Light machine guns, surpassing assault rifles and machine guns in terms of combat capabilities, are designed to destroy manpower at distances where the latter's fire is ineffective - up to 1000 meters. Light machine guns usually have the same caliber as the machine gun in service, differing in a weighted barrel, a larger magazine capacity or the possibility of belt feeding, firing based on a bipod. This provides better accuracy and a higher combat rate of fire - up to 150 rounds per minute in bursts. The mass of light machine guns in full gear is usually 6 - 14 kg, and the length is close to the length of rifles. This allows the machine gunners to act directly in the battle formations of the units. Modern light machine guns fill the gap between individual and group weapons. The main way to fire from a light machine gun is to rely on a bipod and rest the butt on the shoulder, but you also need the ability to fire from the hip, on the move.
The main problem of a light machine gun is the need to combine small size and weight with a higher intensity of fire, accuracy and stock of cartridges than an assault rifle. This problem has several solutions. Simple and cheap is to equip an assault rifle or assault rifle with a bipod and a slightly more capacious magazine (Israeli machine gun "Galil" ARM (Galil ARM), German MG.36 (MG.36)). The second option provides for the creation of a light machine gun based on an assault rifle with a heavier barrel and a change in controls, as is done in the Soviet RPK and RPK 74 or the British L86A1 (L86A1). In this case, in the section squad, the platoon weapons are unified in terms of cartridge and system. Finally, the development of an independent design is also possible. An example of this approach is the Belgian Minimi machine gun, the Singaporean Ultimax 100.

Easel and uniform machine guns.
Mounted and unified machine guns allow you to hit various fire weapons and enemy manpower, located openly and behind light shelters, at a distance of up to 1500 m. Stability, a massive interchangeable barrel and a significant capacity of the cartridge belt provide the ability to conduct aimed fire in long bursts. The combat rate of fire reaches 250-300 rounds per minute.
The device of the machine makes it possible to quickly and accurately carry out the transfer of fire from one target to another, to fire with predetermined settings, and also to hit air targets. It is clear that such weapons are heavier than light machine guns: the mass of a machine gun on a tripod machine is 10-20 kg, with a wheeled machine (remaining on some obsolete models) - 40 kg or more. The easel machine gun is usually serviced by two calculation numbers. Change of position requires two to three times more time than a light machine gun.
More promising were the so-called "single" machine guns, so named for the qualities that combine the properties of light and heavy machine guns. In single machine guns, the firing capabilities of easel ones are preserved, but maneuverability is significantly increased due to light tripod machine guns (the mass of a single machine gun with a machine gun is 12-25 kg) and the possibility of firing from a bipod (the mass of a machine gun on a bipod is 7-9 kg). Bipod fire is conducted at a distance of up to 800 m. Single machine guns have ample opportunities to defeat enemy firepower and manpower, low-flying and hovering air targets.
Since the power of low-impulse automatic cartridges does not allow effective fire beyond 600 m, single machine guns for rifle cartridges continue to hold strong positions in the system. infantry weapons. The “single” nature of machine guns is also reflected in their installation (with some modifications) on tanks, armored vehicles, and assault helicopters. The best single machine guns include the Soviet PKM and the Belgian MAG (MAG).
Attempts are being made to develop single machine guns for low-pulse small-caliber cartridges (for example, the Spanish Amelie or the Israeli Negev). Such machine guns already fall into the "weight category" of manual ones. They, in particular, have found application as a light group weapon in landing and reconnaissance and sabotage units. In some armies single machine guns are used instead of light ones. A number of experts say that in the near future, a light machine gun may “fall out” from the weapon system due to an increase in the accuracy of fire of machine guns, on the one hand, and lightening of single machine guns, on the other. But while light machine guns retain their value and their positions. Of the various schemes of field machines, an obvious victory was won by light tripod machines with a variable height of the line of fire and horizontal and vertical guidance mechanisms, and the requirement for anti-aircraft fire is not considered mandatory - in a number of armies, special installations are preferred for firing machine guns at air targets.
Significantly expand the capabilities of machine guns modern sights - optical, collimator, night, combined. Optical and collimator sights are becoming more common for machine guns.
Reducing the mass of single machine guns, as well as increasing the accuracy of their firing from a bipod, remains an important area for their improvement. It must be remembered that the calculation, in addition to the machine gun and ammunition, has to be transferred automatically grenade launcher complex, hand and rocket-propelled grenades.

Large-caliber machine guns.
Heavy machine guns are designed to hit air and lightly armored ground targets. Caliber 12.7 - 15 mm allows you to have a powerful cartridge with armor-piercing, armor-piercing incendiary and other bullets in the ammunition load. This ensures the destruction of ground targets with an armor thickness of 15-20 mm at ranges up to 800 m, and fire weapons, manpower and air targets - up to 2000 m. The combat rate of fire of heavy machine guns when firing at ground targets is up to 100 rounds per minute in bursts.
Heavy machine guns significantly complement the fire system in all types of combat. Anti-aircraft heavy machine guns are widely used as a means of air defense divisions. For the same purposes, such machine guns are mounted on tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles. Thus, heavy machine guns are the most powerful type of small arms for hitting ground and air targets, but also the least mobile. Nevertheless, interest in them does not decrease. This is due to the firing range of heavy machine guns, which makes it possible to fight against important targets (snipers, machine gunners in cover, fire crews) and air attack weapons.
The most common in the world are two old models of 12.7 mm machine guns - the Soviet DShKM and the American M2HB (M2HB) "Browning" (under a less powerful cartridge). The mobility of heavy machine guns is limited by their considerable weight and size. Machine guns are mounted on universal or special (ground or anti-aircraft) field machines. FROM universal machine the mass of machine guns can be 140-160 kg, with a light ground gun - 40-55 kg. But the appearance of significantly lighter heavy machine guns - the Russian NSV 12.7 and KORD, the Singaporean KIS MG50 (CIS MG50) - brought their mobility and camouflage capabilities closer to a single machine gun on the machine. It is worth noting that other attempts have been made for more than a year - replacing heavy machine guns with light automatic guns of 20-30 mm caliber. However, the development of sufficiently light (taking into account the weight of the weapon itself, installation and ammunition) and mobile models causes serious difficulties. So far, such guns have found application as weapons for light army vehicles, light helicopters.

In this section, we will tell you about machine guns, both domestic and foreign. You can learn about the history of the creation of these weapons, get acquainted with the design of machine guns and their combat use. We have prepared materials about the best machine guns of different historical periods.

A machine gun is an individual or group automatic small arms that uses the energy of powder gases for operation and is distinguished by a high rate of fire. Machine guns have a longer aiming range and more capacious power supplies.

The calibers of machine guns can vary significantly: most modern light machine guns have a caliber of 6-8 mm, and heavy machine guns - 12-15 mm. In addition to manual, there are easel machine guns, which are mounted on special machine, it is also called a turret. Almost all heavy machine guns are heavy machine guns, and ordinary light machine guns are often mounted on turrets - this significantly increases the accuracy of shooting.

They tried to create rapid-fire weapons since the 16th century. However, before the invention of a unitary cartridge and smokeless powder, these attempts were obviously doomed to failure. The first working example of an automatic weapon was the Gatling machine gun, which was a block of manually rotating barrels.

The first truly automatic model of this weapon was a machine gun invented by the American Maxim in 1883. It's really legendary weapon, which was first used in the Boer War and remained in service until the Second World War. The Maxim machine gun is still used today.

