ShKAS machine gun
The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny, Shpitalny-Komaritski rapid fire for aircraft; Russian: ШКАС - Шпитальный-Комарицкий Авиационный Скорострельный) is a 7.62 mm calibre machine gun widely used by Soviet aircraft in the 1930s and during World War II. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Irinarkh Komaritsky and entered production in 1934. ShKAS was used in the majority of Soviet fighters and bombers and served as the basis for the ShVAK cannon.
Description
ShKAS is a gas-operated revolver-type machine gun; it has a single chamber in which the pin strikes the primer.
A key element of the ShKAS' high rate of fire is the revolving drum (feed cage) that holds ten rounds and provides a very smooth, progressive removal of the cartridges from their disintegrating link belt. Another element is the lightweight recoiling portion of the gun, weighing only 921 grams (2.07 lb).
A declassified US analysis of the feed system, based on models captured during the Korean War, reads:
Podcasts:
