How Russia's DSHK Heavy Machine Gun Changed War 

Thanks for watching Spare Parts Army! What're your thoughts on the Dshk? It got replaced by the KORD and NSV fairly quickly compared to the M2 Browning which is still trucking along to this day. If you liked this video check out our Evolution of the M249 SAW vid: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PgitBjhziT0.html

True story. I was providing overwatch with “balloon surveillance” on American troops when the ANA was taking fire in the distance. I looked around, and eventually found the source. The Taliban had mounted a DSHK to the back of a Toyota Corolla hatchback, so they could close the hatchback and hide it when they retreated. American forces eventually killed it with a PGM, but it was innovative!

I speak Russian and I have never called this gun myself or heard anyone calling it Dushka))) We call it ДШК (De-She-Ka) that stands for surnames of its inventors (Dyagtyarev & Shpagin) and K - for krupnokaliberniy (large caliber gun). Cheers ;)

The DShK is a fine heavy machine gun. It is very reliable and has good ballistic performance against soft skinned vehicles or light armour. It is generally adequate against common field fortifications but is insufficient against reinforced concrete blockhouses, or bunkers. In the category of heavy machine guns, I personally prefer the KPV, using the 14.5mm API cartridge. While it will not defeat tank armour, it is capable of dealing with most APCs, and LAVs. I have watched a KPV put ten rounds through a Bradley IFV with no serious problems. Granted, that was one of the very early variants, and it is my understanding that the armour on the Bradley was subsequently improved. For engaging harder targets we would employ a ZU-23, 23mm super heavy MG. It took out almost everything on the ground we fired it at. We were taking sniper fire from some terrorists, and we couldn't determine what part of the building they were firing from. Knowing that every civilian had fled the town, we just demolished the entire building with our ZU and KPVs. No more sniper!

The 12.7 round has significant penetration. In Vietnam, around our 81 pits, one or two rows of sandbags was adequate for 7.62. After one night, hit with 12.7 rounds, we always had three rows on the perimeter side. The DSHK also used green tracers that our 106s hunted.

Maybe the next Russian machine gun you could look at is the Kord, which replaced the DSHK or the KPV, which is a machine gun that fires 14.5 mm cartridges. Wish you all the best!

Kord and the NSV needs a separate video in my opinion.

12,7х108 wasn't an anti-tank round, it was designed as anti-material round. The "anti-tank" round was 14,5mm that got developed a bit later, and made 12,7mm obsolete in that direction right off the bat.The main purpose of DShK wasnt fighting tanks, but low-flying planes instead, since B-30 could pierce up to 16mm plating, so it could pierce the engine block\elerons. Tri-pod mount shows it's purpose with its huge vertical angle. In the war-time, they began to get mounted on armored cars, small ships, APCs, light tanks. We made Kord not because of the licensing issue, but because manufacturing plants were beyond Russia's borders, main one in Uralsk, nowadays Kazakhstan. Instead of hoping to re-do the manufacturing inside the country, we just rolled the competition, and got Kord adopted in the army. NSV is still being manufactured, but not by us, we make Kords now. While M2s were also used as the aircraft-mounted machineguns, we've made another machine gun for aircrafts in 12,7x108 - UB\UBT.

In the early 80s I was at a Soviet firing range where Soviet military personnel showcased some weapons like the "bezsumnij" (silencer) version of Makarov and the DSHK, explaining that the DSHK is excellent against enemy forces hiding in buildings and to prove it a soldier started to fire short rounds against a wall at a distance of around 100 meters(yards) the wall disappeared just in a few seconds...

"Why can't the American military come up with a fancy new lightweight .50 cal?" As a former 2111, there is a real need for new .50 cal machine gun. The M2 platform is great and all, but it's super maintenance heavy and requires much more skill than modern armorers are trained with to keep in service. Pretty much every other weapon system in inventory has gotten to the point where all you have to do to repair it is swap out the appropriate part. The M2 and M2A1 are not like that. There are a lot of parts that have to be fitted and adjusted properly during installation, some of which the TM tells you to replace but doesn't tell you how. There are too many parts that break or fall out of adjustment way too easily leading to tons of unreliable systems in use. If the flat spring on the bottom wears out, it can cause the fire rate to slow down and grind to a halt. If the fiberboard buffer disks in the backplate assembly get any CLP or grease on them, you have to throw them all away and replace them otherwise the weapon will still function but parts will wear prematurely causing an eventual breakdown. Setting headspace on the M2A1 is a huge pain in the ass because you do it via 16 different sized breechblocks, and you can only order one at a time so if you screwed up your initial measurement you wouldn't find out until weeks later when the part came in. The list is way longer, but I digress. I can't tell you how many units I saw either couldn't make mission or took deadlined machine guns outside the wire as a result. If your unit had ones that were reliable, it was because you had at least one armorer that really knew their shit. Thus, I believe there is not only need for a more modern lightweight .50 cal, but also mechanically simpler. I think it's totally doable from an engineering standpoint, the M2 is about a hundred years old at this point. The only problem is going to the US Army Ordnance Corps and their "infinite wisdom".

