SG-43 Goryunov
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The SG-43 Goryunov (
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: Станковый пулемёт системы Горюнова, ''Stankovyy pulyemyot sistyemy Goryunova'', meaning "Mounted machinegun, Goryunov design") was a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
medium machine gun A medium machine gun (MMG), in modern terms, usually refers to a belt-fed machine gun firing a full-powered rifle cartridge, and is considered "medium" in weight (). Medium machine guns are light enough to be infantry-portable (as opposed to a he ...
that was introduced during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was chambered for the
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 th ...
cartridge, and was introduced in 1943 as a replacement for the older M1910 Maxim machine guns. It was mounted on wheeled mounts,
tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...
s and armored vehicles.


Design

The SG-43 used a tilting breechblock, moving sideways and locking into the side of the receiver. The feed is not straightforward, as the gun fires the 7.62×54mmR round, and this has to be withdrawn rearwards from the belt before ramming into the
breech Breech may refer to: * Breech (firearms), the opening at the rear of a gun barrel where the cartridge is inserted in a breech-loading weapon * breech, the lower part of a pulley block * breech, the penetration of a boiler where exhaust gases leav ...
. The
reciprocating motion Reciprocating motion, also called reciprocation, is a repetitive up-and-down or back-and-forth linear motion. It is found in a wide range of mechanisms, including reciprocating engines and pumps. The two opposite motions that comprise a single r ...
is achieved by using two claws to pull the round from the belt, and then an arm pushes the round into the cartridge guide ready for the bolt to carry it to the breech. Despite this complication, the SG-43 was remarkably reliable and feed jams were apparently few. The barrel is air-cooled and massively dense, contributing to a fairly high overall weight. The bore is chromium-plated and able to withstand continuous fire for long periods. The barrel can also be easily changed by releasing a simple lock, and the carrying handle allows a hot barrel to be lifted clear without difficulty. The World War II version of the gun had a smooth outline to the barrel, and the
cocking handle The cocking handle, also known as charging handle or bolt handle, is a device on a firearm which, when manipulated, results in the bolt being pulled to the rear, putting the hammer/ striker into a spring-loaded ("cocked") "ready and set" position ...
was under the receiver, with no dust covers to the feed and ejection ports.


History

After the end of World War II, the SG-43 was improved and renamed SGM ("M" for modernized); dust covers and a new barrel lock were fitted, and a splined barrel was fitted to improve cooling. A coaxially-mounted stockless electric solenoid-fired variant was developed under the designation SGMT (the "T" standing for ''Tankovy'', or "Tank"). The SG-43M and SGMB are versions modified with dust covers and used mostly on
armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...
s. The SG-43/SGM was widely exported and also licensed for construction in several countries. It was manufactured in the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
as the Type 53 (SG-43) and Type 57 (SGM) heavy machine guns. It was also produced in
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
(as Vz 43) and Poland (as Wz 43). In addition to World War II, SG-43 saw service in the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
with the Communist
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
n and Chinese forces. In Soviet service, the Goryunov, together with the
RP-46 The Degtyaryov machine gun (russian: Пулемёт Дегтярёвa Пехотный, Pulemyot Degtyaryova Pekhotny literally: "Degtyaryov's infantry machine gun") or DP-27/DP-28 is a light machine gun firing the 7.62×54mmR cartridge that was ...
, was replaced in the 1960s by the
PK machine gun The PK (russian: Пулемёт Калашникова, transliterated as ''Pulemyot Kalashnikova'', or "Kalashnikov's machine gun"), is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun, chambered for the 7.62×54mmR rimmed cartridge. Designed in the ...
due to the switch in Soviet tactical doctrine to the
general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...
concept, rendering the gun effectively obsolete.


KGK general purpose machine gun

The KGK (''Korszerűsített Gorjunov-Kucher'') general purpose machine gun was based on the Goryunov machinegun modified by a FEG team headed by József Kucher (partner of
Pál Király Pál Király (1880–1965) was a Hungarian engineer and weapons designer. Work & designs He is best known for development of lever-delayed blowback firearms, and being employed by the Danuvia company in the 1930s and 1940s to design and prod ...
best known for his
Kucher Model K1 The Kucher K1, also known as the Danuvia M53 K1, was a Hungarian magazine-fed submachine gun designed by József Kucher in 1951 for use by paramilitary, paratrooper and police units, based on the Danuvia 44.M prototype submachine gun. It was p ...
SMG) and produced in Hungary during the 1960s and 1970s. The team added a butt-stock, a pistol grip, a conventional trigger and a bipod from the
RPD machine gun The RPD (russian: ручной пулемёт Дегтярёва, Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova, English: Degtyaryov hand-held machine gun) is a 7.62x39mm light machine gun developed in the Soviet Union by Vasily Degtyaryov for the 7.62×39mm ...
, moved the charging handle from the bottom to the side, and redesigned the barrel lock mechanism so that the barrel could be quickly change in the field. Otherwise, the machine gun is identical to an SGM, and most parts are interchangeable. It was used by the Hungarian army on a limited scale, including in the KGKT version as the turret machine gun on
D-944 PSZH The D-442 FUG (''Felderítő Úszó Gépkocsi'' – "amphibious reconnaissance vehicle") and D-944 PSZH (''Páncélozott Személyszállító Harcjármű'' – "armored personnel carrier") are the results of Hungarian domestic development of relat ...
scout car A scout car is a light wheeled armored military vehicle, purpose-built and used for passive reconnaissance. Scout cars are either unarmed or lightly armed for self-defense, and do not carry large caliber weapons systems. This differentiates them ...
, and was later replaced by a domestically produced copy of the Kalashnikov PKM machine gun.


Users

* : SGM used by DRA and Mujahideens during the
Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
and by
Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
* * : Burundian rebels * * : Type 53 and Type 57 * : SG-43 * *: Chinese-made SGM used by Cocoye militia during Congo Civil War *:
Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo ARDC is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt pat ...
used SGMs :* Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, sometimes known as ''MILOU'', for mitrailleuse lourde (
heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...
) * : produced under license as ''Kulomet vz. 43'' from 1953. * : built under license Used SG-43 and SGM. * : used during World War II in limited numbers * *: SG-43 and SGM *
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
: SG-43 and KGK variant * : used by Mobile Indonesian Police Brigade (
BRIMOB The Mobile Brigade Corps ( id, Korps Brigade Mobil) abbreviated Brimob is the special operations, paramilitary, and tactical unit of the Indonesian National Police (Polri). It is one of the oldest existing units within Polri. Some of its mai ...
) * : SGM variant. * : SGM variant * : SGM variant * : SG-43, SGM, Type 53 and Type 57 variants * * : used during the Korean War. * : SG-43, Type 53, SGM and Type 57 variants used during the
Vietnam war The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
by the NVA and the
Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
*
Palestine Liberation Organisation The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...
* : SG-43 *
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
: SG-43 and SGM * * : SG-43 and SGM were still in service in the late 1960s * * * *


References


Sources

*


External links


Goryunov SG-43 and SGM



7.62mm Goryunov Heavy Machine Gun, SG43 – Walk around photos
{{Soviet infantry weapons of World War II __NOTOC__ 7.62×54mmR machine guns Medium machine guns World War II machine guns World War II infantry weapons of the Soviet Union Machine guns of the Soviet Union Cold War firearms of the Soviet Union Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1943