Surprisingly, there was a time when the creators of the same submachine guns were proud, you know what? By polishing their wooden parts and their high quality! And it should be really high enough so that the mechanism would sit firmly in them, and the tree would not swell from dampness, but … the main thing in the weapon should have been such qualities as cheapness (not to the detriment of reliability!) And high fighting qualities (not to the detriment of manufacturability!), and not a beautiful finish and the chosen varnish. After all, weapons in a combat situation do not last long. And what's the point of having one lacquered and nickel-plated submachine gun, if your opponent has them … five, rusty, assembled from water pipes, but still shooting?
It is best to write about a weapon, at least by holding it in your hands. So, although the author of this material did not manage to shoot from the PPSh, he managed to hold it in his hands. What did you dislike the most about this 1943 model? The butt was short! The author's arms are too long … And so … everything else was good.
It would seem that the obvious things are written here, isn't it? However, in the twentieth century, the realization that this was exactly the case, and nothing else, reached the designers, production workers and the military (which is also very important!) Only by 1938 and came from the experience of two wars at once: “the wars of the Gran Chaco »Between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932-1935) and the Spanish Civil War.
MP-40 - rough and iron. It was necessary to hold it while firing by the textolite pad in front of the magazine receiver and nothing else. But no one (not even the Germans themselves, prone to pedantry and all kinds of instructions) did this. Well, it was convenient to hold it behind the store. Convenient, and that's it!
The latter, by the way, is not over yet, and in Germany a second generation submachine gun, developed by the Erma concern, has already appeared. Also a descendant of the MP-18, but very different from it. But not by design. Everything here was very commonplace. He used the same Parabellum cartridge and free breechblock. But now the manufacturing technology was completely different! In fact, the new PP, designated MP-38, became a kind of revolution in the way of production. In the past, there are precise and complex milling of parts, as well as varnished wooden parts with a high-quality coating, which gunsmiths were so proud of until recently. With the development of production technologies, stamping and casting began to be widely used in the design of weapons, and plastic replaced traditional wood. The coating is the most primitive, and even then not always, but whenever possible. The MP-38 did not have a wooden stock at all. It was replaced by a folding metal one, by the way used for the first time, so that this submachine gun was convenient to use in a tight space, for example, inside an armored vehicle.
PPD-40 with split stock.
And it turned out that the receiver was now assembled from simple parts made by stamping, which could well, if not be made, then assembled in almost any workshop. The shutter required a minimum of machining. So the design ended up looking rough, but … technologically advanced and cheap. The handle was placed on the left in a long slot, and it seemed that dirt could get inside through this very slot. But … it took a lot to ruin the mechanism. And with a small amount of it, he coped well. True, such a design did not exclude the disruption of the bolt from the combat platoon and a spontaneous shot when the submachine gun fell on something solid. Therefore, the model MP-38/40 soon appeared, which had a bolt-blocker bolt.
PPD-40 in the hands of a German soldier.
And in 1940, the Germans simplified the manufacturing process of the MP-38 even more and received the MP-40 model. Outwardly, it practically did not differ from the previous model, but it became even more technologically advanced. Then the MP-40/2 model appeared, designed to use a double store. But only she was not very popular.
And this is a very interesting photo from the December issue of the Pravda newspaper. Senior Sergeant A. Gulenko is firing at the Fritz from PPD-34/38. That is, everything that was shooting was used then.
In conclusion, we note that the weight of the MP-40 was 4.7 kg, the barrel length was 251 mm (and the overheated barrel could be changed!). The rate of fire was 500 rpm. This gave a trained soldier the ability to make even single shots, but the bullet speed of the MP-40 was about the same as that of the French MAS 38 - 365 m / s. (by the way, you can read more about this weapon on VO in the material dated July 21, 2017).
As for the USSR, the main enemy of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Degtyarev submachine gun PPD-38, although it was modernized following the results of the Winter War, still remained a first generation weapon. Most of its parts had to be made on metal-cutting machines, just like the German MP-35 and other samples of similar weapons. That is, it was a good submachine gun that fired a powerful cartridge (bullet speed 488 m / s), rapid-fire (800 rounds / min.), But not technologically advanced, like everyone else. That is - "the son of his time." Moreover, a typical son!
