ShVak heavy MG 12,7mm.
The early years of 1930s were characterized by the great qualitative jump in the development of the military aviation. It substantially increased the speed, weight and payload, thus also the resistance of combat aircrafts.
In connection with this the 9 of February of 1931 the Soviet High Command decided that was needed a new machine gun caliber 12,7mm to combat against the recent generation of fighters and bombers. Responding to this requirement it is born the ShVak,
Shpitalny Vladimirov Aviatsionny Krupnokalibr, Aeronautic Weapon of Shpitalny and Vladimirov heavy caliber.
The prototype of the machine gun was finished in Tula the 28th May 1932.
The principle of the operation by means of gas energy with a piston operating the opening of the sliding bolt. It was basically an enlarged Shkas.
Length of the gun was
1246 millimeters , it had 8 grooves right twist, overall lenght
1726 millimeters.
Rate of fire a
820-850 rpm. It was proposed to be adopted in three versions, wing, sinchro and turret emplacements.
In 1932 - 1933 the machine gun underwent tests and in 1934 of I declare apt to enter in good condition. Nevertheless the enthusiasm of the VVS with the new weapon was short lived.
The ShVak of 12,7mm showed a series of disadvantages such as:
- Excessively high Number of mechanical failures, not only that but also sometimes to clear a jam in the weapon has to be completely disarmed in its feeding mechanism and/or including the conductive drum of the cartridge belt… wich obviously a task impossible to perform in actual combat.
- Excessive number of mechanized pieces, the number of component was greater due to the modifications realised by Vladimirov to the Shkas to accept the larger caliber case.
- Expensive Construction, for the same reasons above.
- Non standard Ammunition, the worsest from the Soviet point of view.
The Shvak did not use the conventional ammunition of 12.7 but one specially designed 12,7mm x 108R, the R obvious indicates the presence of a rim, this was necessary since the system of Shpitalny
did not adapt to the cartridges with extraction groove. (rimless case)
All these reasons caused that its fabrication was very limited. In the year of 1934 only 12 issues were constructed and 86 the following year, finally it was decided to give up with this weapon in favour of a heavier 20mm variant.
The standardized weapon of aviation in caliber the 12.7 shall be the Universaly Berezin that used the cartridge DShk 1934. The production of of Shvak 12.7 mm finalize definitively in 1936.
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Linear Mode