The Sh in the DShK stands for Shpagin, not Shepnayev as you told at 3:43. The same Shpagin that designed the PPSh

I shut Dushku once, first thing first about it is the sound, i believe it injures the shooter as equal as the bullets injuring the one being shot at, latterly comes the shock wave, it is usual for newbies to even lose their heading direction and cause friendly fire because of it, let alone aiming at something, and last but not least is the recoil, it moves through your body hitting all of your bones, most of soldiers bit a piece of cloth while shooting in order to avoid biting their tongue.

While "душка" is indeed Russian word, I've never heard Russians calling it that. Seems they only pronounce the letters D-Sh-K "deh sheh kah" (дэ-шэ-ка). Sort of like "krinkov" is American only thing, never used in Russian parliance or by anyone else.

I always thought the barrel ribbing was for her pleasure. Thanks for clarifying it's to keep the weapon cool

My cousin used both the M2 and the Dushka and according to him the M2 is slightly more accurate on sustained fire but the dushka is more mobile and it was more easily set up on an elevated tripod on rooftops and able to shoot at everything from small suicide drones to shooting across rooftops, something the M2 couldn’t do because of the tripod design it uses

I can't be the only non-service member who loves all these weapon break down videos (really just the videos in general). I really love watching the stuff not related to American doctrine/equipment. keep making them Chris!

This channel is GREAT for telling you about stuff that will not affect ANY war. Infantry man Chris CLEARLY understand this too ...just making another video.

The reason that the US can't come up with a light weight 50 cal is that it would take The Committee 30 years and $3,000,000,000 to research the need for one. Then they would have to wait for China to send the microchips for them. Also, they would have to be made of titanium/ceramic/carbon fiber.

This thing gives off a fat muzzle flash, been seeing the DSHK in combat watching news clips for over 40 years. That muzzle flash was always a dead giveaway, especially in Afghanistan at nights where they were quickly prioritized located and destroyed as they are very deadly.

0:25 Sorry Cappy, that's an NSV in that picture. 1:39 And that's a KPV, which fires the even larger 14.5x114mm round.

Man, task and purpose is so good he makes a review about a machine gun that is easier to watch than many video game reviews by many AAA youtuber.

Remember children, the 12.7MM is not a Mosin Nagant caliber. #neverplayvangard.

I counted three instances of KPVT footage, which is 14.5x114mm.

Love ya, Cappy! Your humor paired with the informative videos makes for hours of viewing fun. Keep the videos coming!

from Russia with love

I used the M2 and also the M2A1 when they first came out. The A1 was a nice upgrade. Cappy, you're easily in my top 3 favorite RU-vidrs.

12,7x108, in case your opponent hides behind 3 Houses…

Loved my time with the DSHK

I fired one back in Yugoslavia when it was falling apart. It kicks like a mule and the hearing protection was insufficient. But it is a cool piece of kit especially since we peacekeepers had nothing over 7,62x51 mm to keep us safe. So they let us play with it to make a point.

The thing I love about kord machine gun is that it is fed from the right and ejection takes place on the right side. It has the forward ejection system. Rumour has it, it is been also used as a sniper by putting a scope on the weapon. Can you please make a video on Kpv machine gun too?

It's "red army" before 1946, 'soviet army' until 1990. Just a minor rectification about the development part.

I've read a decent amount about these two systems...and still had questions....today they were answered. Thanks Cappie!

