Weapons of the Afghan dushmans. Hand, easel and uniform machine guns
Due to the specific conditions of warfare in mountainous areas, the use of machine guns in the Afghan war had a number of features. Small groups of rebels preferred light and single machine guns, which were fired from bipods. Rifle-caliber easel machine guns were used to a limited extent, and mainly on flat terrain.
Machine guns were sometimes mounted on vehicles that were used as motorized carts.
Light machine guns
In the initial period of the Afghan war, the most common light machine guns in the armed opposition groups were the Czechoslovak ZB-30 chambered for 7,92 × 57 mm and the British Bren chambered for .303 British.
Among weaponsseized from the rebels, machine guns ZB-30 and Bren
Both ZВ-30 and Bren machine guns were developed before the Second World War on the basis of the Czechoslovak ZВ-26, they have the same principle of operation, but differ in a number of parts and ammunition used.
The ZB-30 light machine gun was created taking into account the experience of operating the ZB-26 machine gun and was distinguished by the design of the eccentric that set the shutter in motion and the firing pin actuation system. The weapon had a gas cock, which made it possible to regulate the amount and intensity of the flow of powder gases into the cylinder. Due to hardening in order to increase the reliability of a number of parts, the weapon became somewhat heavier, the weight without cartridges was 9,1 kg.
7,92 mm ZB-30 light machine gun without magazine
Food was supplied from a 20-round magazine. Rate of fire: 500–550 rds/min. The initial speed of the bullet is 760 m / s.
Mujahideen in sunglasses is armed with a ZB-30 machine gun
In the second half of the 1930s, Nazi Germany sold weapons to Afghanistan. Together with 7,92-mm rifles, machine guns were supplied, produced at the enterprises of the annexed Czech Republic. In addition, clones of Czechoslovak 7,92-mm light machine guns were produced in China during World War II. It is possible that these weapons could also get into Afghanistan.
The British 7,7-mm Bren machine gun was in service with the Pakistani army, and Pakistan handed over some of the outdated machine guns to the Afghan rebels by the early 1980s.
For firing from the Brenn, the same cartridges were used as for the Lee-Enfield rifles popular with spooks, which ensured the unification of ammunition.
7,7 mm Bren light machine gun
Without a magazine, the Bren Mk II machine gun weighed 8,68 kg. The length of the weapon is 1 mm. Barrel length - 156 mm. The initial speed of the bullet is 635 m / s. Rate of fire: 730–500 rds/min Combat rate of fire - up to 540 rds / min.
The main external difference between the English Bren and the Czech-made machine gun was a curved magazine for 30 rounds of .303 British.
In terms of their characteristics and operational reliability, both light machine guns differed little. But due to the more capacious store, the British model had a slightly higher practical rate of fire.
In the post-war period, the Afghan army, along with other Soviet weapons, received DP-27 machine guns, which are easily distinguished from other light machine guns by the characteristic "poppet" shape of the magazine for 47 rounds.
Although the Degtyarev light machine guns chambered for 7,62x54mm R were not as widespread among the dushmans as the ZB-30 and Bren, Soviet soldiers regularly captured them along with other types of light small arms.
The detachments of the Afghan Mujahideen had Soviet RPD light machine guns chambered for 7,62 × 39 mm, but its Chinese clones were much more numerous.
Chinese light machine gun Type 56
Licensed production of Type 56 light machine guns began in the late 1950s. Chinese samples had characteristics similar to the prototype and minimal differences in details.
The RPD light machine gun has gas automatics, similar to the DPM, developed at the end of the war. However, instead of a store, it is equipped with tape power. The tape, docked from two pieces of 50 rounds, is in a round box attached to the weapon from below. Unlike the PDM, the RPD machine gun has a non-replaceable barrel, which made it possible to make the machine gun simpler and reduce weight.
The mass of the RPD with a box of 100 rounds is 9 kg. Length - 1 mm. Barrel length - 037 mm. The initial speed of the bullet is 520 m / s. Effective firing range - up to 735 m. Rate of fire: 800-650 rds / min. Combat rate of fire - up to 700 rds / min.
In photographs from the time of the Afghan war, it is not possible to distinguish with which machine guns, Soviet or Chinese production, the militants are posing. But there are many such photos on the Internet.
Also common among the Mujahideen were the Soviet 7,62-mm RPK light machine gun and the Chinese Type 74 conceptually similar to it. Both samples fired with 7,62 × 39 mm cartridges.
The Type 74 machine gun was designed on the basis of the Type 56 machine gun, which in turn copies the AK-47.
Chinese light machine gun Type 74
The Chinese Type 74 differs from the Soviet RPK in a number of details: there is a carrying handle, a buttstock of a different shape, machine gun power from magazines for 20, 30 and 100 rounds. There is also a gas pressure regulator with four positions, which are used depending on the degree of contamination of the automation with powder gases.
