Bulkin’s experimental tank machine gun (USSR, 1939).
Information about this development by Alexei Alekseevich Bulkin was discovered quite unexpectedly. It turned out that Bulkin had created a tank machine gun in 1939. The machine gun has a gas-operated automatic. The feed of the machine gun is belt, right. The ribbon used was canvas …
The machine gun has an air-cooled barrel with developed fins. So far, this is all the available information about this sample. It is, perhaps, the most little-known development of A.A. Bulkin, which we managed to learn about. It turns out, at least for now, that this tank machine gun is the earliest independent development of Alexei Alekseevich Bulkin.
Machine gun weight - 12.5 kg
Machine gun length - 950 mm
Muzzle velocity – 860 m/s
Number of production parts – 86
Number of parts of complete disassembly – 42
Number of parts incomplete disassembly – 10
The weapon has a variable technical rate of fire, ranging from 600 to 1200 rounds per minute.
Source - “Encyclopedia of Kovrov Weapons 1918-1966”.
Experimental machine gun TKB-264-41/42 (USSR. 1941 - 1942).
A very mysterious exhibit from Tula masters. The first is TKB-264-41 on a tripod machine of D.N. Polyubin. The second is TKB-264-42. On it, to lengthen the barrel while maintaining the dimensions, a buttstock similar to the German MG.34 was used, it had a belt feed (belts for 50 and 100 rounds), and perhaps this is all we know today …
https://forum.enlisted.net/ru/ (based on the materials of the magazine “Kalashnikov”). Experimental light machine guns Simonov (1922 - 1931).
Simonov S.G., who worked in the Bureau of New Designs (BNK) at the Kovrov Machine Gun Plant No 2 under the command of Degtyarev, designed his first light machine gun in 1922. Having become a highly qualified master by this time, he was equally good at turning and milling work, and was an excellent locksmith. The 7.62-mm light machine gun of the Simonov system had a lot in common with the automatic rifle developed by him. The same simplicity of design, the same desire not to copy existing samples, but to look for and find their own solutions. At the same time, there was a desire to eliminate the shortcomings inherent in his firstborn…
Simonov’s merit was that he managed to create a machine gun without a single threaded connection. Even the barrel was connected to the receiver by means of a movable rectangular pin. This fundamental innovation, first implemented by him, was subsequently used in the creation of a number of other designs. A fundamentally important innovation was the exceptional simplicity of the receiver configuration, which could be produced by stamping or casting without further finishing of the outer surface. The internal recesses, the bolt locking liner, the piston guide rod were strictly cylindrical in shape, which did not require complex mechanical work, but made it possible to use simple turning and drilling. The bolt had the same cylindrical shape and, therefore, was also easy to manufacture. The trigger mechanism of the machine gun, unlike the rifle, allowed for the possibility of both automatic and single fire. A closed disc magazine was located on top, which protected the cartridge feed mechanism from dust and moisture. The convenience of using the machine gun in a combat situation was also ensured. The disc could be easily replaced with one hand. Spent cartridges were reflected through the window in the receiver to the right forward, which made it possible to hold the machine gun with the hand from below when firing and provided convenience of shooting. The machine gun was named RPS-26.
There is evidence that in 1927 an experimental batch of machine guns was produced. The machine gun was finalized and its tests lasted until 1931, but it was not adopted for service. The reasons are unknown. There is very little information about Simonov’s weapons, in particular about machine guns. In 1929, a prototype lightweight model with a fixed barrel, with powder gas exhaust, with a finned barrel without a casing was manufactured. The machine gun had an ogya translator, an original retractable arc sight. The bipod was attached to the guide pipe of the rod. The magazine is disc, inserted from the top.
Characteristics: cartridge - 7.62x54, muzzle velocity - 850 m/s, total length - 1165 mm, barrel length - 620 mm, weight with full magazine - 10.32 / 7.94 kg, magazine capacity - 38 rounds..
xperimental Kolesnikov machine gun (USSR. 1926).
In 1924, a competition was announced in the USSR for the creation of a light machine gun. Among the many well-known and not so well-known names, a machine gun designed by I.N. Kolesnikov chambered for 7.62x54 mm was presented. The role of the bolt delay was played by two levers-cylinders, which went into the grooves of the receiver during rolling …
The striker-type percussion mechanism received energy from the recoil mainspring. The firing mode is automatic only. Power was provided from a twenty-round box magazine adjacent to the top. The barrel is non-replaceable, for better cooling it has transverse ribs. Combat rate of fire - 100 rounds per minute. The muzzle velocity of the bullet is 850 m/s.
Experimental Vladimirov light machine gun (USSR. 1942).
And another experimental light machine gun, a participant in the competition announced at the end of 1942 by the Directorate of Small Arms of the GAU for the creation of a light machine gun. Perhaps one of its most mysterious participants, because there is practically no information about him. In addition to the fact that the 7.62x54R cartridge was used as ammunition. The designer of this machine gun is Vladimirov S.V., the creator of the famous large-caliber KPV / KPVT …
The time of creation is the end of 1942. In the photo, we see weapons with rather rough outlines, apparently created specifically for production in wartime, in conditions of a shortage of qualified personnel and a shortage of raw materials. A kind of brother of the British WALL. The reloading handle on the right, the magazine receiver on top, a certain tube under the barrel (gas outlet?) and apparently (well, very likely) a recessed buttstock during transportation are striking.