As a mass weapon, the machine gun began to be used during the First World War. It was the machine gun that made a real revolution in military affairs. Excellent machine guns were developed by German gunsmiths. The German MG 42 machine guns are quite rightly considered the best examples of such weapons of the Second World War.

It is necessary to say a few words about Russian machine guns. The active development of these weapons began in the prewar years, during this period, excellent domestic models of machine guns appeared: DShK, SG-43, Degtyarev machine gun. After the war, a whole series of Kalashnikov machine guns appeared, which, in terms of their reliability and effectiveness, were in no way inferior to the famous AK-47. Today, Russian machine guns are a recognizable brand known throughout the world.

There is another type of weapon, the name of which in the domestic literature contains the word "machine gun". These are submachine guns. This type of automatic personal weapon uses pistol ammunition. Submachine guns first appeared during the First World War, they were supposed to increase the firepower of the attacking infantry.

The "finest hour" of this weapon was the next world war. All the main countries participating in this conflict were armed with submachine guns. This weapon was very cheap and simple, while at the same time it had great firepower. However, submachine guns also had serious drawbacks, the main of which was the short effective firing range and the insufficient power of pistol ammunition.

Soon an intermediate cartridge was invented, which led to the appearance modern machines and automatic rifles. Currently, submachine guns are used as police weapons.

We have prepared information about the most famous samples of submachine guns. You can learn about the Soviet PPSh and PPS assault rifles, the German MP-38, the American Thompson submachine gun, as well as other legendary examples of these weapons.

A machine gun is a group or individual small-arms automatic support weapon designed to hit various ground, surface and air targets with bullets. The automaticity of the action, as a rule, is achieved by using the energy of the exhaust gases, sometimes by using the recoil energy of the barrel.

Gatling gun (eng. Gatling gun - a Gatling gun, also a Gatling gun, sometimes just a "Gatling") - a multi-barreled rapid-fire small arms, one of the first examples of a machine gun.
Patented by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling in 1862 under the name Revolving Battery Gun. The forerunner of the Gatling gun is the mitrailleuse.
The Gatling is equipped with a gravity-fed magazine located on top (without a spring). During the 360° barrel rotation cycle, each barrel fires a single shot, is released from the cartridge case, and reloaded. During this time, the natural cooling of the barrel occurs. The rotation of the barrels of the first Gatling models was carried out manually, in the later ones an electric drive was used for it. The rate of fire of models with a manual drive ranged from 200 to 1000 rounds per minute, and when using an electric drive it could reach 3000 rounds per minute.
The first prototype Gatling guns were first used during the American Civil War. Machine guns were adopted by the US Army in 1866 after a representative of the manufacturing company demonstrated them on the battlefield. With the advent of single-barreled machine guns, working on the principle of using the recoil energy of the barrel during its short course, the Gatling gun, like other multi-barreled systems, gradually fell into disuse. It did not have a significant impact on the fate of the Gatlings and their significantly higher rate of fire, since at that time there was no longer any particular need for a rate of fire above 400 rounds per minute. But single-barrel systems clearly outperformed the Gatling machine gun in terms of weight, maneuverability and ease of loading, which ultimately determined the priority of the single-barreled system. But the “gatlings” were never completely ousted - they continued to be installed on warships as air defense systems. Multi-barrel systems gained particular relevance during the Second World War, when the progress of aviation required the creation of automatic cannons and machine guns with a very high rate of fire.

The first real machine gun, using the energy of the previous shot to reload, appeared in the USA only in 1895, by the works of the legendary gunsmith John Browning (John Moses Browning). Browning began experimenting with weapons that use the energy of powder gases to recharge as early as 1891. The first experimental model, created by him chambered for .45-70 with black powder, was demonstrated by him to the Colt company, and businessmen from Hartford agreed to finance further work in this direction. In 1896, the US Navy adopted the Colt M1895 machine gun, designed by Browning, chambered in 6mm Lee, which was then in service with the fleet. During the same period, the US Army purchased a small number of M1895 machine guns (nicknamed "potato diggers" by the troops for their characteristic lever swinging under the barrel) in the variant under the army cartridge. 30-40 Krag. M1895 machine guns received a baptism of fire (side by side with hand-operated Gatling guns) in the US-Spain conflict that took place in Cuba in 1898. Interestingly, in the future, Russia became one of the most massive users of Browning M1895 machine guns, purchasing them in significant quantities (under the Russian cartridge of 7.62mm caliber) after the start of the First World War.
The Colt Model 1895 machine gun used gas-operated automatics with a piston located under the barrel, which rocked back and forth in a vertical plane. In the position before the shot, the gas piston lever was located under the barrel parallel to it, the piston head entered the transverse gas outlet in the barrel wall. After firing, the propellant gases pushed the piston head down, causing the piston arm to rotate down and back around an axis located under the barrel closer to the weapon's receiver. Through a system of pushers, the movement of the lever was transmitted to the bolt, while a distinctive feature of the system was that in the initial period of the bolt opening, its rollback speed was minimal, and the opening force was maximal, which significantly increased the reliability of removing spent cartridges. The barrel bore was locked by tilting the rear of the bolt down. The massive lever swinging under the barrel at a considerable speed required sufficient free space under the barrel of the machine gun, otherwise the lever began to literally dig up the ground, for which the machine gun received the nickname “potato digger” among the troops.
The barrel of the machine gun - air-cooled, non-replaceable, had a fairly significant mass. The machine gun fired from a closed bolt, only with automatic fire. The trigger mechanism included a trigger hidden inside the receiver. The cocking handle was located on the rocking lever of the gas piston. To simplify loading, a cord was sometimes attached to it, with a jerk for which recharging took place. The cartridges were fed from canvas tapes, the cartridge was fed from the tape in two steps - on the rollback of the shutter, the cartridge was pulled back from the tape, and then it was fed into the chamber during the roll forward of the shutter. The tape feed mechanism had a simple design and used a toothed shaft driven by a ratchet mechanism connected to a gas piston by a shutter pusher. Tape feed direction is from left to right. The fire controls included a single pistol grip on the back of the receiver and a trigger, which later became traditional for Browning machine guns. The machine gun was used from a massive tripod machine of a relatively simple design, which had guidance mechanisms and a saddle for the shooter.

