DP-27 (28)

Description

The DP-27 was the general issue light machine gun (LMG) of the inter-war through to early post-war period. Developed in the mid 1920’s, it was adopted into service in 1928 and aside from infantry use, derivatives of it were fitted as defensive weapons in the vast majority of Soviet aircraft and tanks of the era. Due this year of entry into service, in the West, this weapon is often referred to as the DP-28.

It’s distinctive disc magazine functioned in a similar manner to the British Lewis LMG of WW1 and offered the user a high capacity of ammunition. However, although this type of feed system also allowed the operator clearer visibility over an upward fitted box magazine (such as the Bren’s), it was easily damaged and took a long time to reload with 47 rounds of 7.62×54mm ammunition.

Another weakness was that by the start of World War 2, German infantry were using lightweight/belt-fed weapons such as the MG34 and later MG42, which offered a rate of fire that the DP could never hope to compete with. With this in mind, it’s days as the staple infantry support weapon of the Soviet Union were numbered, hence the development of the RPD.