The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny, Shpitalny-Komaritski rapid fire for aircraft; Russian: ШКАС - Шпитального-Комарицкого Авиационный Скорострельный) is a 7.62 mm calibre machine gun widely used by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

aircraft in the 1930s and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The ShKAS had the highest rate of fire of any aircraft machine gun in general service during WWII. It was designed by

Boris Shpitalniy Boris Gavriilovich Shpitalny (; – 6 February 1972) was a Soviet designer of aircraft guns and cannons and one of the first people awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor. Career Boris Shpitalny graduated from MAMI Moscow State Techni ...

and Irinarkh Komaritsky and entered production in 1934. ShKAS was used in the majority of Soviet fighters and

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

s and served as the basis for the ShVAK cannon.

Description

ShKAS is a

gas-operated Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, Semi-automatic firearm, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the Cartridge (firearms), cartridge being fired is used t ...

aircraft machine gun; it has a single chamber in which the pin strikes the primer. A key element of the ShKAS' high rate of fire is the revolving drum (feed cage) that holds ten rounds and provides a very smooth, progressive removal of the cartridges from their disintegrating link belt. The bolt locking action is Browning-style, i.e. slightly tilted wedge bolt. The bolt action mechanism is the "gas piston in a tube - rod - bolt frame", rather similar to Kalashnikov's assault rifle. The main difference with AK is that, with AK, the whole assembly of piston-rod-bolt frame is a single large and heavy part. And, with ShKAS, it is split to several parts - the piston, the rod and the bolt frame, with a "personal" recoil spring for each of them (the weapon has a lot of springs in it). This provided for the lightweight recoiling portion of the gun, which weighs only 921 grams (2.07 lb). Diagram of the ShKAS feed system operation - en

Diagram of the ShKAS feed system operation - en

A declassified US analysis of the feed system, based on models captured during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, reads:Chinn, pp. 78–79 ( Ian V. Hogg called the ShKAS feeding system a "

squirrel cage Squirrel-cage may refer to: *a squirrel-cage rotor *a squirrel-cage fan, another name for a centrifugal fan *a hamster wheel A hamster wheel or running wheel is an exercise device used primarily by hamsters and other rodents, but also by othe ...

".) After analysing the less unusual parts of the ShKAS, the US source concludes: Although ShKAS is best known for its high rate of fire, it did have provision for slower cyclic rates by lowering the gas-pressure. This was done by "changing the position of the holes in the gas regulator, which comes with holes of three different sizes: 2.1 mm (1/12-inch), 2.5 mm (1/10-inch) and 3.2 mm (1/8-inch). The smaller the orifice used, the more moderate is the rate of fire obtained."

Variants

Initial production consisted of cable-charged wing-mounted and turret-mounted ShKAS with a synchronized version entering service in 1936. By 1952 Western intelligence had identified five different models, all including the number "426" in their markings:Chinn, p. 72 * a prototype "426" appeared in 1932 * KM-33, in flexible role, appeared in 1933 * KM-35, in flexible role (1934) and wing-mounted (1935) * KM-36, in flexible role (1935) and propeller-synchronized (1937); the latter had an extra-long barrel * a 1941 model, wing-mounted "KM" stands for "constructed model", i.e. production. The intended role was marked with the letters "T" for flexible, "K" for wing, and "S" synchronized. The flexible version was usually mounted in a Soviet copy of the

Scarff ring The Scarff ring was a type of machine gun mounting developed during the First World War by Warrant Officer (Gunner) F. W. Scarff of the Admiralty Air Department for use on two-seater aircraft. The mount incorporated bungee cord suspension in el ...

.Chinn, p. 73 The 1937 model had slightly higher maximum rate of fire of 2,000 rounds per minute. The amount of ammunition normally carried was 750 rounds for the fixed models and 1,000 to 1,500 for the flexible. Soviet archives indicate the following production volumes, by year: * 1933 — 365 produced * 1934 — 2,476 * 1935 — 3,566 * 1937 — 13,005 * 1938 — 19,687 * 1940 — 34,233 * 1943 — 29,450 * 1944 — 36,255 * 1945 — 12,455 In 1939, a small number of Ultra-ShKAS were produced featuring a firing rate of 3,000 rounds per minute but these saw only limited use due to reliability problems.