In 1905, tests began in Austria to determine a new, promising machine gun system for the armed forces of the empire. In these tests, the already well-tested and tested system of Sir Hiram Maxim and the new, just patented design of the German Andreas Schwarzlose (Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose) came face to face. Currently fairly forgotten, the Schwarzlose machine gun was quite a serious weapon for its time. It was reliable, provided firepower quite comparable to the Maxims (except that the effective firing range was less), and most importantly, it was noticeably simpler and cheaper to manufacture than the Maxim machine gun or the modified Skoda machine gun. In 1907, after two years of testing and improvement, the Schwarzlose machine gun was adopted by the Austrian army. The production of a new sample was established at an arms factory in the city of Steyr (Steyr). In 1912, the machine gun underwent a minor upgrade, receiving the designation M1907 / 12. The main differences of this variant were the improved design of the bolt lever pair and the reinforced design of a number of parts. External difference a different form of the receiver cover became, in the front part now reaching the rear section of the barrel casing.
It must be said that the machine gun turned out to be successful - following Austria-Hungary, it was put into service in Holland and Sweden (at the same time, both countries established licensed production of Schwarzlose machine guns, which continued until the mid-1930s). In addition, even before the First World War, Schwarzlose machine guns in the calibers adopted in their armies were purchased by Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. After the loss in the First World War and the subsequent collapse of the empire, these machine guns remained in service in the new countries - the former parts of the empire (Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia). During the war, a fair number of Schwarzlose machine guns were captured by the opponents of the empire - Russia and Italy, while in the Russian army the Schwarzlose machine gun was studied at the courses of machine gunners along with the Maxim and Browning machine guns. In Italy, the captured machine guns were kept in storage until the next war, during which the Italian army already used them in the African theater (in the original 8x50R caliber).
The barrel of the machine gun is relatively short, as a rule, it is equipped with a long conical flame arrester, which reduces the blindness of the shooter by muzzle flash when firing at dusk.
Ammunition supply - tape, supply of canvas tape - only on the right side. The cartridge feeding system has an extremely simple design with a minimum of parts. The basis of the tape feed mechanism is a toothed drum, in each slot of which one cartridge is placed in the tape pocket. The rotation of the drum is carried out by a simple ratchet mechanism when the bolt rolls back, while the uppermost cartridge in the drum is removed from the tape back by a special protrusion on the bottom of the bolt when it rolls back and then fed forward into the chamber in the roll of the bolt. Spent cartridges are ejected through a window in the left wall of the receiver.

Machine gun Maxim - easel machine gun, designed by American-born British gunsmith Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1883. The Maxim machine gun became one of the founders of automatic weapons; it was widely used during the Boer War of 1899-1902, World War I and World War II, as well as in many small wars and armed conflicts of the 20th century, and is also found in hot spots, around the world and in our days.
In 1873, the American inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) created the first model of automatic weapons - the Maxim machine gun. He decided to use the weapon's recoil energy, which had not been used in any way before. But the testing and practical use of these weapons were stopped for 10 years, since Maxim was not only a gunsmith and, in addition to weapons, was interested in other things. His range of interests included various techniques, electricity, and so on, and the machine gun was just one of his many inventions. In the early 1880s, Maxim finally took up his machine gun, but appearance his weapons were already very different from the 1873 model of the year. Perhaps these ten years were spent thinking, calculating and improving the design in the drawings. After that, Hiram Maxim made a proposal to the US government to adopt his machine gun into service. But the invention did not interest anyone in the USA, and then Maxim emigrated to the UK, where his development initially also did not arouse much interest from the military. However, they were seriously interested in the British banker Nathaniel Rothschild, who was present at the tests of the new weapon, and agreed to finance the development and production of the machine gun.
After a successful demonstration of the machine gun in Switzerland, Italy and Austria, Hiram Maxim arrived in Russia with a demonstrative model of a .45-caliber machine gun (11.43 mm).
In 1887, the Maxim machine gun was tested under the 10.67-mm cartridge of the Berdan rifle with black powder.
On March 8, 1888, Emperor Alexander III fired from it. After testing, representatives of the Russian military department ordered Maxim 12 machine guns mod. 1895 chambered for 10.67 mm Berdan rifle cartridge.
The Vickers and Maxim Sons enterprise began to supply Maxim machine guns to Russia. The machine guns were delivered to St. Petersburg in May 1899. The Russian navy also became interested in the new weapon; it ordered two more machine guns for testing.
Subsequently, the Berdan rifle was withdrawn from service, and the Maxim machine guns were converted to the 7.62-mm cartridge of the Russian Mosin rifle. In 1891-1892. five machine guns chambered for 7.62x54 mm were purchased for testing. During 1897-1904. 291 more machine guns were purchased.
By the end of the 1930s, the Maxim design was obsolete. A machine gun without a machine tool, water and cartridges had a mass of about 20 kg. The mass of the Sokolov machine is 40 kg, plus 5 kg of water. Since it was impossible to use a machine gun without a machine tool and water, the working weight of the entire system (without cartridges) was about 65 kg. Moving such a weight around the battlefield under fire was not easy. The high profile made camouflage difficult; damage to the thin-walled casing in battle with a bullet or shrapnel practically disabled the machine gun. It was difficult to use "Maxim" in the mountains, where the fighters had to use homemade tripods instead of regular machines. Significant difficulties in summer time caused the machine gun to be supplied with water. In addition, the Maxim system was very difficult to maintain. A lot of trouble was delivered by a cloth tape - it was difficult to equip it, it wore out, torn, absorbed water. For comparison, a single Wehrmacht machine gun MG-34 had a mass of 10.5 kg without cartridges, was powered by a metal tape and did not require water for cooling (while being somewhat inferior to the Maxim in terms of firepower, being closer to the Degtyarev light machine gun in this indicator, although and with one important nuance - the MG34 had a quick-change barrel, which made it possible, in the presence of spare barrels, to fire more intensive bursts from it). Shooting from the MG-34 could be carried out without a machine gun, which contributed to the secrecy of the machine gunner's position.
On the other hand, the positive properties of Maxim were also noted: thanks to the shockless operation of automation, it was very stable when fired from a standard machine, gave accuracy even better than later developments, and made it possible to control fire very accurately. Under the condition of proper maintenance, the machine gun could serve twice as long as the established resource, which was already greater than that of the new, lighter machine guns.

1 - fuse, 2 - sight, 3 - lock, 4 - filler plug, 5 - casing, 6 - steam vent, 7 - front sight, 8 - muzzle, 9 - cartridge case exit tube, 10 - barrel, 11 - water, 12 - plug of the pouring hole, 13 - cap, steam vent, 15 return spring, 16 trigger lever, 17 handle, 18 receiver.

The 12.7mm (0.5 inch) machine gun was developed in the USA by John M. Browning at the end of the First World War. This machine gun was, in general, a slightly enlarged copy of the M1917 machine gun designed by the same Browning, and had a water-cooled barrel. In 1923, he entered service with the US Army and Navy under the designation "M1921", mainly as an anti-aircraft weapon. In 1932, the machine gun underwent the first modernization, which consisted in the development of a universal design of mechanisms and a receiver that allowed the machine gun to be used both in aviation and in ground installations, with water or air cooling and the ability to change the feed direction of the tape. This version received the designation M2, and began to enter service. ground forces and the US Navy in both air-cooled (as an infantry support weapon) and water-cooled (as an anti-aircraft weapon) variant. To ensure the necessary intensity of fire in the air-cooled version, a heavier barrel was developed, and the machine gun received its current designation Browning M2HB (Heavy Barrel). In addition to the United States, in the pre-war period, Browning heavy machine guns were also produced under license in Belgium, by the FN company. During the Second World War, almost 2 million 12.7mm M2 machine guns were produced in the United States, of which about 400,000 were in the M2HB infantry version, which was used both on infantry machines and on various armored vehicles.
The Browning M2HB large-caliber machine gun uses the recoil energy of the barrel during its short stroke to operate the automation. The clutch of the shutter with the shank of the barrel is carried out with the help of a locking wedge that is movable in a vertical plane. The design provides for a lever-type shutter accelerator. The barrel has its own return spring and recoil buffer; an additional recoil buffer of the bolt group is located in the back of the receiver. Air-cooled barrel, replaceable (quick-change without adjustments on modern versions). The supply of cartridges is carried out from a loose metal tape with a closed link, the direction of the tape feed is switched by rearranging a special selector on the upper surface of the shutter and rearranging a number of parts of the tape feed mechanism. The cartridge is removed from the tape by the bolt when it rolls back, then it is lowered to the chambering line and fed into the barrel in the roll of the bolt. Spent cartridges are thrown down.

