DShK
DShK on wheeled mount with shield.
Type	Heavy machine gun
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1938 – Present
Used by	See Users
Wars	Winter War World War II Korean War Chinese Civil War First Indochina War Vietnam War Laotian Civil War Dhofar Rebellion Cambodian Civil War Cambodian-Vietnamese War Sino-Vietnamese War Six-Day War Yom Kippur War Iran-Iraq war Northern Ireland Lebanese civil war Gulf War Yugoslav wars Iraq War Afghan War Cambodian–Thai border stand-off Libyan civil war Syrian civil war
Production history
Designer	Vasily Degtyaryov, Georgi Shpagin
Designed	1938
Variants	DK, DShKM , DSHKS, Type 54 HMG
Specifications
Mass	34 kg (74.96 lb) (gun only) 157 kg (346.13 lb) on wheeled mounting
Length	1,625 mm (64.0 in)
Barrel length	1,070 mm (42.1 in)
Crew	1+
Cartridge	12.7×108mm
Action	gas-operated reloading
Rate of fire	600 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	850 m/s (2,788 ft/s)
Effective firing range	2000 m
Maximum firing range	2500 m
Feed system	belt 50 rounds
Sights	Iron/Optical

The DShK 1938 (ДШК, for Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, 'Degtyaryov-Shpagin Large-Calibre') is a Soviet heavy machine gun firing the 12.7×108mm cartridge. The weapon was also used as a heavy infantry machine gun, in which case it was frequently deployed with a two-wheeled mounting and a single-sheet armour-plate shield. It took its name from the weapons designers Vasily Degtyaryov, who designed the original weapon, and Georgi Shpagin, who improved the cartridge feed mechanism. It is sometimes nicknamed Dushka (lit. "Sweetie", "Dear"), from the abbreviation.

History

The requirement for a heavy machine gun appeared in 1929. The first such gun, the Degtyaryov, Krupnokalibernyi (DK, Degtyaryov, Large calibre), was built in 1930 and this gun was produced in small quantities from 1933 to 1935.

The gun was fed from a drum magazine of only thirty rounds, and had a poor rate of fire. Shpagin developed a belt feed mechanism to fit to the DK giving rise, in 1938, to the adoption of the gun as the DShK 1938. This became the standard Soviet heavy machine gun in World War II.

Like its U.S. equivalent, the M2 Browning, the DShK 1938 was used in several roles. As an anti-aircraft weapon it was mounted on pintle and tripod mounts, and on a triple mount on the GAZ-AA truck. Late in the war, it was mounted on the cupolas of IS-2 tanks and ISU-152 self-propelled guns. As an infantry heavy support weapon it used a two-wheeled trolley which unfolded into a tripod for anti-aircraft use, similar to the mount developed by Vladimirov for the 1910 Maxim gun.^[1] It was also mounted in vehicle turrets, for example, in the T-40 light amphibious tank.

In 1946, the DShK 1938/46 or DShKM (M for modernized) version was introduced.

In addition to the Soviet Union and Russia, the DShK has been manufactured under license by a number of countries, including the People's Republic of China, Pakistan and Romania. Today, it has been mostly replaced in favour of the more modern NSV and Kord designs. Nevertheless, the DShK is still one of the most widely used heavy machine guns.

In June 1988, during the conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, a British Army Westland Lynx helicopter was hit 15 times by two Provisional IRA DShKs smuggled in from Libya and forced to crash-land near Cashel Lough Upper, south County Armagh.^[2]

DShKs were also used in 2004, against British troops in Al-Amarah, Iraq.^[3]

In the 2012 Syrian civil war, the Syrian government said rebels used the gun mounted on cars. It claimed to have destroyed, on the same day, 40 such cars on a highway in Aleppo and six in Dael.^[4]

Users

Template:Multicol

•  Afghanistan^[5]
•  Albania^[5]
•  Algeria^[5]
•  Angola^[5]
•  Armenia^[5]
•  Azerbaijan^[5]
•  Bangladesh^[5]
•  Belarus^[5]
•  Bulgaria^[5]
•  Cambodia^[5]
•  Cape Verde^[5]
•  Central African Republic^[5]
•  Chad^[5]
•  Chile^[6]
•  Congo-Brazzaville^[5]
•  Cuba^[5]
•  Cyprus^[5]
•  Czechoslovakia: Produced DShKM variant.^[7] (former user)
•  Czech Republic^[5]
•  Democratic Republic of Congo^[5]
•  Egypt^[5]
•  Equatorial Guinea^[5]
•  Eritrea^[5]
•  Ethiopia^[5]
•  Finland^[5]
•  Georgia^[5]
•  Ghana^[5]
•  Guinea^[5]
•  Guinea-Bissau^[5]
•  Hungary^[5]
•  Indonesia^[5]
•  Iran: Manufactured DShKM variant.^[8]
•  Iraq^[5] called the "Doshka" by Iraqis
•  Israel^[5]
•  Kazakhstan^[5]

Template:Multicol-break

•  Kyrgyzstan^[5]
•  Laos^[5]
•  Libya^[5]
•  Lithuania^[5]
•  Macedonia^[5]
•  Madagascar^[5]
•  Mali^[5] - Armed and Security Forces of Mali
•  Malta^[5]
•  Mongolia^[9]
•  Mozambique^[5]
•  Nicaragua^[5]
•  Nigeria^[5]
•  North Korea^[5]
•  North Vietnam^[7](former user)
•  Pakistan: Used by the Pakistan Army. DShKM variant produced locally. ^[10][11]
•  People's Republic of China: Produced DShKM variant.^[7]
•  Peru^[5]
•  Poland^[12]
•  Russian Federation^[5]
•  Serbia^[5]
•  Seychelles^[5]
•  Sierra Leone^[5]
•  Slovakia^[5]
•  Somalia^[5]
•  Soviet Union^[7]
•  Syria^[5]
•  Tanzania^[5]
•  Togo^[5]
•  Turkmenistan^[5]
•  Uganda^[5]
•  Ukraine^[5]
•  Vietnam^[5]
•  Yemen^[5]
•  Yugoslavia: Manufactured DShKM variant.^[8] (former user)
•  Zambia^[5]
•  Zimbabwe^[5]

Template:Multicol-end

Non-state users

• Iraqi insurgency^[3]
• Provisional IRA^[13]
• Viet Cong: Extensively used during the Vietnam War.^[7]
• Anti-Gaddafi forces: Used along with other heavy automatic weapons mounted on technicals during the Libyan civil war.^[14]
• Syrian opposition in the Syrian civil war (according to the government)^[4]

Gallery

• 
  DShKM TR-85M1
• 
  DShKM URO VAMTAC
• 
  DShKM T-55
• 
  DShK M1938
• 
  DShK of later series in Batey ha-Osef museum, Israel.
• 
  Albanian DShKM probably of Chinese origin - Close Air Defence version.
• Iranian soldier with DShKM, Iran-Iraq War.
  Iranian soldier with DShKM, Iran-Iraq War.

See also

• FN BRG-15
• KPV heavy machine gun
• Kord machine gun
• M2 Browning machine gun
• NSV machine gun
• List of Russian weaponry

References

• Koll, Christian (2009). Soviet Cannon - A Comprehensive Study of Soviet Arms and Ammunition in Calibres 12.7mm to 57mm. Austria: Koll. p. 53. ISBN 978-3-200-01445-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

• DShK and DShKM at guns.ru.
• Video of Operation