PPSh-41

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PPSh-41
Image:Mémorial uniforme soviétique WWII.JPG
Type	Submachine gun
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1941-
Used by	Soviet Army
Wars	World War II, Korean War Vietnam War
Production history
Designer	Georgii Shpagin
Produced	1941-
Number built	6,000,000
Variants	Chinese Type 50
Specifications
Weight	(unloaded) 3.63 kg
Length	843 mm
Barrel length	269 mm

Cartridge	7.62 x 25 mm TT
Action	Blowback, Open bolt
Rate of fire	900 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	488 m/s
Maximum range	200 m
Feed system	35 round box magazine 71 round drum magazine

Designed by Georgii Shpagin, the PPSh-41 (Pistolet-Pulemet Shpagina, Russian: Пистолет-пулемёт Шпагина, nicknamed Phe-phe-sha, Shpagin and Burp Gun) was one of the most mass produced weapons of World War II. It was designed as an inexpensive alternative to the PPD which was expensive and time consuming to build. The PPSh had a simple blow-back action, used metal stampings to ease production and had a chrome lined chamber and bore to help make the gun virtually maintenance free.

1 Developed to meet an urgent need
2 Proven in battle
3 Adopted by the enemy
4 References
5 See also

[edit] Developed to meet an urgent need

The impetus for the development of the PPSh came partly from the Winter War against Finland, where it was found that sub-machine guns were a highly effective tool for close-quarter fighting in forests or urban areas. The weapon was developed in mid-1941 and was produced in a network of factories in Moscow, with high-level local Party members made directly responsible for production targets being met. A few hundred weapons were produced in November 1941 and another 155,000 were produced over the next five months. By spring 1942, the PPSh factories were producing roughly 3,000 units a day.<ref> Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941: A City and its People at War, London: Profile Books, 2006, p. 236.</ref>

[edit] Proven in battle

On the field, the PPSh was superior: durable, low-maintenance and firing at a phenomenal 900 rpm (using a crude compensator to lessen muzzle climb). It had a hinged receiver which facilitated field-stripping and cleaning the bore in battle conditions by Soviet conscripts and far-flung partisans. Supposedly it was more accurate than foreign mass produced counterparts. Over 6 million of these weapons were produced by war's end, enough to issue to entire divisions.

Though 35-round curved box magazines were available from 1942, the average infantryman would keep a higher-capacity drum magazine as the initial load. The drum was a copy of the Finnish M31 Suomi magazine and held 71 rounds, but in practice misfeeding of the spring was likely to occur with more than 65 or so. The standard load was probably one drum and 5 or 6 magazines, when magazines were available; before then it appears they would have been equipped with 3 drums.

The PPSh's only drawbacks were the difficulty of reloading, the tendency of the drums to jam (solved by the box magazines) and the high risk of accidental discharge when dropped - the last being a fault common to all open bolt submachine gun designs. Despite these drawbacks, the PPSh-41 was still admired by Soviet soldiers for its low recoil, reliability, and lethality.

[edit] Adopted by the enemy

The captured PPSh was in particular a favorite weapon of the Germans. Due to the similar dimensions of the Soviet 7.62 x 25 mm and German 9 mm Parabellum cartridges, the PPSh-41 was easily modified, with a 9 mm barrel and a magazine-well adapter to fire from a standard 32-round MP38/40 magazine (some sources report that the conversion attempts did not work ^{[citation needed]}). The Wehrmacht officially adopted the converted PPSh-41 as the MP41(r), unconverted PPSh-41s were designated MP717(r).

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Soviet infantry weapons of World War II
Side-arms
TT-33 \| Nagant M1895
Rifles & carbines
AVS36 \| SVT40 \| Mosin-Nagant
Submachine guns
PPD-40 \| PPSh-41 \| PPS-43
Grenades
F1 \| RGD-33 \| RG-41 \| RG-42 \| RPG-43
Machine guns & other larger weapons
M1910 Maxim \| DS-39 \| DP \| SG-43 Gorunov \| DShK \| PTRD \| PTRS ROKS-2/ROKS-3
Cartridges used by the USSR
7.62 x 25 mm TT \| 7.62 x 38 R \| 7.62 x 54 mm R \| 14.5 x 114 mm