. The bolt frame travels a certain distance before the pressure drops, after which the bevel, burnt out on its inner surface, presses on the bolt protrusion with its edge and turns it. When the shutter is unlocked, a preliminary rotation and “stretching” (displacement) of the sleeve located in the chamber occurs. This reduces the adhesion of the case to the walls of the chamber, and also prevents it from breaking during subsequent extraction. After disengaging the bolt and receiver, the spent cartridge case is removed by a spring-loaded ejector. The bolt with the bolt carrier begins to move backward, cocking the hammer and compressing the return spring. The cartridge case, after hitting the hard reflector of the receiver, flies out through the receiver window to the right. Having reached the rear extreme point, the bolt and bolt frame move forward under the action of a return spring, the next cartridge is captured by the bolt and sent to the chamber. The bolt frame stops moving, and the bolt continues to move forward under the action of inertia, turning along the bevel of the frame, locking the bore. The relatively large weight of the bolt carrier with a relatively light bolt, as well as the “posted” position in the receiver of moving parts with relatively large gaps, made it possible to ensure the operation of the system even in very dusty conditions. In addition, the bolt is covered by the bolt carrier, thus providing protection from clogging and impacts. The rear stop of the recoil spring guide rod is a latch of a stamped lightweight receiver cover.
Iraqi soldiers train with PKKs
Hammer hammer mechanism with a trigger rotating on an axis and a U-shaped mainspring, which is made of double twisted wire. The trigger device allows single and continuous fire. A single rotary part is a translator (switch) of fire modes and a double-acting safety lever: being in the safety position, the trigger is locked, the sear of continuous and single fire and prevents the bolt frame from moving backwards, partially blocking the groove between the receiver cover and the receiver. In this case, the bolt can be pulled back to inspect the chamber, but its stroke is not enough to cock the hammer and send the next cartridge into the chamber. All parts of the trigger mechanism and automation are compactly mounted in the receiver, which thus plays the role of the USM body. receiver made by stamping, some parts - by investment casting and powder metallurgy.
The experienced light machine guns had a slightly modified butt of the machine gun, however, for the serial model, the shape of the butt of its predecessor, the RPD machine gun, was taken. When shooting from the stop, the thin neck of the butt makes it possible to cover it with the left hand. The sight has a mechanism for lateral corrections for the movement of the target or for the wind. Firing from the stop made it possible to do without a compensator. The magazine power system, inherited from the machine, forced the development of larger-capacity magazines - a sector box-shaped one with a capacity of 40 rounds and a drum (disk) one with a capacity of 75 rounds. Shops RPK and automatic (capacity 30 rounds) are interchangeable.
Mongolian soldier with PKK
Several types of cartridges can be used for firing: with an ordinary bullet "PS" having a heat-strengthened steel core (bullet weight 7.9 grams, cartridge index 57N231), tracer bullet "T-45" (bullet weight 7.45-7.67 grams , head part dyed in green color), armor-piercing incendiary "BZ" (bullet weight 7.47-7.87 grams, the head part is painted black and has a red belt), incendiary (bullet weight 6.47-6.8 grams, the head part is painted red ). The mass of a cartridge with an ordinary bullet is 16.2 grams, and a charge of gunpowder is 1.8 grams. Fire can be fired from a bipod or from the hands with the butt resting on the shoulder. Shooting from the belt "from the hip" is allowed on the move - it does not give aim, but at a certain point in the battle it can have a psychological effect on the enemy, which explains the preservation of this method from the time of the First World War to the present. Shot from a closed bolt, the risk of spontaneous firing as a result of heating the chamber does not increase if the fire is fired in short bursts.
For the Airborne Forces, they developed a model of the RPKS with a butt folding to the left of the same shape as the RPK. The folding butt in the combat position is fixed with a special latch. As a result, the RPKS was 0.3 kg heavier than the RPK. For light machine guns RPK and RPKS, modifications of the RPKN and RPKSN, respectively, were created, which were adapted for the installation of a night sight. RPK and RPKS machine guns became the support of the airborne (motorized rifle) squad. In some conflicts, the RPKN equipped with an optical sight was used as an "ersatz" sniper rifle - this became possible due to the fact that the light machine gun inherited the single-fire mode from the base machine gun.
The wide unification of parts and assemblies with the AKM already mastered in production greatly simplified the production of the RPK light machine gun, as well as its study in the army (especially since the Kalashnikov assault rifle system is one of the easiest to learn and learn). Ease of repair, disassembly and maintenance is also important. Sophistication, technological and constructive refinement, a kind of elegance and comparative simplicity of the scheme with the widespread use of the principle of multifunctionality of parts led to high reliability in any conditions. Vyatskopolyansky machine-building plant "Molot" became the main manufacturer of the PKK.
Designers K.T. Kurenkov and N.F. Makarov, on the basis of the RPK, developed a “crooked” tank machine gun with a bullet trajectory deviation of 90 °, but it was not accepted, although later they tried to use these machine guns in caponier installations. During the landslide conversion, the Molot plant produced the Vepr hunting carbine based on the RPK light machine gun - after several years of refinement, this unique example of transferring machine guns to the “hunting” area gave an excellent result.
The RPK light machine gun was adopted by the armies of more than 20 countries. In some countries, its variants or copies are produced. For example, in Yugoslavia light machine guns of the “Kalashnikov system” 72V1 were produced chambered for 7.62x39, which was distinguished by the introduction of fins on part of the barrel length and 72AV1 having a metal butt. The export modification of the 77V1 machine gun under the NATO cartridge 7.62x51 was equipped with a box magazine of a different shape and a carrying handle. Together with the 80 and 80A submachine guns, within the family of weapons under 5.56x45 (M193), a model 82 light machine gun was produced with a permanent stock and 82A folding, both models had a carrying handle. In turn, Yugoslav machine guns were delivered to some countries - for example, the M72B1 got into Iraq. Chinese copies of the Type 73 and 81 retained the general layout of the RPK light machine gun, however, they have a number of differences. In Finland, the M78 Valmet light machine gun was produced.
Technical characteristics of the RPK light machine gun:
Cartridge - 7.62x39;
Machine gun weight without magazine 4.8 kg;
The mass of a machine gun with an equipped magazine for 40 (45) rounds - 5.6 kg;
The mass of a machine gun with an equipped magazine for 75 rounds is 6.8 kg;
Machine gun length - 1040 mm;
Barrel length - 590 mm;
The number of grooves - 4;
Rifling pitch - 240 mm;
The initial speed of the bullet - 745 m / s;
Muzzle energy - 2192 J;
Rate of fire - 600 rounds per minute;
Combat rate of fire - 150 rounds per minute;
Sighting range - 1000 m;
The range of a direct shot at the chest figure is 365 m;
Range of a direct shot at a growth figure - 540 m;
Bullet lethal range - 1500 m;
The maximum range of a bullet is 3000 m;
Magazine capacity - 40.75 rounds.
