#Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina

[nocternalrandomness]

Soviet WW2  PPSh-41 submachine gun 

[greatworldwar2]

• PPSh-41 Submachine Gun

The PPSh-41 Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina; is a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgy Shpagin as a cheap, reliable, and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. Common nickname is "papasha", meaning "daddy". The PPSh is a magazine-fed selective fire submachine gun using an open bolt, blowback action. Made largely of stamped steel, it can be loaded with either a box or drum magazine and fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol round.

The impetus for the development of the PPSh came partly from the Winter War against Finland, where the Finnish Army employed the Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun as a highly effective tool for close-quarter fighting in forests and built-up urban areas. Copied and adopted by the Soviets for their PPD-40 and PPSh-41 submachine guns. A submachine gun, the PPD-40, was subsequently rushed into mass production in 1940, but it was expensive to manufacture, both in terms of materials and labor, because it used numerous milled metal parts, particularly its receiver. Shpagin created a prototype PPSh in September 1940, which also featured a simple gas compensator designed to prevent the muzzle from rising during bursts; this improved shot grouping by about 70 percent.

The new weapon was produced in a network of factories in Moscow, with high-level local Party members made directly responsible for meeting production targets. A few hundred weapons were produced in November 1941 and another 155,000 were made during the next five months. By spring 1942, the PPSh factories were producing roughly 3,000 units a day. Soviet production figures for 1942 indicate that almost 1.5 million units were produced. The PPSh-41 uses 87 components compared to 95 for the PPD-40 and the PPSh could be manufactured with an estimated 5.6 machining hours. After the German Army captured large numbers of the PPSh-41 during World War II, a program was instituted to convert the weapon to the standard German submachine gun cartridge – 9×19mm Parabellum. The Wehrmacht officially adopted the converted PPSh-41 as the MP41, German-language manuals for the use of captured PPShs were printed and distributed in the Wehrmacht.

The PPS submachine gun, an even simpler submachine gun, was later introduced in Soviet service in 1943, although it did not replace the PPSh-41 during the war. The Soviet Union also experimented with the PPSh-41 in a close air support antipersonnel role, mounting dozens of the submachine guns in forward fuselage racks on the Tu-2sh variant of the Tupolev Tu-2 bomber. More than five million PPSh submachine guns were produced by the end of the war. The Soviets would often equip platoons and sometimes entire companies with the weapon, giving them excellent short-range firepower. Thousands more were dropped behind enemy lines in order to equip Soviet partisans to disrupt German supply lines and communications.

After the Second World War, the PPSh was supplied in large quantities to Soviet-aligned states and Communist guerrilla forces. The weapon was widely used during the Korean War. The Korean People's Army (KPA) and the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) fighting in Korea received massive numbers of the PPSh-41, in addition to the North Korean Type 49 and the Chinese Type 50, which were both licensed copies of the PPSh-41 with small mechanical revisions.

[xtremerealism]

PPSh-41 - Пистолет-пулемёт Шпагина

“Shpagin machine pistol”

Soviet Submachinegun used by the Red Army in WW2

Designed by Georgy Shpagin

Specifications:

Rate of Fire: 900 - 1000 rounds/minute

Muzzle velocity: 488 m/s

Feed system: 35 round box magazine / 71 round drum magazine

Sight: Iron Sight

Cartridge: 7.62x25mm Tokarev

Weight: 3.63 kg without magazine

Length: 843 mm