The invention of the machine gun completely changed the military industry.
On turn of the 19th century and the 20th century, European pacifists more than once came out with a demand for a complete ban on the use of new weapons, which gave an undeniable advantage during the battle. Some models of machine guns are still used in the army arsenal around the world, having established themselves as a standard.
The largest caliber machine gun
Few truly successful models of heavy machine guns have been created throughout history. One of them is the KPVT - a large-caliber Vladimirov tank machine gun with a caliber of 14.5 mm. It is recognized as the largest-caliber serial machine gun. The KPVT fires up to 600 bullets per minute, penetrating 32mm armor from half a kilometer away.KPVT - the largest-caliber machine gun among serial ones
Most large caliber of the existing machine guns, it was recorded in the experimental Belgian model FN BRG-15 - 15.5 mm; this machine gun came close to small-caliber guns. In 1983, Fabrique Nationale presented an experimental prototype, which was subsequently improved. The final version could penetrate 10 mm thick armor at an angle of 30 o from a distance of 1.3 kilometers. However, the model never went into mass production: in 1991, due to financial difficulties, the company froze the project, switching efforts to creating the P90 submachine gun.
The fastest firing machine gun
To find out which machine gun is the fastest, let's first take a trip to the origins of this weapon. 
The very first machine gun
On the creation of weapons that could release a large number of bullets in a short period of time, people began to think about it already in the Middle Ages. The first prototype of a machine gun was created back in 1512 by Spanish inventors: a row of loaded barrels was fixed along the deck, and a trail of gunpowder was poured in front of them. It turned out that the barrels fired almost simultaneously. 
Later, the barrels began to be attached to a rotating shaft, each barrel had its own mechanism and a flint lock - this weapon was called the “Organ” or, as it was known in Russia, a card case.
One of the first machine guns was patented in 1862 by inventor Richard Gatling. This engineer invented a multi-barreled rapid-firing machine gun, which was adopted by the northern army during the American Civil War.
The innovation of the Gatling gun was that the cartridges were fed freely from the bunker. This allowed even an inexperienced shooter to fire at a high rate: at least 400 rounds per minute. However, the barrels of the first Gatling guns had to be manually operated.
Improvement of the Gatling gun continued continuously. By the beginning of the 20th century. it was equipped with an electric drive, thanks to which the rate of fire increased to 3000 rounds per minute. Multi-barrel Gatling guns were gradually replaced by single-barrel machine guns, but were successfully used on ships as air defense systems.
In 1883, American Maxim Hiram announced the creation of the first automatic machine gun. The rate of fire was higher than that of Gatling's invention - 600 rounds per minute, and the cartridges were reloaded automatically. The model has undergone a huge number of modifications and became one of the progenitors of automatic firearms.
The fastest firing multi-barreled machine gun
In 1960, General Electric created an innovative machine gun prototype using a Gatling gun as a basis. The new product consisted of 6 barrels of 7.62 mm caliber, which were driven by an electric motor. Thanks to the unique design of the machine gun belt, it could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute, and was immediately adopted by US armored forces and helicopters. 
The unsurpassed machine gun, which received the army index M134 Minigun (modifications for the navy and air force - GAU-2/A), still retains the lead in rate of fire among serial machine guns. Of course, this is not the most dangerous weapon in the world, but it is definitely one of the fastest.
M134 machine gun in action
The fastest firing single-barreled machine gun
In 1932 entered service Soviet army the innovative single-barrel machine gun ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire) was adopted. The model with a caliber of 7.62 mm was developed specifically for the domestic Air Force, and its design was not based on existing samples, but was created from scratch. The aircraft machine gun was presented in three variations: turret, tail and synchronous. The turret and tail models could fire at speeds of up to 1,800 rounds per minute, while the synchronized model could fire up to 1,650 rounds. 
Five years later, Shpitalny and Komaritsky presented a modification of the UltraShkas, the rate of fire of which reached 3000 rounds per minute, but due to the low reliability of the model after Soviet-Finnish War it was discontinued.