Soviets: Okay, we have a new weapon Everyone else: OUR weapon

The Dskh is cool and all, but when you remember that the 14.5 is the real top-of-the-line HMG, the 12.7mm just looks small. It's just barely not an autocannon

The Russian round might be bigger, but because of its lower max pressure it is basically 50 BMG's ballistic twin

I still remember them from the Lebanese civil war especially during the years 1975-1977. The dushka was used by all the different parties during this period but we started to see them less in East Beirut in favor of the browning in the 80's. The Lebanese forces had a fleet of T-55/54 tanks delivered by Israel and Is still remember them on top of these tanks but machine guns on Jeeps and M113 where all browning that we used to simply call them 12.7

Great video on a weapon that doesn't get the respect that it deserves and it is pretty fun too shoot as well. It took a bit getting used to since it was on a 4ft tall tripod

the russian heavy machine gun named(dshk) in 12.108mm. very efective in any matters. is the ideal gun for war

Rhodesian special forces used them on external raids, and for Harrison and hard point defenses. The SADF encounters them up in Angola, and they were added to the SADF compliment and used as desired, again mainly by special forces and specialized infantry units. Very well respected

Dude you are a legend. Thanks for doing these videos super level headed approach to understanding heavy weapons

You’re legit funny and informative at the same time. Love this channel

Interesting piece of trivia about it, some of the parts for the DSHK were made by Chrysler during WWII. I’ve personally seen the round rear anti-aircraft sight that was marked Chrysler.

Problem with Soviet cost estimates: That's the price central planners put on parts and materials that they were buying, and many factories operated at steep losses for extended periods before costs were adjusted to match reality.

I can easily imagine people taking cover behind a big building, not realizing that this gun can shoot through it like butter

This channel is getting better and better.

I have a friend who spent alot of time in Russia and he gave me this quote about Russian firearms. "The AR platform is ment to be assembled, parts can be swapped between them and replaced. The AK is made to be built. The Soviet union created city size factories to make these firearms as cheaply as possible. Without the initial investment to stamp and forge your steel, you are stuck making shit cast AKs like the American companies."

I love your videos about every weapons you made with their history on how the guns was known for, can you cover how sights are used in different environments?

Awesome vid as usual Cappy! Stay safe keep it beautiful dude

When I fired the German MG3 the recoil was well controlled, in spite of its blistering rate of fire. American machine guns' recoil isn't that well controlled. I could still hit targets with the .50 cal. though. Most of the guys in our company did not try to use the sights on the gun. They would try to walk the fire onto the target. I had good results using the sight and having my squad leader spot the rounds for me. I noticed from pictures of sailors firing naval .50's that they kept their heads away from the sights, so that they could still use the sights while they were trying to walk the rounds onto the target. I don't know how effective they were, but that seemed like the best approach to me.

I think you may have shown the wrong round at 1:58 and 2:02 when talking about the earlier German big bore caliber. The image yall showed was the 7.92x94mm, a far smaller round that the Russian 12.7x108mm. Infact, the 7.92x94mm actually went into service a couple years after the 12.7x108mm. I think yall meant to show the 13.2x94mm TuF round the Germans developed in the First World War. The 7.92mm round yall showed is no doubt an immensely interesting round but it in no way shaped or influenced the 12.7mm

Would love to hear an answer as to why after over 100 years the US still hasn't replaced the M2 with something that's effectively jam-free.

Your more serious approach at presentation is more enjoyable to watch and listen to. Thanks for the change, I’ll resubscribe.

My father was a Navy Sniper in Vietnam. (16 confirmed) He bitterly recalled a story of engaging one of these Machine guns as it engaged an OV-1 Bronco, Army light attack plane He took out the crew, but they managed to take out the plane.

I'm digging all the videos coming out lately!! Keep up the great work dude! 👍👍 Dushka means beloved person... That you want to shoot with a heavy machine gun. The least part gets lost in translation.

DSHK firing team: Commander: Comrade,do u see that house over there ? Gunner: Da, comrade! Commander: I don't want to!

The Dyshka is like a Matrushka doll, it keeps giving surprises. 😂

One thing that always impressed me about the DSHK is it's use of flaps to lock the bolt, just like the DP-27-John in Texas

Reminds me of the An-225 Mirya. Both from their Soviet origins, both are massive and both still used to this vey day but under new management and uses.

Not Dishka, but Dashka. The name Dashka came from the female name (Dasha, Daria), just like Svetka - SVT-40 (Sveta, Svetlana), and Ksuha - AKS-74U (Ksyusha, Oksana). There are also names such as "Sapog" (Boot) - SPG-9 and Pokemon - PKM.

The DShK machine gun is a large-caliber machine gun of 12.7 mm caliber, created on the basis of the DK machine gun and named after its creators - military engineers Degtyarev and Shpagin. Soldiers affectionately called DShK - "Dushka"(Sweetheart). In 1946, military engineers Sokolov and Korov modernized the DShKM machine gun and it was put into service.