In the United States, the problem of machine guns, which arose acutely with the country's entry into the First World War, was quickly and successfully solved by John Browning (John Moses Browning) in collaboration with the Colt company, in 1917 presenting his analogue of the Maxim machine gun, which, with similar characteristics, was more simple in design. Already the very first prototype of a Browning machine gun with a water-cooled barrel set a kind of record, having used up 20,000 rounds of ammunition in one run without a single breakdown. It is not surprising that by the end of the First World War, the release of these machine guns, which received the designation M1917, went to tens of thousands. Already on next year On the basis of the M1917, Browning creates the M1918 aircraft machine gun with an air-cooled barrel, and a year later, the M1919 tank machine gun, also air-cooled. On the basis of the latter, Colt produces several models of "cavalry" machine guns on light machines, as well as export commercial samples under different calibers. In 1936, the M1917 machine gun, which was the main machine gun for the US Army, underwent minor changes aimed at increasing its resource, but its main drawback - the excessive mass (of both the machine gun itself and the tripod machine) has not gone away. Therefore, in 1940, a competition was announced for a new lightweight machine gun for the US Army. A significant part of the contestants were variations on the theme of the Browning design, but there were also purely original systems. However, none of the samples fully met the requirements of the military, and as a result, the Browning M1919 machine gun version was adopted in the M1919A4 version, complete with a lightweight M2 tripod machine. It was the M1919A4 machine gun that became the main weapon of the American troops during the Second World War and the Korean War. However, a significant number of earlier M1917A1 machine guns also actively participated in hostilities in all theaters of war.
In 1941, a competition for a belt-fed light machine gun was also announced in the United States, in which several large corporations and government arsenals participated. It should be noted that the US military, like the Soviets, also wanted too much from a light machine gun, and just like in the USSR, and as a result, the army had to be content with a palliative solution in the form of a modification of an already existing machine gun. And since the US Army did not have a ready-made “normal” light machine gun, the Americans had to follow the path traveled in other countries back in the First World War or immediately after it. This way was the creation of a lightweight "manual" version of the M1919A4 machine gun, which received the designation M1919A6. The result was a way and a reliable and relatively powerful, but very heavy and inconvenient weapon. In principle, special round boxes for a 100-round belt were developed for the M1919A6, attached to a machine gun, but in most cases the infantry used standard 200-round boxes with a belt, carried separately from the machine gun. Theoretically, this machine gun could be considered a single machine gun, since it allowed it to be installed on a standard M2 machine gun (if there was an appropriate kingpin attached to the receiver in the kit), however, in reality, the “big brother” М1919А4, which had more heavy trunk, and. as a result, providing great opportunities for conducting intense fire. Interestingly, the Americans, apparently, were quite pleased with the rate of fire of their machine guns, despite the fact that it was only a third of the rate of fire of the German MG 42 machine gun.
Variants of infantry machine guns of the Browning system were produced under license from Colt in Belgium at the FN factory and in Sweden at the Carl Gustaf factory, and without a license in Poland.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the French army was, one might say, at the forefront of military progress. In particular, it was the French who, back in the years of the First World War, were the first to adopt self-loading rifles for mass armament. They were the first to adopt and massively equip the troops with a fundamentally new class small arms- automatic rifles used as a squad-level support weapon (light machine guns in domestic terminology). We are talking about a system that is often not too deservedly attributed to the worst examples of its period, namely the CSRG M1915 automatic rifle, named after the creators - designers Chauchat, Sutter and Ribeyrolle, as well as the manufacturing company - Gladiator (Chauchat, Suterre, Ribeyrolle , Établissements des Cycles “Clément-Gladiator”).
This light machine gun was originally designed taking into account the possibility of its mass production at non-specialized enterprises (I remind you that the Gladiator bicycle factory became its main manufacturer during the war years). The machine gun became really massive - its production for 3 years of the war exceeded 250,000 pieces. It was mass production that also became the main weak point of the new model - the level of industry of that time did not allow for the required quality and stability of characteristics from sample to sample, which, combined with a rather complex design and a magazine open to dirt and dust, led to increased sensitivity of the weapon to pollution and overall low reliability. However, with proper care and maintenance (and the crews of these machine guns were recruited from sergeants and trained for up to 3 months), the CSRG M1915 light machine gun provided acceptable combat effectiveness.
An additional stain on the reputation of the Shosh machine gun was put by the unsuccessful modification M1918, developed by order of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe under the American patron.30-06. In the process of reworking, the machine gun lost its already not too voluminous magazines (from 20 to 16 rounds) in the tank, but most importantly, due to an unknown error in the drawings, the “Americanized” Shoshas had an incorrect chamber configuration, which led to constant delays and problems with the extraction of spent cartridges.
In the post-war period, CSRG system machine guns were in service in Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Poland, France and a number of other countries (in versions for the cartridges of the corresponding calibers adopted in these countries), until they were replaced by more successful models.

The American Isaac Lewis developed his light machine gun around 1910, based on an earlier machine gun design by Dr. Samuel McLean. The machine gun was proposed by the designer for arming the American army, but in response there was a harsh refusal (caused by an old personal conflict between the inventor and General Crozier, then head of the US Army weapons department). As a result, Lewis directed his steps to Europe, to Belgium, where in 1912 he founded the company Armes Automatiques Lewis SA to sell his offspring. Since the company did not have its own production facilities, an order for the production of the first experimental batch of Lewis machine guns was placed with the British company Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) in 1913. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, Lewis machine guns were adopted by the Belgian army, and after the start of the war, they began to enter service with the British army and the royal air force. In addition, these machine guns were widely exported, including to tsarist Russia. In the United States, the production of Lewis machine guns of caliber .30-06 was mainly in the interests of the nascent air force and marines was deployed by Savage arms. In the twenties and thirties, Lewis machine guns were quite widely used in the aviation of various countries, while the barrel shroud and radiator were usually removed from them. During the Second World War, a significant number of British Lewis were withdrawn from reserves and used to arm territorial defense units and for air defense of small commercial transport vessels.
light machine gun Lewis uses gas-operated automatics with a gas piston located under the barrel with a long stroke. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt on four lugs located radially at the rear of the bolt. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter, only with automatic fire. The features of the machine gun include a spiral return spring acting on the gas piston rod through the gear and gear, as well as an aluminum radiator on the barrel, enclosed in a thin-walled metal casing. The radiator casing protrudes forward in front of the muzzle, so that when fired, air is drawn through the casing along the radiator, from the breech to the muzzle. Cartridges were fed from top-mounted disk magazines with a multi-layered (in 2 or 4 rows, capacity 47 and 97 rounds, respectively) arrangement of cartridges radially, with bullets to the axis of the disk. At the same time, the magazine did not have a supply spring - its rotation to supply the next cartridge to the chambering line was carried out using a special lever located on the machine gun and driven by the shutter. In the infantry version, the machine gun was equipped with a wooden butt and a removable bipod, sometimes a handle for carrying weapons was placed on the barrel casing. Japanese Type 92 Lewis machine guns (manufactured under license) could additionally be used from special tripod machines.

