The DShK M1938 (, for ) is a Soviet heavy machine gun. The weapon may be vehicle mounted or used on a tripod or wheeled carriage as a heavy infantry machine gun. The DShK's name is derived from its original designer, Vasily Degtyaryov, and Georgi Shpagin, who later improved the cartridge feed mechanism. It is sometimes nicknamed Dushka (, ) or Dochka () in Slavic-speaking regions and in the DShK using countries, from the abbreviation.

Specifications

The DShK is a belt-fed machine gun firing the 12.7×108mm cartridge, and uses a butterfly trigger. it has an effective range of , and can penetrate up to 20 mm of armor up to a range of 500 m. The initial design used the same gas operation from the Degtyaryov machine gun, and used a 30-round drum magazine, but had a poor rate of fire. Georgy Shpagin revised the design by changing it to a belt-fed with a rotary-feed cylinder, and the new machine gun began production in 1938 as the DShK 1938.

During World War II, the DShK was used by the Red Army, with a total of 9,000 produced during the war. In 1944, a much cheaper muzzle brake patterned after the Polish Wz. 35 anti-tank rifle was introduced instead of the complicated early design. After 1945, the DShK was exported widely to other countries in the Eastern Bloc.

In 1946, an improved variant was produced, with a revised muzzle and feeding system. Named the DShK 38/46 or DShK-M, over a million were produced from 1946 to 1980. and Czechoslovakia. China produced their own variant of the design, designated the Type 54.

After World War II, DShKs were used widely by communist forces in Vietnam, starting with the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. While not as powerful as anti-aircraft cannons, the DShK was easier to smuggle through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Rebel forces utilized DShKs in the Syrian civil war, often mounting the gun on cars. In 2012, the Syrian government claimed to have destroyed 40 such technicals on a highway in Aleppo and six in Dael.

The DShK began to be partially replaced in the Soviet Union by the NSV machine gun in 1971, and the Kord machine gun in 1998.

Variants

  • DShK-38: the original version of the DShK.
  • DShK 38/46: a modernized version of the DShK 38 introduced in 1946. The weapon is commonly referred to simply as the DShKM.
  • Vz.38/46: a Czechoslovak license version of the DShKM whose feeding mechanism was modified to allow the breech to be loaded from left or right and allow twin or quad mount.
  • Type 54: a copy of the DShKM illegally produced by Norinco of China, which continues to be manufactured under Norinco's license in Pakistan and Iran.
  • MGD-12.7: a Type 54 variant produced by Iran.

Users

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  • : Produced DShKM variant Type 54.
  • (still used with TR-85 tanks).
  • : Passed on to successor states.

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File:MTU-2 ring mounting (1).jpg|A Soviet armed with the DShK machine gun on the MTU-2 ring mount, 1944

File:Зенитчики бронепоезда «Железняков» у пулеметов ДШК.jpg|The DShK anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on the Soviet armoured train Zhelezniakov, May 1942

File:Kurdish militant with machine gun, Northern Iraq, 1991.jpg|A Kurdish fighter firing the DShK during the 1991 Iraqi uprising

File:12,7-мм станковый пулемёт ДШК образца 1938 года.jpg|The WW2-era DShK M1938 anti-aircraft machine gun in the Artillery Museum (Saint Petersburg)

File:Mitraliera DShK UM Cugir.jpg|A Romanian DShK chambered in 12.7×99mm NATO on display at Expomil 2005

File:A soldier with the Ukrainian Land Forces fires a Degtyaryov-Shpagin Large-Caliber heavy machine gun.jpg|A soldier with the Ukrainian Land Forces fires a DShKM

File:Black Sea Defense and Aerospace 2010 (6).jpg|DShKM TR-85M1

File:Romanian URO VAMTAC S3 in service with the Romanian military.jpg|DShKM URO VAMTAC

File:DShK on T-55 DD-SD-01-05147.JPEG|DShKM anti-aircraft machine gun on a T-55 tank loader's roof hatch

File:Anti-aircraft gun in Museo Giron.jpg|The M53 is an anti-aircraft mounting of four 12.7&nbsp;mm heavy machine guns vz. 38/46 (Czech copy of Soviet DShKM)

</gallery>

See also

  • FN BRG-15
  • HMG PK-16
  • KPV heavy machine gun
  • List of Russian weaponry

References

Further reading

  • Leszek Erenfeicht (29 August 2012). "Dushka: The Soviet Fifty Caliber". Small Arms Defense Journal. Vol. 4, No. 3.
  • DShK and DShKM at guns.ru.
  • Video of Operation