The fastest firing light machine gun
In 1963, American designer Eugene Stoner completed the development of a modular system small arms Stoner 63. Based on his invention, it was created light machine gun Stoner 63A Command, capable of firing up to 1000 rounds per minute. During army tests, the model showed high demands, so it was not adopted for service. Of course, there can be no question of an unambiguous assessment, because every experienced shooter has his own preferences. But the majority of domestic and foreign experts agree that the best heavy machine gun in terms of its technical characteristics is a serial one heavy machine gun"KORD" (Large-caliber weapons of Degtyarevites).Demonstration of the power of the KORD machine gun
In the armed forces, the KORD is called a “sniper machine gun” for its amazing accuracy and mobility, which is unusual for this type of weapon. With a caliber of 12.7 mm, its weight is only 25.5 kilograms (body). Also, “KORD” is highly valued for its ability to fire both from a bipod and from the hands at a speed of up to 750 rounds per minute.
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The first half of the 20th century became a golden period for the aviation industry, which managed to accumulate all the latest achievements of science and technology. It was in the aircraft industry that the most advanced technologies, newly created engines, instruments and weapons were first used, and new materials were tested. Representatives of other industries also followed developments in the aviation industry. In the mid-1930s, one of the many examples of interaction between Soviet aircraft and tank construction was the attempt to install the ShKAS aircraft machine gun on the T-37A amphibious tank. It is worth noting that in Soviet history were successful examples similar interaction. In a very difficult period for the country, when German soldiers stood near Moscow, and the Red Army lost almost all of its tanks, very important played not by the most advanced and very simple light tanks T-60, which was mastered by Soviet industry in a short time. These combat vehicles were armed with a 20-mm TNSh cannon, which was a tank version aircraft gun SHVAK. The gun was initially developed as an aircraft gun; the designers did not plan to install it on ground-based military equipment, but in war conditions they were able to quickly adapt it for installation on light tank. But the first attempts to install aircraft weapons on a tank were made in the Soviet Union even before the start of World War II.
Back in 1930, the USSR designed the country's first machine gun, created specifically for aviation - it was the 7.62-mm ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire). It became the first Soviet rapid-firing synchronous aircraft machine gun. It was mass-produced from 1932 to 1945, when it was replaced by new models. New aviation cartridges of increased reliability with armor-piercing incendiary and armor-piercing bullets were created especially for the ShKAS machine gun. The machine gun was placed on everything soviet planes, which were issued from 1934 to 1941, and were used in all armed conflicts involving the USSR, from the Spanish Civil War to the battles of the Great Patriotic War. The machine gun was produced in wing-mounted, turret-mounted and synchronized versions.
Ball installation ShKAS, RGVA
In the aviation versions of the ShKAS machine gun, the belt was fed from a box for 250 rounds, in later versions - for 750 and 1000 rounds. Some machine guns had specially installed cartridge boxes for 1,500 rounds. In the T-37A tank, the machine gun was powered from a box with 750 rounds of ammunition. In addition, the body of the combat vehicle contained a supply of 2000 rounds of ammunition. The total ammunition capacity of the machine gun was 2,750 rounds in belts of 250 pieces, which were located inside the tank as follows: three belts were placed in a box that directly fed the machine gun. And 2000 cartridges - in boxes of 250 cartridges, which were inserted into a special grid holder with slots for 7 boxes. Another box of cartridges lay separately. The cartridges were fed from the box using a flexible metal sleeve, which was similar to those used in aviation. This device made it possible to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the machine gun when firing at any aiming angle in both the vertical and horizontal planes.
The main difference between the ShKAS tank machine gun and the aviation one was that, at the request of GABTU specialists, it was transferred to a fabric belt instead of a loose metal belt. This was explained quite simply: it was easier to fill the fabric tape with cartridges, and there was no need to collect the links that had scattered after firing into a special container. In addition, there was a risk that loose belt links could accidentally end up in moving parts inside the tank, jamming them. To switch to a fabric belt, the receiver and the supply of cartridges in the machine gun were changed.
Based on the results of the tests, the experiment with installing the ShKAS machine gun in the turret of the T-37A amphibious tank was considered unsuccessful. stood out whole line reasons: small vertical aiming angles of the machine gun, low reliability of the fabric tape, which was sensitive to moisture, swelled and then tore, causing distortions at such a high rate of fire. Working to eliminate these problems took a lot of time from the commander of the combat vehicle. But even without problems with the belt, the ShKAS machine gun turned out to be too complex and inconvenient for the small and cramped turret of the T-37A tank. The military also considered the machine gun’s too high rate of fire to be a disadvantage. The entire ammunition could be shot in literally 5 minutes of battle, even taking into account the time to replace the boxes. It was also noted that the ShKAS required special, more reliable cartridges, which Soviet industry could not provide in sufficient quantities to both aviation and tank units.