Bren (Brno Enfield) - English light machine gun, modification of the Czechoslovak machine gun ZB-26. Development of the Bren began in 1931. In 1934, the first version of the machine gun appeared, which was called the ZGB-34. The final version appeared in 1938 and was put into series. The new machine gun got its name from the first two letters of the names of the cities of Brno (Brno) and Enfield (Enfield), in which production was launched. The BREN Mk1 was adopted by the British troops on August 8, 1938.
The Bren was used by the British Army as an infantry squad light machine gun. The role of the easel machine gun was assigned to water-cooled Vickers machine guns from the First World War. The Bren was originally designed for the .303 caliber cartridge, later it was converted to the 7.62 mm NATO cartridge. Machine guns showed good performance in various climatic conditions- from the harsh winters of Norway, to the hot region of the Persian Gulf.

Light machine gun MG 13 "Dreyse" (Germany)

In the late twenties and early thirties, the German company Rheinmetall developed a new light machine gun for the German army. This model was based on the design of the Dreyse MG 18 machine gun, created during the First World War in the same concern by designer Hugo Schmeisser. Taking this machine gun as a basis, the Rheinmtetall designers, led by Louis Stange, redesigned it for store food and made a number of changes. In the course of development, this machine gun, according to German tradition, received the designation Gerat 13 (Device 13). In 1932, this "device" was adopted by the Wehrmacht, which began to strengthen, under the index MG 13, due to an attempt to deceive the Versailles Commission by passing off a new machine gun as an old development of 1913. By itself, the new light machine gun was quite in the spirit of its time, differing only in the presence of an S-shaped double drum magazine with increased capacity in addition to the traditional box magazine for that period of time.
The MG 13 light machine gun is an air-cooled automatic weapon with a quick-change barrel. Machine gun automation uses the recoil of the barrel during its short course. The barrel is locked by a lever swinging in a vertical plane, located in the bolt box below and behind the bolt and in the forward position of the moving parts supporting the bolt from behind. Shooting was carried out from a closed shutter, trigger mechanism. The machine gun allowed automatic and single fire, the choice of fire mode was carried out by pressing the lower or upper segments of the trigger, respectively. Cartridges are fed from a 25-round box magazine attached to the left, spent cartridges are ejected to the right. For use as an anti-aircraft gun or on armored vehicles, the machine gun could be equipped with a twin drum magazine with a capacity of 75 S-shaped rounds. The machine gun was equipped with a folding bipod, for use as an anti-aircraft gun, a light folding tripod and an anti-aircraft ring sight were attached to it. Distinctive features The MG 13 had the ability to move the bipod to the front or rear of the barrel casing, as well as a side-folding metal stock in the standard configuration.

The MG-34 machine gun was developed by the German company Rheinmetall-Borsig by order of the German army. The development of the machine gun was led by Louis Stange, however, when creating the machine gun, the developments of not only Rheinmetall and its subsidiaries, but also other firms, such as Mauser-Werke, for example, were used. The machine gun was officially adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1934 and until 1942 was officially the main machine gun of not only the infantry, but also tank troops Germany. In 1942, instead of the MG-34, a more advanced machine gun MG-42 was adopted, but the production of the MG-34 did not stop until the end of World War II, as it continued to be used as a tank machine gun due to its greater adaptability to this compared to MG-42.
The MG-34 is first of all worthy of mention as the first single machine gun ever put into service. It embodied the concept of a universal machine gun developed by the Wehrmacht based on the experience of World War 1, capable of performing the role of both a light machine gun used from bipods, and an easel machine gun used from an infantry or anti-aircraft machine gun, as well as a tank gun used in twin and separate installations of tanks and combat machines. Such unification simplified the supply and training of troops, and provided high tactical flexibility.
The MG-34 machine gun was equipped with a folding bipod, which could be mounted either in the muzzle of the casing, which ensured greater stability of the machine gun when firing, or in the rear of the casing, in front of the receiver, which provided a larger sector of fire. In the version of the easel MG-34, it was placed on a tripod machine quite complex design. The machine had special mechanisms that provide automatic dispersion in range when firing at distant targets, a recoil buffer, a separate fire control unit, a mount for optical sight. This machine provided firing only at ground targets, but could be equipped with a special adapter for firing at air targets. In addition, there was a special lightweight tripod for firing at air targets.
In general, the MG-34 was a very worthy weapon, but its disadvantages primarily include increased sensitivity to contamination of mechanisms. In addition, he was too labor-intensive in production and required too many resources, which was unacceptable for wartime conditions, which required the production of machine guns in huge quantities. That is why a much simpler and more reliable machine gun MG-42 was born, using more advanced technologies. Nevertheless, the MG-34 was a very formidable and versatile weapon that deserved its place of honor in the history of small arms.

MG 42 (German: Maschinengewehr 42) - German single machine gun of the Second World War. Developed by Metall - und Lackwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß in 1942. Among the Soviet front-line soldiers and allies, he received the nicknames "Bone Cutter" and "Hitler's Circular".
By the beginning of World War II, the Wehrmacht had the MG 34 created in the early 1930s as a single machine gun. For all its advantages, it had two serious drawbacks: firstly, it turned out to be quite sensitive to contamination of mechanisms; secondly, it was too laborious and expensive to manufacture, which did not allow satisfying the ever-increasing needs of the troops for machine guns.
MG 42 was created in the little-known company "Grossfus" (Metall - und Lackwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß AG). The authors of the design: Werner Gruner (Werner Gruner) and Kurt Horn (Horn). Adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1942. The machine gun was put into production at the Grossfus company itself, as well as at the factories of Mauser-werke, Gustloff-werke and others. The production of the MG 42 continued in Germany until the end of the war, and the total production amounted to at least 400,000 machine guns. At the same time, the production of the MG 34, despite its shortcomings, was not completely curtailed, since it, due to some design features(easy barrel change, the ability to feed the tape from any side) was more suitable for installation on tanks and combat vehicles.
The MG 42 was developed under very specific requirements: it had to be a single machine gun, as cheap as possible to manufacture, as reliable as possible and with high firepower (20-25 rounds per second), achieved by a relatively high rate of fire. Although the design of the MG 42 used some parts of the MG 34 machine gun (which facilitated the transition to the production of a new machine gun model in war conditions), in general it is an original system with high combat characteristics. Higher manufacturability of the machine gun is achieved thanks to widespread use stamping and spot welding: the receiver, together with the barrel casing, was stamped from a single blank, while the MG 34 had two separate parts manufactured on milling machines.
As in the MG 34 machine gun, the problem of barrel overheating during prolonged firing was solved by replacing the latter. The barrel was released by snapping off a special clip. Changing the barrel required a matter of seconds and one hand, did not lead to delays in battle.

The Italians, with varying success, used in the First World War "ultralight light machine gun" under pistol cartridge Villar-Perosa M1915, immediately after the end of the war, they began to develop light machine guns, and it should be noted that the most important feature of the “Italian machine gun business” was that they were developing and producing machine guns in Italy for some reason not at all arms companies , in particular, the locomotive building company Breda (Societa Italiana Ernesto Breda). In 1924, the Breda company introduced its first version of a light machine gun, which, along with the light machine gun of the FIAT automobile manufacturer, was purchased in the amount of several thousand pieces. According to the experience of their comparative operation, the Italian army preferred the “locomotive” machine gun to the “car”, and after a series of refinements in 1930, it adopted the Breda M1930 6.5mm light machine gun, which became the main light machine gun of the Italian army in World War II. It must be said that this weapon certainly had a number of positive features (for example, a really quick-change barrel and good reliability), but they were more than “compensated” by a very specific fixed magazine and the need for an oiler built into the weapon for lubricating cartridges. The only user of the Breda M1930 machine guns, except for Italy, was Portugal, which purchased them in the version chambered for 7.92x57 Mauser.

