Heavy machine guns dshk and dshkm. Heavy machine gun dshk History of creation and production

It is difficult to overestimate the role of machine guns in the development of military affairs - cutting off millions of lives, they forever changed the face of war. But even experts did not immediately appreciate them, at first considering them as special weapon with a very narrow range of combat missions - so, on turn of XIX- In the 20th century, machine guns were considered just one of the types of fortress artillery. However, already during the Russo-Japanese War, automatic fire proved its highest efficiency, and during the First World War, machine guns became one of the most essential funds fire destruction of the enemy in close combat, were installed on tanks, combat aircraft and ships. Automatic weapons made a real revolution in military affairs: heavy machine-gun fire literally swept away the advancing troops, becoming one of the main causes of the “positional crisis”, radically changing not only tactical methods of warfare, but also the entire military strategy.

This book is the most complete and detailed encyclopedia of machine gun armament of Russian, Soviet and Russian army with late XIX and before early XXI century, both domestic models and foreign - purchased and captured. Author, leading historian small arms, not only leads detailed descriptions devices and work of easel, manual, unified, large-caliber, tank and aviation machine guns, but also talks about them combat use in all the wars that our country waged throughout the turbulent twentieth century.

DShKM is in service with more than 40 armies of the world. In addition to the USSR, it was produced in Czechoslovakia (DSK vz.54), Romania, China ("Type 54" and modernized "Type 59"), Pakistan (Chinese version), Iran, Iraq, Thailand. However, the bulkiness of the DShKM was also embarrassing for the Chinese, and to partially replace it, they created Type 77 and Type 85 machine guns chambered for the same cartridge. In Czechoslovakia, on the basis of the DShKM, a quad was produced anti-aircraft gun M53, also exported - for example, to Cuba.

12.7 mm machine gun Type 59 - Chinese copy of DShKM - in position for anti-aircraft fire

DShKM Soviet, and more often Chinese-made, fought in Afghanistan and on the side of the dushmans. Major General A.A. Lyakhovsky recalled that dushmans “used large-caliber machine guns, anti-aircraft mountain installations (ZGU), anti-aircraft guns small caliber "Oerlikon", and since 1981 - portable anti-aircraft missile systems and Chinese-made DShK. 12.7-mm machine guns turned out to be dangerous opponents of the Soviet Mi-8 and Su-25, and were also used to fire at convoys and roadblocks from a long distance. In the report of the Head of the GUBP ground forces dated September 22, 1984, among the weapons seized from the rebels, it was indicated: DShK for May - September 1983 - 98, for May - September 1984 - 146. The troops of the Afghan government from January 1 to June 15, 1987, for example, destroyed 4 ZGU, 56 DShK rebels, captured 10 ZGU, 39 DShK, 33 other machine guns, losing 14 own ZGU, 4 DShK, 15 other machine guns. Soviet troops during the same period, they destroyed 438 DShK and ZGU, captured 142 DShK and ZGU, 3 million 800 thousand pieces of ammunition for them; divisions special purpose destroyed 23 DShK and 74,300 units of ammunition for them, captured - respectively 28 and 295,807 units.

Homemade installation of a DShKM machine gun on a Mitsubishi pickup truck. Cote d "Ivoire. Africa

Despite repeated attempts to replace them, the Soviet DShKM and the American M2NV Browning have been sharing the championship among themselves for half a century in the family of large-caliber machine guns (actually not numerous) and are most widely distributed in the world - in a number of countries they are used together. At the same time, the DShKM, being larger and heavier than the M2NV, noticeably surpasses it in the power of fire.

Incomplete order dismantling DShKM

Disconnect the guide tube from the barrel, to do this, pull it to the muzzle and turn it to the left until the stop of the tube comes out of the groove on the barrel.

Remove the butt plate pin and, striking with a hammer, separate the butt plate down, holding it with your hand.

Separate the trigger mechanism by sliding it back.

Pull back the mobile system by the reloading handle and remove them together with the guide tube, supporting the latter.

Separate the bolt with the striker from the bolt carrier and the lugs from the bolt.

Knock out the ejector axle, reflector and striker pins, then separate the named parts from the shutter.

Knock out the axle of the frame coupling and separate the bolt carrier from the return mechanism.

Put the return mechanism vertically and, pressing on the guide tube, knock out the front axle of the clutch, then slowly release the tube and separate it and the return spring from the rod.

Unpin and unscrew the receiver axle nut, push the latter out of the receiver socket and remove the feed mechanism.

Unpin and unscrew the wedge nut of the barrel, push the wedge to the left and separate the barrel from receiver.

Reassemble in reverse order.

PERFORMANCE AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS DShK (MOD. 1938)

Cartridge - 12.7x108 DShK.

Weight vtelai machine gun without tape - 33.4 kg.

