I rented an SG43 from a movie prop company for a WW2 reenactment at Camp Roberts many years ago with the California Historical Group. I carried the gun, my brother carried the tripod and we had 2 ammo bearers with many maxim belts of wood tipped blanks in cans. It worked flawlessly over a weeked. One of my best reenacting experiences.
@@george5156 we only shot maybe 250-300 rounds thru it and did not note much fouling. The safety distance was a minimum of 10 yards, it had a shreder in the muzzle.
Pyotr Goryunov was not really young man at his 40s. And he died very soon after finishing trials of his MG so putting his name on his machine guns was act of posthumous honor.
yeah extremely rare for soviet production… degtyaryov, kalashnikov, simonov, dragunov, korolev, makarov, shpagin, sudayev, tokarev and that’s not even including the aircraft and ground vehicle weapons designers. each of them got their names being nearly synonymous with their work.
Ian.. seen you talk about this and it being a replacement, I was wondering if doing a chronology of various country's "forgotten" weapons would be something you could consider. It could help us see the progression and evolution better.. in the meantime thanks for all of this!
Just a book with every firearm every country used? Sounds like quite a library of books right there. Such a huge topic it would be tough to even do a single nation in a single book, eras of firearms would make more sense. It's a neat idea, but organizationally it would be Hell.
I think a video of certain specific countries he's an expert in, like France where it's a commentary over previous footage of the key design elements. Similar to his "what is a 1st 2nd or CV 3rd gen smg video but more in depth"
That tilting locking mechanism on the bolt was interesting to me -- some might call it a "crude" design, but I see a simple solution to a persistent problem -- very "Soviet". +1 Like
We spent millions of dollars and boat loads of hours trying to make a pen that would write in no/low gravity for our astronauts...the soviets just used pencils.
@@JamesThomas-gg6il This is a myth easily disproved with a little research. Both the US and Soviet space crews used the commercially developed Fisher Space Pen that cost somewhere around $6 each. Both NASA and Fisher discuss this on their websites. You can verify this if you do a search for "NASA Space Pen". Prior to that the Soviets used grease pencils (a type of crayon). The US used very expensive special mechanical pencils. Normal pencil lead is electrically conductive so fragments floating around in spacecraft would cause electrical shorts, FWIW.
Have a super special place in my heart for the goryunov, first reweld I ever did was a sg43, and now I just got done with an SGMT, couple of things though, the barrel lock is meant to remain in place then slide out the right side of the reciever, but the retainer can get worn enough that it won't retain it. And the plate on the right side of the reiever don't allow for an exchangeable locking plate, it allows access to the shoulder in the reciever for machining processes to get a square shoulder in the channel on the right side, the shoulder is just locally hardened I believe, whether electronically or through a torch, I couldn't say. Also, sgmt's have adjustable headspace like a PKM, the sgmt's also can be fired with the solenoid or with a butterfly, its got both. They're pretty fun guns, thats for sure.
It has a lot of similarities to the PK like the barrel locking plate and lugs are practically identical. Also the feed mechanism essentially the same beside the camming method, but there are those cartridge puller hooks, the cartridge stopper in the top cover the spring loaded paws that forward the belt and the adjustable gas regulator (on the PKT). All those elements are present in the PK, but improved upon. I think it's safe to say Kalashnikov was inspired by this gun, when he designed the PK especially the feed system.
The senior gun designer recommended this to Stalin over his own new heavy MG. I do believe a person can be motivated by patriotism. But you mention his new design had significant problems, so senior guy knew better than to risk his relationship with Stalin by pressing his gun into the field and having it fail.
@@peterthepeter7523 This was during WW2 if i'm not mistaken in the midst of Operation Barbarossa, there was no time to be screwing around with brown nosing and politicking, the Germans were basically pounding on the gates of Moscow. If Degtyarev had kept pushing his own design and it resulted in wasted war materials and lost lives, despite him knowing a better design was available, Stalin wasn't exactly a man known for "Water under the bridge" type overtures, he was more known for "Go straight to gulag, do not collect 200 dollars" And thats if you got lucky.
I think it's also significant that Goruyunov had worked for Degtyarev, so he could also play the "he was my protege, I taught him everything he knows" angle. Makes both of them look good in the eyes of Glorious Leader.
@@Rixoli Interestingly enough, I read detailed stories about troubled development and production of various stuff during WWII in USSR, and despite the deserved fear of summary retribution for failed projects (which was often the pretext for convictions before the war), surprisingly few designers and even production managers / acceptance specialists ever got executed or jailed for even grave fuckups (such as, "sorry, we didn't make the deadline... in fact, we didn't even start, too many other projects, will try next quarter"). Even when people like Beriya and other narcoms wrote several thunder-and-lightning letters to their factory/R&D bureau. This includes this machine gun saga - it was long and painful, with dozens of trials and dozens of different submissions. And some tank development drama as well, if I remember right. (I mean T-34s initially had shitty air filters and these got improved hugely with Cyclone filters, but I don't think anyone got charged for that shortcoming). Examples of punishments that I remember reading about are often demotions or sacking, or moving the manager to a demeaning position, or sending them to the front lines. I don't want to make sweeping generalizations, but maybe everyone including Stalin realized that if you kill or jail a specialist, you can't just conjure another out of thin air RIGHT NOW. And also that developing and making new weapons with 24/7 crunch (as they all did) will always involve fuckups. Thing is, during WWII, the things that USSR was always short on were time and experience - more than most resources. Hence probably the apparent "lenience" towards failures.
@@peterthepeter7523 Degtyrarev was no doubt a nice guy, but he also knew that wasting time and resources was a capital offence. A lot of aircraft designers were executed when their prototypes failed. In Stalin's eyes it was the same thing as sabotage. (Although I don't think Degtyarev would face execution for promoting a "slightly less good" MG. If his gun exploded during field trials however...) This may seem a tad cruel today, but it also meant that they didn't waste time on impractical and expensive "wunderwaffen" like the Germans did.
@@Rixoli Barbarossa was summer/autumn of 1941. This gun wasn’t even in the design phase till after it was over (1942), during the lead up to the battle of Stalingrad. Still, very uncomfortable time for the Red Army.
