7.62 mm Ruchnoy Pulemyot DP Light Machine Gun

DP 7.62 mm Ruchnoy Pulemyot Light Machine Gun

7.62 mm DP

Materials available to the enemy in 1951

Operation: Automatic fire, only
Length: 50.8 in. (1290 mm)
Weight unloaded: 20 lb 8 oz (9.12 kg)
Barrel: 23.8 in. 4 grooves, right hand twist
Magazine: 47 round detachable pan
Cyclic Rate: 500-600 rpm
Muzzle velocity: 2760 fps, 2900 ft-lb
Ammunition: 148 gr bullet, 48 gr charge, Russian Light Ball M'08
Effective Range: Probably about 1000 meters

The 7.62 mm Ruchnoy Pulemyot DP (Degtyaryova pakhotnyi) was adopted by the Soviet army in 1928. It is extremely simple, yet remarkably reliable and robust. It remained the standard light gun until the 50's, and the USSR supplied large numbers of them to the North Korean Communists in the Korean war. The secret of the DP was the simple locking device, which made use of locking flaps on the bolt, pushed out by the firing pin.

DP bolt

The DP uses a long stroke gas piston, located under the barrel, which operates a bolt with two side-mounted locking flaps. When the bolt comes into the battery the stud, mounted on the bolt carrier, pushes the firing pin forward. A thick part of the firing pin swings the rear parts of the locking flaps out of bolt and into the locking recesses in the receiver walls. When the shot is fired, a bolt carrier on its way back retracts the flaps out of receiver walls into the bolt and then opens the bolt. The DP fires from the open bolt.

One of the few drawbacks was that the recoil spring was located under the barrel, around the gas piston, and the spring tended to loose its temper due to overheating. Another drawback was the flat pan magazine, necessary for the rimmed cartridges available at the time but too heavy, awkward to carry and easily damaged.

When the DP was improved as the model DPM, the main improvements were relocating the recoil spring to the rear of the bolt, and an extension added behind the receiver to contain the spring. This forced redisigning the stock with a pistol grip.

Captured DP
 Marines with weapons captured in raid on Hill 15, Detroit

Three Marines from Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines who participated in the raid on Hill 15 (Detroit) display captured enemy weapons and materials. The Marine on the left has a Moisin Nagant while the Marine in the center holds a DP (DP 7.62 mm Ruchnoy Pulemyot Light Machine Gun).


Search Site
KW Weapons
HOME
KW Photos
Bulletin Board

Marines
Haditha

Haditha Marines need your Help !

About Vietnam Protesters

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for

 A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vaincourt


© Kortegaard Engineering ©

Document:
Last Update: