The DShK machine gun: history of creation and design features

The DShK machine gun entered the workers 'and peasants'The Red Army back in February 1939, but, despite the seven decades since then, it is still present among the regular heavy weapons in many armies. In this article, we will briefly outline the history and design features of this outstanding example of Russian design thought.

The machine gun DShK. A photo. History of creation

Large-caliber machine guns - the offspring of the Firstworld war. Initially, they were faced with the tasks of combating the then weak armored tanks, aviation and infantry in light shelters. It was these opportunities that thirsted to get the command of the Red Army from a new domestic machine gun, issuing a technical assignment for it to designers. The machine gun DShK was born for ten years, we can say, in the throes of creativity. The most sophisticated and powerful domestic cartridge 12.7 x 108 was invented, which, by the way, is still actively used in modern shooting systems. However, Degtyarev was unable to create a large-caliber machine gun acceptable to the army for a long time. The main drawback of the DC (Degtyarev large-caliber) model of 1930 was a drum shop for thirty cartridges and a low rate of fire, which did not allow the machine gun to be effectively used as an antiaircraft gun. Only attraction to participate in the development of another outstanding designer, GS Shpagin, allowed to solve the problem. The Degtyarev machinegun was equipped with a barrel-type drum cartridge for taping Shpagin's design, resulting in a very good fire rate of 600 rounds per minute, tape feed, and the now-known "DSM machine gun." Since 1939, he entered the combatant units and has since participated and participated in all the armed conflicts of the world. It is currently in service with forty armies. Issued by China, Iran, Pakistan and some other countries.

Large-caliber machine gun DShK: design and modifications

Automatics of the machine gun works on a commonprinciple of diversion of expanding powder gases. The gas outlet chamber is located under the barrel. Locking occurs with the help of two combat larvae, which cling to the recesses carved into the opposite walls of the receiver. The DShK machine gun can only fire automatically, the barrel has a non-removable, cooling air. The tape with cartridges is fed from the left side to the drum, which has six open chamber. The latter, rotating, feeds the tape and simultaneously removes cartridges from it. In 1946, the design made changes that affected the steel grades used, the production technology and the cartridge feeder. The "drum" was abandoned and a simpler slide mechanism was used, which allowed the use of new cartridge belts, and it was easier and more technologically on both sides. The advanced machine gun was called DShKM.

Conclusion

In the world there are only two trulyknown machine gun caliber 12 mm. This machine gun DShK and Browning M2 machine gun, and the domestic machine gun due to a more powerful cartridge and a heavy bullet is superior to the American analog. Until now, the fire of DShK is considered highly effective and terrifies the enemy.