The Breda M1930 light machine gun is an air-cooled automatic weapon with a quick-change barrel. Machine gun automation uses the recoil of the barrel during its short course. The shutter is locked by a rotating sleeve, put on the breech breech. On the inner surface of the sleeve there are grooves, which include the radial lugs of the bolt. When fired, during the rollback process, the sleeve rotates with the help of a protrusion sliding along the spiral groove of the receiver, releasing the shutter. Such a system does not provide reliable preliminary extraction of cartridge cases, therefore, a small oiler in the receiver cover and a mechanism for lubricating cartridges before feeding into the barrel are included in the design of the machine gun. Shooting is carried out from a closed shutter, only with automatic fire. A feature of the ammunition supply system is a fixed magazine mounted on the weapon horizontally to the right. For loading, the magazine leans forward in a horizontal plane, after which 20 rounds are loaded into it using a special clip, the empty clip is removed and the magazine returns to the firing position. The machine gun has a folding bipod, pistol grip fire control and a wooden stock. If necessary, an additional support could be installed under the butt.

The FN model D light machine gun was developed in 1932 by the famous Belgian company Fabrique Nationale (FN) in the development of the FN Model 1930 machine gun, which, in turn, was a modification of the American Colt R75 machine gun, based on the BAR M1918 Browning automatic rifle. The main differences between the Belgian machine gun and the American version were simplified disassembly (due to the introduction of a folding receiver butt plate), a modified trigger mechanism that provided two rates of automatic firing (fast and slow), and most importantly, the introduction of a quick-change air-cooled barrel (hence the model designation D - from Demontable”, i.e. removable barrel). The machine gun was in service with the Belgian army, was widely exported, both before and after the Second World War. In 1957, by order of the Belgian Army, a number of FN model D machine guns were chambered for 7.62x51 NATO, with adaptation for box magazines from the then-new FN FAL rifle. Such machine guns in the Belgian army were designated FN DA1. The production of FN model D machine guns continued until the early 1960s.
The FN model D light machine gun uses gas-operated automatics with a long stroke of a gas piston located under the barrel. Shooting is carried out from an open bolt, the barrel is locked by tilting up the combat larva located at the rear of the bolt. To ensure a reduced rate of fire, an inertial mechanism for slowing the rate of fire is installed in the butt of the machine gun. The machine gun used box magazines with a capacity of 20 rounds, adjacent to the weapon from below. The FN model D light machine gun was standardly equipped with a folding bipod, a pistol grip and a wooden butt. A carrying handle was attached to the barrel, also used to replace the hot barrel. The machine gun could also be used from a special tripod infantry machine.
The serial production of the machine gun was launched by the developer company in 1905, the mass serial production of Madsen machine guns continued until the early 1950s, and in the DISA / Madsen catalogs, its variants were presented until the mid-1960s, while the machine gun was offered to customers "in any of the existing rifle calibers from 6.5 to 8mm", including the then-new 7.62m NATO caliber. In the first half of the 20th century, among the buyers of Madsen machine guns were such countries as Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, China, Russian empire, Portugal, Finland, Mexico and many other countries in Asia and Latin America. At the end of the First World War, the licensed production of Madsen machine guns was planned to be deployed in Russia and England, but for various reasons this did not happen. And despite the fact that in most countries these machine guns were removed from mass armament in 1970-80, they can still be found in more remote corners of the planet, to a large extent due to the high reliability and survivability of the design, as well as high-quality production. In addition to infantry variants, Madsen machine guns were widely used in aviation, from the advent of the first armed aircraft until the 1930s.
SGM was also widely exported and managed to be noted in South-East Asia(Korea, Vietnam), in addition, its copies and variations were produced in China and other countries.
The SG-43 machine gun is an automatic weapon with an automatic gas engine and belt feed. The gas engine has a long stroke piston, a gas regulator and is located under the barrel. The barrel is quick-change, for ease of replacement it has a special handle. On SG-43 machine guns, the barrel is smooth on the outside, on SGM machine guns - with longitudinal lobes to facilitate and improve heat exchange. Locking the barrel - skew the shutter to the side, behind the wall of the receiver. Food - from non-loose metal or canvas tapes for 200 or 250 rounds, tape feed from left to right. Due to the fact that a cartridge with a rim and a tape with a closed link is used, the supply of cartridges is carried out in two stages. First, when the bolt moves back, a special grip associated with the bolt carrier removes the cartridge from the belt back, after which the cartridge is lowered to the level of the bolt. Then, as the bolt moves forward, the cartridge is sent into the chamber. Shooting is carried out from an open shutter. On the SG-43 machine gun, the loading handle was located under the butt plate of the machine gun, between the twin fire control handles. On the SGM, the loading handle has been moved to the right side of the receiver.
The DP light machine gun is an automatic weapon with automatics based on the removal of powder gases and magazine-fed. The gas engine has a long stroke piston and a gas regulator located under the barrel. The barrel itself is quick-change, partially hidden by a protective cover and equipped with a conical removable flash hider. Barrel locking - two lugs, bred to the sides when the drummer moves forward. After the bolt comes to the forward position, the ledge on the bolt carrier hits the back of the firing pin and starts to move it forward. At the same time, the widened middle part of the drummer, acting from the inside on the rear parts of the lugs, spreads them to the sides, into the grooves of the receiver, rigidly locking the bolt. After the shot, the bolt frame under the action of the gas piston begins to move backward. In this case, the drummer is retracted, and special bevels reduce the lugs, disengaging them from the receiver and unlocking the bolt. The return spring was located under the barrel and, with intense fire, overheated and lost elasticity, which was one of the few drawbacks of the DP machine gun.
Food was supplied from flat disk magazines - "plates", in which the cartridges were located in one layer, with bullets towards the center of the disk. This design provided a reliable supply of cartridges with a protruding rim, but it also had significant drawbacks: a large dead weight of the magazine, inconvenience in transportation, and a tendency for magazines to be damaged in combat conditions. USM machine gun allowed only automatic fire. There was no conventional fuse; instead, an automatic fuse was located on the handle, which turned off when the hand covered the neck of the butt. The fire was fired from fixed folding bipods.

The RPD is an automatic weapon with an automatic gas engine and belt feed. The gas engine has a long stroke piston located under the barrel and a gas regulator. The barrel locking system is a development of Degtyarev's earlier developments and uses two combat larvae movably fixed on the sides of the bolt. When the shutter arrives in the forward position, the protrusion of the shutter frame pushes the combat larvae to the sides, driving their stops into the cutouts in the walls of the receiver. After the shot, the bolt frame on its way back, with the help of special curly bevels, presses the larvae to the bolt, disengaging it from the receiver and then opening it. The fire is conducted from an open shutter, the fire mode is only automatic. The barrel of the RPD is not interchangeable. Cartridge supply - from a non-loose metal tape for 100 rounds, made up of two pieces of 50 rounds each. Regularly, the tape is located in a round metal box suspended under the receiver. The boxes were carried by machine gun crew in special pouches, but each box also has its own folding handle for carrying. A folding non-removable bipod is located under the muzzle of the barrel. The machine gun was equipped with a carrying strap and allowed firing "from the hip", while the machine gun was located on the belt, and with the left hand the shooter held the weapon in the line of fire, imposing left palm on top of the forearm, for which the forearm was given a special shape. Sights are open, adjustable in range and elevation, the effective firing range is up to 800 meters.
In general, the RPD was reliable, convenient and quite powerful weapon fire support, anticipating the later fashion for belt-fed light machine guns (such as M249 / Minimi, Daewoo K-3, Vector Mini-SS, etc.)

