Since October 1925, at the direction of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, employees of the Artillery Committee of the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army began work on the creation of 12-20 mm machine guns. To the attention of the People's Commissar K. E. Voroshilov was presented with several different options for rifle units. A special place in the history of small arms is given to the product of the designer V. A. Degtyarev, which is listed in the technical documentation as a DK machine gun. Information about the design of this weapon, its device and technical characteristics is presented in this article.
Introduction
The DK machine gun (Degtyarev large-caliber) is a rifle unit that uses 12.7 x 108 mm ammunition. It has been in service with the Red Army since 1932. Adapted for use on military ships and armored vehicles BA-9.
About the history of creation
In order to reduce the mass of weapons, the designers were asked to use the German Dreyse light machine gun, for which magazine ammunition is provided, as a basis. DevelopedSoviet rifle unit based on 12.7 mm Vickers cartridge.
Design work was carried out in two directions. In Tula, under the guidance of weapons designer I. A. Pastukhov created the linear machine gun P-5. The test of this model took place in 1928. The characteristics of the weapon did not satisfy the People's Commissar and the designers were given the task of increasing the machine gun's rate of fire.
A machine gun of the Degtyarev system was created at the Kovrov plant No. 2 in the design bureau. This model was intended for the destruction of ground-based mobile armored targets. In 1929 the first draft was ready. Rigid clips were intended for ammunition, as in the Hotchkiss machine gun. The locking mechanism practically did not differ from the Degtyarev machine gun (DP), which was adopted at that time.
1929 was the year of the appearance of a new, more powerful cartridge with an armor-piercing projectile. It was created specifically for small arms with magazine ammunition. Today the ammunition is known as 12.7 x 108 mm.
In 1930, two experimental machine guns designed according to the Degtyarev scheme were already ready. For them, ammunition was provided from a disk store - developed by A. S. Kladova. The capacity was 30 rounds. Due to the fact that the 12.7 x 108 mm cartridge had not yet been approved by that time, it was planned that the DK machine gun would fire British 12.7 x 81SR or French 13.2 x 99 mm.
About testing large-caliber weapons
In 1931, large-caliber weapons were testedDreyse system and a modified DK-32 machine gun with a G. S. Shpagin receiver. Ammunition in this model of Degtyarev's design was carried out from a cloth tape. 1932 was the year of the official adoption of the DK-32 machine gun by the Red Army.
About production
According to experts, serial production of large-caliber Degtyarev machine guns was not established. In total, the Soviet defense industry produced one batch of 12 rifle units. They were used to test various machine tools and ammunition schemes.
By 1934, several more DKs were made, adapted for firing with a welt cartridge. This ammunition was used in the new ShVAK aircraft machine gun, which could not function with the more promising Degtyarev wafer cartridges.
Device
The DK machine gun had a fairly good rate of fire. High speed made it possible to use special buffer devices in the butt pads of these rifle units. Their task was to prevent the frame from bouncing to the extreme forward position immediately after the impact. Due to the presence of a spring buffer in the design, the operational life of weapon spare parts was significantly extended. In order to reduce recoil and improve accuracy, a powerful muzzle brake was installed on the machine gun barrel, and a retractable shock absorber was installed on the machine gun.
Specially for this large-caliber rifle unit, designer I. N. Kolesnikov designed a wheel-tripod machine, on which DK is enoughcould effectively hit both ground and air targets.
The ammunition system remained problematic. However, designer Georgy Shpagin soon proposed a tape receiver for a drum-type mechanism. As a result, the cartridges were fed using metal one-piece tapes. Each section was equipped with 50 ammo.
About performance characteristics
- The DK-32 machine gun works by removing powder gases.
- The total length of the weapon is 156 cm, the barrel is 110 cm.
- Shooting is carried out with a cartridge of 12.7 x 108 mm.
- Up to 450 projectiles can be fired from the DC within one minute.
- Drum-type ammunition supply. Clip capacity is 30 rounds.
- The effective range for ground targets does not exceed 3500 m, for air targets - 2400 m.
- The projectile moves towards the target at a speed of 860 m/s.
In conclusion
Large-caliber machine guns designed by Degtyarev were used in the Soviet-Finnish war and in the Great Patriotic War. Also, this weapon was used during the Spanish Civil War and in the Polish campaign of the Red Army.
At the end of the 1930s, the DK-32 was upgraded. The innovation consisted in the use of an attached tape ammunition supply module - the development of the Soviet engineer I. Leshchinsky. Thanks to the universal wheeled tripod machine-carriage, the maneuverability of this heavy machine gun has significantly increased.
