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Heavy Machinegun
General Characteristics
Real name:	DShK 12.7mm Machinegun
Type:	Heavy Machinegun
Ammunition:	12.7x108mm Belt-Fed
Variants:	Tripod Mount Vehicle Mounted
Statistics
Damage:	Very High
Accuracy:	Moderate
Rate of fire:	Moderate-high
[Source]

The DShK 12.7mm Machinegun (Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный or Degtyaryov-Shpagin Large-Calibre) was a Soviet heavy machine gun developed in the middle of the 20th century. It is seen as an emplacement weapon throughout the Metro, but in reality it is currently phased out almost entirely by newer machine guns using the same caliber NSV and Kord.

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 Tactics and Use 4 Variants and Obtaining 5 Related Achievements 6 Trivia 7 References

OverviewEdit

The weapon is normally employed at checkpoints or heavy defensive positions, as a way of dissuading attackers and dealing with mutants, infantry, and vehicles alike. It is the single heaviest weapon in Metro 2033 in terms of damage, leaving even the Heavy Automatic Shotgun; it's smaller cousin, in the dust.

HistoryEdit

The DShK is a 12.7x108mm, gas-operated, belt-fed, air-cooled heavy machine gun that fires from an open bolt - and in automatic mode only. The gas piston and chamber are located below the barrel; the gas piston is of the long-stroke type, and is attached to the bolt carrier. The gas chamber is fitted with a gas regulator, which requires a special wrench to make adjustments. The bolt, of generally rectangular cross-section, locks into the receiver with two outwardly pivoting flaps. These flaps are pushed outwards from the bolt to lock it by the enlarged firing pin, which in turn is operated by the vertical projection on the bolt carrier. The rear of the receiver houses two spring buffers, one for the bolt and one for the bolt carrier.

The heavy barrel is finned for better cooling, and is fitted with a large muzzle brake. The barrel can be detached from the weapon, but it hardly can be called “quick detachable”; it is screwed into the front of the receiver, and then fixed there by the cross-bolt, which is also screwed in place.

The ammunition feed is accomplished via non-disintegrating steel belts, from the left side only. The belt feed unit was designed as an afterthought for the originally magazine-fed DK machine gun, so it is clamped to the top of the receiver. It consists of a squirrel-cage type wheel which is operated by a swinging arm at the right side of the gun. This arm, in turn, is operated by the reciprocating round projection, which is located on the right side of the bolt carrier. The belt enters the circular feed unit at the top, and 12.7x108mm cartridges are carried clockwise (when looking from the rear of the gun).

Upon discharge, the bolt carrier goes back on its recoil stroke, pulling the belt feed hand and rotating the feed wheel by 1/6th of a turn. Upon rotation, the belt is pulled across the unit, and cartridges are stripped down from the belt pockets by dual claw-shaped strippers. Once the cartridge reaches its bottom position in the feed unit, it is stripped forward into the chamber by the bolt. On more modern guns, the belt feed uses simplified slider-type belt traction unit, also powered through the swinging arm, and somewhat similar in design to the feed of the RP-46 gun. Spent cartridges are ejected down through openings in the receiver and bolt carrier.

In manual (ground and AA) applications gun is fitted with dual spade grips at the back of the receiver, and a dual trigger. The charging handle is also shaped as a spade grip, and is located horizontally below and between spade grips.

Standard sighting equipment is an open sight adjustable for range (up to 3500 m in 100 m increments) and windage. Additional anti-aircraft sights can be installed for AA use.

The standard mount is a universal setup, which can be used for both ground and AA roles. Designed by Kolesnikov, this mount consists of a detachable two-wheel base and three folding legs, which form the tail-boom for ground applications and are extended to form a tripod for AA applications. Kolesnikov mounts were issued with heavy armored shields, but crews often discarded shields to save some weight and to decrease the gun profile when firing from wheels. In the AA role, both wheels and shield were detached from the mount, and an optional shoulder support could be installed.^[1]

Tactics and UseEdit

The DShK machine gun is an incredibly powerful, albeit situational, weapon. It is capable of killing any human opponent and almost any mutant with a single shot.

It's strengths are, however, offset by a few crippling limitations. The machine gun is absolutely immobile and cannot be moved by a player from its original location. It has a limited amount of ammunition on most occasions and overheats fairly quickly during continuous firing. It's temperature can be monitored by the thermometer attached to the right side of the weapon.

Variants and ObtainingEdit

DShK: A standard DShK with iron sights. Several can be found at the Market checkpoints, but none are usable. One can be found at the fortification during the Cursed level, near Khan and the last of the station's defenders. Several can be found at the fortifications on both sides of the Front Line level. One can be found mounted on the rail car during Trolley Combat level and is the only weapon available to the player at this point. One can be found at the fortifications during the Defense level, but it is unusable by the player.

Related AchievementsEdit

	Heavy Metal	20
	Kill 15 enemies using a stationary machine gun.

TriviaEdit

• Several of machine guns seen in the game have mounted searchlights.
• On average, there are 50 Rounds in each ammo box.
• It's nickname is the "Dushka", literally meaning "baby", or "sweetie" in Russian.
• The flamethrower on the level Dark Star level was originally intended to be a machine gun, which Miller refers to in a Russian dub.\
• In practicle terms, the temperature gauge measures the temperature of the barrel. Over heating the barrel can cause the weapon to accidently discharge, the barrel to warp, and even cause the barrel to literally melt. Given current conditions in the Metro, these gauges are most likely meant to remind operators to fire in bursts so as to preserve the overall life of the weapon.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ http://world.guns.ru/machine/rus/dshk-dshkm-e.html

Weapons of Metro 2033 Melee Trench Knife • Throwing Knives Handguns Revolver Primary weapons Bastard • Kalash (AK-74M) • Kalash 2012 • VSV (VSK-94) Secondary weapons Automatic Shotgun (Uboinik) • Duplet • Heavy Automatic Shotgun (Abzats) • Helsing • Tihar • Volt Driver Explosives Grenade Emplacement Weapons DShK 12.7mm Machinegun • Flamethrower Attachments Attachments

Weapons of Metro Last Light Melee Trench Knife • Throwing Knives Handguns Revolver • Lolife Assault Rifles/Rifles Bastard • Kalash (AK-74) • Modified Russian Rifle (AKS-74u) • Kalash 2012 • RPK-74 • VSV (VSK-94) • Valve • Preved Shotguns Ashot • Automatic Shotgun (Saiga-12) • Automatic Shotgun (Shambler) • Duplet • Heavy Automatic Shotgun (Abzats) Pneumatic Weapons Helsing • Tihar Heavy Weapons Hand-Held Minigun Explosives Grenade Emplacement Weapons DShK 12.7mm Machinegun Attachments Attachments Cut content Home-Made Grenade Launcher