Thank You, Ian. Degtyarevs words in favor of SG were more like a honest man word, not a patriotic statement. We had enough of rumble in between the constructors. Polikarpov's I-185 story is a bright example. Lavochkin and Yakovlev, by carefully playing intrigues and laying traps around, ruined Polikarpov's life and work, despite the fact that his fighter was better and provided more firepower. All in favor of getting more orders for their own factories, thus getting more privileges and money.
interesting. why nkvd did nothing about pair of assholes stripping Soviet Union of better fighter with more fiepower? also in ussr money was garbage - you cannot buy what you should not buy
According to a more detailed account in the Kalashnikov magazine, at that point, the SP-GVG (which would later become SG-43) had a very solid support behind it, in people who had more weight in the industry that Degtyarev. The hectic trials for the new mounted machine gun have been going on for half a year by then, with dozens of designs trialled. Degtyarev's own was tested twice (not very successfully). So, at the point of the alleged Stalin conversation (where Degtyarev admitted the GVG was better), the GVG's designers already received preliminary monetary awards from the Defense narkom, the heads of the Artillery directorate approved the design, the gun was ordered into small scale production and field trialled, and the Armored corps narkom was also pestering the factory for the new guns. It seems that Degtyarev could only admit the obvious. Also, interestingly, Gorynov was essentially kind of a competitor to Degtyarev even before that. Degtyarev was head of a design bureau (KB-2) whose designs were realized at the No. 2 factory. But the factory itself had its own small skunkworks design bureau, reporting to the head engineer and the director. And Goryunov was head hunted into this bureau in 1940. Degtyarev even rejected the design of the GVG (LMG version) in May 1942, just before this whole competition started.
@@ayebraine It's a question of "what if" for me. What if Goryunov did not die soon after he developed his mg? Could it be, that Kalashnikov lost UMG competition to something, that Goryunov could have proposed?...
Thanks for another great video, Ian. You do the channel name proud by finding and introducing these lost weapons to us all. That you look at weapons produced by all nations is also remarkable. Thanks again.
@14.12 The great thing about that barrel locking plate or Key, is that they made them with various dimensions. They could fine tune the headspacing between thousands of guns and barrels with about a half dozen plates. There was even a later version that had a adjusting screw system incorporated into the barrel retaining plate. Great Video. Ya'll Take Care, John
Nice gun. Very good illustration of the design philosophy of "make it simple, make it (relatively) cheap to build, and make it proof against a conscript from Omsk". Personally I'll take "it' works and it's reliable" over "complicated and clever" any day of the week.
This design is pretty clever. I think in small arms design (unlike other technical areas, like computers or jets), 'clever' and 'simple' are one and the same, and could be described as 'elegant'. It seems pretty thought-out in terms of use: like the features making disassembly and reassembly less frustrating, or the simple manual of arms without failure points like on M-60 (where closing the cover with bolt forward will bend the feed mechanism). It also seems pretty serviceable, incredibly few small parts and most parts are easy to drop in. UPD: I mean I know what you mean, some guns are more intricate just as a matter of local engineering tradition or desire to do it "just right", but in these cases, there's also elegance and non-elegance that reflects in use. I'm not talking about edge cases like G11 or the Chiappa Rhino (which are well-engineered but also overengineered). But for practical firearms, good engineering always gravitates towards elegance I think - take AR-15, it's pretty exacting in terms of manufacture, it's not overbuilt (doesn't have too much extra strength or fool-proof resilience), but it's incredibly elegantly designed, very few parts and all are thought-out.
Stalin the gun nerd, "I am sus of new thing" Deggy: "No its fine, Gory was a student of mine, he made a good thing." Stalin: "Okay." Deg *looks at still finicky /39 Improved, and wipes sweat from brow*
Work on SGM modernization was done by Kalashnikov, and one more guy, named Zaitcev. Actually it was two competing designes combined in one. Kalashnikov designed new barrel, back sights, and reworked feed way
What a fascinating history lesson behind this gun. Degtyarev was a true Communist lol! He truly thought the other guy’s gun was better for his people, and placed that over his personal gain.
Yes Ian, it should be named "PG-43" Polumet Gorgonova 43! You can see that the genetics of the MG went into the later models (also because of the Factories and Design Bureaus).
I can see one disadvantage of the rear-mounted charging handle. It would require more room to use in a vehicle. Unless you were already at arms-length, you would have to lean back and it could be awkward.
@@oldesertguy9616 Only if you brought extra ammo. Otherwise a box with a long belt would be loaded at base, just like the external loading of bombs and, missiles.
As it is in T-54/55 tank in very small turret I think crew didn't have much room for charging handle on the side where the belt is on the other side. Ian told the story why germans kept mg34 in their tanks and kept producing it after the introduction of MG42, since MG34 had rear-rotating barrel change instead of faster side change of MG42. SGMT, however relies on its heavy barrel, but its my guess.
Your videos are so helpful as an amateur game designer. I watch your videos to see how obscure weapons function. For example, I couldn't find the charging handle on the 3D model I have but your video helped me figure it out.
non-reciprocating charging handle, of course Ian I'm imaging some poor tank gunner getting repeatedly throat punched by that shovel grip charging handle lol
Having Stalin visibly suspicious of your efforts must have been a remarkbly uncomfortable experience, leading to thoughts of 3 a.m. visitors. If the user of one of these ran out of ammunition, there was clearly the option of pulling out the barrel for use as a blunt instrument, (though by 1944 the Red Army was mostly advancing).
You have to look at it in context. The new machine gun trials went on for years, they were pretty gnarly, there were dozens of submissions, with many, many re-trials after when the commission gave designers notes. The idea is not that Stalin thought that Goryunov was a fraud or a spy (although maybe the thought of nepotism crossed his mind), but that the process of choosing was very protracted and confusing, and Stalin was reluctant to undersign the decision when the ostensible winner was such a dark horse. So Stalin did what he (to his credit) often did, asked people who he deemed competent whether the choice is sound. Aside from terrible purges and instilling the paranoiac atmosphere to secure his power base, and also being very confident in his own final judgement, he also valued competence quite a lot. And during the war, he had no choice but to delegate A LOT (after a few painful lessons in the first year).
Honestly, I'm impressed by how modern and simple this design is. Lighten the barrel & simplify the barrel change, use modern materials & machining to reduce weight, stick a stock & bipod on it, revise the charging handle, and Shazam! You have a 7.62x54 equivalent to the MAG/M240. Between the lightening the barrel & materials/machining, dropping the 5lbs weight difference would be a piece of cake. Would it be a better gun than the PK? It would be around 3-4lbs heavier, but aside from that I don't know. It seems like a solid idea for a GPMG to me.
Look at the design of the DP-27. Classically simple and practical Soviet engineering. The pan magazine, flapper locksing system and open bolt work together flawlessly. The only major problem ever encountered was the recoil spring losing it's temper, so it was relocated for the DPM (thanx Ian)-John in Texas
It still will have very heavy bolt, unless you like to make it shoot faster - this would be not good thing. But, PKM sometimes described to be too light to be GPMG, so maybe slightly heavier SGM will be slightly more accurate with long bursts.
I cant but imagine some russian infantryman mustering all his strength to take this and hip fire it to cover some Suicide advance but that's just my Hollywood movie brain talking
There's one of these in a gun store in my city, it's been there for years. Semi Auto, comes with ammo cans, belts, it's in a towable carriage with a ballistic shield and everything. Used to be 7k. Now it's 20k. It's been in there for at least 15 years, if not longer.