I was Gunnersmate as an ETT with the ANA and I would say the DSHK was damn solid when it was running however in my experience there were a lot of problems with tolerances and material reliability the ones I was working with were pretty unreliable but I believe that was from dated manufacturing and poor care. The ANA had a knack for breaking their crew serves even the mighty PKM suffer pretty bad. We had one DSHK on the test fire range catch a runaway and the ANA shooting it panicked and ran away from the gun I watched an unmanned DSHK run all the way through its belt. free floating on a tripod. If that thing flipped or spun everyone on the line would have been for some bad news. The tripod had those seized up threads and kept the barrel down range. MASSIVE BUTT PUCKER moment in my life.

Hello Cappy. What's your opinion on South African Armored Vehicles and Other weapons of Cold war era? especially Vektor CR 21 from District 9 , Casspir APC , G6 Rhino, RATEL , ZT3 Ingwe Laser guided wireless ATGM and DENEL Rooivalk ?

The IRA had 2 DSHKs they mounted one technical style and parked it in the car park of a Police station. This was to show that they actually had DSHKs and obviously had lots of them if they were just handing one over as an example.

meny DSHKs i saw had a piece of steel case tac welded on- since it uses live cartridge or shell as charging handle - it takes time to fiddle on one each time, also saw fancy homemade folding charging handles attached to it- one was rememberable because made out of modified flip up motorcycle foot rest ... Yugoslavian war

Love the video I've always known about all the different dshk variants I just never knew how and why they came to be.

Hi cappy, thanks for the Indian Armed forces videos.. 🥰 😍

Additional trivia for anyone who runs into this: The 12.7*108 and 12.7*99 rounds, while markedly different in dimensions, have fairly comparable ballistics because of the way the Russians load their ammo. (Sauce is vaguely recalling Ian talk about that in one of his videos) An AKS-74U is, in trading, worth about 2-3 DSHK machine guns, or four camels, in the Afghani weapons markets (sauce is remembering one of the TFB guys talking about it) Lastly, you just lost the game

You know you’re on a real safari, when you’re cruising in a technical.

Fun fact: former Yugoslav National Army (JNA) had and used both DŠK and Ma Duce. In fact, despite Yugoslavia being nominally a part of communist block (but not Warsaw pact), it had more M2s than DŠKs. And M2 had a bit more love among the grunts, though they used to call it in mispronounced designer's name (Broving instead of Browning which is largely kept up to this day). The reason why they preferred Browning was firstly, as already stated, there were more of those so they had more contact with them. Secondly, DŠKs came here slapped on Soviet tanks mostly, so mainly tankers only had contact with those, while M2s were mounted on pretty much anything. Either way, they all loved the effect on target of either. Even much later, when an anti-material rifle was designed (M93 Crna Strela, meaning Black Arrow), it was chambered in both BMG and 12,7x108 with BMG being far more common.

Ultimately the M2 setup seems like it may have a slight velocity edge with a slightly longer barrel and higher pressure cartridge. My understanding is the Russian round has more case capacity, but it isn’t used…more of a buffer to lower the pressures.

1:57, that's the wrong bullet. That's a later 7.92mm armor piercing bullet. The ww1 anti-tank German bullet was the 13.2mm TuF . They made a machine gun that fired those rounds, the MG18, but only in small numbers, at the end of the war. The Treaty of Versailles forbid them to further develop machine guns. That's why some believe the M2 was inspired by the MG18.

Had a DSHKA shooting at me my second day in Iraq back in '04. It gets your attention.

Great channel Cappy keep up the good work.

That new intro was awesome!

Big DShK energy

Dude I laughed my ass off over the are f'in kidding me size ,I watched it 6 times your delivery was on point man

The name Dshka is not the same as dushka that is simpl a nickname because it’s sounds similar It’s just like the gun PPsH which is pronounced “papa-shaw” in Russian. Those aren’t just random letters for them they are actual words in just seems weird thinking about it in the context of our western languages that generally use the same letters and follow similar rules. Just wanted to clarify that since i recently got into an argument about this and spent time looking into it and it’s hard to get a simple answer like what I just gave cus everyone is confused lol. So hopefully that helped.