The mass of a machine gun with a belt on the machine (without a shield) is 148 kg.

The length of the "body" of the machine gun is 1626 mm.

Barrel length - 1070 mm.

Barrel weight - 11.2 kg.

The number of grooves - 8.

Type of rifling - right-handed, rectangular.

The length of the rifled part of the barrel - 890 mm.

The mass of the mobile system is 3.9 kg.

The initial speed of the bullet is 850–870 m / s.

muzzle energy bullets - 18,785 - 19,679 J.

Rate of fire - 550–600 rds / min.

Combat rate of fire - 80 - 125 rds / min.

Sighting line length - 1110 mm.

Sighting range- 3500 m.

Effective firing range - 1800–2000 m.

Firing zone in height - 1800 m.

The thickness of the pierced armor is 15–16 mm at a distance of 500 m.

The power system is a metal tape for 50 rounds.

The weight of the box with tape and cartridges is 11.0 kg.

Machine type - universal wheel-tripod.

Pointing angles: horizontally - ± 60 / 360 ° hail.

vertical - ±27/+85°, –10° deg.

Calculation - 3-4 people.

The transition time from traveling to combat for anti-aircraft fire is 0.5 minutes.

On February 26, 1939, by a decree of the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, a 12.7-mm easel machine gun of the 1938 model DShK (“Degtyareva-Shpagin large-caliber”) of the system of V. A. Degtyarev with a drum receiver of the belt of the G. S. system was adopted. Shpagin. The machine gun was adopted on the universal machine of the I.N. Kolesnikov with a detachable wheel drive and a folding tripod. During the years of the Great Patriotic War The DShK machine gun was used to combat air targets, lightly armored vehicles of the enemy, his manpower at long and medium ranges, as armament of tanks and self-propelled guns. At the end of World War II, designers K. I. Sokolov and A. K. Norov carried out a significant modernization of the heavy machine gun. First of all, the power mechanism was changed - the drum receiver was replaced by a slider one. In addition, manufacturability has been improved, the mount of the machine gun barrel has been changed, and a number of measures have been taken to increase survivability. The reliability of the system has been improved. The first 250 modernized machine guns were produced in February 1945 at a factory in Saratov. In 1946, the machine gun was put into service under the designation “12.7 mm machine gun mod. 1938/46, DShKM. The DShKM immediately became a tank anti-aircraft machine gun: it was installed on tanks of the IS, T-54 / 55, T-62 series, on the BTR-50PA, modernized ISU-122 and ISU-152, special vehicles on a tank chassis.
Since the differences are 12.7mm easel machine gun arr. 1938, DShK and modernized machine gun mod. 1938/46 DShKM consists mainly in the device of the feed mechanism, we will consider these machine guns together.
Machine gun automation and operates by removing powder gases through a transverse hole in the barrel wall, with a long stroke gas piston. Gas chamber closed type fixed under the barrel and equipped with a three-hole nozzle regulator. Along the entire length of the barrel, transverse ribbing is made for better cooling; a single-chamber active muzzle brake is mounted on the muzzle of the barrel. The barrel bore is locked when the bolt lugs are pulled apart. The DShK barrel was equipped with an active muzzle brake, which was later replaced by a flat brake of an active type (such a muzzle brake was also used on the DShK, and became the main one for tank modifications).
The leading link of automation is the bolt carrier. A gas piston rod is screwed into the bolt frame in front, and a drummer is attached to the rack in its rear part. When the bolt approaches the breech breech, the bolt stops, and the bolt carrier continues to move forward; The reduction of the lugs and the unlocking of the shutter is carried out by the bevels of the figured seat of the bolt carrier when it moves backward. extraction spent cartridge case provides a bolt ejector, the cartridge case is removed from the weapon down through the bolt frame window, using a spring-loaded rod reflector mounted at the top of the bolt. The reciprocating mainspring is put on the gas piston rod and closed with a tubular casing. In the butt plate there are two spring shock absorbers that soften the impact of the bolt carrier and the bolt at the rearmost point. In addition, shock absorbers give the frame and bolt initial speed return movement, thereby increasing the rate of fire. The reloading handle, located at the bottom right, is rigidly connected to the bolt frame and is small in size. The reloading mechanism of the machine gun mount interacts with the reloading handle, but the machine gunner can directly use the handle, for example, by inserting a cartridge into it with the bottom of the cartridge case.
The shot is fired with the shutter open. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire. It is actuated by a trigger lever pivotally mounted on the butt plate of the machine gun. The trigger mechanism is assembled in a separate housing and is equipped with a lever non-automatic fuse that blocks the trigger lever (the front position of the flag) and prevents spontaneous lowering of the sear.
The impact mechanism is powered by a reciprocating mainspring. After locking the bore, the bolt frame continues to move forward, in the extreme forward position it hits the clutch, and the drummer hits the striker mounted in the bolt. The sequence of operations of rearing the lugs and hitting the striker eliminates the possibility of firing if the barrel bore is not completely locked. To prevent the bolt frame from rebounding after being hit in the extreme forward position, a “delay” is mounted in it, including two springs, a yoke and a roller.

