The story of the most powerful small arms would be difficult to imagine without a machine gun. The Russian-made large-caliber 12, 7-mm machine gun "Kord" is today one of the most powerful "arguments" of the Russian infantry on the battlefield. This weapon allows you to effectively engage enemy infantry and equipment, including lightly armored ones. To this development of domestic gunsmiths, you can safely apply the expression "machine gunner's dream."
"Kord" is a Russian heavy machine gun chambered for 12, 7x108 mm with belt feed. The name is an abbreviation from the initial letters of the phrase "Kovrov gunsmiths-degtyarevtsy". The main purpose of the machine gun is to combat lightly armored ground targets, vehicles, enemy manpower (group targets) at ranges up to 1500-2000 meters, as well as to combat various low-flying air targets at slant ranges up to 1500 meters.
The Kord Russian heavy machine gun was developed in the 1990s as a replacement for the Soviet 12.7 mm NSV Utes heavy machine gun, whose production after the collapse of the Soviet Union was partially outside the Russian Federation. The machine gun was created by the designers of the Degtyarev Kovrov Plant (the famous ZID). Serial production of the new weapon was launched at the plant in Kovrov in 2001. Currently, the machine gun is officially adopted by the Russian Armed Forces. For the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, this large-caliber machine gun is produced in an infantry version with a bipod (the lightest model) and on a special tripod machine, there are also special versions of the machine gun for installation on vehicles and armored vehicles (Kord is used in an anti-aircraft installation on the turret of a T-90 tank), and also for boats and helicopters.
A. A. Namitulin, N. M. Obidin, Yu. M. Bogdanov and V. I. The Kord heavy machine gun created by these specialists received a new barrel with an effective muzzle brake-flash suppressor and a modernized locking system. Of the features of the new Russian weapon, one can single out the fact that this is the only large-caliber machine gun that allows you to fire not only from the machine, but also from the bipod. At the same time, the mass of the machine gun in this version does not exceed 32.6 kg (without sight and spare parts). Among its large-caliber counterparts from around the world, the Russian machine gun "Kord" stands out favorably for its low weight, the body weight of the machine gun is only 25 kg. In this case, the maximum length of the machine gun is 1980 mm. The Kord machine gun is lighter, more accurate and more compact than its predecessor.
When creating a new large-caliber machine gun chambered for 12, 7x108 mm, the Kovrov gunsmiths tried to eliminate at once the three most important problems that were identified during the operation of the NSV Utes heavy machine gun in the army:
- a decrease in the recoil energy and an increase in the stability of the machine gun when firing, solving this problem and made it possible to create an infantry version of the Kord heavy machine gun, which can be used together with a bipod;
- ensuring the process of independence of actions of automatics and mechanisms of the machine gun barrel, which positively affects the characteristics of firing accuracy, and also excludes various resonant oscillations of the weapon;
- significantly increase the survivability of the machine-gun barrel, thanks to which the Kord could be equipped with only one barrel. According to the official website of the manufacturer, the technical resource of the Kord machine gun was increased to 10,000 rounds.
The Kord heavy machine gun is an automatic weapon with a belt feed system (while the feed of the belt can be carried out both from the left and from the right). In the infantry version, 50-round belts are used to power the machine gun, and in the tank version, 150 rounds are used. The cord is built on the principle of gas-operated automation, in which a long-stroke gas piston is located under the barrel of a machine gun. The barrel is quick-detachable and air-cooled. The barrel of the machine gun is locked by turning the bolt larva and engaging the larva with the lugs on the lugs of the barrel. Cartridges are powered from a metal strip with an open link. The supply of cartridges from the tape is made directly into the barrel of the machine gun. The technical rate of fire is 600-750 rounds per minute.
The trigger mechanism of the Kord heavy machine gun can be operated both manually (from the trigger mounted on the machine) and from the electric trigger (option for a tank machine gun). USM has a safety lock against accidental shots. As the main one for firing from a machine gun, an open adjustable sight with a cut-off of up to 2000 meters is used, while it is possible to install various modern optical and night sights on the weapon.