Aiming the machine gun vertically.
One thing is certain: installing a ShKAS machine gun with a rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute on an amphibious tank could have a strong moral impact on the enemy. The famous single German machine gun MG-42 had a rate of fire of 1200-1500 rounds per minute, depending on the bolt. It was a terrible weapon that all opponents of Hitler's Germany had to face, and it was not for nothing that it earned such nicknames as Hitler's lawn mower and circular saw. Soviet aviation ShKAS In terms of rate of fire, it was superior to him. 1800 rounds per minute is 30 rounds per second. At the same time, the human eye perceives the image as smooth and continuous already at a frequency of 18 Hz or 18 frames per second. Generally accepted standard In cinema, the frame rate became 24 frames per second. With a rate of fire of 1800 rounds/min and the use of tracer ammunition, a visual effect could arise in which the firing from the tank would be perceived by the eye as continuous rays stretching towards the enemy. When attacking tanks from water at night, the effect would be especially strong.
ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-firing) is the first Soviet rapid-firing aviation machine gun.
In 1920, while working as a mechanic at one of the factories, Shpitalny set out to make a high-speed machine gun. But at that time he did not have the necessary experience and lacked knowledge. After graduating from the Moscow Mechanical Institute, the young engineer began to implement his plan and soon presented a project for such a machine gun, which attracted attention with its exceptional courage in solving a number of complex issues in the design of automatic weapons. When the project was ready, experienced weapons designer I. A. Komaritsky was seconded to help Shpitalny in finalizing the sample and speeding its production.
1930 The first sample of a high-speed aircraft machine gun was manufactured, created by Shpitalny with the participation of Komaritsky. It was the first in the world aviation system, which immediately put the USSR in first place in this area of weapons.
1932 The final debugging of the design was completed.
June 1932, the machine gun was presented to K. E. Voroshilov
On July 14, 1932, the machine gun was approved by the government, which decided to speed up its development and submit it for state testing.
On October 7, 1932, the Revolutionary Military Council approved the results of ground tests of the machine gun.
On October 11, 1932, he adopted a resolution to put it into service under the name “7.62-mm aviation rapid-fire machine gun of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system, model 1932.”
Design Features
The system used the principle of automation based on the removal of part of the powder gases. Gases passing through a closed chamber exert pressure on a piston connected directly to the rod, which sets the system in motion. This principle of automation was later used to create a number of successful designs.
The barrel bore is locked by tilting the bolt downwards. Trigger mechanism operates from a return spring. The trigger mechanism ensures only continuous fire. It is equipped with a flag-type fuse that locks the sear. The cartridges are fed from a metal link detachable tape. The mechanism for feeding the tape to the drum-type receiver is driven by the bolt frame. Extraction of the spent cartridge case is carried out by the bolt legs, and its reflection is carried out by a movable reflector connected to the bolt frame rod. The machine gun is equipped with spring buffers for the bolt frame and bolt.
The high rate of fire in the ShKAS machine gun is achieved due to the short stroke of the moving parts of the automation and the combination of a number of reloading operations. To avoid dismantling the cartridge, its removal from the belt link is carried out in ten cycles of automatic operation, which is achieved through a screw groove on the gear casing. To soften the impacts of moving parts on the sear, during landing and after the end of the line, a buffer spring is installed.
Ammo
For the ShKAS machine gun, under the leadership of N. M. Elizarov, cartridges were developed that had tracer, incendiary and combined action armor-piercing incendiary bullets capable of igniting gasoline tanks protected by armor. In these cartridges, to prevent the cartridge from being dismantled (dismantled) at a huge rate of fire of 30-50 rounds per second, the walls of the cartridge case are thickened, the fastening of the primer in the socket is strengthened, and a double ring crimp of the bullet is introduced in the barrel of the cartridge case. At the bottom of the cartridge case for ShKAS machine guns, in addition to the standard designations, the letter “Ш” was placed. The capsule is painted red. Otherwise, the coloring is standard for the corresponding types of bullets. Cartridges intended for infantry weapons ShKAS machine guns could not be used. The cartridges for the ShKAS machine gun were the world's first aviation cartridges.