The semi Sg-43 versions were $2k with an optional $250 for wheel carriage (+shipping which was of course insanely high back then) when they were made briefly by Wiselite iirc. They were made when a bunch of parts kits came in and there were only so many Autos that could be sold amongst the FFL to each other and there are still part kits which cost a lot because there aren't anymore of those coming.There was market for people that wanted the gun in semi (as the full auto was beyond their price range), so Wiselite (or maybe 1 other company), made a batch with their projected demand and that was it. It has been an ever climbing 2nd hand market since then. So just because you don't think there is market, there are people that will buy a semi both for the lower price and lack of hassles. Almost got one but the friend helping to split the cost dragged his feet, he had the money (but was just so sure he get it for half price) that they were no longer being made and he then dug in harder refused to pay even more, even if I put in that because the first price jump was just few extra hundred. He had loading dock access which meant far cheaper shipping..... One that got away with so few in the wild it is gamble whether you'll find an auto or semi one and then you have to move if you want because some else will pay that price if you don't. Unless it absurdly stupid and priced so they can let people know they have it without really risking selling it.
@@thedudemain117 Because this guy/shop suffers from what is prevalent in many hobbies be it electric trains, classic cars, firearms, music instruments, etc. Because that what the market price is for other semi Sg-43 versions with all the parts including spare barrels and multiple cans of belted ammo. Note I said with belted ammo not just the can with an empty belt. Because they're gonna sell those separately for even more money. The SG-43 semi were only briefly made in Semi offer briefly from by one company, if you didn't buy then, you immediately went to after production 2nd market rates. The person that owns it has priced in part not to sell it and part for everyone to know they own it.... They may have the price so high you people assume they have the Auto version to draw customers in. Do they have sign offering to let you take your picture with it for $5? Those people are the scummiest below jerky booths at gunshows, no let me contribute to help grow hobby it is here solely to give me money and kiss my ass for letting them do that. Then you have the other types ...There are plenty of people that see something sell for high price, then they decide their _____, which is no near that quality and/or has those rarity feature and/or pedigree etc. , is is actual worth the same. With anyone paying less is fucking them over and out of money, they're instantly going to get by flipping it as they walk out of their shop/house. No matter what they have in it. You see this same pricing behavior with classic cars (by they way classic cars are 1980's and 1990's models nowadays) where someone sees a show car (an in shown as shows and won prize money for quality) may go for being news worthy for the odd high amount. Then again that was just the advertised asking price in the Free Auto trader mags , then that the ad is no longer in the mag, and they just know it sold for that full asking price rounded up. Not that person got no bites or took way less than asking price. Deciding their's that ""just needs a few hundred to few thousands worth of work"" and is worth the same. Yet they won't do that few hundred to few thousand to make it worth that either for some reason.... So it sits often rusting away because the person that owns it "knows what they got" and "muh capitalism"...." I Had neighbor with 2 classic cars they he didn't even keep insured or tagged. That were untarpped under a 50-ish year old huge pecan tree (so you can image between hail and pecans the dents that had occurred over the years) Many reasonable offers were made where he would have pocketed several grand for just sitting on them doing nothing, actually less than nothing so the decay sped up unhindered. Basically keeping them from people that wanted to actually restore them. They were sold for dirt cheap when he died because no one could find the keys and they didn't run, but but but he would claim they just needed new/charged batteries and the gas drained with fresh gas type excuses.... It was a sad thing to watch. I still miss that Truck Troll though. Just like all those Mosin Nagant pistols owners that bought them in bulk for $65-$75 for 2 years then they dried up, and Prices were $250 in 2nd markets and now people want north of $500 for one and they have none of the original items that came with them like the hostler, lanyard, or tools, etc. They won't sell them for less. Gone all the days of you bought some and used it and you sold for 50%-75% of what you paid for as it was used or you got you price back due to inflation from over the years. Basically when these people die off their families will be dumping them into the market place in lots of 10-20, sometime 50+ at time. It will be fun watching them price plummet down servery to just above worthless shelf display piece prices as ammo is unobtainable without their odd ball Russian ammo being banned from being imported. No one else is going to make of sell that odd ball caliber other than specialized hand-loaders. $10, $15 or may $25 a shot for ammo. Like some antique guns, if the gun is afford ammo is non available, if the gun priced absurdly high than new better guns it means it can shoot a commercially available ammo. The 1st Antique firearm example, a box of 20-50 bullets may actual be worth more than the gun itself as they quit making those at the start of WW2 and never resumed. The supply is ever dwindling, every shot fired is one chance robbed for every future generation. Kinda like how model trains are absurdly expensive (companies are also responsible as they bailed on cheap kids sets and cheap accessories and all went in for that richer retired crowd money) but the crowd buying them are dying off. People that have $10-20 grand in a train layout don't grasp no one is going to pay you for all that, you piece meal out and get more but that is too an ever decrease buyer group... So often in spite they(or their heirs) smash it all to shreds so the people buying house can't have any of it then. Basically losing someone's legacy because they couldn't get what they knew they deserved, not understanding the fact an item is worth what someone will pay you for it. Those are much like a house with pool, it may help you sell it but you will not get return on any investment of the costs to put it there. Anyone claim it's worth X amount , and it may cost that to replace it for insurance purpose, but that is not the real resale value. Those Model kits may cost so much new but once built , it looses some value as it now just a decorative toy building, toy plane, toy car etc. And I fully understand how much each damn tree costs even when buying cheaper ones for kid sets. Ebay was great for bringing out a lot of things wasting away scattered around the country on people's shelves It was at first great fro collector being able to get items that they couldn't other wise find for sale, but everyone decided they were "resellers"... Which also ruined most of the local charity shops for the poor. Nothing nice can be priced cheap because those ""resellers""/""flippers"" people will buy it to flip it, screw the poor they should be like them come to the stores during the day. Too bad those poor have jobs they work.... Actually doing honest work for pay. Antique Road show, Barn-finders , Pawn Stars , etc type shows only drum into idiots' heads into thinking the items that their family didn't sell off during the years are some ultra rare super valuable item. Especially if they can't find much online about it, or the stumble on collector's board and don't bother to actually learn why one version costs less than $5, some $500 and one is $50,000 and the odds of them having $50K is slim to none. However they usually also want to know about the box of baseball(any sport) cards they have from the 1980's and 1990's and they can't believe are barely worth their value for paper pulp because they were collectibles it says so on the box. The irony is this guy will eventual sell that gun for what its priced because someone will have "fuck you money" and its right their in front of them and they can take it home now. Otherwise I imagine that shop owner is probably like a gun dealer at shows in my area that has the tables by the front doors, he has had the same guns on them for all the decades for as long as I can remember(same serial numbers because I checked that for while out of curiosity) with prices always 25%+ above the highest side of the market, mainly he keeps the table to be able to be the 1st person able to low ball people walking to sell guns first. He actually has no interest in selling the ones he has priced(as per show rules must be priced, unless you're a historic (non buying & non seller) educational display booth). He might sell it if forced, but it will be so he can then go buy one or 2 of them for what someone paid him to replace it.
I used to mix this MG up with the larger DShk HMG on the wheeled mount, didn't really know about the SG-43. Seems they were hardly over produced in comparison to other MGs. I wonder if they were deployed to Korea and Vietnam?
They were installed as coaxial MG on t-54 and t-55 tanks, SGMT(T for Tank) variants, since t-55 is the most produced tank ever there are quite a lot of them. And with introduction of PK, many old weapons were given to USSR friendly states.
There's something uniquely satisfying about thoughtful, maximised efficiency in a weapon's design. Looks to be machined nicely, was a reliable unit I'd assume. Lovely to see its guts 80ish years after being built.
Thank you very much, ian.. I have already asked you to make a video about this amazing rare machine gun, really a very wonderful episode and I enjoyed your interesting style
Honestly he must have really jumped over his shadow to recommend the other design, one takes pride in their own hard work after all, and to recognise its inferior is not something all engineers can do
Heh, the arsenal mark looks like a "bullets point THIS way" marker. Thank god the charging handle is not reciprocating, you'd get punched in the throat trying to aim! 🤣
Just a random thought. There is something funny about watching a video about the Soviet replacement for the Maxim after watching a video about Maxims still used in the battle field and realizing the Maxim outlasted the Soviet Union.
Maxim is heavy, bulky and kinda frustrating to operate (because of weight it have some inertia in aiming), but! When it is placed right it will do the job exellent. It's just best mg for stationary defence as long, as you can feed it and have water.
@@PyromaN93and good for anti drone defense when on pickup trucks (Toyota Hilux didn't exist in ww1 but it sure helps with moving the weight). It's an interesting coincidence that a Shaheed type drone moves at about the same speed at a 1917 biplane.
By coincidence we were looking at one of these today in the collection of the regimental museum at Shrewsbury Castle, brought back by the King's Shropshire Light Infantry from Korea.
Ahoy Ian! I have a set of Soviet 7.62 x 54R permanent links and they are so durable and reusable, especially compared to 7.62 NATO disintegrating links. Too bad I don't have a gun for them:( The cartridge ripper design is what really impresses me, as it's what allows fully rimmed rounds to be easily fed automatically into the breech. I don't know of any other full auto MG that uses such unique engineering, but that's practical Soviet design for you:) John in Texas
I think it's important: "Pyotr Maksimovich Goryunov died suddenly on December 23, 1943, returning from Moscow, where he was debugging his machine guns before being sent to the front."
I watched this video, and just rewatched the one you did on the DS-39, and I can see why Degtyarev's DS-39 was unable to be reworked. The DS-39 seems so much more complicated to use and maintain than the SG-43. The Shpagin rotary feed on the DS-39 seems very bulky, and the dual-fire rate system is an easy point of failure. The SG-43 just has less to go wrong, but it's sad it doesn't get more attention, as it looks like a modern system. It's too bad we didn't get a modern GPMG-style gun of Goryunov's design. It looks like a nice gun to shoot and service.
So the section about the locking piece is incorrect. That little tab is literally just a small thin sheet metal tab. I believe the locking surface is cut to the exact dimensions via the cut in the side of the receiver otherwise there would be no easy way to cut the locking surface. There is no removable locking surface. I would be more then happy to post pics of mine as I've removed the tab to view this area better.
I can't help but wonder whether this "heavy" machine gun was approaching obsolescence even as it was introduced into service in 1943. The Germans had gone to their universal, relatively light, GPMG concept which became the global standard pretty quickly after the war. The British were concentrating on the light machine gun (the Bren) and issuing fewer and fewer Vickers water cooled guns as the war progressed. Even the US were trying to move on from the heavy barrel, tripod mounted Browning m1919A4, by creating the bipod mounted m1919A6. By 1943 the "heavy" rifle calibre machine gun had pretty much had its day. As Ian indicated, Russia "met demand" for these heavy guns in 1944 with just 75,000 in stock. For the 1944 size of the Red Army, that was a pittance. By comparison, wartime production of the light DP-27 was over 700,000. I suspect the SG 43 was like the last, great battleships built in WW2......technically fantastic examples of an obsolete military system.
@@DB-yj3qc I certainly don't claim any expertise.....but I looked up a couple of other Web sources and the standard war time production number given is ">80,000", which sounds to me like a wartime "stock" of around 75,000. If you can find a definite source, I'd be most interested to hear the correct answer.
That and the future of war has proven to not always be a linear progression of whatever was the salient feature of the last war. Something like this sg43 was outclassed in the fast moving armoured combat of WW2, but I suspect it suited Korea just fine, if any were deployed. Bad for a Vietnan or war on terror counter insurgency but here in Ukraine water cooled Maxims are popular again and not just out of necessity (they are put in fixed defensive positions, true to their original use, or mounted on trucks for steady hosing of drones). A well built weapon like this, one can always keep in storage somewhere because sooner or later its war will come again @@atfyoutubedivision955
It's ironic Ian mentioned the SG43 was roughly analogous to the Browning M1919 - I believe the M1919 was/is sometimes used by Hollywood armorers as the basis for making a "fake" Goryunov. (I'm thinking Red Dawn but posssibly I'm mistaking it for the M2HB based DShK replica?)
As soon as Stalins name got mentioned as being part of the delay in production of this HMG, my first thought was that he'd had the designer either shot, or sent to a Siberian gulag. The "usual" fate for someone who made Stalin "suspicious"!
Dear Ian that's gorgeous presentation I waiting for show KPV or Krupnokaliberny Pulemyot Vladimirov 14.5 mm heavy machine gun! Bulky and chunky gun !!! Please highlight!
If you wanted to just copy a machine-gun in 1939 for your country's military, what MG would be the best? The German MG-34? Still expensive to make with all the machined parts, but is accurate and very general-purpose (use as light bipod MG or medium on a tripod, and also fits well in tanks where the barrel can be quickly replaced with a twist of the receiver). Weighed only 12.1 kg (26.7 lb) or 32 kg (70.5 lb) on a tripod. The Browning M1919A4 medium machine-gun? Improved longer & heavier barrel for sustained fire, but the barrel was difficult to remove & replace. Fired from a closed bolt caused ammo cook-offs. Heavy at 31 lbs, but mounted on the "lightweight" (14 lb), low-slung tripod for infantry use.