Without cartridges, a Chinese light machine gun weighs a little more than 6 kg. Length - 1 107 mm. Barrel length - 528 mm. The initial speed of the bullet is 735 m / s. Rate of fire: 700–750 rds/min.
In the late 1980s, spooks had at their disposal single copies of the 5,45-mm RPK-74 / RPKS-74 light machine guns.
5,45-mm light machine gun RPK-74
The weight of the RPK-74 has not changed compared to the RPK (without cartridges - 5 kg), but the small-caliber machine gun has become 20 mm longer (total length 1 mm).
Reducing the recoil momentum and a shorter time of flight of the bullet to the target made it possible to improve the accuracy of shooting by about 1,5 times compared to the 7,62-mm RPK. The mass of wearable ammunition with the same stock of 5,45-mm cartridges is 1,5 times less than with the cartridge mod. 1943.
On RPK-74 there was a refusal from the disk store. The machine gun is fed from a sector-shaped box magazine with a plastic case and a staggered two-row arrangement of 45 rounds. Standard AK-74 magazines can also be used.
The use of a low-impulse 5,45 × 39 mm cartridge with a 3,45 g bullet that left a 590 mm barrel at an initial speed of 960 m/s made it possible to increase the range of a direct shot, which generally had a positive effect on the effectiveness of shooting in open areas. However, when conducting combat operations in the "green" light high-speed bullets showed a low penetrating ability and easily changed the direction of flight when they encountered even minor obstacles.
Machine guns
The government Afghan army was armed with machine guns SG-43 and SGM under the Soviet rifle cartridge 7,62 × 54 mm R. Machine guns on wheeled and tripod machines were delivered to Afghanistan, and some of them ended up with dushmans.
The Goryunov machine gun on a universal wheeled machine, which allows anti-aircraft fire without a belt, weighed almost 37 kg, on a tripod machine - 27,8 kg. Box weight for 250 rounds: 9,5–10,25 kg. Machine gun body length - 1 140 mm. The length of the rifled part of the barrel is 670 mm. The initial speed of a bullet weighing 9,2 g is 855 m / s. Rate of fire: 650–700 rds/min. Combat rate of fire - up to 300 rds / min.
The barrel of an air-cooled machine gun. Conducting intensive firing bursts is possible up to 500 shots, after which it is necessary to replace or cool the barrel.
It was possible to install an anti-aircraft sight, which added another 600 g of weight. The anti-aircraft sight is designed for firing at air targets flying at a speed of no more than 600 km / h at a distance of up to 1 m.
Most of the SG-43 and SGM machine guns, as well as their Chinese Type 53 and Type 57 copies used by the rebels, were equipped with anti-aircraft sights, which indicates the universal purpose of easel machine guns.
In addition to the SG-43/SGM and Type 53/57, our troops occasionally captured British 7,7 mm Vickers machine guns and Soviet 7,62 mm Maxim machine guns of the 1910/1930 model.
Everything is clear with the Vickers, this machine gun was in service in Pakistan and, as part of military assistance to the rebels, was transferred along with Bren light machine guns and Lee Enfield rifles. How the easel "Maxims" ended up with the dushmans is not entirely clear. It is possible that in the late 1950s the USSR supplied to Afghanistan not only the SG-43 and SGM, but also Maxim machine guns.
Single machine guns
As mentioned above, the rebels used machine guns under a rifle cartridge to a limited extent. This was due to the fact that in the mountainous terrain everything had to be carried on oneself, and a heavy machine, in fact, was a dead weight, and the high firepower of heavy machine guns in conditions of fleeting clashes when firing at manpower was in most cases not needed. Low maneuverability, coupled with the need to prepare a heavy machine gun for firing and equip a firing position for it, did not add to the popularity of this weapon among the rebels, who acted on the principle of "hit and run."
The wide use of machine guns of rifle caliber as a specialized means of air defense was hindered by the insufficient firing range and the relatively low damaging effect of bullets, the weight of which did not exceed 13 g.
In the conditions of Afghanistan, along with manual ones, the so-called "single" machine guns were in demand. Which could fire from bipods and from the machine. At the same time, they had belt feed, which provided them with a sufficiently high rate of fire and air cooling of the barrel, giving an acceptable weight.
In small numbers, the rebel detachments had Soviet RP-46 machine guns. This single machine gun chambered for 7,62 × 54 mm R, adopted by the Soviet army, was created immediately after the war on the basis of the DPM light machine gun, but, unlike it, had a belt feed. The RP-46 machine gun was supposed to become a support weapon for infantry companies, similar to the German MG-34/42.