Unusual misfires
Unexpectedly, misfires occurred during shooting. A special commission was created to find out the reasons. It was headed by Chief Marshal of Artillery N.N. Voronov.
“We organized experimental shooting. They showed that all questionable cartridges in ordinary rifles, hand and heavy machine guns ground forces work flawlessly, and in aircraft machine guns continue to misfire. It also turned out that there are some batches of cartridges that do not misfire when fired from ShKAS. But no one could establish exactly which ones and why. At the next meeting of the commission, I drew attention to the samples of combat capsules lying on the table. I began to examine them carefully and discovered one detail: the foil at the attachment point with the capsule was coated with black or red varnish. The red varnish was imported, and the black varnish was domestic. New shootings were carried out. Capsules coated with imported varnish did not misfire. The second ones, on the contrary, misfired. All cartridges with black lacquer primers were immediately withdrawn from the Air Force and transferred to the Army for use. Air Force began to be supplied with cartridges with primers coated with red varnish. The commission also proposed conducting a thorough study of domestic varnish. It turned out that our chemists did not finish the job: the varnish they proposed had a harmful effect on the foil. It was proposed to urgently eliminate this defect. Soon a new varnish was created that fully met the requirements for it. The misfires have stopped."
Modernization
Despite all the advantages of the ShKAS system machine guns, their first releases, manufactured according to prototype drawings, had an insufficient service life - about 1500-2000 rounds.
In March 1933 soviet government, giving an order for the first large batch of machine guns, suggested that the designers increase their survivability, bringing it to 5000 rounds.
In April 1933, Shpitalny and Komaritsky presented a model that differed from its predecessor not only in better survivability, but also in some changes that had a positive effect on the simplicity of the machine gun design. In the new model, its main part - the box - was significantly changed, five new parts were introduced instead of the thirteen that were eliminated. These alterations entailed significant amount changes in dimensions and tolerances of mating parts.
In July 1933, production of machine guns began according to new drawings.
On December 24, 1934, testing of the ShKAS machine gun with a twisted three-core return spring was completed. The previous recoil spring often failed, unable to withstand more than 2500-2800 rounds. We tried different types of steel, changed the diameter of the springs and the thickness of the wire, but nothing helped, and after a certain number of shots, the shooting had to be stopped to replace the spring. An original solution was found by Shpitalny, who proposed making the spring multi-stranded. Tests have shown that the survivability of a twisted three-core recoil spring is equal to 14,000 rounds.
In 1935-1936 K.N. Rudnev, V.N. Polyubin and A.A. Tronenkov developed a mechanical pairing of ShKAS machine guns, in which the total rate of fire of the two machine guns was increased to 6000-6400 rounds per minute.
On May 15, 1937, Shpitalny and Komaritsky completed the production of a prototype of the UltraShKAS machine gun. By using the principle of a moving barrel when moving forward, they achieved a rate of fire of 2800-3000 rounds per minute.
Since 1936, machine guns of the ShKAS system have taken a dominant position in the weapon system Soviet aviation.
War may never change, but its tools have changed many times. Ever since humanity moved from spears and arrows to firearms, it never ceases to improve it every year. In this review, we invite you to consider the best representatives of the “weapons family”. We will talk about both large-caliber and light machine guns- new products and classic models, competing in rate of fire, power and lethality.
Single German machine gun The HK 121 replaced the famous MG 3. No matter how good the “troika” was, it all ends sooner or later. The Bundeswehr needed a more powerful option to support its army, which is what the creation became arms company Heckler & Koch. Smart layout, lethal power, quick-change barrel, possibility of installation on military equipment– what else is needed to make a machine gunner happy?
Caliber: 7.62x51 NATO
Weight: 10.8 (with bipod)
Length: 1165 mm
Barrel length: 550 mm
Power: Tape
Rate of fire: 640 - 800 rounds per minute
The Negev machine gun, produced by the Israeli concern Israel Military Industries, has proven itself to be a powerful and mobile support weapon. But its firing range and lethal effect for modern military conflicts it was clearly not enough. That is why the updated Negev NG7 entered service with the Israeli army, which corrected all the shortcomings of its predecessor.