Nevertheless, the production of PPD developed in the USSR extremely slowly. In 1934, at the Kovrov plant number 2 (plant, not in the workshop!), Only 44 copies of the PPD were made, in 1935 and even less - 23, in 1936 - 911, in 1937 - 1291, in 1938 -m - 1115, in 1939 - 1700, that is, they were made in total a little more than 5000.
And then a significant event for the Red Army happened: on February 26, 1939, the 7, 62-mm self-loading rifle SVT-38 entered its armament. And then, in February 1939, the production of PPD was discontinued. And it is understandable why: the price of SVT in mass production was 880 rubles, that is, it was less (!) Than the shorter and, in theory, simple in design of the Degtyarev submachine gun.
PPD-34/38
But spring, summer and autumn passed. The war began with the Finns and the production of PPD had to be deployed again. Now no one looked at the price, and it cost 900 rubles in 1939 prices for one PPD with a set of spare parts and accessories. Plants produced it, transferred to a three-shift. Simplification of the design was carried out urgently. Urgently, in one week, we developed a drum shop. Moreover, the original design, with a branch in the upper part of the drum, like a short box magazine, so that the new magazine can be adjacent to the old receiver. A special flexible pusher was used to feed the last 6 cartridges in this branch. And although the design turned out to be not entirely reliable (there were difficult-to-fix problems with the supply of cartridges), it was better than nothing.
PPSh-41
In total, in 1940, 81,118 copies of the PPD were produced in the USSR, which made the 1940 sample the most massive and recognizable. The Germans also appreciated both of these samples and adopted them for service, since they had no shortage of trophies. PPD-34/38 received the designation Maschinenpistole 715 (r), and PPD-40 - Maschinenpistole 716 (r). Note the high, in comparison with the German MP-38, rate of fire - 800 rds / min. And also the initial velocity of the "Mauser" bullet - 488 m / s. All this increased the flatness and accuracy of the fire, and the high rate of fire was beneficial in that when firing at a target at a distance using the horizontal movement of the barrel, it had less chance of being in a “fork” of trajectories.
PPSh-41 (the first material about PPSh on VO was released on June 22, 2013). Before the trigger is a fire translator. On the right is the "clasp" of the store. Pay attention to the scope. Usually they say and write that he was the simplest, cross-over, only two distances. However, at some factories, such frame sights were installed at the PPSh.
The device of the frame sight on the PPSh-41.
Crossover sight PPSh-41.
As for the famous "replacement" PPD-40 - the PPSh-41 submachine gun by Georgy Shpagin, this model began to be created in 1940. On December 21, 1940, it was adopted by the Red Army and by the end of 1941, more than 90,000 copies were produced. In 1942 alone, the front received 1.5 million of these submachine guns. Its main advantage was its high manufacturability. That is, it was "our answer" to the MR-38. Moreover, its manufacturability was such that by the time the Great Patriotic War ended, the PPSh was replicated in an amount of over five million copies, while the German MP-38 was produced only in an amount of about one million for the entire time!
Year of issue 1943.
And now let's see what Christopher Shant writes about PPSh and what those in the West read about him who … read his books. Quite emotionally, he writes that this is "a classic representative of the Soviet design genius." "All the important parts are fine." He was absolutely amazed by the fiber shock absorber of the shutter - it must be the same, he even works in PPSh, which are 50 years old! "Shooting from the PPSh could be taught even to such a conscript who had never seen a single mechanism except a shovel in his life." "When shooting, there is practically no recoil … PPSh is extremely reliable and durable." “The PPSh was a favorite weapon of the Germans, who valued it for its reliability and magazine capacity. They often threw their MP-40 to take the Soviet PPSh. " And the result - "PPSh-41 is one of the best examples of small arms ever invented."
The original brake-compensator in the form of an oblique cut of the barrel has created a memorable and recognizable appearance of this weapon.
But this quote is just a real eulogy: “When the Red Army began to receive PPSh in sufficient quantities, they began to use it in a way that no other army in the world had used: whole battalions and regiments were armed with submachine guns. These units formed the vanguard of the shock units, which moved into battle on the armor of T-34 medium tanks, from which they descended to the ground only for foot attack, food or rest. Tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers with PPSh marched across Western Russia and Europe, sweeping everything in front of them. They were fearless troops, and their weapon - PPSh-41 - became a real combat symbol of the Red Army. Even Bolotin did not write anything like that …
Probably, in our instructions it was also written that you should not hold on to the store. But what, then, was this "machine gun" to hold on to in the front?