DShKM machine gun incomplete disassembly: 1 - barrel with gas chamber, front sight and muzzle brake; 2 - bolt carrier with a gas piston; 3 - shutter; 4 - lugs; 5 - drummer; 6 - wedge; 7 - butt pad with buffer; 8 - trigger housing; 9 - cover and base of the receiver and feed drive lever; 10 - receiver.

Cartridge supply - tape, with the left supply of a metal link tape. The tape consists of open links and fits into a metal box attached to the installation bracket. The visor of the box serves as a feed tray for the tape. The drum receiver DShK was actuated from the handle of the bolt carrier moving backward, it bumped into the fork of the swinging feeder lever and turned it. The pawl at the other end of the lever turned the drum 60°, which pulled the tape. Extraction of the cartridge from the link of the tape - in the lateral direction. In the DShKM machine gun, the slide type receiver is mounted on top of the receiver. The slider with feed fingers is driven by a toggle lever rotating in a horizontal plane. The crank arm, in turn, is driven by a swing arm with a fork at the end. The latter, as in the DShK, is driven by the bolt carrier handle.
By flipping the slider crank, you can change the ribbon feed direction from left to right.
The 12.7-mm cartridge has several options: with an armor-piercing bullet, armor-piercing incendiary, sighting-incendiary, sighting, tracer, armor-piercing incendiary tracer (used against air targets). The sleeve does not have a protruding rim, which made it possible to apply a direct feed of the cartridge from the tape.
For shooting at ground targets, a folding frame sight is used, mounted on a base on top of the receiver. The sight has worm gears for installing the rear sight and introducing lateral corrections, the frame is equipped with 35 divisions (up to 3500 m in 100) and is tilted to the left to compensate for bullet derivation. The pin front sight with a fuse is placed on a high base in the muzzle of the barrel. When firing at ground targets, the dispersion diameter at a distance of 100 m was 200 mm. The DShKM machine gun is equipped with a collimator anti-aircraft sight, which facilitates aiming at a high-speed target and allows you to see the aiming mark and the target with equal clarity. DShKM, which was mounted on tanks as an anti-aircraft gun, was supplied with collimator sight K-10T. Optical system the sight formed at the exit the image of the target and the aiming grid projected onto it with rings for firing with lead and divisions of the goniometer.

12.7 mm heavy machine gun cartridges

Domestic heavy machine gun cartridges originate on October 27, 1925, when the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR proposed to the Artillery Committee Artillery Directorate By May 1, 1927, the Red Army to develop a machine gun of 12–20 mm caliber.

In the design bureau (PKB) of the First Tula Arms Plants (TOZ), under the leadership of I. A. Pastukhov, a machine gun was created based on the 12.7-mm English large-caliber Vickers cartridge, which received the designation "P-5" - "machine gun 5 -linear "(that is - caliber 0.5 inches). The following year, 1928, the head of the Design Bureau of the Kovrov Plant No. 2, V. A. Degtyarev, also received the task of developing on the basis of his light machine gun DP heavy machine gun for anti-tank and air defense under the English 12.7 mm cartridge. The locking in the first model of his machine gun was similar to the design of the DP machine gun, and the power was supplied from a rigid metal cassette similar to the Hotchkiss M.1914 machine gun. The problems that arose with ammunition for heavy machine guns forced Soviet designers to abandon direct copying of English 12.7 mm cartridges and begin work on designing their own cartridges that meet the requirements of the time. Only after the creation of such a cartridge by the specialists of the Cartridge and Pipe Trust in 1930, Degtyarev was able to present two versions of his heavy machine guns to Artkom as soon as possible.

The report of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR of December 1929 stated: “The adopted system infantry weapons The Red Army provides for the introduction of a semi-automatic self-loading rifle in the near future, self-loading pistol, a submachine gun, a heavy machine gun - for combating armored parts and an air enemy, caliber 18-20 m / m with a working rate of fire up to 500-600 shots ... ”In 1930, in the workshop of the Bureau of New Designs and Standardization (as the PKB was renamed) of plant No. 2 collected first prototype heavy machine gun Degtyarev with a flat disk magazine designed by A. S. Kladov with a capacity of 30 rounds. In February 1931, two 12.7-mm machine guns were tested - the “Dreyse system for manufacturing TOZ” and the Degtyarev system. The commission that conducted the tests preferred the Degtyarev large-caliber (DK-32) as lighter and easier to manufacture. The DK was put into service, the production of a small series began at plant No. 2 in Kovrov in 1932, but in 1933 only 12 pieces were assembled, and in 1934 the production of the Degtyarev heavy machine gun was completely suspended.