Caliber: 7.62x51 NATO
Weight: 7.6 (with bipod)
Length: 1000 / 820
Barrel length: 508 mm
Power: Tape
Rate of fire: 850 – 1150 rounds per minute
FN MAG can rightfully be called the “Belgian horse” in the class small arms. The gunsmiths from Fabrique Nationale did their best, creating a truly good machine gun. A fairly simple and reliable design, combined with flexibility of use and adequate ammunition, has secured this machine gun a place in the weapons systems of over 50 countries, including Belgium itself, the UK, Australia, Canada, the USA, Sweden and many other countries.
Caliber: 7.62mm NATO
Weight: 11-13 kg with bipod (depending on modification), tripod weight 21 kg
Length: 1260 mm
Barrel length: 545 mm
Feeding: loose metal strip
Rate of fire: 650 - 950 rounds per minute
The single Pecheneg machine gun is intended to destroy enemy personnel and light equipment. It can also be used as anti-aircraft gun. Thanks to its characteristics, it is rightfully considered one of the best examples single machine guns in the world.
"Pecheneg" is capable of firing about 650 rounds per minute without reducing combat characteristics. This increase in survivability made it possible to abandon the replacement barrel. However, the Pecheneg barrel, as before, remains quick-detachable.
Caliber: 7.62x54mm R
Weight without cartridges: 8.2 kg on bipod; 12.7 kg on a tripod machine
Length: 1155 mm
Barrel length: 658 mm
Power: 100 or 200 round belt
Rate of fire: 650 rounds per minute
Most domestic and foreign experts agree that the KORD heavy machine gun ( Large Caliber Weapon Dyagterevtsev) is the best of its kind.
In the armed forces, the KORD is called a “sniper machine gun” for its amazing accuracy and mobility, which is unusual for this type of weapon. With a caliber of 12.7 mm, its weight is only 25.5 kilograms (body). Also, “KORD” is highly valued for its ability to fire both from a bipod and from the hands at a speed of up to 750 rounds per minute.
Caliber: 12.7x108 mm
Weight: 25.5 kg (machine gun body) + 16 kg (6T7 machine) or 7 kg (6T19 machine)
Length: 1980 mm
Barrel length: no data
Power: 50 rounds belt
Rate of fire: 650-750 rounds/min
China China
Republic of China Republic of China
DPRK DPRK
Battles at Khalkhin Gol,
Winter War,
The Great Patriotic War ,
Chinese Civil War,
Korean War
plant No. 536
plant No. 486 (installations)
Plant No. 187 (belt links)
wing
synchronous
9.8 (wing)
11.1 (synchronous)
shutter skew
rounds/min
1650 (synchronous)
bullets, m/s
800-850 (synchronous)
ShKAS(Shpitalny-Komaritsky aviation rapid-firing) - the first Soviet rapid-firing synchronous aviation machine gun. The machine gun was developed in 1930 and was produced from 1932 to 1945, when it was decided to cease production of rifle-caliber aircraft machine guns. ShKAS is the first machine gun developed specifically for aviation; special high-reliability aviation cartridges with armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary bullets were also developed for it.
The ShKAS machine gun was installed on all Soviet aircraft produced from 1934 to 1941, and was used in all military conflicts involving the USSR during this period, from the Spanish Civil War to the Great Patriotic War. There is also evidence of the use of I-16 aircraft equipped with these machine guns in the Korean and Chinese civil wars. The reason for this popularity was the high rate of fire achieved by using a feed drum to remove the cartridge from the belt and a gas piston to activate the automation.
The machine gun was produced in three versions; twin mounts were also produced; the possibilities of land and marine use. In 1937, the UltraShKAS modification was developed with a rate of fire that reached 3000 rounds per minute, but was characterized by low reliability. At the same time, designer S.V. Vladimirov was developing a large-caliber version of the machine gun, which received the name ShVAK, and from it, in turn, by increasing the caliber, the gun of the same name was developed.
History of creation
Background
In 1920, while an employee of the Mytishchi Carriage Works, B. G. Shpitalny became interested in the design of automatic weapons. In the wake of this interest, he set out to make a machine gun whose rate of fire would exceed existing models (mainly the Maxim machine gun). But at that time he did not have the experience and knowledge necessary for such a matter. Nevertheless, as a purposeful person, Shpitalny did not forget about his desire, so in 1926, while studying at the University, he returned to this project again. By 1928, while working at, he completed the design of a machine gun and sent the drawings for consideration by the commission of the Arms and Machine Gun Trust.