I have a genuine question. Fellow gun enthusiasts do you all also put on forgotten weapons to go to sleep. So peaceful so informative so ian. 10/10 sleep material
That story sounds improbable to me. 1) Why would Stalin doubt about the working machinegun from a new designer when all others didn't work? The country was not in a state to play favourites and he knew that. 2) Gorynov was not young and not a designer like the story states. He was about 40 years old by that time and worked as calibrator in the design buerau. Designing a new gun wasn't his day job.
@Forgotten Weapons - I normally don't post comments on UA-cam, but I'm wondering if what happened to me is a sign of things to come? Expect UA-cam shenanigans. I went to the UA-cam home page today and I got a weird questionnaire in place of the "Suggested for You" or "Try UA-cam Plus" row. It showed a thumbnail of this video (Goryunov SG43) and had the question "How would you feel about seeing this video in a Child's feed?" or something along those lines (I'm paraphrasing) but definitely wanted my reaction to a Child seeing this video. Below the question was a rating scale with angry-face to happy-face ratings and some category radio boxes to the side for "reasons you feel this way". I immediately checked the "happiest face" box and the "Educational" and "Teaching Life Skills" boxes and submitted. I should have screen-shotted this but that didn't happen. I just thought you (and any other firearm-related YT people out there) should be aware of this. My first thought is that there's going to be another wave of de-monetization or outright censorship coming through for you guys and they're going to use the poll results for "Reasons". Amazing work Ian - I am a huge fan and have learned many interesting things through your work. Best of luck to you.
My fathers SG-43 has a remote firing button on it. It’s just a cable with a button that goes to a solenoid. Don’t really have the history on that part but it’s kinda neat
@@AcNicolas that’s what we were thinking but it doesn’t have the right barrel and has spade grips. We’re “sure” it had conversions done later but the cut receiver came as it was. We did the rebuild. From what I understand, it was in military service as we received it before it was torched. Best guess is there was a middle man somewhere, its interesting at any rate.
How come feeding from the left is preferred in machine guns? Thinking about it almost every machine gun is feed from the left. I was a army MG3 gunner in the army and also right handed. Thinking about loading might perhaps be more easy from left. And also most people are right handed. In setup we used we had the spotter/helper to the right. But that was mostly to do with barrel change I think. But we always trained doing the barrel change our self. The MG3 could easily be operated with one person
i do own originally coax version of SG-43 converted into standar infantry version but saddly im missing original cradle so i cant mount it on my wheeled mount
Ian Ian Ian...what a great mind..a salute to you. Yore a bit of a household name out here. Not about guns and knowledge of them particularly but how you do it
Stalin already made a mistake when he insisted on adopting the Tokarev rifle as a more experienced gunsmith, although the Red Army wanted the Simonov rifle. During the war, the Tokarev rifle performed poorly among inexperienced fighters. And Simonov in 1944 modernized his rifle chambered for 7.62x39, and the result was SKS. Stalin was very worried about his mistake.
@@wastedangelematis when they say Soviet/Russian weapons are over-gassed, they're not kidding. It can lift the belt with no manual assist from the gunner or assistant gunner C2builder has no new videos, but what's posted there is gold
This channel is literally a treasure trove for gun enthusiasts
No shit nigga
Agreed
Like the mythical library of alexandria but for guns♡
@@azkrouzreimertz9784 but we have the man , the myth, the legend .... Gun jesus lives amongst us, hallelujah
Disagreed
I rented an SG43 from a movie prop company for a WW2 reenactment at Camp Roberts many years ago with the California Historical Group. I carried the gun, my brother carried the tripod and we had 2 ammo bearers with many maxim belts of wood tipped blanks in cans. It worked flawlessly over a weeked. One of my best reenacting experiences.
Didn’t know movie prop houses would do that. How cool!
@@home0132 lol rate of fire is too high.
@@matthayward7889 that was a regular thing in the 80s and 90s.
How did wood tipped blanks affect fouling? I'm asking because I have 308 wood tipped blanks? Also how long was the danger zone? Two tom cruises?
@@george5156 we only shot maybe 250-300 rounds thru it and did not note much fouling. The safety distance was a minimum of 10 yards, it had a shreder in the muzzle.
It must have been thrilling for the young designer to see his full surname stamped on the receiver. Extremely rare for Soviet production.
And terrifying when Stalin got interested...😨 Thankfully, Degtyarev was a sport.
@@petesheppard1709 Degtyaryov definitely comes across as a good egg in this one.
@@acomingextinction No shit! Dude could have had him killed!
Pyotr Goryunov was not really young man at his 40s. And he died very soon after finishing trials of his MG so putting his name on his machine guns was act of posthumous honor.
yeah extremely rare for soviet production… degtyaryov, kalashnikov, simonov, dragunov, korolev, makarov, shpagin, sudayev, tokarev
and that’s not even including the aircraft and ground vehicle weapons designers. each of them got their names being nearly synonymous with their work.
So they guy tasked with inventing a replacement for the Maxim was named “Maksimovich”. That’s hilarious!
It's a patronym. His father's name was Maxim.
That’s even better.
The designer of the Galil's last name was Balashnikov lol
of course the "son of Maxim" would invent the gun to replace Maxim's gun
Ian.. seen you talk about this and it being a replacement, I was wondering if doing a chronology of various country's "forgotten" weapons would be something you could consider. It could help us see the progression and evolution better..
in the meantime thanks for all of this!
A fantastic idea. I would think a playlist would suffice for most, but a full on re-edit with added context between videos would be excellent.
Just a book with every firearm every country used? Sounds like quite a library of books right there. Such a huge topic it would be tough to even do a single nation in a single book, eras of firearms would make more sense.
It's a neat idea, but organizationally it would be Hell.
I think a video of certain specific countries he's an expert in, like France where it's a commentary over previous footage of the key design elements. Similar to his "what is a 1st 2nd or CV 3rd gen smg video but more in depth"
true.... dope idea
@@home0132 is it ammunition? Are you selling 7.62x39mm ammunition?
That tilting locking mechanism on the bolt was interesting to me -- some might call it a "crude" design, but I see a simple solution to a persistent problem -- very "Soviet". +1 Like
I'm only vaguely aware of this gun but the engineering/design is really quite amazing (and most definitely Soviet!)
We spent millions of dollars and boat loads of hours trying to make a pen that would write in no/low gravity for our astronauts...the soviets just used pencils.
@@JamesThomas-gg6il This is a myth easily disproved with a little research. Both the US and Soviet space crews used the commercially developed Fisher Space Pen that cost somewhere around $6 each. Both NASA and Fisher discuss this on their websites. You can verify this if you do a search for "NASA Space Pen". Prior to that the Soviets used grease pencils (a type of crayon). The US used very expensive special mechanical pencils. Normal pencil lead is electrically conductive so fragments floating around in spacecraft would cause electrical shorts, FWIW.
@@jfess1911 tss, don't spoil it to him.