Company 7,62-mm machine gun RP-46
The RP-46 machine gun used non-loose metal belts for 200–250 rounds, carried in special boxes borrowed from the SG-43 machine gun. The machine gun did not have any special mounts for installing a box of cartridges, which to some extent made it difficult to operate it in combat conditions.
The massive barrel allowed for intense fire, up to shooting the entire tape in one burst. Rate of fire - 600-650 rds / min. Practical rate of fire - up to 200 rds / min. Machine gun weight without tape - 13,7 kg. Length - 1 272 mm. Barrel length - 605 mm. The initial speed of the bullet is 825 m / s.
It is known that the PRC licensed production of the RP-46 under the designation Type 58, and it is likely that such Chinese machine guns were supplied to the rebels.
Along with other Chinese weapons, starting in 1983, dushmans gained access to Type 67 machine guns chambered for the same Soviet rifle cartridge 7,62 × 54 mm R.
Type 67 machine gun on bipod
Unlike many other types of small arms produced in Chinese factories during the Cold War, the Type 67 machine gun did not have Soviet relatives. In fact, it was a conglomerate of technical solutions copied from foreign models. The tape feed mechanism was borrowed from the Maxim machine gun, the shutter with the percussion mechanism was from the Czech ZB-26, the trigger mechanism was from the PDM, the gas regulator was taken from the RPD, the method of attaching the barrel in the receiver was from the SG-43.
The body of the machine gun weighs about 11 kg. Length - 1 650 mm. Barrel length - 605 mm. Rate of fire - 650-700 rds / min. The machine allows anti-aircraft fire, for which there is a special sight in the accessories.
Oddly enough, the Chinese designers from the "hodgepodge" of components and parts managed to pile a fully functional, albeit not shining with particularly high data, weapons. In China, they believe that the Type 67 machine gun, in terms of its characteristics, came close to the Soviet PC. However, if this were the case in reality, the PLA would not have adopted the PKM clone, which was produced under the designation Type 80.
The most numerous and popular single machine guns used in the Afghan war were the Soviet PK and PKM. These machine guns were regularly in service with the Soviet units of the "limited contingent", the army and the security forces of the DRA.
PKM machine gun on bipod
The Kalashnikov machine gun uses a well-developed gas-operated automatic system, the barrel is locked by a rotary bolt. The gas outlet unit has a three-position gas regulator. The barrel is air-cooled, the barrel is quick-change, for ease of replacement it has a carrying handle. Cartridges are fed from non-loose metal tape.
In Afghanistan, the modernized PKM, which was put into service in 1969, mainly fought. The non-modernized PK is heavier and outwardly distinguished by a ribbed barrel, a shoulder pad on the butt and a different flash hider.
PKMS on the machine 6T5
The option, which had a tripod machine in the factory, is designated as PKMS. Although the Kalashnikov machine gun can be used from a machine gun, in the mountains it is much more convenient to use a bipod. The worst stability when firing from bipods was fully compensated by the lower weight.
The weight of the PKM on the bipod is 7,5 kg. Another 3,9 kg weighs a box with a tape for 100 rifle cartridges. The mass of a machine gun with a loaded belt for 200 rounds is 15,5 kg. Machine gun length - 1 173 mm. Barrel length - 658 mm. The initial speed of the bullet is 825 m / s. Rate of fire - 650-700 rds / min. Practical rate of fire - 200-250 rds / min. When firing from a tripod, an experienced machine gunner is able to confidently hit targets at a distance of up to 800 meters. The machine gun on the bipod is effective up to 650 m.
Since 1982, the Chinese company Norinco began producing the Type 80 machine gun, which was actually a copy of the PKM adapted to local production conditions. Foreign sources say that the Chinese Type 80 machine gun is about 0,5 kg lighter than the PKM due to the reduction in structural rigidity. However, after understanding the operating experience in the harsh conditions of Afghanistan, the modified model became heavier again.
Since the second half of the 80s, Soviet-made PK / PKM machine guns and Chinese Type 1980s have been quite numerous in the armed opposition groups. With an acceptable weight, they deservedly had a reputation for powerful, accurate and reliable weapons.
Single machine guns were often used for firing not only at ground targets, but also at air targets. However, without reliable fixation or support on a hard surface, machine gun fire on helicopters and attack aircraft was ineffective.
For the most part, the rebels used machine guns of 12,7–14,5 mm caliber to combat air targets, and a separate publication will be devoted to the air defense systems of the Afghan Mujahideen.
However, there are photographs showing that the Mujahideen had 12,7-mm American Browning M2 machine guns and 14,5-mm Vladimirov machine guns, on machines that can only fire at ground targets.
Such machine guns were used to fire at roadblocks and transport columns, and could also successfully deal with light armored vehicles. However, due to their narrow specialization, large-caliber machine guns on non-universal machines were not popular, and their use was episodic.
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