DShK

The DShK is a Soviet heavy machine gun designed in 1938 by Vasily Degtyaryov and later revised by Georgi Shpagin, who converted its feed to a belt system using a rotary feed cylinder. It fires the 12.7 by 108 millimeter cartridge at a rate of about 600 rounds per minute out to an effective range of 2.4 kilometers, and it can be mounted on vehicles, tripods or wheeled carriages for infantry use. The Tula Arms Plant manufactured the weapon, and more than a million were built between 1938 and 1980. The DShK and the American M2 Browning are the only fifty caliber class machine guns designed before the Second World War that remain in service today. It saw extensive combat in that war and in many conflicts since, and it is still used by numerous countries.