PKM-PKMS

September 11, 2008

which were developed later on the PKB machine gun intended for armored personnel carriers and the PKT machine gun intended for tanks. In 1969 the PKM (6P6) modernized machine gun with reduced weight by 1.5 kg and a number of changes: the ribs of the barrel were removed, flash suppressor, operating handle, buttplate and trigger guard were changed while the receiver cover was reinforced and introduced the folded shoulder rest.
The machine gun features the rapidly removed barrel, it is a gas-operated weapon with the gas-regulator and the barrel locked by the bolt rotation.
The operating handle is arranged to the right and remains stationary during the fire. The firing mechanism intended only for automatic mode of fire. The fire is delivered from the rear sear. The thumb safety locks the trigger.
The machine gun is fed from the cartridge-belt activated by the lever mechanism located to the right. The feeding of cartridges from the belt link is not straight. The ports of the receiver and the mag¬azine are covered by the spring-actuated shields.
The curve-slide sight is provided with a device of lateral corrections.

The bipod is folded. The buttstock is designed to grip it with the left hand.
In the course of time the wooden parts were replaced for plastic ones. The «Night» version of PKMN is intended for the mount of unilluminat-ed sights of the NSPU-3 and NSPU-5 type or the optical 1P43 and 1P29 type.
The PK was provided with the 6T2 tripod mount developed by E.S. Samozhenkov and the PMK was provided with the lighter by 3.2 kg 6T5 with a device to attach the magazine box devel¬oped by L.V. Stepanov.
The PKM general-purpose machine gun is still operational in many countries of the world and gained the deserved reputation, owing to its effi¬ciency, reliability, and easy to use capability, of the weapon featuring high combat qualities. The dupli¬cates of the PK and PKM were made in China, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

Specifications
Caliber……………………….7.62mm
Weight of PKM w/o ammunition load…………….7.5 kg
Weight of PK w/o ammunition load……………..9.0 kg
Machine gun length ……………..1,173 mm
Machine gun length on mount ………..1,270 mm
Barrel length…………………….658 mm
Bullet muzzle velocity……………. 825 m/sec
Rate of fire ………………….650 rds/min
Effective rate of fire………………250 rds/min
Cartridge-belt capacity…………100.200 of 250 rds