The SG-43 Goryunov (Смонтированный пулемет системы Горюнова 1943 Smontirovannyy pulemet sistemi Goryunova 1943, lit. "Goryunov mounted machine gun of 1943" in English) is a Russian medium machine gun.
History[]
The SG-43 was used during World War II by most notably, the Soviets. It was usually seen mounted on wheel mounts, tripods and even vehicles. The SG-43 was modified after World War II and named the SGM, which had a variety of improvements over the original SG-43. The SGM was replaced in 1969 by the PKM machine gun due to the Soviets adopting the general purpose machine gun concept, which effectively rendered the SG-43 obsolete. There are a decent number of SG-43s surviving today.
Design Details[]
The SG-43 is an air-cooled medium machine gun with spade grips. It has a tilting breechblock that locks into the side of the receiver. The weapon's feeding system is rather odd, as it is not straight forward; there are two claws in the weapon's feeding system that pull the cartridge back from the belt and ram it into the breech before it can fire that round; this is mainly due to the SG-43 using the 7.62×54mmR round. As the air-cooled barrel is rather dense, this makes the weapon quite heavy. The SG-43's chromium-plated bore allows it to withstand firing for long periods of time. World War II SG-43s have smooth outlines to the barrel. The weapon's cocking mechanism is under the receiver, in the same place where the DShK's cocking mechanism is. Unfortunately, due to this cocking mechanism, it has practically no provisions for firing from the hip.
Variants[]
- SGM
Modernized variant of the SG-43. Has dust covers and a new quick-change barrel locking mechanism.
- SGMT
Solenoid-fired tank-mounted version of the SG-43.
- FÉG KGK
Hungarian general purpose machine gun based on the SG-43. Made in small quantities before the PK machine gun replaced it in service.