For the Degtyarev heavy machine gun, a caliber of 12.7 mm was chosen. A new cartridge with an armor-piercing bullet was designed at the Tula Cartridge Plant in 1928-1930. The 12.7-mm large-caliber cartridge consisted of: a bimetallic bottle sleeve 108 mm long without a rim with a groove; charge of smokeless pyroxylin powder brand 4/1 fl and armor-piercing bullet B-30, modeled on the 7.62-mm armor-piercing bullet B-30 mod. 1930 with a steel core and a cylindrical tail. Cartridge weight - 132.2–139.8 g.

A brass bottle wafer sleeve serves to connect all parts of the cartridge, while the method of fastening the bullet is a tight fit and a 2-row segmental crimping of the sleeve neck. The sleeve has: a body inside which a powder charge is placed; slope to stop in the cone of the chamber; the muzzle into which the bullet is inserted; groove for ejector hook and bottom. The bottom of the case housing has: a socket for the primer; an anvil on which the primer breaks with a striker; two seed holes through which the flame from the primer penetrates to the powder. The capsule serves to ignite the charge. It consists of a brass cap with an impact composition pressed into it, covered with foil. Powder charge consists of smokeless powder. When the charge is burned, powder gases are formed, the pressure of which ejects the bullet from the bore and the entire mobile system is activated for the next shot.

Due to the fact that the main task of the DK-32 machine gun, for which this cartridge was developed, was the destruction of lightly armored targets, first of all, cartridges with armor-piercing bullets mod. 1930 and armor-piercing incendiary arr. 1932. In addition, before the Great Patriotic War, under this promising 12.7-mm large-caliber cartridge, aircraft machine guns were also developed by three design teams: V. A. Degtyarev (TsKB-2); Ya. G. Taubina and M. N. Baburina (OKB-16); and M. E. Berezina (TsKB-14), as well as several designs anti-tank rifles, including Sholokhov, Rukavishnikov, Vladimirov and others.

Later, at the end of the 1930s and during the Great Patriotic War, the 12.7 x108 large-caliber cartridge was repeatedly upgraded by creating new bullets:

• T-38 - a tracer bullet with a lead core,
• BS-41 - armor-piercing incendiary bullet,
• BZT-44 - armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet,
• MDZ - instantaneous fragmentation incendiary bullet.

Currently, large-caliber cartridges are mainly used with B-32 armor-piercing incendiary bullets, BZT-44 armor-piercing incendiary tracer and MDZ fragmentation incendiary bullets. Cartridges 12.7x108 are used for firing from heavy machine guns DShK / DShKM; NSV and their variants, as well as UB aircraft machine guns; A-12.7 A; YakB-12.7. The production of 12.7-mm large-caliber cartridges was established at cartridge factories No. 3; 17; 46; 188; 335.

Here, speaking of large-caliber machine-gun cartridges, it should be noted that in general, a bullet in small arms ammunition is called a solid bullet (lead or tompak), or consisting only of a shell and not having an armor-piercing core, i.e. not being special - tracer, armor-piercing, armor-piercing incendiary, sighting, etc. But in relation to heavy machine guns, which do not have (with rare exceptions, mainly in the past) an actual ordinary bullet due to its inappropriateness for such a caliber, armor-piercing bullets (as bullets of the main purpose) armor-piercing, armor-piercing incendiary, armor-piercing incendiary tracer, etc., are called ordinary, having a conventional armor-piercing hardened steel core. Special, in relation to heavy machine guns, are called bullets equipped with a special armor-piercing core made of hard, tungsten-containing alloys.

12.7 mm armor-piercing bullet B-30 mod. 1930 weighing 51.1–51.9 g consisted of a steel clad tompak (bimetallic) shell, a lead jacket and a steel hardened pointed core 52.48–52.88 mm long, 19.4–19.9 mm in diameter and weighing 29.25-30.50 g. The core was made of cold-drawn heat-treated tool steel grade U12 A. The lead jacket was designed to ensure the tightness of the bullet assembly, soften the load on the barrel when the bullet cuts into rifling and protect the bore from excessively intense wear. The length of the bullet with a conical rear was 62.6–63.5 mm. 12.7 mm armor-piercing bullet B-30 mod. 1930 had an initial speed of 830-850 m / s and at a distance of 500 meters it pierced armor up to 16 mm thick. The muzzle energy was 18,000 J.

Large-caliber cartridges with a B-30 bullet were produced with a brass sleeve. The fixation of a 12.7-mm large-caliber cartridge with a non-protruding rim in the chamber was carried out by the slope of the sleeve into the slope of the chamber, which, in turn, increased the requirements for the manufacture of chambers and sleeves.

