The Blüm machine gun (Russian: Пулемёт Блюма) was a Soviet training

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...

cartridge. A slightly abridged version of this article appears in the book by the same author The gun was developed in order to reduce the training costs in terms of ammunition and wear of the Soviet machine guns in service at the time."Малокалиберный пулемёт М. Н. Блюма", ''ОРУЖИЕ'' 2004/11, pp. 28 and 65 Known production figures for this gun at the

Degtyarev plant Degtyaryov Plant (russian: ОАО Завод имени В. А. Дегтярёва, ОАО Zavod imeni V. А. Dеgtyaryovа, English: Open Joint Stock Company " V. A. Degtyaryov Plant") or ZiD (Zavod imeni Dеgtyaryovа) is one of the most importa ...

are: 33 made in 1933, 1,150 made in 1934 and 1,515 made in 1935. The large surplus of

7.62×54mmR The 7.62×54mmR is a rimmed rifle cartridge developed by the Russian Empire and introduced as a service cartridge in 1891. Originally designed for the bolt-action Mosin–Nagant rifle, it was used during the late tsarist era and throughout t ...

machine guns and ammunition available in the Soviet Union after the end of World War II made the Blüm guns obsolete for training purposes. After they were decommissioned from the military in the 1950s, some of Blüm guns were refitted with wooden stocks and used as varmint guns in a campaign to control wolf populations. In this application they were considered superior to 12-gauge shotguns loaded with buckshot, particularly because they were employed from aircraft flying at 50–100 meters, and a salvo from the Blüm gun could kill an entire wolfpack.

References

Machine guns of the Soviet Union Degtyarev Plant products .22 LR firearms {{Machinegun-stub