At that time, the issue of modernization was acute in the USSR aviation industry aviation weapons, so the project was accepted for consideration. The commission noted the boldness of the approach to the design of some elements of the design of automatic weapons and appointed the Weapons and Machine Gun Trust to assign an experienced weapons designer and production worker I. A. Komaritsky to the project. His task was to provide assistance in finalizing the project, which was at the final stage of preparation, and adapting production to the production of a fundamentally new weapon.
Adoption
With undeniable advantages, the first batches of machine guns new system had a resource of about 1500-2000 rounds, which was considered insufficient at this rate of fire. Therefore, in March 1933, when ordering the first large batch of machine guns, the designers were asked to increase their survivability, bringing it to 5000 rounds. In April, B. G. Shpitalny and I. A. Komaritsky presented the commission with a sample that differed from the experimental version not only in survivability, but also in some design changes. In the new version, the box has been significantly changed and the number of individual parts has been reduced. Release modernized machine guns started in July of the same year. By the end of the year, TOZ moved from semi-handicraft to serial production ShKAS machine gun.
There was one more problem: the return spring of the machine gun failed after about 2500-2800 shots. Attempts to use different types of steel, change the diameter of the springs and the thickness of the wire did not bring success, and after a certain number of shots the spring still had to be changed. Shpitalny found a solution: he proposed making a twisted spring from three cores. Tests have shown that the survivability of a twisted three-core recoil spring reaches 14,000 rounds. On December 24, 1934, tests of the ShKAS machine gun with a new spring were completed.
In 1941, minor modifications were made to the design of the machine gun to simplify and reduce the cost of production in wartime conditions.
Design Features
The system used a relatively new automation principle at that time, based on the removal of powder gases. Gases enter a closed chamber through a hole in the barrel and act on a gas piston directly connected to the rod, which drives the entire system. The barrel bore is locked by tilting the bolt downwards. The trigger mechanism operates from a recoil spring and ensures continuous fire. The sear is locked with a flag-type fuse. The fuse is two-position, has “automatic fire” and “no fire” positions. The bolt and bolt carrier are equipped with spring buffers to soften the impact of the moving parts on the sear during landing and after the end of the burst.
ShKAS has a high rate of fire due to the short stroke of moving parts and the reduction of time taken by reloading operations by combining them. There is a screw groove on the fixed drum casing. The cartridge is hooked onto it by the edge of the sleeve, removed from the tape and fed to the chamber. The fired cartridge case is extracted in two strokes by the bolt arms into a movable reflector connected to the bolt frame rod.
Principle of operation
To load, you need to insert the loaded tape into the tape receiver, then raise and lower the reloading handle all the way to rotate the drum. The movement of the handle moves the gas piston, which in turn turns the drum itself through a pin on the piston and a groove on the drum. The cartridges advance inside the drum, the last half-turn of which, occurring when the gas piston rod returns to its original position, pushes the cartridge forward for chambering. Once the drum has finished spinning, the machine gun is loaded.
When firing, the movement of the gas piston rotates the drum. The shot is fired by pressing the trigger. Single shot firing is not possible. When the shutter returns to its original position when the trigger is pressed, it sends the cartridge into the chamber and is locked with a special protrusion, and the gas piston rod, continuing to move forward, advances the floating firing pin, and it strikes the primer of the loaded cartridge.
After the shot, passing by the hole in the barrel wall, the bullet opens the passage for powder gases into the gas chamber, where they push the gas piston. For the first one and a half centimeters of movement of the piston and rod, the bolt remains motionless, after which the bolt unlocks and moves backward. After the bolt is moved back to a distance greater than the length of the cartridge, the extractor throws the cartridge, which, hitting the reflector, leaves the receiver through a special hole. At this time, the drum pushes out the next cartridge, which is sent into the chamber by the reverse stroke of the bolt, and the automation cycle continues.