The tip of the B-30 bullet was painted black. When hitting an armored barrier, the bullet core destroyed the lead jacket and bullet jacket, and then pierced the barrier, hitting the crew of the armored vehicle, as well as its instruments and equipment. Possessing significant armor penetration, the B-30 bullet had at the same time a big drawback, which consisted in its low armor action. The production of this cartridge was established in the early 1930s. With the start of production of large-caliber cartridges with a more universal armor-piercing incendiary bullet B-32, the release of 12.7 mm cartridges with a B-30 bullet was discontinued. During the Great Patriotic War, the DShK heavy machine gun was used as anti-aircraft weapons, and when firing armor-piercing bullets, the B-30 could shoot down an enemy aircraft, which at that time flew quite high - more than 2000 m and from high speed 500 km/h At the same time, cartridges with B-30 armor-piercing bullets for it had limited use and were gradually forced out of circulation by cartridges with more versatile B-32 armor-piercing incendiary bullets, equivalent in armor penetration, but additionally providing an incendiary effect due to the presence of an incendiary composition between the warhead core and shell of the bullet.

In 1933, for the Degtyarev DK-32 heavy machine gun, a new machine-gun cartridge of 12.7 x108 mm caliber was adopted with a brass sleeve and an armor-piercing incendiary bullet B-32 mod. 1932 (GRAU index - 57-BZ-542), designed for firing at enemy manpower and equipment, which had high power and armor penetration. The 12.7 mm armor-piercing incendiary bullet with a steel core B-32 was designed similarly to the 7.62 mm B-32 rifle bullet. She had a bimetallic steel shell clad with tombac; a lead shirt, an armor-piercing core (with a bullet length of 62.6-63.5 mm and a bullet weight of 47.4-49.5 mm), and a pyrotechnic (incendiary) composition located in the head part (with a mass of 1.0 g). The cartridge core for the B-32 bullet weighing 29.25-30.5 g was produced from cold-drawn heat-treated tool steel grades U12 A, U12 XA. Initially, the shell of the bullet was made with one belt, but the increased rate of fire from 12.7-mm aircraft machine guns required an increase in the strength of the connection between the bullet and the cartridge case, the use of double rolling of the wall of the muzzle of the cartridge case into two belts. When firing cartridges with a conventional B-32 armor-piercing bullet, armor penetration along the normal (that is, at an angle of 900) was 20 mm armor steel at a distance of up to 100 meters and 15 mm at a distance of up to 500 meters. The head of the bullet is painted black with a red belt.

There are two types of large-caliber cartridges with a B-32 bullet - “military production” (preserved from the time of the Great Patriotic War) and “new”, post-war ones. The fact is that in order to reduce the mass of the machine gun, the barrel of the NSV-12.7 machine guns was noticeably lighter compared to the DShKM. The designers abandoned the use of radiators - in addition to reducing weight, the barrel has become much more technologically advanced. But this, in turn, affected its survivability - the first batches of barrels "burned out" after 3,000-4,000 shots. In the infantry version, the machine gun had to be equipped with 3 barrels in order to maintain the guaranteed resource of the entire machine gun - 10,000 rounds. As a result, it was decided to use gunpowder with the so-called phlegmatizing additives of the brand 4/1 fl. in the production of cartridges. Until that time, they were used only in artillery. The survivability of the barrel when using new cartridges has grown to acceptable limits - on periodic tests, with a hard firing mode - 50 shots in one burst and 50 - in three bursts of 15-20 shots - the barrel has already withstood about 6,000 shots.

In addition, 12.7 mm large-caliber machine-gun cartridges with a sighting and incendiary bullet PZ (index 57-ZP-542) and with an incendiary bullet ZP (index 57-ZP-532), similar to 7.62 mm rifle cartridges, were adopted by the Red Army. cartridges with similar types of incendiary bullets.

In 1941, the ammunition load of DShK machine guns was supplemented with a new 12.7-mm large-caliber cartridge with a special armor-piercing incendiary bullet BS-41 mod. 1941, designed to fight enemy armored vehicles. It differed from the B-32 in a new shorter length (bullet length - 50.5–51.0 mm, weight 53.6–53.8 mm). The armor-piercing core for the BS-41 bullet was made of a hard-alloy metal-ceramic alloy of the RE-6 brand based on tungsten carbide weighing 37.2–39.0 g. The head of the bullet is painted black, and the body of the bullet is red. The cartridge with the BS-41 bullet was two times superior to the cartridge with the conventional B-32 bullet in terms of armor penetration and provided through penetration of an armor plate 20 mm thick when hit at an angle of 200 at a distance of 750 m. They received certain use in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War .

