Ukraine Makes Best Operational Use of Vintage Machine Guns

Ukraine was once used as the forward repository of weapons and ammunition for the Soviet Union and much of that legacy remains, which Kyiv is putting to good use. Kyiv Post earlier reported how 60-year-old S-125 air defense launchers firing 40-year-old missiles was having success against modern Russian missiles and drones.

Let’s look at two even older weapons that Ukraine’s armed forces are using to good effect on the battlefield in the war with Russia.

RPD light machine gun

The Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova (Degtyarov Hand-Held Machine Gun), RPD light machine gun was designed by Vasily Degtyaryov in 1943 and, while some made their way to the battlefield at the tail end of World War II it didn’t go into large-scale production in the Soviet Union until 1953.

It was designed as a replacement for the DP machine gun which had been introduced in the 1920s and was intended to be used as a section support weapon that could be operated by a single soldier.

The RPD was chambered for the 7.62 x 39mm M43 cartridge which became the standard small arms round for the USSR, Warsaw Pact countries and others used by the ubiquitous AK 47 beloved of “freedom fighters” the world over.

It was considered by many to be the grandfather of the general-purpose machine guns (GPMG) medium caliber automatic squad support weapons such as the US M-60, the FN Minimi and the UK L86 light support weapon.

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Considered by “aficionados” as a simplistic weapon it is precisely why the RPD has proved popular with armed forces the world over and is still used even after it was replaced by Kalashnikov’s RPK.

It is a gas-operated long-stroke piston weapon that fires from an open bolt and is full auto only. The chamber and barrel are chromed, which is vital because most Soviet-era ammunition is highly corrosive. It has a three-position gas valve which allows the weapon to compensate for the accumulation of dirt, adverse weather and battlefield conditions.

The RPD has an effective firing range of 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) with a firing rate of around 650 rounds a minute and is fed by two non-disintegrating 50-round belts contained in a drum-shaped box magazine.

In Vietnam, US special forces used RPDs with cut-down barrels as an individual close quarter weapon because it was so much lighter than the US M60, the box magazine was less liable to snagging and it had an impressive rate of fire. For those reasons and more, the RPD is now being extensively used by Ukraine forces for trench clearing.

Jonathan Ferguson, keeper of firearms at the UK’s Royal Armories Museum, explains why the 80-year-old machine gun has become a weapon of choice for Ukrainian troops, rather than one born out of necessity:

PM M1910 heavy machine gun

The battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine raged for ten months from July 2022 until May 2023 as Russian forces battled against stubborn resistance from Kyiv’s troops in fortified positions that were able to repel countless attacks and inflict horrendous casualties on Moscow’s forces.

Journalists and milbloggers were shocked to see Bakhmut’s defenders using a weapon that first appeared more than 140 years ago – the PM (Pulemyot Maxima) M1910 belt fed, heavy machine gun.

PM M1910 is Russia's version of the UK’s Maxim machine gun which first appeared in the 1880s. Moscow’s version, as the nomenclature makes clear, entered service in 1910 and saw action during the Russian civil war and both World Wars. The use by Ukrainian forces makes it undeniably the world’s longest-serving machine gun.

The PM M1910 is a belt-fed, water-cooled weapon chambered for the 7.62×54mm rimmed cartridge. It was declared obsolete by the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s, to be replaced by more advanced, lighter-weight weapons, at which times literally hundreds were put into long-term storage. At that time the concept of trench warfare was considered to be well and truly over

The war in Ukraine has proved that to not be the case and that has also breathed fresh life into the Maxim. Military analysts say the PM M1910 is the “ultimate sustained fire machine gun,” and “The best thing is… there are thousands of them in store in basically pristine condition.” A sentiment the author of this piece can attest to having inspected PM1910s (and RPDs) in their original preservative in a secret Ukrainian storage site 20 years ago.

Used in defensive positions, the weight of the weapon and its water-cooling system is not the disadvantage it would be in offensive action. A BBC report from Bakhmut in March 2023 quoted Ukrainian defenders as saying the weapon “… can literally fire all day.” Another added, “… it only works when there is a massive attack going on… then it really works. We use it every week.”

Despite the impressive firepower it offers, it does have disadvantages: it has to be fired from a semi-fixed position, although the wheeled mount allows it to be dragged into place, it needs a two-man crew to service it, and it needs a water supply if it is to be effective in the sustained fire role.

Ferguson gives us the lowdown on the Maxim machine gun and what it has to offer Ukraine:

Undoubtedly there are other weapons and materiel lurking in Ukraine’s storehouses that will supplement and hold their own alongside the modern weapons systems Kyiv’s allies are able to provide. Thus far they have proved more adept at using weapons from bygone eras than Russia.