Experimental DPM-36 machine gun (USSR. 1935).
In 1935, Degtyarev developed an improved version of his DP-28 machine gun, which received the index DPM-36. The machine gun had an air-cooled ribbed barrel, and the feed could be either magazine (with a capacity of 20 or 30 rounds) or belt. The ammunition is standard - 7.62x54. The machine gun also had a handle for carrying …
It can be assumed that the barrels were removable and could be easily replaced. A pistol grip has been added.
A version for airborne troops was also developed with a shorter barrel, the ability to use a bayonet and a 30-round magazine.
A carrying handle was attached to the barrel. The automatic in all versions is gas-operated, as on the DP-28. The tube is located under the barrel. It has a reloading handle in the form of a movable handguard.
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/ , http://sovietguns.blogspot.com/
In 1936, a modernized DPM-36 appeared, designed like the Czechoslovakian ZV-26 light machine gun.
Its characteristic features included: a sector magazine for 30 rounds, attached to the top of the receiver, a recoil spring transferred to the buttstock, and a quick-change barrel, as well as two types of light universal alarm mounts designed by I. I. Bezrukov and I. N. Kolesnikov, which made it possible to turn the DP and DPM-36 into a medium or anti-aircraft machine gun. In the same year, another extremely interesting sample of the Degtyarev amphibious light machine gun appeared, which differed from the previous model in locking with one combat cylinder, a reloading handle made in the form of an underbarrel forearm, as well as the ability to attach a bladed bayonet (we are talking about the above-shown landing version). The weight of the landing machine gun was only 7 kg with a total length of 1050 mm. For this machine gun, Degtyarev designed a light universal tripod mount for landing operations of a very simple design, with a weight of 7.5 kg.
Experimental machine gun ZK-423 (Czechoslovakia. 1942 - 1943).
This is an experimental light machine gun developed by the Czechs by order of the Waffen-SS for the 7.92x33 cartridge. It is apparently one of the first machine guns for an intermediate cartridge …
Interestingly, the Germans ordered not a machine gun from Czechoslovak developers, but an assault rifle, and for what unknown reasons, in the end, after six prototypes, it turned out to be a light machine gun. Apparently, there were some very high requirements for the practical rate of fire. But, one way or another, the ZK-423 was made “machine gun”.
The weapon was fed from a belt for 50 rounds, from a round box adjacent to the left and fired from an open bolt. Of course, this made it possible to have a practical pace of at least 200-300 rounds per minute at a technical pace of about 650 rpm (well, at some finite time interval, of course).
However, the presence of a front handle and a rigid fixation of the box made it possible to shoot handheld, in “assault” mode. So the “assault automatic rifle” still turned out, especially since the weight of the weapon was uniquely low - only 4.75 kg (without the box and cartridges). For comparison: RPD is more than a kilogram heavier.
The resulting prototype passed all tests in 1943 and was ready for production, but there were no orders for the ZK-423. Apparently, the point here was that the role and place of light machine guns for an intermediate cartridge were not yet very clear.
Moreover, the cartridge was not very machine-gun, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the presence in nature of a single MG-42, which was many times more powerful than this product and was quite portable on a bipod, made a light machine gun for an intermediate cartridge not very necessary. One of the produced samples was created for the Czech intermediate cartridge 8x35 Rapid.
Experimental machine gun of Hristo Spasov (Bulgaria. 1927).
The machine gun designed by a self-taught gunsmith, captain of the Bulgarian army Hristo Spasov was tested in 1927 and was something like an attempt to make a light machine gun out of the Maxim. The machine gun operates on a short barrel stroke and is fed from a sector magazine adjacent to the side with a capacity of 20 or 40 rounds, the sighting range is 1500 meters. The cartridge was first 8x50R Mannlicher, and then 8x56R Mannlicher. This machine gun did not pass any official state tests, only at the garrison shooting range “it was poured from a bucket of swamp water and shot into the same bucket.” After that, they compared its disassembly and assembly with the Maxim machine gun. All his inventions (and there were at least three more PPs) were patented by Hristo Spasov in Bulgaria, France, England and Germany…
There is very little information about this machine gun and it is contradictory. One source mentions that locking there is carried out by a type of lever-hinged scheme. In general, its main advantage is that it was designed and manufactured on the knee by a Bulgarian self-taught. And from a technical point of view, something like “Madsen”. In all sources, its good qualities lie in the fact that it fell into the bucket and into the hat after it was doused with swamp water from a bucket and its disassembly and assembly was faster than that of the Maxim machine gun. It is also mentioned in the sources that its bolt is allegedly no more complicated than the bolt of a rifle.
But it must be remembered that Bulgaria was armed with “Mannlichers”. And if we were talking about the bolt of the “Mannlicher” model 1888, then the bolt was really simple, about half the bolt of the DP-27 machine gun. And if you compared it with the bolt of the “Mannlicher” of 1895, then it means that Hristo Spasov made such a mess of it that the Bulgarian industry could not cope with its manufacture, since the “Mannlicher” of 1895 has one of the most complex bolts of rifles.