In 1974, the armor-piercing incendiary bullet BS-41 was modernized by the designer V. M. Bobrov and received the designation BS of the 1974 model (index 7-BZ-1). The 12.7 mm BS armor-piercing incendiary bullet of the 1974 model with a bullet weight of 55 g was equipped with a refractory heavy cermet core. It was designed when it became clear that the armor penetration of the B-32 was no longer enough to deal with modern armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. Bullet BS sample 1974 - ogival shape with a rear cone and girdle consists of: a bimetallic shell; incendiary composition in the head and tail sections; pointed core without a back cone made of hard alloy VK-8 in an aluminum jacket. The BS bullet of the 1974 model penetrates armor 20 mm thick at a distance of 765 m at an encounter angle of 200. The head of the bullet is painted black, the body of the bullet is red.

Initially in DShK machine guns and UB used 12.7 mm cartridges with a tracer bullet T-38 (index 57-T-542), soon replaced by more effective 12.7 mm heavy machine gun cartridges with an armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet BZT (bullet weight 44 , 32–45, 6 g), which were not only intended for adjusting fire and indicating the target, but also for firing at enemy manpower and equipment. The armor-piercing core had to be shortened somewhat (length 31.5 mm), which led to a decrease in penetration. A bullet fired from a distance of 100 m is capable of penetrating a steel sheet 15 mm thick at an encounter angle of 10°. Bullet BZT had White color tracks, and bullets BZT-44 and BZT-44 M - the red color of the track. Tracing range - 1000 m. The head of the bullet is painted in purple with red belt.

Currently, for the 12.7-mm heavy machine gun NSV and its modifications, which are in service with the Russian army, 12.7-mm heavy machine gun cartridges B-32, BZT-44, MDZ and BS are used.

In addition, in the late 1990s, Russia mastered the production of a special sniper cartridge of 12.7 x108 CH caliber with an armor-piercing bullet SPB under the symbol 7 H34. It is designed to defeat manpower equipped with personal armor protection, ground and low-flying equipment when firing from 12.7-mm sniper rifle 6 B7. The sleeve is bimetallic. The weight of the SPB sniper armor-piercing bullet is 59.2 g. at the same time, the accuracy is R100 at least 8.5 cm at a distance of 300 m. The metal box contains 80 pieces of 12.7 mm SPB sniper cartridges, and in a wooden box 2 metal boxes each - 160 SPB cartridges.

DShK cartridges were also used in the 12.7-mm Berezin UB domestic aviation machine guns. But for aviation machine guns, cartridges were produced that had other types of bullets, specially developed taking into account the specifics of their use in aviation weapons.

12.7 mm machine gun cartridge with armor-piercing incendiary bullet BZF-46 mod. 1932 (index 57-B-532) (bullet weight 48 g) were intended for firing at enemy aircraft and balloons from aviation and anti-aircraft machine guns, as well as for adjusting machine-gun fire and indicating the target.

The armor-piercing incendiary bullet BZF-46 had an ogive shape with a rear cone with two belts and consisted of: a bimetallic shell; armor-piercing core weighing 17.3–18.2 g from cold-drawn heat-treated tool steel grades U12 A, U12 XA and increased pyrotechnic incendiary composition based on phosphorus, weighing 1.1–1.3 g, located in the bottom part. The head of the bullet was painted black with a yellow belt.

The 12.7-mm machine gun cartridge with an instantaneous incendiary bullet MDZ (instant action, incendiary) was developed by the specialists of the Design Bureau of Plant No. 3 (Ulyanovsk Machine-Building Plant) and adopted for aircraft machine guns under the designation GRAU - 7-Z-2. The cartridge is designed to destroy low-flying air targets from anti-aircraft machine guns and create fires, so the MDZ bullet was equipped with a mixture of explosives. Bullet MDZ - ogival shape with a rear cone and two belts, consisted of a bimetallic shell with a tompak tip; a bimetallic cup in a lead jacket with a mixture of explosive (PETN) and incendiary (No. 7) compositions; an impact mechanism of non-cocking instantaneous action, having a chopping tube, a bimetallic bushing and a blasting cap. When a bullet hit the barrier, the tip was deformed and pierced with a chopping tube, the fragments of the tip actuated the detonator cap, which initiated the explosion of the charge explosive. The flash achieved by the MZD bullet was visible at a distance of up to 1500 m. Subsequently, 12.7-mm machine-gun cartridges with an MDZ instant incendiary bullet were replaced with similar, but with more powerful bullets: with an MDZ bullet designed by Zabegin "MDZ-Z", with a modernized bullet MDZ "MDZ-M" and an instantaneous bullet "MD" with a fuse brand "V-166". The bullets of the MDZ-46 and MDZ-3 variants differed primarily in the design of the warhead. In the MDZ-46 bullet, the brass bushing simultaneously acted as a ballistic tip, while in the MDZ-3 bullet there was no tip, and the shell covered the body of the detonator cap. Bullet cases MDZ-46 and MDZ-3 differed primarily in the design of the head. In the MDZ-46 bullet, the brass bushing simultaneously served as a ballistic tip, while in the MDZ-3 bullet there was no tip, and the shell covered the body of the detonator cap, which was painted red.