Electric descent
Ammunition
Ammunition is supplied from a metal detachable-link tape through a drum-type receiver with ten slots through the movement of the bolt frame, and each cartridge is removed in ten cycles of automatic operation, which prevents dismantling of the cartridge at such high rates of fire. The tape is fed from a box for 250 rounds, in later versions - for 750 and 1000 rounds. Some machine guns were equipped with cartridge boxes for 1500 rounds.
For the ShKAS machine gun, based on the standard 7.62x54 mm R rifle cartridge, 7.62 mm caliber cartridges have been developed with tracer (T-30 and later T-46), incendiary (Az, ZP and PZ), armor-piercing (B-30) cartridges and combined action armor-piercing incendiary (B-32), armor-piercing incendiary-tracer (BZT) bullets capable of igniting armored gas tanks. In ShKAS cartridges, to prevent the cartridge from being dismantled (dismantled) at a huge rate of fire from 30 to 50 rounds per second, the walls of the cartridge case are thickened, the fastening of the primer in the socket is strengthened, and the bullet extraction force is increased. For cartridges with ordinary L and D bullets, a double ring crimp of the bullet in the case muzzle has been introduced, the bullet itself is seated deeper in the case. On the bottom of the cartridge case intended for ShKAS machine guns, in addition to the standard designations, at the end of the 30s the letter “Ш” was placed. The capsule of such cartridges was painted red. Otherwise, the coloring was standard for the corresponding types of bullets. Ammunition intended for infantry weapons could not be used in ShKAS machine guns due to insufficient reliability. Ammunition for the ShKAS machine gun became the first case in the world of the development and production of cartridges specifically for aviation.
Unusual misfires
In the early 1940s, unexpectedly, systematic misfires began to occur during operation of the machine gun. To find out the reasons, on behalf of the People's Commissar of Defense S.K. Timoshenko, a special commission was created under the direction of N.N. Voronov. The commission organized experimental shooting. They showed that cartridges that misfire in ShKAS work normally in rifles and machine guns of the ground forces. Marshal Voronov drew the commission’s attention to the fact that “working” and “non-working” cartridges differ in the color of the varnish at the place where the capsule is attached: cartridges using black domestic varnish misfire, but those where the foil at the connection is covered with red imported one do not. As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the cause of the misfire was a flaw in the Soviet chemists, whose varnish interacted with the primer foil, thereby rendering the latter inoperable.
Installation options
Turret and wing variants
The wing ShKAS machine gun is interchangeable with the turret machine gun with minor differences due to remote control fire from a machine gun suspended on the wing from the pilot's cockpit: the reloading handle was replaced with a cable mechanism, and the control handle with a feeder mechanism. The wing version is lighter than the turret version - its weight was 9.8 kg.
Synchronous option
Land options
In the 1930s, the possibility of using the ShKAS machine gun in ground forces. The manufactured car and motorcycle mounts for machine guns remained prototypes. In 1935-1936, research was carried out to create anti-aircraft installation to equip ground vehicles from armored vehicles to armored trains, and in a standard cylindrical tank turret it was proposed to install, in addition to a 45-mm cannon, a coaxial ShKAS. There were also proposals to replace the ball mount for the DT with a similar one for the Shpitalny machine gun on the T-28 and T-35 tanks. In 1936-1937, the USSR developed an amphibious armored vehicle PB-7 with a ShKAS machine gun mounted on it. These tests were curtailed in 1937 due to a lack of funds and were not resumed to the same extent.
The designers achieved some success in installing the ShKAS on the T-37A amphibious tank - a prototype was created. For this purpose, minor changes were made to the machine gun itself, which made it possible to use fabric belts for ammunition. This requirement is due to the fact that the links of the collapsible tape could get into the moving parts of the tank and jam them; in addition, such a tape is more difficult to equip in field conditions. The ammunition for the machine gun was 2,750 rounds in belts of 250 rounds: 750 were stored in a box that directly fed the machine gun, and the rest in boxes placed in a special holder. The supply of cartridges from the box was carried out through a flexible metal sleeve, similar to that used in aviation. The turret had a special stopper with 39 positions, which made it possible to fix the rotation angle during firing. The ball mount made it possible to point the machine gun without turning the turret to the left by 10°30", to the right by 18°, down by 4°, up by 22°.
