#PKM

Grab a drink, and maybe some popcorn, and settle in for an hour long presentation on Soviet, ComBloc and other foreign weapons with former Marine and small arms expert Harold Johnson.

For better or worse the PKM GPMG has been in constant service since 1961 and is considered by many to be one of the best machine guns in its field. Comparatively light, very reliable, and disgustingly simple to maintain and operate, the machine gun has found much favor among good guys and bad guys alike across almost every region of the world. In this episode we look at some of the features of the machine gun, what made it so successful (and fun to shoot) in all of its belt-fed, fully automatic glory.

Ukrainian arms manufacturers released upgraded versions of AK-47 (AKM), SVD and PKM during Arms and Security 2017 exhibition held in Kiev, Ukraine in October. SVD and AK based rifles were introduced by Stiletto Systems and are called KSO-2008 and KO-016 respectively.

This year’s IPAS 2017 held in Tehran featured a number of designs seen previously such as Iran’s 7.62x54mm PKM GPMG, and 12.7x108mm Dshk Heavy Machine Gun copies. But of particular interest was what appears to be a shortened PKM with a barrel cut to around 14 inches, a telescoping butt stock based on the AR15, polymer pistol grip, and what appears to be a canvas or polymer assault drum. Also notice the shortened compensator and relatively simple sling attached, especially if the machine gun is designed to be used in an “Assault Phase”. From a cursory glance, it appears that the conventional Iranian Infantry is armed with small arms of local licensed manufacture by the Defense Industries Organization such as MG3s, MP5s, and G3 rifles (currently this appears to be transitioning to Stoner based designs). Whereas the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is equipped with locally produced or imported Soviet bloc weaponry such as PKMs or AKMs. If we were to ever see this PKM variant in use by Iranian security forces, a likely place would probably be with the IRGC in a smaller team or special operations capacity.

Marcolmar makes semi-automatic, legal copies of the Czech Uk.59, and similar copies of the Soviet PKM General Purpose Machine Gun. So why not clone the two together and bring the resulting creation into the 21st Century, with polymer furniture, an updated design, and Picatinny rails? Meet the UKM, Marcolmar’s attempt to bring civilians a legal belt fed design that incorporates elements of both the PKM and the Uk.59 without losing any of the capabilities of either, and modernizing the design. For those who are still interested in the traditional belt-fed look, the older designers are out there on the market, but this UKM is for a newer crowd of gun owners that want a little bit extra.

While the majority of the defense industry is fixated on the adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT-76 select fire rifle by the Turkish Land Forces (which is still not complete in the least), or the more recent release of a 5.56x45mm version, MKEK has quietly been rolling out plans for two locally produced versions of foreign GPMG designs. Specifically these are essentially a modernized Turkish version of the PKM, but in 7.62x51mm NATO, in addition to what appears to be a direct copy of the FN Herstal, what would appear to be licensed produced version of the FN MAG, also in 7.62x51mm.

Marcolmar is a small but very dedicated company in northern Indiana that produces semi-automatic beltfed versions of historically significant small arms from the Soviet era. Tackling a very difficult task such as taking the Czech Uk.59 GPMG and turning it into a legal, semi-automatic, ATF approved firearm that you could purchase through an FFL isn’t a small task at all. The owner David Bane, brings his passion of military and small arms history to life, along with an outstanding crew behind him to back him up. In this video he takes us through the timeline of his company, and will be doing so for the next several episodes of TFB TV.

On the heels of the re-naming of their Stoner LMG as the Lightweight Assault Machine Gun (LAMG), Knight’s Armament company has introduced a scaled-up version of the same weapon in the 7.62x51mm caliber, with provision for other calibers should they be requested. The new machine gun is patterned after the Stoner LMG/LAMG, and features the same short top cover and fixed receiver rail of its smaller cousin. The other components, such as the barrel, feed tray, etc, are all scaled up to fit the larger caliber, resulting in a heavier unloaded weight of approximately 12.5lbs – still far, far lighter than an M240 or other traditional Western 7.62mm belt fed machine guns. According to KAC representatives, the new weapon does not yet have an official name, but “Medium Assault Machine Gun sounds as good as anything.”

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) brought their .338 Norma Magnum caliber Lightweight Medium Machine Gun (LWMMG) to the 2017 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual meeting, giving TFB the chance at a closer look at this much-anticipated long range weapon.

The Russian PKM: Arguably the best general purpose machine gun in the world, it combines a robust reliability with best-in-class light weight. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons recently released two video overviews of the weapon, giving us a good enough excuse as any to spend some time with the Soviet showstopper:

A Bulgarian investigative journalist by the name of Dilyana Gaytandzhiev has published an article vigorously detailing the activities of the Azerbaijani state run airline Silk Way in providing arms shipments across the MENA region and Africa in the airlines diplomatic capacity. Not only does it appear that U.S. Special Operations Command is using the airline to transport massive amounts of small arms and ammunition from Eastern Europe to groups in Syria, but also such customers as Saudi Arabia, and Kurdish state actors in addition to possibly much more. The majority of the shipments appear to be rocket launchers and associated ammunition, but there are numerous amounts of Kalashnikov variants mixed in among the shipments as well. W e actually had a post on TFB about shipments from Bulgaria to Kurdistan as early as 2008, so the Silk Way connection might not be that far off in this regard.

Thanks Miles V. for sharing this photo of a PKM in Chechnya.

Coke’s slogan is “Taste the Feeling”, but maybe in the Ukraine it should be “the Army’s Rust Remover!” instead. “We use Coca-Cola when the gun is rusty. Coca-Cola takes rust away” says Ukrainian Ground Forces machine gunner Oleg Yuzkovich about his trusty PKM machine gun, in an interview with 5 Kanal (Channel 5 Ukraine, embedded below.

According to Ukrainian Industrial Portal, a company called RAROG (Kharkov, Ukraine) has developed a polymer made disintegrating belt for the PKM machine guns. The standard  PKM belts are non-disintegrating (the links are connected to each other) and they are made of metal. Polymer construction of the new belt should allow saving some weight.

The Georgian Ministry of Defense has released statements and even staged a demonstration wherein the land component of the Georgian Armed Forces will replace the 7.62x54R PKM medium machine guns with FN Herstal 7.62x51mm NATO M240Bs. This will be a gradual replacement over the next year or so as PKMs become switched out with M240Bs within the infantry and mechanized forces of the Republic of Georgia. Because the announcement specifically mentions “U.S. made” M240Bs, we’ve taken that to possibly mean that this purchase is either through Foreign Military Sales programs or that these are at least M240Bs previously in use by the U.S. Army and were replaced by M240Ls in active Army service.