In the period 1959-1964 in the USSR to destroy intelligence balloons of the enemy from the airborne weapons of aircraft and helicopters, a special 12.7-mm cartridge was created with a high-sensitivity incendiary-explosive bullet ZMDBCH of the 1966 model of the year (abbreviated name - FZ-12.7, full - 12.7-mm cartridge with high-explosive incendiary bullet ZMDBCH).

In addition, for 12.7-mm YakB-12.7 aircraft machine guns mounted on Mi-24 combat helicopters, special two-bullet cartridges of increased fire density were developed with bullets - armor-piercing incendiary "1 SL" (9-A-4412) and tracer "1 SLT" (index 9-A-4427). These cartridges are produced by the Novosibirsk plant of low-voltage equipment. Cartridges 1 SL are equipped with two armor-piercing incendiary bullets of reduced weight (31 g) type B-32. Each of the bullets of these cartridges consists of a steel shell, clad with tombac, and two cores: steel and lead. The muzzle of the cartridge case for fixing the first bullet has two belts. To fix the second bullet in the case body, three round punches are formed by punching on three sides, which is external difference two-bullet large-caliber machine-gun cartridge from an ordinary one. Cartridge 1 SLT is also equipped with two bullets: the first is an armor-piercing incendiary type B-32 (weighing 31 g) and the second is an armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet of the BZT type (weighing 27 g), located one after the other. Tracing range - up to 1000 m, tracing time - at least 29 seconds.

In addition, when training in shooting to simulate combat shooting without a bullet, 12.7 mm large-caliber machine-gun blank cartridges (index 7 X1) are used. They have a sleeve closed on top with a textured green cap. In addition, training cartridges are also used for training purposes (index 7 X2).

The 12.7 mm heavy machine gun cartridge is the most widely used in the world, since these cartridges were supplied to many countries (not only the Warsaw Pact, but also third world countries), and also produced under license, for example, in China.

Large-caliber machine gun cartridge 12.7x108 is used in the following types of weapons:

• DShK/DShKM machine guns (USSR);
• aviation machine guns UBT/UBK/UBS (USSR);
• aviation machine gun A-12.7 (USSR);
• ship turret-turret machine-gun installation "Utes-M" (USSR/Russia);
• machine gun NSV "Utes" (USSR/Russia/Kazakhstan);
• NSVT tank machine gun (USSR/Russia/Kazakhstan);
• machine gun 6 P50 "Kord" (Russia);
• sniper rifle KSVK (Russia);
• sniper rifle V-94 (Russia);
• machine gun type 54 (PRC);
• machine gun type 77 (PRC);
• machine gun type 85 (PRC);
• machine gun W85 (PRC);
• sniper rifle "Gepard" (Hungary).

Sergei Monetchikov
Photo by Dmitry Belyakov and from the author's archive
Brother 05-2012