Photos from the tests from the archives of the Red Army
Ball tower installation
Horizontal pointing angle
Vertical pointing angle
Holder with cartridge boxes
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| ShKAS on a pedestal installation photo by Naum Granovsky, 1941, Moscow. | |
According to the conclusion of the commission, drawn up after the tests, the development was considered unsuccessful: the fabric tape at a high rate of fire showed low reliability, since it swelled from humidity and tore during shooting, causing distortions of the cartridge and even their dismantling. The high rate of fire meant that even taking into account the time required to replace the belts, the ammunition could be used up in 3–5 minutes of battle. The ball mount also caused criticism: it was noted that it was inconvenient to use in a cramped tank turret, as well as a small vertical aiming angle, which created a blind spot near the tank. On top of that, the industry was unable to provide the special cartridges necessary for a machine gun, in addition to aviation armored forces.
In 1940, in the wake of the replacement of small-caliber ShKAS in aviation with more powerful, but equally rapid-firing ShVAKs, factory No. 66 ordered a pilot batch of Sokolov machines for use with ShKAS machine guns in infantry units. However, they were not widely used.
Option for the Navy
There is evidence of the installation of ShKAS machine guns on torpedo boats. G-5 boats were first produced with two installed DA machine guns, after which ShKAS began to be installed on them, and in 1941 they were replaced by DShK. In besieged Leningrad, on unfinished torpedo boats D-3 due to lack of required quantity ShKAS and DT machine guns were installed on 10 DShK boats.
Modifications
SHVAK
Even before the adoption of the ShKAS machine gun for service, in 1931 S. V. Vladimirov began developing on its basis a machine gun chambered for a special flanged cartridge 12.7 × 108 mm R, created for this machine gun. The ShVAK cartridge case differed from the standard 12.7 × 108 mm cartridge case not only by the presence of a rim (flange), but also by a more pronounced taper; identical bullets were used. During the development process, Vladimirov moved the gas chamber under the barrel and improved the serrated drum and bolt. New machine gun was adopted in turret, wing, synchronous and motor versions.
Field tests carried out in 1932 showed that the caliber of the new machine gun, called ShVAK, could be increased by replacing the barrel to 20 mm. At the same time, there was no need to change the dimensions of other moving parts of the weapon, because the diameter of the cartridge case flange and its length did not change. So in 1934, an automatic aviation gun of the same name appeared, produced in wing, turret and motor versions. The latter was installed to a limited extent on T-60 and T-38 tanks in 1941-1942.
ShVAK became the world's first unified bicaliber system. At the end of the Great Patriotic War, they also created prototypes under a 37 mm caliber projectile, which never became widespread.
MSSh coaxial machine gun
In 1935-1937, a group of designers led by K.N. Rudnev developed a pair of ShKAS machine guns, which received the MSSh index. To ensure synchronous operation, the rods of the two machine guns were equipped with gear racks and connected by a gear so that the automation cycle included two shots. This made it possible to obtain a rate of fire of up to 6000 rounds/min. with a slight increase in recoil. Further development of twin installations based on ShKAS was curtailed due to the planned transition of the Air Force to a larger caliber.
UltraSHKAS
Applications and evaluations
By 1936, almost everyone was armed with machine guns of the Shpitalny-Komaritsky system. combat aircraft Soviet aviation, mainly due to the then unsurpassed rate of fire of 1800 rounds/min. , while the best foreign samples did not exceed the threshold of 1200 rounds/min. In 1938, instead of the DA machine gun, ShKAS began to be depicted on the badges of graduates of the military school of pilots and flight observers.
First combat use ShKAS machine guns occurred during the Spanish Civil War. It was noted that machine guns have low firing efficiency when using cartridges with conventional bullets, but the use of special (armor-piercing, explosive, incendiary) ammunition made it possible with a high density of fire - up to 5 bullets per square meter- achieve good results. In the initial period of the battle for Madrid, I-16s, armed with ShKAS machine guns and ShVAK cannons, shot down about 350 enemy aircraft with minimal losses.
Machine guns were also used in the Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol conflicts. Based on the results of use, the machine gun received mainly positive reviews from the pilots.
However, by the beginning of the 40s, an increase in the passive protection of aircraft (reservation of crew workplaces, protection of gas tanks) led to the fact that the effectiveness of rifle-caliber machine guns, including ShKAS, sharply decreased; they could destroy an enemy aircraft only with very large number hits. The use of a machine gun during
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