Foreign Weapons: Happiness is a Warm Belt-Fed
In a controlled environment, foreign firearms can be a lot of fun, especially full autos.
By Cameron Hopkins
8/13/10
The classroom work is complete and today we test-fire some of the arms we’ve learned about. We start with the Tokarev and Makarov pistols. There’s a row of Bianchi plates, and some of us hit more than we miss. The Tokarev, with its bottleneck .30-cal. round, feels like a .38 Super in an M1911. The Makarov with its 9x18 mm in a blowback system feels like a stout .380 ACP. I hit more plates with the little Makarov for some reason.
Next up is the gun everyone loves to hate, the AK-47. We’re each given two 25-round magazines and told to fire a few rounds in semi-automatic before moving the selector to full-automatic. As I rip off a short burst, I feel the clackety-clack of all that flex and jump we’d seen in the slow-motion video. I hold the trigger back and lean into the gun, keeping the muzzle from climbing high and right. The longer the burst, the more I can feel the action slamming about. This is a crude gun, I think. Reliable, but crude.
Now the mats come out and an RPD belt-fed goes down on its bipod. This is the light machine gun firing the same 7.62x39 mm as the AK-47. We each get a 50-round belt. We’d already learned how the RPD, like all Soviet machine guns, uses a non-disintegrating metallic belt. Howard Heeg, LMO’s chief armorer, flips the top cover and shows me how to position the first round on the feed tray in the “ripper,” which pulls a round out of the belt. I slap the top cover down and flip the safety to fire. “Let ’er rip,” Heeg says.
I fire one short burst, feel how the gun is totally controllable, hardly moving on the bipod, and then I squeeze and hold the trigger in a long stream that churns the berm into a cloud of dust. The empty belt spits itself out. “Now that’s a good burst!” Heeg says enthusiastically.
We end with the PKM, a medium machine gun firing the antique 7.62x54 mm R cartridge, the same as the Mosin-Nagant bolt-action, c. 1891. While the round is essentially the same, the modern cartridge is stronger for reliability in machine guns. The PKM is awesome! It shoots smoothly and controllably and spits its rimmed empties out with alacrity. Of all the guns I’ve seen this week, this is the one I want to take home.
We wrap up with a presentation on the RPG 7 by Dan Shea, owner of Long Mountain Outfitters. Contrary to popular belief, RPG does not stand for “rocket-propelled grenade;” it’s a Russian acronym. It’s actually a recoilless rifle firing a rocket-assisted grenade (there’s a difference), which Dan explains along with much more arcane information about this curious weapon system, including how to sabotage one found on the battlefield to give our enemies a little surprise when they go to use it again.
I shake hands with the Picatinny guys, say goodbye to Babb and head past the vault. I’m struck with how much I’ve learned about foreign arms in the past week. Trust me, keep your fingers well-clear of the Dushka’s top cover.
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