Degtyarev light machine gun
Encyclopedia : D : DE : DEG : Degtyarev light machine gun
The Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyareva pekhotnyi (Degtyarev hand-held infantry machine gun) was a light machine gun used by the Soviet Union starting in 1928. It fired the 7.62 x 54 mm R cartridge. The DP was a good weapon on the battlefield for the most part: it had great stopping power and had a decently fast rate of fire. It was also cheap and easy to manufacture - early models had fewer than 80 parts and could be built by unskilled labour. The DP was especially able to withstand dirt. Humourously, it was said to fire better if sand were thrown on it. In tests it was buried in sand and mud and was still capable of firing more than 500 rounds. The DP's main drawback was its bipod; this part could not withstand much abuse and easily broke. Also, the magazine, which was usually a pan with 47 rounds that fed in from the top, was relatively small and continuous fire for long periods could not be relied on as much as could be with other weapons of the time, such as the belt-fed Browning .30-cal. It took some time to load a new pan magazine onto the weapon, and each magazine took a much longer time to load with ammunition. However, the DP's inherent lower rate of continuous fire meant a reduced risk of the barrel overheating. The DP machine gun was replaced in Soviet service by the general purpose PK machine gun in the 1960s.
Variants:
- DPM, modernized version adopted in 1943-44
- DA, for mounting in aircraft (Дегтярёва авиационный, Degtyaryova Aviatsionny; ДА)
- DT and DTM, for mounting in AFVs (Дегтярёва танковый, Degtyaryova Tankovy; ДТ and ДТМ)
- RP-46, belt fed version adopted in 1946 (manufactured in China as the Type 58)
In Popular Culture
- The Degtyarev light machine gun was used in the Russian Campaign in the game : Call of Duty: Finest Hour.
External links
- [Korean War Photo-Documentary]
- [The Battles of the Winter War]
- [Modern Firearms - Degtyarev DP DPM RP-46]
See also
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.