# DShK

The **DShK** (ДШК, for Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin Large-Calibre") is a Soviet 12.7 mm heavy machine gun adopted by the [Red Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-army) on 26 February 1939 as the "12.7-mm large-caliber machine gun Degtyaryov-Shpagin, model of 1938", and modernized after World War II as the DShKM (model 1938/46). It fires the 12.7×108 mm cartridge, roughly equivalent to the American .50 caliber, from a 50-round metallic-link belt.<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196038/dshk-193846-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Cartridge | 12.7×108 mm, fed from 50-round metallic-link belts<sup>[3](https://moscowarmsmuseum.ru/collections/machineguns/dshk)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016/pdf/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016.pdf)</sup> |
| Adoption | Accepted into Red Army service 26 February 1939; mass production from 1940–1941<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup> |
| Designers | Vasily Degtyaryov (base design) and Georgy Shpagin (belt-feed module)<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup> |
| Operation | Gas-operated, belt-fed, air-cooled, firing from the open bolt<sup>[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016/pdf/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016.pdf)</sup> |
| Rate of fire | Cyclic rate 600 rounds per minute<sup>[3](https://moscowarmsmuseum.ru/collections/machineguns/dshk)</sup> |
| Weight | About 33.5 kg for the gun (Moscow Arms Museum figure); 35.6 kg empty for the DShK 38/46 in US Army data<sup>[3](https://moscowarmsmuseum.ru/collections/machineguns/dshk)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016/pdf/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016.pdf)</sup> |
| Ranges | Effective about 2,000 m against ground targets and about 1,000 m against aircraft; maximum ground range 7,000 m<sup>[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016/pdf/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016.pdf)</sup> |
| Copies and variants | DShKM (1938/46) modernization; Chinese Type 54 licensed copy; Czechoslovak quadruple AA mount<sup>[5](https://www.zid.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/2024/fevral-2024/dshk-otechestvennyy-krupnokalibernyy-pulemet-/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://weaponsystems.net/system/429-Type%2B54)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> |

## Origin: the DK and the feed problem

The requirement grew out of the 1929 Red Army maneuvers, which showed the need for a large-caliber machine gun against aircraft, lightly armored vehicles, and unsheltered personnel at long range. Degtyarev, present at the maneuvers, received the assignment from [Kliment Voroshilov](https://www.edgepedia.org/kliment-voroshilov), and the Main Artillery Directorate issued tactical-technical requirements at the end of 1929; two 12.7 mm prototypes were built by the end of 1930.<sup>[5](https://www.zid.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/2024/fevral-2024/dshk-otechestvennyy-krupnokalibernyy-pulemet-/)</sup> The museum record states the task was issued to Degtyarev in 1929, aimed primarily at aircraft at altitudes up to 1,500 meters, and that Degtyarev presented a 12.7 mm gun for trials less than a year later.<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup>

**The DK.** The first gun, designated DK (Degtyaryov, Krupnokaliberny), borrowed heavily from the [DP-27](https://www.edgepedia.org/degtyaryov-machine-gun) light machine gun design, scaled up from 7.62×54 mm to the new 12.7×108 mm cartridge. Small-series production began in 1932, after the 1930 adoption of the B-30 bullet and the 1932 adoption of the B-32 bullet.<sup>[5](https://www.zid.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/2024/fevral-2024/dshk-otechestvennyy-krupnokalibernyy-pulemet-/)</sup> The DK's weakness was its feed: detachable 30-round drum magazines mounted on top of the gun. The deficiencies of this scheme forced production to stop in 1935.<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup>

**Shpagin's belt feed.** Georgy Shpagin, about twenty years younger than Degtyaryov, developed a drum-type receiver module that fed the gun from a metallic cartridge belt; the American Rifleman account dates his joining to the revision of the ammunition feed to a belt-fed system, and the ZID factory history places the development in 1937–1938, with polygon trials in April 1938.<sup>[5](https://www.zid.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/2024/fevral-2024/dshk-otechestvennyy-krupnokalibernyy-pulemet-/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> The improved gun was adopted on 26 February 1939 by decree of the Defense Committee, and the designation DShK records both men: D for Degtyaryov, Sh for Shpagin, K for large-caliber.<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup>