• Articles » Cartridges
• Mercenary 17568 0

12.7 mm Degtyarev-Shpagin DShK heavy machine gun

On February 26, 1939, by a decree of the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, a 12.7-mm easel machine gun of the 1938 model DShK (“Degtyareva-Shpagin large-caliber”) of the system of V. A. Degtyarev with a drum receiver of the belt of the G. S. system was adopted. Shpagin. The machine gun was adopted on the universal machine of the I.N. Kolesnikov with a detachable wheel drive and a folding tripod. During the Great Patriotic War, the DShK machine gun was used to combat air targets, lightly armored vehicles of the enemy, his manpower at long and medium ranges, as armament of tanks and self-propelled guns. At the end of World War II, designers K. I. Sokolov and A. K. Norov carried out a significant modernization of the heavy machine gun. First of all, the power mechanism was changed - the drum receiver was replaced by a slider one. In addition, manufacturability has been improved, the mount of the machine gun barrel has been changed, and a number of measures have been taken to increase survivability. The reliability of the system has been improved. The first 250 modernized machine guns were produced in February 1945 at a factory in Saratov. In 1946, the machine gun was put into service under the designation “12.7 mm machine gun mod. 1938/46, DShKM. The DShKM immediately became a tank anti-aircraft machine gun: it was installed on tanks of the IS, T-54 / 55, T-62 series, on the BTR-50PA, modernized ISU-122 and ISU-152, special vehicles on a tank chassis.
Since the differences between the 12.7 mm machine gun mod. 1938, DShK and modernized machine gun mod. 1938/46 DShKM consists mainly in the device of the feed mechanism, we will consider these machine guns together.
Automatic machine gun and operates due to the removal of powder gases through a transverse hole in the wall of the barrel, with a long stroke of the gas piston. The closed-type gas chamber is fixed under the barrel and is equipped with a three-hole pipe regulator. Along the entire length of the barrel, transverse ribbing is made for better cooling; a single-chamber active muzzle brake is mounted on the muzzle of the barrel. The barrel bore is locked when the bolt lugs are pulled apart. The DShK barrel was equipped with an active muzzle brake, which was later replaced by a flat brake of an active type (such a muzzle brake was also used on the DShK, and became the main one for tank modifications).
The leading link of automation is the bolt carrier. A gas piston rod is screwed into the bolt frame in front, and a drummer is attached to the rack in its rear part. When the bolt approaches the breech breech, the bolt stops, and the bolt carrier continues to move forward; The reduction of the lugs and the unlocking of the shutter is carried out by the bevels of the figured seat of the bolt carrier when it moves backward. Extraction of the spent cartridge case is provided by the bolt ejector, the cartridge case is removed from the weapon downwards, through the bolt frame window, using a spring-loaded rod reflector mounted at the top of the bolt. The reciprocating mainspring is put on the gas piston rod and closed with a tubular casing. In the butt plate there are two spring shock absorbers that soften the impact of the bolt carrier and the bolt at the rearmost point. In addition, shock absorbers give the frame and bolt an initial return speed, thereby increasing the rate of fire. The reloading handle, located at the bottom right, is rigidly connected to the bolt frame and is small in size. The reloading mechanism of the machine gun mount interacts with the reloading handle, but the machine gunner can directly use the handle, for example, by inserting a cartridge into it with the bottom of the cartridge case.
The shot is fired with the shutter open. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire. It is actuated by a trigger lever pivotally mounted on the butt plate of the machine gun. The trigger mechanism is assembled in a separate housing and is equipped with a lever non-automatic fuse that blocks the trigger lever (the front position of the flag) and prevents spontaneous lowering of the sear.
The impact mechanism is powered by a reciprocating mainspring. After locking the bore, the bolt frame continues to move forward, in the extreme forward position it hits the clutch, and the drummer hits the striker mounted in the bolt. The sequence of operations of rearing the lugs and hitting the striker eliminates the possibility of firing if the barrel bore is not completely locked. To prevent the bolt frame from rebounding after being hit in the extreme forward position, a “delay” is mounted in it, including two springs, a yoke and a roller.

DShKM machine gun in incomplete disassembly: 1 - barrel with gas chamber, front sight and muzzle brake; 2 - bolt carrier with a gas piston; 3 - shutter; 4 - lugs; 5 - drummer; 6 - wedge; 7 - butt pad with buffer; 8 - trigger housing; 9 - cover and base of the receiver and feed drive lever; 10 - receiver.

Cartridge supply - tape, with the left supply of a metal link tape. The tape consists of open links and fits into a metal box attached to the installation bracket. The visor of the box serves as a feed tray for the tape. The drum receiver DShK was actuated from the handle of the bolt carrier moving backward, it bumped into the fork of the swinging feeder lever and turned it. The pawl at the other end of the lever turned the drum 60°, which pulled the tape. Extraction of the cartridge from the link of the tape - in the lateral direction. In the DShKM machine gun, the slide type receiver is mounted on top of the receiver. The slider with feed fingers is driven by a toggle lever rotating in a horizontal plane. The crank arm, in turn, is driven by a swing arm with a fork at the end. The latter, as in the DShK, is driven by the bolt carrier handle.
By flipping the slider crank, you can change the ribbon feed direction from left to right.
The 12.7-mm cartridge has several options: with an armor-piercing bullet, armor-piercing incendiary, sighting-incendiary, sighting, tracer, armor-piercing incendiary tracer (used against air targets). The sleeve does not have a protruding rim, which made it possible to apply a direct feed of the cartridge from the tape.
For shooting at ground targets, a folding frame sight is used, mounted on a base on top of the receiver. The sight has worm gears for installing the rear sight and introducing lateral corrections, the frame is equipped with 35 divisions (up to 3500 m in 100) and is tilted to the left to compensate for bullet derivation. The pin front sight with a fuse is placed on a high base in the muzzle of the barrel. When firing at ground targets, the dispersion diameter at a distance of 100 m was 200 mm. The DShKM machine gun is equipped with a collimator anti-aircraft sight, which facilitates aiming at a high-speed target and allows you to see the aiming mark and the target with equal clarity. The DShKM, which was mounted on tanks as an anti-aircraft gun, was equipped with a K-10T collimator sight. The optical system of the sight formed at the output the image of the target and the target reticle projected onto it with rings for firing with lead and divisions of the goniometer.