@@jfess1911 duh...ever hear of a joke? Remember the Seinfeld episode?
Have a super special place in my heart for the goryunov, first reweld I ever did was a sg43, and now I just got done with an SGMT, couple of things though, the barrel lock is meant to remain in place then slide out the right side of the reciever, but the retainer can get worn enough that it won't retain it. And the plate on the right side of the reiever don't allow for an exchangeable locking plate, it allows access to the shoulder in the reciever for machining processes to get a square shoulder in the channel on the right side, the shoulder is just locally hardened I believe, whether electronically or through a torch, I couldn't say. Also, sgmt's have adjustable headspace like a PKM, the sgmt's also can be fired with the solenoid or with a butterfly, its got both. They're pretty fun guns, thats for sure.
It has a lot of similarities to the PK like the barrel locking plate and lugs are practically identical. Also the feed mechanism essentially the same beside the camming method, but there are those cartridge puller hooks, the cartridge stopper in the top cover the spring loaded paws that forward the belt and the adjustable gas regulator (on the PKT). All those elements are present in the PK, but improved upon. I think it's safe to say Kalashnikov was inspired by this gun, when he designed the PK especially the feed system.
You could argue that the PK is a beefed up AK inverted to work with the SG's feed system and gas regulator. Honestly, its the best of both worlds.
one of Kalashnikov early works was participating in redesigning SG-43 into SGM so he may learn this gun really well to implement some elements later.
@@ironhead2008 that's a pretty fitting description.
@@nikitajukov4915 now it even makes more sense.
@@ironhead2008 actually it's Kalashnikov designed new barrel for SGM, as well as new sights, and few other parts
The senior gun designer recommended this to Stalin over his own new heavy MG. I do believe a person can be motivated by patriotism. But you mention his new design had significant problems, so senior guy knew better than to risk his relationship with Stalin by pressing his gun into the field and having it fail.
@@peterthepeter7523 This was during WW2 if i'm not mistaken in the midst of Operation Barbarossa, there was no time to be screwing around with brown nosing and politicking, the Germans were basically pounding on the gates of Moscow. If Degtyarev had kept pushing his own design and it resulted in wasted war materials and lost lives, despite him knowing a better design was available, Stalin wasn't exactly a man known for "Water under the bridge" type overtures, he was more known for "Go straight to gulag, do not collect 200 dollars" And thats if you got lucky.
I think it's also significant that Goruyunov had worked for Degtyarev, so he could also play the "he was my protege, I taught him everything he knows" angle. Makes both of them look good in the eyes of Glorious Leader.
@@Rixoli Interestingly enough, I read detailed stories about troubled development and production of various stuff during WWII in USSR, and despite the deserved fear of summary retribution for failed projects (which was often the pretext for convictions before the war), surprisingly few designers and even production managers / acceptance specialists ever got executed or jailed for even grave fuckups (such as, "sorry, we didn't make the deadline... in fact, we didn't even start, too many other projects, will try next quarter"). Even when people like Beriya and other narcoms wrote several thunder-and-lightning letters to their factory/R&D bureau. This includes this machine gun saga - it was long and painful, with dozens of trials and dozens of different submissions. And some tank development drama as well, if I remember right. (I mean T-34s initially had shitty air filters and these got improved hugely with Cyclone filters, but I don't think anyone got charged for that shortcoming). Examples of punishments that I remember reading about are often demotions or sacking, or moving the manager to a demeaning position, or sending them to the front lines.
I don't want to make sweeping generalizations, but maybe everyone including Stalin realized that if you kill or jail a specialist, you can't just conjure another out of thin air RIGHT NOW. And also that developing and making new weapons with 24/7 crunch (as they all did) will always involve fuckups. Thing is, during WWII, the things that USSR was always short on were time and experience - more than most resources. Hence probably the apparent "lenience" towards failures.
@@peterthepeter7523 Degtyrarev was no doubt a nice guy, but he also knew that wasting time and resources was a capital offence. A lot of aircraft designers were executed when their prototypes failed. In Stalin's eyes it was the same thing as sabotage. (Although I don't think Degtyarev would face execution for promoting a "slightly less good" MG. If his gun exploded during field trials however...)
This may seem a tad cruel today, but it also meant that they didn't waste time on impractical and expensive "wunderwaffen" like the Germans did.
@@Rixoli Barbarossa was summer/autumn of 1941. This gun wasn’t even in the design phase till after it was over (1942), during the lead up to the battle of Stalingrad. Still, very uncomfortable time for the Red Army.
Cool as always Ian! Thanks for giving us detailed history of sg43.
Been waiting for this one for years
Its crazy that the pk fire the same cartridge but smaller and significantly lighter while the sg43 looks like it fires 12.7
Thank You, Ian. Degtyarevs words in favor of SG were more like a honest man word, not a patriotic statement. We had enough of rumble in between the constructors. Polikarpov's I-185 story is a bright example. Lavochkin and Yakovlev, by carefully playing intrigues and laying traps around, ruined Polikarpov's life and work, despite the fact that his fighter was better and provided more firepower. All in favor of getting more orders for their own factories, thus getting more privileges and money.
interesting. why nkvd did nothing about pair of assholes stripping Soviet Union of better fighter with more fiepower? also in ussr money was garbage - you cannot buy what you should not buy
Thanks for sharing!
According to a more detailed account in the Kalashnikov magazine, at that point, the SP-GVG (which would later become SG-43) had a very solid support behind it, in people who had more weight in the industry that Degtyarev. The hectic trials for the new mounted machine gun have been going on for half a year by then, with dozens of designs trialled. Degtyarev's own was tested twice (not very successfully).
So, at the point of the alleged Stalin conversation (where Degtyarev admitted the GVG was better), the GVG's designers already received preliminary monetary awards from the Defense narkom, the heads of the Artillery directorate approved the design, the gun was ordered into small scale production and field trialled, and the Armored corps narkom was also pestering the factory for the new guns. It seems that Degtyarev could only admit the obvious.
Also, interestingly, Gorynov was essentially kind of a competitor to Degtyarev even before that. Degtyarev was head of a design bureau (KB-2) whose designs were realized at the No. 2 factory. But the factory itself had its own small skunkworks design bureau, reporting to the head engineer and the director. And Goryunov was head hunted into this bureau in 1940. Degtyarev even rejected the design of the GVG (LMG version) in May 1942, just before this whole competition started.
@@ayebraine It's a question of "what if" for me. What if Goryunov did not die soon after he developed his mg? Could it be, that Kalashnikov lost UMG competition to something, that Goryunov could have proposed?...
Thanks for another great video, Ian. You do the channel name proud by finding and introducing these lost weapons to us all. That you look at weapons produced by all nations is also remarkable. Thanks again.