Effectiveness

The ShKAS was the fastest-firing rifle calibre aircraft armament in general service in World War II. A one-second burst from the four ShKAS of a

Polikarpov I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' () is a late 1930s Soviet sesquiplane fighter. Developed from the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the major Soviet fighter types ...

Polikarpov I-16 The Polikarpov I-16 () is a Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it is a low-wing cantilever monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear, and the first such aircraft to attain operational status. It "in ...

placed 120 bullets within 15

angular mil A milliradian ( SI-symbol mrad, sometimes also abbreviated mil) is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian (0.001 radian). Milliradians are used in adjustment of firearm sights by adjusting t ...

s at 400 meters (1,312 feet) giving a firing density of 5 bullets per square meter of the sky. Moreover, the ShKAS was unusually light as well; the four guns, with 650 rounds of ammunition each, weighed a total of only 160 kg (350 lb). ShKAS wasn't problem-free though. Soviet machine-gun technician Viktor M. Sinaisky recalled:

Gun specifications

* Cartridge: 7.62×54mmR *

Calibre In guns, particularly firearms, but not artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or wher ...

: *

Rate of fire Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...

: 1,800 rounds/min wing- or turret-mounted; 1,625 rounds/min synchronized. UltraShKAS: 3,000 rounds/min. *

Muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately t ...

: *

Weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

: empty; with 650 rounds of ammunition.

7.62 mm ammunition specifications

Although chambered in the 7.62×54mmR, the ShKAS guns used cartridges specially built for them to smaller tolerances; to distinguish them from the regular 7.62 ammunition, the

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

letter "Sh" ( Ш) was imprinted on the bottom of the cases. The cases, designed by N. M. Elizarov, also had a few additional features like double crimping and a thicker case wall of "bimetallic" construction instead of the traditional

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

. The main type of bullet used was armour-piercing incendiary B-32 bullet. Ammunition marked as such should not be fired out of any regular 7.62×54mmR rifles. * Bullet weight: 148

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...

(9.6 grams) * Round weight: 370

(24 grams) *

Ballistic coefficient In ballistics, the ballistic coefficient (BC, ''C'') of a body is a measure of its ability to overcome air resistance in flight. It is inversely proportional to the negative acceleration: a high number indicates a low negative acceleration—the ...

: 2,100 kg/m² (3.0 lb/in²) *

Tracer ammunition Tracer ammunition, or tracers, are bullets or cannon-caliber projectiles that are built with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base. When fired, the pyrotechnic composition is ignited by the burning powder and burns very brightly, making the p ...

duration: 750 m (2,460 ft) * Armour piercing: 11 mm (0.43 in) at 400 m (1,312 ft)

Possible influences

Some military historians believe the feed system of the Mauser 213C (the seminal

revolver cannon A revolver cannon is a type of autocannon, commonly used as an aircraft gun. It uses a cylinder with multiple chambers, similar to those of a revolver handgun, to speed up the loading-firing-ejection cycle. Some examples are also power-driven, ...

for Western designs) was inspired by the ShKAS. George Chinn 1951, The Machine Gun: Development During World War II and Korean Conflict by the United States and their Allies of Full Automatic Machine Gun Systems and High Rate of Fire Power Driven Cannon, Volume III, Parts VIII and IX. p. 44 However, the method of operation is very different: gas-operation on the ShKAS versus a revolving cam on the MG 213C.

Users

* *

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...

* *

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Drabkin, Artem. ''The Red Air Force at War: Barbarossa and the Retreat to Moscow – Recollections of Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front''. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword Military, 2007. . * Романов Д. И. Оружие Воздушного Боя (Romanov D.I., ''Aerial Weapons'') * Chinn, George M. The Machine Gun, Vol II, Part VII. US Department of the Navy, 1952 * Широкорад А.Б. (2001) ''История авиационного вооружения'' Харвест (Shirokorad A.B. (2001) ''Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia'' Harvest. ) (''History of aircraft armament'')

External links

Ultra-ShKAS photo

патроны для сверх пулемета
{{Russian and Soviet Aircraft Ordnance Medium machine guns World War II machine guns 7.62×54mmR machine guns Machine guns of the Soviet Union Cold War firearms of the Soviet Union Aircraft guns of the Soviet Union KBP Instrument Design Bureau products Military equipment introduced in the 1930s