In the second half of the forties, the Soviet army mastered several types of small arms under the intermediate cartridge 7.62x39 mm. With a difference of several years, the RPD light machine gun, the SKS carbine and the AK assault rifle were adopted. This weapon made it possible to significantly increase the firepower of motorized rifle units and thereby increase their combat potential. However, the development of small arms continued, resulting in several new models. The Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD) was replaced by the Kalashnikov light machine gun (RPK).

The development and use of weapons under one cartridge made it possible to significantly simplify the supply of ammunition to the troops. In the early fifties, a proposal appeared to continue the unification of existing systems, this time through the creation of weapon families. In 1953, the Main Artillery Directorate developed tactical and technical requirements for a new family of small arms chambered for 7.62x39 mm. The military wanted to receive a complex consisting of a new machine gun and a light machine gun. Both samples were supposed to have the most similar design using common ideas and details. The terms of reference implied that the new “lightweight” machine gun in the near future would replace the existing AKs in the troops, and the machine gun unified with it would become a replacement for the existing RPDs.

Several leading gunsmiths took part in the competition for the creation of a new shooting complex. V.V. offered their options for promising weapons. Degtyarev, G.S. Garanin, G.A. Korobov, A.S. Konstantinov and M.T. Kalashnikov. The latter submitted two models of weapons to the competition, which were subsequently adopted under the names AKM and RPK. The first tests of the proposed weapons took place in 1956.

Testing and refinement of the proposed machine guns and machine guns continued until 1959. The result of the first stage of the competition was the victory of the Kalashnikov design. In 1959, the AKM assault rifle was adopted by the Soviet army, which to a certain extent predetermined the choice of a new light machine gun. The Kalashnikov machine gun itself was put into service two years later. During this time, the designer improved its design and, while maintaining the necessary degree of unification, brought the characteristics to the required level.

At the request of the customer, the new light machine gun had to repeat the design of the machine being developed simultaneously with it as much as possible. As a result of the RPK designed by M.T. The Kalashnikov was similar in many of its features to the AKM assault rifle. Naturally, the design of the machine gun provided for some differences related to its intended use.

The RPK machine gun was built on the basis of gas automatics with a long piston stroke. This scheme has already been worked out in the AK project and passed to AKM and RPK without significant changes. In terms of the general layout of components and assemblies, the new machine gun also did not differ from the existing and future machine guns.

The main part of the RPK machine gun was a rectangular receiver. To access the internal units, a removable cover with a latch in the back was provided. A barrel and a gas tube were attached to the front of the receiver. The experience of using RPDs and other similar weapons showed that a new light machine gun could do without a replaceable barrel. The fact is that a heavy barrel with relatively thick walls did not have time to overheat even during the use of the entire wearable ammunition load. To increase firepower in comparison with the basic machine gun, the RPK machine gun received a barrel 590 mm long (415 mm for AKM).

Directly above the barrel was a gas tube with a piston. The middle part of the receiver was assigned to the shutter and magazine mounts, the back - to the trigger mechanism. characteristic feature RPK machine gun has become an updated receiver. It almost did not differ from the corresponding part of the machine, but had a reinforced design. The box and lid were stamped from a steel sheet, which simplified production in comparison with the milled units of AK assault rifles.

All details of automation without changes were borrowed from the base machine. The main element of the gas engine was a piston rigidly connected to the bolt carrier. The barrel was locked before firing by turning the bolt. When moving forward, while sending the cartridge into the chamber, the bolt interacted with the figured groove on the bolt carrier and rotated around its axis. In the extreme forward position, it was fixed with the help of two lugs, which were included in the corresponding grooves of the receiver liner. The bolt carrier with its rear part was in contact with a return spring located directly under the receiver cover. To simplify the design, the bolt handle was part of the bolt carrier.

The requirements for the resource of the barrel and various parts of automation led to the need to use chrome plating. The coating received the bore, the inner surface of the chamber, the piston and the bolt rod. Thus, protection was received by parts in direct contact with powder gases that can cause corrosion and destruction.

At the rear of the receiver was a trigger-type trigger mechanism. In order to preserve the maximum possible number of common parts, the RPK machine gun received a USM with the ability to fire single and in automatic mode. The flag of the fuse-translator of fire was located on the right surface of the receiver. In the raised position, the flag blocked the trigger and other trigger parts, and also did not allow the bolt carrier to move. Due to the continuity of the design, the shot was fired from the front sear, with a sent cartridge and a locked barrel. Despite the fears, the thick barrel and firing mostly in short bursts did not allow spontaneous firing due to overheating of the cartridge case.

For ammunition, the RPK machine gun had to use several types of magazines. The unification of the design with the AKM assault rifle made it possible to use the existing 30-round sector magazines, but the need to increase the firepower of the weapon led to the emergence of new systems. Kalashnikov light machine guns were equipped with two types of magazines. The first is a two-row sector for 40 rounds, which was a direct development of an automatic magazine. The second store had a drum design and could hold 75 rounds.

Inside the body of the drum magazine, a spiral guide was provided, along which the cartridges were located. In addition, when equipping such a store, the machine gunner had to cock the spring mechanism for feeding cartridges. Under the action of a cocked spring, a special pusher led the cartridges along the guide and pushed them to the neck of the magazine. characteristic feature the drum mechanism had certain difficulties with its equipment. This process was more complicated and took more time than working with a sector store.

For aiming, the shooter had to use a front sight mounted above the muzzle of the barrel and an open sight on the front of the receiver. The sight had a scale with divisions from 1 to 10, which made it possible to fire at a distance of up to 1000 m. It also provided for the possibility of making lateral corrections. By the time the new machine gun was adopted, the production of a device for firing at night had been mastered. It consisted of an additional rear sight and a front sight with self-luminous dots. These parts were installed on top of the base sights, and if necessary, could recline, allowing the use of the existing rear sight and front sight.

The ease of use of the RPK machine gun was ensured by the presence of several wooden and metal parts. To hold the weapon, a wooden forend and a pistol grip should have been used. In addition, a wooden butt was attached to the receiver. The form of the latter was partially borrowed from the RPD machine gun that was available in the troops. When firing prone or with the bipod resting on any object, the machine gunner could hold the weapon with his free hand by the thin neck of the butt, which had a positive effect on the accuracy and accuracy of fire. Behind the front sight mounts on the barrel were bipod mounts. AT transport position they folded and placed along the trunk. In the unfolded position, the bipods were held by a special spring.

Light machine gun designed by M.T. Kalashnikov turned out to be noticeably larger and heavier than a unified machine gun. The total length of the weapon reached 1040 mm. The weight of the weapon without a magazine was 4.8 kg. For comparison, an AKM assault rifle without a bayonet-knife had a length of 880 mm and weighed (with an empty metal magazine) 3.1 kg. The metal magazine for 40 rounds weighed about 200 g. The weight of the drum magazine reached 900 g. It should be noted that the RPK with ammunition was noticeably lighter than its predecessor. The RPK with an equipped drum magazine weighed about 6.8-7 kg, while the RPD with a tape without cartridges pulled 7.4 kg. All this increased the mobility of the fighter on the battlefield, although it could affect some of the combat characteristics of the weapon.