## Design and operation

The DShK is an automatic, gas-operated, belt-fed, air-cooled weapon firing from the open-bolt position, with a long-stroke gas piston permanently attached to the operating rod.<sup>[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016/pdf/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://sadefensejournal.com/dushka-the-soviet-fifty-caliber/3/)</sup> In the original DShK-38, rounds are stripped from the links in a rotary feed mechanism that positions them at a feed mouth, from which the bolt strips them on its forward travel. The Model 38/46 (DShKM) replaced this complicated rotary feeder with a conventional shuttle-type feeder, and other changes made most parts non-interchangeable between the two guns.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup>

The gun was heavy. As an infantry weapon it retained the old wheeled carriage of the Maxim M1910, and a special anti-aircraft tripod was introduced alongside it; the wheeled mount with armored shield weighed 346 pounds (about 157 kg), the least common configuration of the weapon in World War II. Barrel removal required a wrench, so the complete weapon was an excessive load even for two men.<sup>[9](https://www.kssk.sk/download/pdf/encyklopedia_zbrani_2stet_vojny.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> For shooting at distant or poorly visible targets, and for indirect fire, an optical sight could be fitted; service regulations allowed the use of Maxim machine gun optical sights with a correction table.<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup>

## Service history

**World War II.** Mass production began in 1940–1941, and the gun served on the fronts of the [Great Patriotic War](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-patriotic-war) as an anti-aircraft weapon, a heavy infantry support gun, and the main armament of early light tanks; it was also mounted on some IS-2 heavy tanks on the commander's cupola ring with a K-8T collimator sight.<sup>[1](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[10](https://www.o5m6.de/redarmy/dshk.php)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[11](https://victorymuseum.ru/external-navigation/bronetekhnika/38136/)</sup> At the end of the war the gun was modernized as the DShKM ("12.7-mm large-caliber machine gun model 1938/46"), which remained in Soviet service into the early 1970s.<sup>[5](https://www.zid.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/2024/fevral-2024/dshk-otechestvennyy-krupnokalibernyy-pulemet-/)</sup>

A 1961 US intelligence table credited the DShK M1938 and M1938/46 with an effective ceiling of 3,000 feet, a muzzle velocity of 2,822 fps, and a practical anti-aircraft rate of 80 rounds per minute per barrel; a Czechoslovak quadruple mount version fired 80 rounds per barrel per minute.<sup>[12](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v07-09mSupp/d237)</sup>

**Proliferation.** From the 1940s on the DShK was manufactured by many communist nations and remains in use around the world.<sup>[2](https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196038/dshk-193846-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> The People's Republic of China produces the Model 38/46 as the Type 54 heavy machine gun, identifiable by [Chinese characters](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-characters) stamped into the receiver behind the feeder.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> The 12.7×108 mm cartridge itself has been manufactured in Bulgaria, China, the former [Czechoslovakia](https://www.edgepedia.org/czechoslovakia), the former East Germany, Egypt, Hungary, India, Iran, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, Syria, and the former [Yugoslavia](https://www.edgepedia.org/yugoslavia).<sup>[13](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/678299/files/S_2010_91-AR.pdf)</sup>

**Vietnam.** Beginning in mid-1964, [Viet Cong](https://www.edgepedia.org/viet-cong) forces received DShKM guns of Soviet and Chinese origin with a relatively reliable ammunition supply, and the gun became the most common "helicopter killer" available to communist forces in Southeast Asia, particularly with armor-piercing incendiary ammunition against the lightly armored, non-self-sealing fuel tanks of UH-1 Hueys. North Vietnamese infantry battalions were known to carry as many as nine of these weapons, and more than 2,000 US helicopters were brought down by enemy action during the war.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> Smithsonian's account of [Operation Lam Son 719](https://www.edgepedia.org/operation-lam-son-719) calls the DShK the NVA's deadliest anti-helicopter weapon of the war; the A Shau Valley alone held hundreds of them, sited so that no single emplacement could be attacked without taking fire from two others.<sup>[14](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/condors-quartet-180979370/)</sup>

**Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, and after.** During the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989), [Mujahideen](https://www.edgepedia.org/mujahideen) fighters obtained Chinese Type 54 guns along with DShKMs and captured early DShKs; the Soviet practice of oiling the ammunition caused regular jams in the dusty environment. Soviet tanks normally carried a DShK-M, but on the small T-62 turret the loader had to stand on the rear deck to fire it, exposed to sniper fire.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> In 1988 the [Irish Republican Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/irish-republican-army) smuggled two Libyan-supplied DShKs into [Northern Ireland](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-ireland); they were used to bring down a British Westland Lynx helicopter in June 1988, to destroy an RUC armored truck in October 1989, and to shoot down a British Gazelle helicopter in February 1990.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup> In Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, the gun is often mounted on pickup trucks or modified SUVs as a "technical", trading crew protection for mobility and firepower.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup>

## The DShK today

The gun remains in active use. In the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian forces converted a number of DShKs from the traditional heavy machine gun configuration into full-auto anti-materiel rifles, adding a multi-baffle muzzle brake from the [NSV machine gun](https://www.edgepedia.org/nsv-machine-gun), a shoulder stock, a bipod, a pistol grip, and a conventional trigger. With cheap Russian drones, including the Iranian-made Shahed, proliferating on the battlefield, mobile fire teams on pickups use DShKs, and even Maxim PM 1910 guns, to defend against low-cost drones with machine gun fire rather than expensive anti-aircraft missiles.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup>

## Comparison with the Browning M2

The DShK is the Soviet counterpart to the American .50-caliber Browning M2, firing a slightly longer cartridge (12.7×108 mm versus 12.7×99 mm). By the American Rifleman comparison, the DShK gun alone weighed 75 pounds against the Browning's 62, both fired at a maximum 600 rounds per minute, and muzzle velocities were 2,800 fps versus 2,910 fps; American troops considered the M2 the superior gun, but the DShK and its copies nonetheless spread through a wide range of conflicts on the other side.<sup>[7](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)</sup>

## References

1. [12,7-мм крупнокалиберный пулемет Дегтярева – Шпагина (ДШК) образца 1938 г. с оптическим прицелом, Музей отечественной военной истории](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/dshk-s-opticheskim-pricelom/)
2. [DShK-1938/46 Heavy Machine Gun, National Museum of the United States Air Force](https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196038/dshk-193846-heavy-machine-gun/)
3. [ДШК, Музей оружия в Москве](https://moscowarmsmuseum.ru/collections/machineguns/dshk)
4. [DShK 38/46 Heavy Machinegun, US Army equipment data (govinfo)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016/pdf/GOVPUB-D214-PURL-LPS42016.pdf)
5. [ДШК – отечественный крупнокалиберный пулемет, Завод имени В. А. Дегтярева (21 February 2024)](https://www.zid.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/2024/fevral-2024/dshk-otechestvennyy-krupnokalibernyy-pulemet-/)
6. [Type 54, Weaponsystems.net](https://weaponsystems.net/system/429-Type%2B54)
7. [Tom Laemlein, "Red Fifty: The Soviet 12.7 mm DShK Heavy Machine Gun", American Rifleman (21 November 2024)](https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/red-fifty-the-soviet-12-7-mm-dshk-heavy-machine-gun/)
8. [Dushka: The Soviet Fifty Caliber, Small Arms Defense Journal](https://sadefensejournal.com/dushka-the-soviet-fifty-caliber/3/)
9. [Encyclopedia of Weapons of the Second World War (kssk.sk)](https://www.kssk.sk/download/pdf/encyklopedia_zbrani_2stet_vojny.pdf)
10. [12.7mm DShK Heavy Machine Gun "Dushka", Engines of the Red Army in WW2](https://www.o5m6.de/redarmy/dshk.php)
11. [Тяжелый танк ИС-2 (СССР), Музей Победы](https://victorymuseum.ru/external-navigation/bronetekhnika/38136/)
12. [Estimated Characteristics of Bloc Antiaircraft Guns, Office of the Historian, US Department of State](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v07-09mSupp/d237)
13. [Report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (S/2010/91), Annex listing DShK ammunition manufacturers](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/678299/files/S_2010_91-AR.pdf)
14. [James R. Chiles, "The Condors Quartet", Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine (December 2021)](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/condors-quartet-180979370/)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Engineering and manufacturing › Firearms and ammunition › Machine guns and autocannons*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*

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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license