The newer Russian kord is a huge upgrade over the this legacy platform

It does carry a specific meaning in Russian, "душка" as a person kind of life of the part, nice to deal with. Not someome special, not even close. DSHKA is the prononciation of actual name. And it is extremely reliable, except when made in China. :)

"If you have a Toyota Hilux but it doesn't have a DShK on the back, you have an incomplete truck my friend" ~ every Insurgent and Rebel forces

"Comrade, machine gun is light and recoils hard." "Here new machine guns. Much lighter with an even higher rate of fire."

1:40 I think that's a KPV and not a Dushka. Cool video by the way. Nice to see you give some more love to Soviet engineering.

"Mom, can we have an M2?" "We already have an M2 at home." *The M2 at home:*

I'd love to see more about the Kord now. I didn't know it could be used almost interchangeably with a medium machine gun

I always drive around with a .50 duct taped to the top of my truck. Who doesn't?

I was enemy force 1989, on a Canadian lynx. While waiting for the enemy to show up I grab some duck Tape, pop cans, empty flares tubes and my AFV hand book I made DShK . When the attack was over some troops dismounted to check out new enemy force machine gun. They where very disappointed…lol

You’re really going for quality and quantity

Always wondered what was attached to those Toyotas. Now I know. Great video.

Heres another fun fact, the Zastava M93 Black Arrow anti material rifle firs the dshk round, which is why I often time say when comparing it to a .50BMG, that its a .50 but BIGGER

Duh, somebody must create a channel called "comments for T&P videos" 1. too many wrong HMGs in the video, from varius Chinese 12.7mm to 14.5mm KPVT 2. German 13.2mm round has had quite a lot of energy to cycle a machine gun, which Germans actually made as TuF. Also, pictured round appears to be much later 7.9mm PzB round, which again has had plenty of energy to cycle experimental MGs ;) 3. Development of DShK has nothing to do with M2, which has not been born yet, but it stemmed from German TuF and British Vickers .50 In fact, before adopting 12.7x108, Soviets experimented with .50 Vickers (12.7x81) cartridge in late 1920s 4. DK has no revolving feed mechanism, but just a cartridge drum. Revolving belt feed was designed by Schpagin (check your spelling, man), and hence the change to DSHK name 5. Most modern DShK in use are of DShKM pattern of 1946, with redesigned "slab-top" belt feed which has nothing to do with Schpagin ;) 6. It was as "obsolete" as a Ma-Deuce by 1941 against tanks, but both were quite effective against light armor and aircraft. PS if you really want to do decently accurate videos about Russian equipment, feel free to contact me, and I'm not joking.

Mr Cappy, I think you would be interested to know about Fyodorov, Degterev's teacher. The guy was first to create semi-automatic rifle in Russian forces and arm a full experimental regiment with that. The rifle was planned to be a better alternative for Mosin rifles, but due to some problems they were not produced in normal numbers, thus Soviet solders had to use old Mosins in WW2. The SVT-40 rifle is something similar.

Dont forget the big f-king muzzle LOUDENCER it has... The sound of it is amazing.

As a fellow left eye dominant shooter, I feel your pain Cappy

Reject M240B accept DShK superiority

“It’s not my fault I can’t aim, I’m left eye dominate.” That hit me hard.

One of my college roommates was "drafted" into a Lebanese militia (they put an AK47 to your head, ask if you want to join and reply is "good idea!"). He liked the DSHK, he pronounced it as Daash-ka, not disk-ka. He now runs a three star restaurant in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

hah, my friends dad was tanker during 80s, and once they fired up DshK mounted on T-55 turret on range, they would not have been able to hit large rectangular board representing hovering helicopter at 500 metres xD

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just like the M2, the DSHK will be around for a long time.

my father was a North Vietnam Army officer in '68 and he described how his unit used Dshks in ambushes. often they had two Dshks set up in a cross fire on either side of the hwy. when a column of US M113s came along they first hit them with RPGs thus making the GIs bale out and he would spray them with the Dshks' 12.5mm AP rounds. the GIs would be cut to pieces. one hit and the guy would be in half. most never got out of the APC. soon the M113s would start to burn. AKs and 50mm motars would finish off the rest of the invaders if any did manage to get out. small pits had been prepared to throw the Dshks and motars in and the guns were quickly buried. then they would run to bunkers to wait out the inevitable air strike. days later they would retrieve their equipment no worse the wear and the dirt. suffice to say the Dshk helped win the war.

I fucken love the sense of hummor you have in your videos . After a fucked up day . I watch one the jokes crack me up makes it all worth it . Keep it up bud