@14.12 The great thing about that barrel locking plate or Key, is that they made them with various dimensions. They could fine tune the headspacing between thousands of guns and barrels with about a half dozen plates. There was even a later version that had a adjusting screw system incorporated into the barrel retaining plate. Great Video. Ya'll Take Care, John
Nice gun. Very good illustration of the design philosophy of "make it simple, make it (relatively) cheap to build, and make it proof against a conscript from Omsk". Personally I'll take "it' works and it's reliable" over "complicated and clever" any day of the week.
This design is pretty clever. I think in small arms design (unlike other technical areas, like computers or jets), 'clever' and 'simple' are one and the same, and could be described as 'elegant'.
It seems pretty thought-out in terms of use: like the features making disassembly and reassembly less frustrating, or the simple manual of arms without failure points like on M-60 (where closing the cover with bolt forward will bend the feed mechanism). It also seems pretty serviceable, incredibly few small parts and most parts are easy to drop in.
UPD: I mean I know what you mean, some guns are more intricate just as a matter of local engineering tradition or desire to do it "just right", but in these cases, there's also elegance and non-elegance that reflects in use. I'm not talking about edge cases like G11 or the Chiappa Rhino (which are well-engineered but also overengineered).
But for practical firearms, good engineering always gravitates towards elegance I think - take AR-15, it's pretty exacting in terms of manufacture, it's not overbuilt (doesn't have too much extra strength or fool-proof resilience), but it's incredibly elegantly designed, very few parts and all are thought-out.
There is one of those for sale in a pawn shop in Little Rock, Ar. It's wheel-mounted and fully intact. Though it does have a price tag of 20k
oh great mine was 700 euro back in 2016 i think
$20k ! Sheeesshhh
Semi or auto? The Semi have risen insanely in price.
@@ablemagawitch It was full auto
@@faxxy4077 full auto for sale in a pawn shop ? where is this ?
Stalin the gun nerd, "I am sus of new thing"
Deggy: "No its fine, Gory was a student of mine, he made a good thing."
Stalin: "Okay."
Deg *looks at still finicky /39 Improved, and wipes sweat from brow*
Work on SGM modernization was done by Kalashnikov, and one more guy, named Zaitcev. Actually it was two competing designes combined in one. Kalashnikov designed new barrel, back sights, and reworked feed way
What a fascinating history lesson behind this gun. Degtyarev was a true Communist lol! He truly thought the other guy’s gun was better for his people, and placed that over his personal gain.
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Fantastic content! I never get tired of Forgotten weapons.
Yes Ian, it should be named "PG-43" Polumet Gorgonova 43!
You can see that the genetics of the MG went into the later models (also because of the Factories and Design Bureaus).
I do not know why but the spade grips and their triggers look so appealing to me.
I can see one disadvantage of the rear-mounted charging handle. It would require more room to use in a vehicle. Unless you were already at arms-length, you would have to lean back and it could be awkward.
that seems to be consideration to replace it with side handle on SGM.
It's probably so the gun can protrude mostly outside, with the belt of unused ammo outside in case of enemy induced explosion.
@@johndododoe1411 but then you would have to go outside the vehicle to reload.
@@oldesertguy9616 Only if you brought extra ammo. Otherwise a box with a long belt would be loaded at base, just like the external loading of bombs and, missiles.
As it is in T-54/55 tank in very small turret I think crew didn't have much room for charging handle on the side where the belt is on the other side. Ian told the story why germans kept mg34 in their tanks and kept producing it after the introduction of MG42, since MG34 had rear-rotating barrel change instead of faster side change of MG42. SGMT, however relies on its heavy barrel, but its my guess.
Your videos are so helpful as an amateur game designer. I watch your videos to see how obscure weapons function. For example, I couldn't find the charging handle on the 3D model I have but your video helped me figure it out.
non-reciprocating charging handle, of course Ian
I'm imaging some poor tank gunner getting repeatedly throat punched by that shovel grip charging handle lol
That would be the British version 😉
19:32
He literally talks about SGs being adapted for use as tank coaxials after the war.
@@doomdave475 yep. Solenoid trigger and all!
@AdBlock Plus IS-3 & early version of T-54 did use SG/SGMT
@AdBlock Plus the BTR 50 mounted these bad bois on top
Shooters outpost represent! One of the best shops/museums ever
Oh yeah, I wondering about that
Oooh 32 seconds hot off the presses and it's a HMG!
Having Stalin visibly suspicious of your efforts must have been a remarkbly uncomfortable experience, leading to thoughts of 3 a.m. visitors.
If the user of one of these ran out of ammunition, there was clearly the option of pulling out the barrel for use as a blunt instrument, (though by 1944 the Red Army was mostly advancing).
You have to look at it in context. The new machine gun trials went on for years, they were pretty gnarly, there were dozens of submissions, with many, many re-trials after when the commission gave designers notes. The idea is not that Stalin thought that Goryunov was a fraud or a spy (although maybe the thought of nepotism crossed his mind), but that the process of choosing was very protracted and confusing, and Stalin was reluctant to undersign the decision when the ostensible winner was such a dark horse.
So Stalin did what he (to his credit) often did, asked people who he deemed competent whether the choice is sound. Aside from terrible purges and instilling the paranoiac atmosphere to secure his power base, and also being very confident in his own final judgement, he also valued competence quite a lot. And during the war, he had no choice but to delegate A LOT (after a few painful lessons in the first year).
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. When you run out of ammo, the barrel's a nice club to use
Imagine being so good at your job that you nearly get fired
COMMUNISM
Fired is the least of your problems when dealing with uncle Joe...
@@johndododoe1411 boy you got that right!
@@johndododoe1411 rent free
The amount of content you’re able to put out is crazy
Honestly, I'm impressed by how modern and simple this design is. Lighten the barrel & simplify the barrel change, use modern materials & machining to reduce weight, stick a stock & bipod on it, revise the charging handle, and Shazam! You have a 7.62x54 equivalent to the MAG/M240. Between the lightening the barrel & materials/machining, dropping the 5lbs weight difference would be a piece of cake. Would it be a better gun than the PK? It would be around 3-4lbs heavier, but aside from that I don't know. It seems like a solid idea for a GPMG to me.
The hungarians did exactly that and called it the KGK - it looks more or less like a PK with some sharper edges.
Look at the design of the DP-27. Classically simple and practical Soviet engineering. The pan magazine, flapper locksing system and open bolt work together flawlessly. The only major problem ever encountered was the recoil spring losing it's temper, so it was relocated for the DPM (thanx Ian)-John in Texas
It still will have very heavy bolt, unless you like to make it shoot faster - this would be not good thing. But, PKM sometimes described to be too light to be GPMG, so maybe slightly heavier SGM will be slightly more accurate with long bursts.
