Notes: This weapon was perhaps the first truly original small arms design made by the Russians. It was adopted by the Soviets in 1928, and continued in use as the standard Soviet light machinegun until the 1950s. The DP was built in huge numbers and some can still be found in use in China, Southeast Asia, and Africa today. The DP uses a simple design called the Friberg-Kjellman operating system; it is simple to build and maintain, yet is tough and highly resistant to dirt. The problem with the DP was the ammunition itself; the 7.62mm Nagant cartridge was not really suited to any of the automatic weapon designs of the time, and was difficult to load without jamming. The pan magazine helped greatly in this respect, but was in of itself a weak point. The DP has no semiautomatic fire setting, but the rate of fire is low enough that squeezing off single shots is not too difficult.

Notes: This design was a pre-World War 2 cooperative effort between Russian gun designers Degtyarev and Shpagin. It remained the standard Soviet and Russian heavy machinegun for almost the next 50 years before being replaced in Russian service by the NSV series. The original DShK-38 uses a rotating feed mechanism that reliably fed rounds, but was considered too complex to build and maintain. A redesign was made after World War 2, resulting in the DShK-38/46 (or DShKM). Most Russian-designed tanks in the world are still using the DShK as antiaircraft/commander’s machineguns. The DShK ground mount is usually a wheeled carriage. But some countries have devised a variety of tripod mounts.

Notes: The first machineguns the Russians had were Maxims supplied to the Tsar’s Army by England. By 1905, Tula was capable of reproducing the design and the Russians began producing their own copy as the PM-1905, with a bronze water jacket. The next step was to replace the bronze jacket with a steel one and produce the Maxim in a local caliber, 7.62mm Nagant, with the feed mechanism suitably altered to properly use the rimmed round. The PM-1910 also has a very large port to fill the water jacket to allow it to be filled or topped off faster. This version of the Maxim was produced in huge numbers and remained in service until replaced by the SG-43. It can still be seen in reserve formations of the Chinese Army, Vietnamese Army, Mongolian Army, and even some Eastern European military forces, as well as some of the Third World countries once aligned with Russia or China.

Notes: Work on the machinegun that became the NSV began in 1969, but the first examples were not observed by the West until several years later. The NSV heavy machinegun was designed to replace the DShK in Russian and Warsaw Pact service, as well as for export sales, and it can be found almost anywhere in the world now. The Russians no longer manufacture the NSV; however, it is still being manufactured -- by Metallist Uralsk and Kaspex in Kazakhstan, where the facilities for NSV manufacture were located after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The NSV is for the most part a conventional gas-operated heavy machinegun. The gas system uses a three-position gas regulator, which allows the gunner to compensate for fouling or dirt. The barrel, approximately 41 inches long (as with the KORD, I have not been able to find any solid figures on this) is tipped with a large conical flash hider, and though the barrel looks thin and flimsy, it is actually quite robust. Feed may be from the right or left, but the side from which the NSV feeds is set at the factory according to the needs of the buyer and cannot be changed afterwards without considerable work by an armorer. The receiver is of stamped steel with a combination of welds and rivets holding it together. For the most parts, sights consist of a front hooded post and a rear folding adjustable tangent leaf sight. Ground-mounted versions and those on pintle mounts may also mount an SPP telescopic sight; this sight is a 3x/6x sight with an illuminated reticle similar to that of the PSO-1 telescopic rifle scope. The ground-mounted NSV is also able to mount a 1PN52-1 night vision device. There are a several versions of the NSV, both for ground and pintle use and for internal vehicular use, most of which differ little from each other except in the direction from which they feed or the iron sights they use (or in the case of internal vehicular mountings, the use of electrical triggers instead of manual ones). Ground-mounted versions have what amounts to a rudimentary wooden stock on a strut attached to the bottom of the receiver and a conventional trigger group, while pintle-mounted models normally have spade grips and the associated trigger group. Many NSVs on Russian and Eastern European-built or designed tanks can often be aimed and fired from either inside the turret by the commander, or directly by the commander while standing in his hatch; these use electrical firing mechanisms and the firing controls are just inside the commander’s hatch. The NSV can be fired only from a tripod, pintle, or vehicular mount; while early rumors stated that the NSV could be fired from a bipod, this is in fact incorrect. The standard ground-mount tripod weighs 16.01 kilograms, but there is also a version of this tripod which has a thick armored gun shield in front (AV3) which is meant for used in fixed fortified positions. A special antiaircraft tripod is also available.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan began manufacturing an updated form of the NSV, called the NSVP. This version is for the most part identical to the standard NSV, but the barrel of the NSVP is tipped by a muzzle brake, and a new soft-mount-type tripod was designed specifically for use with the NSVP (and can only be used by the NSVP). This soft mount also has a special cradle on the right side of the tripod for the ammunition box, which improves the balance of the NSVP. The weight of this special soft mount is approximately 27 kilograms. The NSVP is also able to use a standard NSV tripod or pintle mount.

Twilight 2000 Notes: the NSVP does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: This standard GPMG in Russian service fills the same role as the M-60, MAG, MG-3, and other such weapons in other armies. As such, it can be found in the armies of almost every country that is or was once a Russian or Soviet client state, or did business with China. The PK is sort of a mix of ideas from several previous machineguns; however, it is for the most part basically the same Kalashnikov action of the AK series of assault rifles, turned upside down and enlarged. This is added to the belt feed mechanism of a VZ-59, the trigger group of the DP, and the cartridge feed and quick change barrel of the Goryunov (though a shorter barrel). The Kalashnikov/Goryunov action makes it a very reliable and robust weapon, despite the light weight.

