The History of PKM, the Most Common Machine Gun In the World. Part 4

In Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the beginning of the Kalashnikov machinegun story, Part 2 was dedicated to the bureaucratic hoops he initially had to jump through, Part 3 described the technical triаls and competition between the Kalashnikov and his rivals, Nikitin and Sokolov. In this chapter, I will go into the story of troop trials that determined the destiny of Kalashnikov GPMG.

The troop trials began in the summer of 1960. Four military units were chosen to test new machine guns. The first one was the officer school near Moscow called “Vistrel” (meaning “Shot”).

The second unit was based in the modern territory of the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia). The third was located in the desert of Central Asia (now Uzbekistan). The last one was located in Odesa, modern-day Ukraine.

This was the first time during the trials when both GPMGs were tested simultaneously and both designers saw each other’s results, so naturally the confrontation between the two designer teams went to the next level.

One day Kalashnikov was visiting a shooting range to observe the testing of the rival machinegun. He quietly watched the shooting and once it ended, approached the officer in charge of the trials:

What is the requirement for the length of the bursts they are firing?

According to the SOPs, 7-12 rounds

I know. But I bet not a single burst today was longer than 10 shots.

The officer approached the soldiers who were firing the machinegun and without telling them anything, asked them to fire a few more bursts. They did, and the bursts were indeed no more than 10 rounds.

I told you - said Kalashnikov - tell them to fire 12 rounds bursts.

Once soldiers started with longer bursts, the non-disintegrating metal belt started jamming in the Nikitin machine gun. Turns out someone from Nikitin and Sokolov's team secretly told soldiers that they must only fire bursts below 10 rounds. This event was a big blow to the reputation of Nikitin’s machine gun - nobody likes cheaters.

Kalashnikov’s machine gun wasn’t perfect either, but he managed to fix every problem faster than his competition. In Central Asia, because of extreme heat, one of the PK machineguns had a defect - the soldier could not detach the barrel which seized to a receiver.

Kalashnikov rushed to the factory and quickly came up with the decision - he would chrome-plate all surfaces that interact with the barrel change mechanism. But how you can chrome-line something within hours?

Kalashnikov commandeered workers who were doing decorative engravings on hunting guns. They often chrome-lined external parts of shotguns for VIP orders.

But that day, instead of making shotguns look pretty for some Communist Party officials, the chrome-lined locking surfaces on barrels. Within days, new barrels reached Central Asia and the problem was solved.

Kalashnikov knew how to make friends. Everyone who was involved in trials noticed how much time he spent with soldiers, listened to their problems, and never acted like he was some kind of a celebrity.

Listening is a big part of being a gun design engineer. One day, a famous marshal (equivalent to a five-star General ) Rotmistrov was visiting the proving ground and tested both machine guns. Both worked fine, but he was told by officers Nikitin’s machine gun had problems with belt jamming.

Based on that statement, the general favored Kalashnikov’s work and had a friendly conversation with him. During this talk, Rotmistrov shared some insider information.

You shouldn’t be content with the fact that your GPMG works in our current vehicles. It should work with all our future tanks as well. There will be less space inside because of all the new equipment. New tanks will be totally sealed and air-tight in order to move through areas contaminated by radiation and chemical weapons. So you must think about venting the gas away from the turret.

So even before the official requirement came out, Kalashnikov knew what he needed to prepare himself for in the future.

The unique part of troop trials is that testing procedures are quite flexible. Officers in every district can come up with their own tests, and sometimes those tests are not exactly scientific.

For example, officers would put both machine guns in the room and send their random soldiers. A soldier had to choose the best GPMG based solely on his intuition and gut feeling.

Another test made more sense, the officers timed the field stripping process, and with minimal training, soldiers could disassemble PK faster than Nikitin’s machinegun.

The troop trials were over. Four different units cast their votes: the unit in the Baltics voted for the Kalashnikov machine gun. The unit located in Ukraine could not determine a clear winner. The unit from Uzbekistan was voting for PK, but on the condition that within 30 days Kalashnikov team must fix the problems they outlined. Only the officer school near Moscow was critically against Kalashnikov GPMG.

In the next part of the article, I will talk about the final stand between Kalashnikov and the Soviet bureaucracy that almost managed to kill PK even after all the testing was completed.