The barrel of the Kord machine gun is quick-detachable, the barrel is cooled by air. It was created using the proprietary ZID technology, which ensures uniform heating during firing from a machine gun, and hence uniform thermal expansion (deformation) of the barrel. Due to this technology, the new Russian machine gun is distinguished by very good firing accuracy, which is 1.5-2 times higher than the performance of the NSV machine gun. Compared shooting from the machine (when shooting from Korda from the bipod, the accuracy is comparable to the NSV on the machine). When shooting at a distance of 100 meters, the circular probable deviation (CEP) for Korda is only 0.22 meters, which is not much for small arms of this class.
The high manufacturability of production and the quality of the technical solutions used in the design of the machine gun provided Korda with high operational and combat characteristics. The machine gun favorably stands out for its high reliability of operation in a very wide temperature range - from -50 to +50 degrees Celsius. It can be freely used in dusty conditions, as well as after immersion in water, without many days of lubrication and cleaning, in case of icing, as well as in other difficult operating conditions.
The advantages of the Kovrov machine gun rightly include failure-free operation and the ability to conduct intensive fire without additional cooling of the barrel, while maintaining the specified aiming accuracy. The accuracy of the battle, the stability of the accuracy and rate of fire throughout the entire technical resource of operation are also attributed to the advantages of the model. Special mention should be made of the convenience of servicing a large-caliber machine gun and the possibility of eliminating some of the identified malfunctions directly during the combat use of weapons (on the battlefield) by calculation forces using the capabilities of an individual spare parts and accessories, as well as the good maintainability of a large-caliber machine gun directly in military conditions using group and repair spare parts. The machine gun in some conditions can be brought back to life without being sent to the factory.
For firing from a large-caliber machine gun, standard cartridges 12, 7x108 mm are used with bullets B-32 (armor-piercing incendiary), BZT-44M (armor-piercing incendiary-tracer) and BS (armor-piercing incendiary). We can say that the B-32 is the main cartridge and the most common ammunition of 12, 7x108 mm. Its armor-piercing incendiary bullet with a steel core is able to penetrate 20 mm thick armor plate at a distance of 100 meters with a 90% probability. In 1972, a new BS armor-piercing incendiary cartridge with a bullet with a cermet core appeared in the USSR. It was developed when it became clear that the armor penetration of the B-32 cartridge was no longer enough to combat modern armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. This ammunition penetrates 20 mm of armor installed at an angle of 20 degrees, at a distance of 545 to 782 meters (depending on weather conditions) with a probability of at least 80%. Cartridges with the BZT-44M armor-piercing incendiary tracer bullet, among other things, are intended for adjusting the fire, as well as indicating the target.
Shooting such cartridges at lightly fortified enemy positions is very effective and has a demoralizing effect on the enemy, since even a brickwork of several bricks ceases to be reliable protection during shelling. The disadvantages of Kord machine guns can be attributed with a stretch to the unmasking effect when firing, when flames burst from the muzzle brake-compensator in different directions, and the nearest dust and foliage rise into the air. On the other hand, it is possible to find a firing point with a large-caliber machine gun on other grounds, especially if the firing is being conducted for a sufficiently long time.
The Kord heavy machine gun is a real military weapon. The machine gun managed to fight during the Second Chechen War, the armed conflict in South Ossetia in 2008, and is also widely used during the hostilities in Syria. According to Vestnik Mordovia, the government troops of the Syrian Arab Republic actively used Russian Kord machine guns during battles in urban settings. As the journalists of the publication believe, the infantry variants of the large-caliber machine gun on the bipod are especially convenient when used in combat operations in urban areas. The power of the weapon allows you to confidently hit militants who can hide behind brick or concrete walls. Earlier it was also noted that the machine gun worked very well in Syria, where it was also used to suppress and destroy enemy snipers.