Well-developed automation, borrowed from the existing model, made it possible to achieve a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. The practical rate of fire was less and depended on the operating mode of the trigger. When firing single shots per minute, it was possible to make no more than 40-50 shots, with automatic fire - up to 150.

With the help of a barrel of increased length, it was possible to bring the initial velocity of the bullet to 745 m / s. The aiming range was 1000 m. The effective range of fire against ground targets was less - 800 m. From a distance of 500 m it was possible to conduct effective fire at flying targets. Thus, most of the combat qualities of the RPK machine gun remained at the level of the RPD available in the troops. At the same time, there was a significant gain in weight and unification of the design with the machine gun. The requirements for the normal combat of RPK and RPD machine guns were the same. When firing from 100 m, at least 6 out of 8 bullets had to hit a circle with a diameter of 20 cm. The deviation of the midpoint of impact from the aiming point could not exceed 5 cm.

RPKS machine gun

Simultaneously with the RPK light machine gun, its folding version of the RPKS was developed, designed for airborne troops. Its only difference from the basic design was the folding stock. To reduce the length of the weapon to 820 mm, the butt was folded to the left and fixed in this position. The use of a hinge and some related parts led to an increase in the weight of the weapon by about 300 g.

Later, a "night" modification of the machine gun appeared. The RPKN product differed from the basic version by the presence of a mount on the left side of the receiver, on which any suitable night sight could be mounted. The NSP-2, NSP-3, NSPU and NSPUM sights could be used with the RPK machine gun. As sighting devices developed, the target detection range increased, although even the most advanced night sights did not allow firing at the maximum possible distance.

The Kalashnikov light machine gun was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1961. Serial production of new weapons was launched at the Molot plant (Vyatskiye Polyany). Machine guns were massively supplied to the troops, where they gradually replaced the existing RPDs. Light machine guns of the new model were a means of strengthening motorized rifle squads and, from the point of view of a tactical niche, were a direct replacement for existing RPDs. It took several years to completely replace obsolete weapons.

Having provided its own army with new weapons, the defense industry began to export them. Approximately in the mid-sixties, the first batches of RPK machine guns went to foreign customers. Soviet-made machine guns were supplied to more than two dozen friendly countries. In many countries, such weapons are still used and are the main light machine gun in the troops.

Some foreign countries mastered the licensed production of Soviet machine guns, and also developed their own weapons based on the purchased PKK. So, in Romania, the Puşcă Mitralieră model 1964 machine gun was produced, and Yugoslavia, since the beginning of the seventies, has been collecting and using Zastava M72 products. Yugoslav specialists further modernized their development and created the M72B1 machine gun. In 1978, the Yugoslavs sold the license for the production of the M72 to Iraq. There, this weapon was produced in several versions. There is information about their own modernization projects.

Iraqi military with RPK machine guns. Photo En.wikipedia.org

Back in the sixties, Vietnam became the most important customer for RPK machine guns. To friendly troops who participated in the war, Soviet Union supplied at least several thousand such weapons. The establishment of relations between the USSR and many developing countries in Asia and Africa, among other things, led to the use of PKK machine guns in many armed conflicts on several continents. This weapon was actively used in Vietnam, Afghanistan, in all the Yugoslav wars, as well as many other conflicts, up to civil war in Syria.

In the early seventies, Soviet gunsmiths developed a new intermediate cartridge 5.45x39 mm. The military decided to make it the main ammunition for small arms, for which several new machine guns and machine guns were developed. In 1974, the AK-74 assault rifle and the RPK-74 light machine gun designed by M.T. Kalashnikov, using a new cartridge. The transfer of the army to the new ammunition affected the further fate of the existing weapons. Outdated AK assault rifles and RPK machine guns were gradually replaced with new weapons and sent to storage, disposal or export. However, the replacement of old weapons continued for a long time, which affected the terms of its operation.

The Kalashnikov RPK light machine gun has become an important milestone in the history of the development of modern domestic small arms. With the help of this machine gun, a serious issue of unification of various rifle systems was resolved. Through the use of general ideas and some unified units, the authors of the project managed to significantly simplify and reduce the cost of the production of weapons while maintaining characteristics at the level of the existing RPD. This was the main advantage of the new machine gun.

Posters for the operation of RPK machine guns. Photo Russianguns.ru

However, the RPK machine gun was not without flaws. First of all, it is necessary to note the decrease in ready-to-use ammunition. The RPD machine gun was completed with a tape for 100 rounds. The RPK included a sector magazine for 40 rounds and a drum magazine for 75 rounds. Thus, without replacing the magazine, the shooter could fire at least 25 fewer shots. At the same time, however, it took less time to replace the magazine than to refill a new tape.

Another drawback of the RPK machine gun was associated with the automation used. Most machine guns fire from an open bolt: before firing, the bolt is in its rearmost position, which, among other things, improves barrel cooling. In the case of the RPK, the cartridge was sent into the chamber before the trigger was pressed, and not after, as in the case of other machine guns. This feature of the weapon, despite the heavy barrel, limited the intensity of fire and did not allow firing in long bursts.

RPK machine guns were actively used by the Soviet army for several decades. Some armies still use this weapon today. Despite its considerable age, this weapon still suits the military of many countries. You can argue for a long time about the pros and cons of the Kalashnikov light machine gun, but the half-century history of operation speaks for itself.

Characteristics

Modern light machine guns have a significantly smaller caliber than heavy machine guns, and, as a rule, are much lighter and more compact. Some light machine guns, like the Russian RPK, are modifications of existing assault rifle designs and use the same ammunition. Changes from the original weapon usually include a larger magazine for cartridges, a heavy barrel to avoid overheating, a more powerful mechanism for sustained fire, and a bipod for a stand.

Light machine guns are divided according to the directions of their use: general-purpose ones can be used for firing from hands or from bipods. Mounted on a bipod or on a sustained fire machine gun, this is predominantly a mounted machine gun, although it can also be used hand-held when mounted on a bipod and the machine gunner working in a prone position in front of it, firing in short bursts.

Light machine guns are also designed to be fired from the shoulder or on the move to suppress enemy resistance or shackle his actions. Fire on the move is a specific tactic that uses this combat ability.

Supply of ammunition

Many modern light machine guns (like the Bren or the Browning M1918 are magazine-fed. Others, such as the MG-34, can use a belt or magazine. Modern light machine guns are designed to fire longer, but in smaller calibers, and use belt-fed ammunition. or from a removable magazine, in particular the FN Minimi with a belt as the main source and with a magazine as an auxiliary when other ammunition is depleted.

Comparison of the characteristics of light machine guns from different countries

Comparison of the features of light machine guns from different countries
Type, country	Caliber, mm	Length, mm / barrel length, mm	Weight, kg	rate of fire, shots per minute	Power type	The principle of operation of automation
Browning M1918A2 (USA)	7.62×63mm	1194 (619)	10	370-600		Removal of powder gases
Chatellerault arr. 1924/29 (France)	7,5	1080 (500)	9,5	550	25-round box magazine	Removal of powder gases
Chosha (France)	8	1150 (450)	8,7	240	20-round box magazine	Long stroke
DP (USSR)	7.62×54mm	1266 (605)	8,4	600	47-round flat disc magazine	Removal of powder gases

Story

Light machine guns appeared in the First World War to increase the firepower of infantry. By the end of World War II, light machine guns were used, as a rule, within the framework of one squad or detachment, and in modern troops a special infantry detachment is created with tactics based on the use of light machine guns to conduct suppressive fire.

machine guns
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