Introduced in 1964, the PK replaced the RP-46 and SGM in Russian service. The PK was designed to be used from a bipod or tripod (the tripod is known in Twilight 2000 as the PLT, or Pact Light Tripod, though the weight is actually 7.47 kilograms), or pintle and vehicular mounts. The barrel is heavy, fluted for most of its length, and is 25.9 inches long with a short, conical flash hider at the end. The bipod folds forward and is attached to a reinforced section of the gas tube just behind the gas block. Feed is from the right, and the PK has been seen fed by several different lengths of non-disintegrating link belts and with several different types of ammunition boxes and containers ranging from small canvas bags holding 25 rounds to large boxes containing 250-round belts. (The box for the 250-round belt is not designed to be attached directly to the PK, but the others can be hung on a bracket on the side of the receiver.) Even larger containers are found for variants of the PK used as internal vehicular weapons. The pistol grip is of high-impact plastic, but the stock is made of wood, and its distinctive skeletonized shape is well-known to the troops of most countries.

The PKS is a variant of the PK designed for use as a support weapon and for antiaircraft use; it is normally issued in the Russian Army at the company level. It is essentially the same weapon as the PK, but the bipod is deleted, and the tripod used for the PKS is designed for use in both the ground role and antiaircraft role (the legs are collapsing and can be quickly raised up or collapsed again as necessary). This tripod weighs 9.3 kilograms.

The PKT is designed only for use in an internal vehicle mount, such as a coaxial weapon or the bow weapons found on some Russian-built vehicles. As is typical for such a weapon, it has no sights, stock, pistol grip, trigger mechanism, etc. – it is electrically fired by whatever trigger is used on the vehicle in question, using the vehicle’s sighting devices. The PKT also uses a much longer 28.4-inch barrel.

Kazakhstan has converted many PKT’s into a new version of the PK, which they call the PKD. They essentially took the PKT and put all the manual features back on, turning it into a PK with a longer barrel. The stock is also different, being made from simple tubular metal with an additional buttplate which has a thick rubber recoil pad.

The PKM is the current Russian production version of the PK (and has been since 1969); it is version of the PK which has been lightened by removing the flutes from the barrel and making it from lighter (but stronger) steel, as well as removing any excess metal possible, using almost entirely steel stampings instead of machined steel, and replacing the stock with one made from high-impact plastic (and later, polymer). A hinged support plate was also added to the stock to help support the weapon on the shooter’s shoulder when it is fired from a bipod. There are several variants of the PKM which differ only in minor details; the PKMS uses a different bipod which allows the ammunition boxes (even the large one) to be secured to the right rear leg so that the gun and ammunition can be moved easier. The PKMSN is a PKMS with a bracket allowing the use of Russian night vision devices. The PKMB is a PKM with the stock, pistol grip, and trigger mechanism replaced with spade grips and the associated trigger, for use as a helicopter door gun. Later, a bracket for night vision devices was added to the PKMB.

Though the current standard production version is the PKM, there is in fact another, newer version of the PK, called the 6P41 Pecheneg. The Pecheneg is apparently in limited production and issue, and has been observed in the hands of Russian troops in Chechnya. The Pecheneg looks generally similar to the PKM, but the PKM’s light, quick-change barrel has been replaced by a heavy, fixed barrel tipped with a slightly different flash hider. The Pecheneg also has a carrying handle attached on top of the barrel at the gun’s point of balance. The Pecheneg’s bipod is also attached near the muzzle instead of being near the gas block. The barrel is the same length as that of the PK and PKM (25.9 inches), but the Russians say that the Pecheneg is 2.5 times more accurate than the PKM when fired from a bipod and 1.5 times more accurate when fired from a tripod – something most Western analysts consider impossible simply by making the barrel heavier and fixed. (One also has to wonder about barrel heating during sustained fire.) The Pecheneg does, however, have a mount which can take a wide variety of optics and accessories – which might account for the added accuracy the Russians claim. A new tripod has also been designed for the Pecheneg, which weighs only 4.49 kilograms and is made of lightweight alloys.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The Pecheneg does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

*Since this is strictly an internal vehicular-mounted version, these factors are not important with regards to the Twilight 2000 v2.2 rules.

Notes: This Russian weapon is an improved DPM. Long out of Russian service, it may still be found in China, Vietnam, and several African nations, where it is one of the most common machineguns. The primary difference is that the RP-46 is a belt-fed weapon instead of using the pan magazine of the DPM. The pan magazine may still be used with a few adjustments. Other improvements include an adjustable rate regulator for dirty environments.

Notes: This weapon was designed to replace the Maxim M-1910 in Russian service. As such, the SG-43 is a rather heavy weapon for its role, and normally retains the wheeled carriage of the Maxim. (A later model, the SGM, is fired from a tripod.) Despite the extreme complication of its mechanism, the Goryunov is surprisingly reliable and stoppages are quite uncommon. The barrel is a quick-change type, but the handle tends to get as hot as the barrel, and gloves are normally necessary. Hungarian models of the SGM have a pistol grip, stock, and bipod. By 2003, few countries are employing the Goryunov any more, but some Third World countries still have them, particularly as pintle-mounted guns for BTR-40 armored cars.

Twilight 2000 Notes: As Category 3 and Mobilization-Only units began reaching the front lines, the Goryunov began to appear more and more often.