Degtyaryov light machine gun

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DP machine gun

Type Light machine gun
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1928 - 1960s
Production history
Designer Vasily Degtyarev
Designed 1927
Number built  ??
Variants DP, DPT, DPM, DPA, RP-46
Specifications
Weight 9.12 kg
Length 1,270 mm
Barrel length 604.5 mm
Cartridge 7.62 x 54 mm R
Action Gas-actuated
Rate of fire 500 to 600 round/min
Muzzle velocity 840 m/s
Effective range ~800 m
Feed system 49 (47 in practice)
Sights Front: Post w/ears
Back: Tangent leaf

The Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova Pekhotnyi (Degtyaryov hand-held infantry machine gun) was a light machine gun used by the Soviet Union starting in 1928. It fired the 7.62 x 54 mm R cartridge. The DP was a good weapon on the battlefield for the most part: it had great stopping power and had an average rate of fire for weapons of this class. It was also cheap and easy to manufacture - early models had fewer than 80 parts and could be built by unskilled labour. The DP was especially able to withstand dirt. Humorously, it was said to fire better if sand were thrown on it. In tests it was buried in sand and mud and was still capable of firing more than 500 rounds. The DP's main drawback was its bipod; this part could not withstand much abuse and easily broke. Also, the magazine, which was usually a pan with 47 rounds that fed in from the top, was relatively small and continuous fire for long periods could not be relied on as much as could be with other weapons of the time, such as the belt-fed Browning .30-cal; however, the DP's pan magazine did provide for more continuous fire than the 20-round box magazine of the BAR M1918A2. It took some time to load a new pan magazine onto the weapon, and each magazine took a much longer time to load with ammunition. However, the DP's lower cyclic rate of fire meant a reduced risk of the barrel overheating. The DP machine gun was supplemented in the 1950s by the more modern but problematic RPD machine gun and entirely replaced in Soviet service by the general purpose PK machine gun in the 1960s.

Variants:

  • DPM, modernized version adopted in 1943-44, with a more robust bipod fastened to the cooling jacket and the recoil spring housed in a tube projecting from the rear of the receiver which necessitated a pistol grip for this model of the weapon
  • DA, for mounting in aircraft (Дегтярёва авиационный, Degtyaryova Aviatsionny; ДА)
  • DT and DTM, for mounting in AFVs (Дегтярёва танковый, Degtyaryova Tankovy; ДТ and ДТМ)
  • RP-46, belt fed version adopted in 1946 (manufactured in China as the Type 58)
  • A semi-automatic-only version has recently been released in the United States [1].

The original DP is more commonly called the DP-28 (or DP-27), although there is some confusion as to whether these are official designations or not.

[edit] In Popular Culture

The Degtyaryov was used in the following games:

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

 v • d • e Soviet infantry weapons of World War II
Side-arms
TT-33 | Nagant M1895
Rifles & carbines
AVS36 | SVT40 | Mosin-Nagant
Submachine guns
PPD-40 | PPSh-41 | PPS-43
Grenades
F1 | RGD-33 | RG-41 | RG-42 | RPG-43
Machine guns & other larger weapons
M1910 Maxim | DS-39 | DP | SG-43 Goryunov | DShK | PTRD | PTRS
ROKS-2/ROKS-3
Cartridges used by the USSR during WWII
7.62 x 25 mm TT | 7.62 x 38 R | 7.62 x 54 mm R | 14.5 x 114 mm
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/e/g/Degtyaryov_light_machine_gun.html"