I cant but imagine some russian infantryman mustering all his strength to take this and hip fire it to cover some Suicide advance but that's just my Hollywood movie brain talking
SGM actually is not really heavy to lift it up from the cradle. ua-cam.com/video/ou1Ayvl476Q/v-deo.html
I like that giant, vaguely AR-15 charging handle.
Finally, the video I've been waiting years for!
"Non recipitatiting"
I'd hope not
Outstanding channel
There's one of these in a gun store in my city, it's been there for years. Semi Auto, comes with ammo cans, belts, it's in a towable carriage with a ballistic shield and everything. Used to be 7k. Now it's 20k. It's been in there for at least 15 years, if not longer.
God... Why did they make it semi-automatic?
@@user-03-gsa3 no clue, and I also don't see the wisdom in relapsing the price to 20k, when it didn't sell for 7k.
@@user-03-gsa3 maybe the owner missed the machine gun amnesty
The semi Sg-43 versions were $2k with an optional $250 for wheel carriage (+shipping which was of course insanely high back then) when they were made briefly by Wiselite iirc. They were made when a bunch of parts kits came in and there were only so many Autos that could be sold amongst the FFL to each other and there are still part kits which cost a lot because there aren't anymore of those coming.There was market for people that wanted the gun in semi (as the full auto was beyond their price range), so Wiselite (or maybe 1 other company), made a batch with their projected demand and that was it. It has been an ever climbing 2nd hand market since then. So just because you don't think there is market, there are people that will buy a semi both for the lower price and lack of hassles.
Almost got one but the friend helping to split the cost dragged his feet, he had the money (but was just so sure he get it for half price) that they were no longer being made and he then dug in harder refused to pay even more, even if I put in that because the first price jump was just few extra hundred. He had loading dock access which meant far cheaper shipping..... One that got away with so few in the wild it is gamble whether you'll find an auto or semi one and then you have to move if you want because some else will pay that price if you don't. Unless it absurdly stupid and priced so they can let people know they have it without really risking selling it.
@@thedudemain117 Because this guy/shop suffers from what is prevalent in many hobbies be it electric trains, classic cars, firearms, music instruments, etc.
Because that what the market price is for other semi Sg-43 versions with all the parts including spare barrels and multiple cans of belted ammo. Note I said with belted ammo not just the can with an empty belt. Because they're gonna sell those separately for even more money.
The SG-43 semi were only briefly made in Semi offer briefly from by one company, if you didn't buy then, you immediately went to after production 2nd market rates. The person that owns it has priced in part not to sell it and part for everyone to know they own it.... They may have the price so high you people assume they have the Auto version to draw customers in. Do they have sign offering to let you take your picture with it for $5? Those people are the scummiest below jerky booths at gunshows, no let me contribute to help grow hobby it is here solely to give me money and kiss my ass for letting them do that.
Then you have the other types ...There are plenty of people that see something sell for high price, then they decide their _____, which is no near that quality and/or has those rarity feature and/or pedigree etc. , is is actual worth the same. With anyone paying less is fucking them over and out of money, they're instantly going to get by flipping it as they walk out of their shop/house. No matter what they have in it.
You see this same pricing behavior with classic cars (by they way classic cars are 1980's and 1990's models nowadays) where someone sees a show car (an in shown as shows and won prize money for quality) may go for being news worthy for the odd high amount. Then again that was just the advertised asking price in the Free Auto trader mags , then that the ad is no longer in the mag, and they just know it sold for that full asking price rounded up. Not that person got no bites or took way less than asking price. Deciding their's that ""just needs a few hundred to few thousands worth of work"" and is worth the same. Yet they won't do that few hundred to few thousand to make it worth that either for some reason.... So it sits often rusting away because the person that owns it "knows what they got" and "muh capitalism"...." I Had neighbor with 2 classic cars they he didn't even keep insured or tagged. That were untarpped under a 50-ish year old huge pecan tree (so you can image between hail and pecans the dents that had occurred over the years) Many reasonable offers were made where he would have pocketed several grand for just sitting on them doing nothing, actually less than nothing so the decay sped up unhindered. Basically keeping them from people that wanted to actually restore them. They were sold for dirt cheap when he died because no one could find the keys and they didn't run, but but but he would claim they just needed new/charged batteries and the gas drained with fresh gas type excuses.... It was a sad thing to watch. I still miss that Truck Troll though.
Just like all those Mosin Nagant pistols owners that bought them in bulk for $65-$75 for 2 years then they dried up, and Prices were $250 in 2nd markets and now people want north of $500 for one and they have none of the original items that came with them like the hostler, lanyard, or tools, etc. They won't sell them for less.
Gone all the days of you bought some and used it and you sold for 50%-75% of what you paid for as it was used or you got you price back due to inflation from over the years. Basically when these people die off their families will be dumping them into the market place in lots of 10-20, sometime 50+ at time. It will be fun watching them price plummet down servery to just above worthless shelf display piece prices as ammo is unobtainable without their odd ball Russian ammo being banned from being imported. No one else is going to make of sell that odd ball caliber other than specialized hand-loaders. $10, $15 or may $25 a shot for ammo. Like some antique guns, if the gun is afford ammo is non available, if the gun priced absurdly high than new better guns it means it can shoot a commercially available ammo. The 1st Antique firearm example, a box of 20-50 bullets may actual be worth more than the gun itself as they quit making those at the start of WW2 and never resumed. The supply is ever dwindling, every shot fired is one chance robbed for every future generation.
Kinda like how model trains are absurdly expensive (companies are also responsible as they bailed on cheap kids sets and cheap accessories and all went in for that richer retired crowd money) but the crowd buying them are dying off. People that have $10-20 grand in a train layout don't grasp no one is going to pay you for all that, you piece meal out and get more but that is too an ever decrease buyer group... So often in spite they(or their heirs) smash it all to shreds so the people buying house can't have any of it then. Basically losing someone's legacy because they couldn't get what they knew they deserved, not understanding the fact an item is worth what someone will pay you for it. Those are much like a house with pool, it may help you sell it but you will not get return on any investment of the costs to put it there.
Anyone claim it's worth X amount , and it may cost that to replace it for insurance purpose, but that is not the real resale value. Those Model kits may cost so much new but once built , it looses some value as it now just a decorative toy building, toy plane, toy car etc. And I fully understand how much each damn tree costs even when buying cheaper ones for kid sets.
Ebay was great for bringing out a lot of things wasting away scattered around the country on people's shelves It was at first great fro collector being able to get items that they couldn't other wise find for sale, but everyone decided they were "resellers"... Which also ruined most of the local charity shops for the poor. Nothing nice can be priced cheap because those ""resellers""/""flippers"" people will buy it to flip it, screw the poor they should be like them come to the stores during the day. Too bad those poor have jobs they work.... Actually doing honest work for pay.
Antique Road show, Barn-finders , Pawn Stars , etc type shows only drum into idiots' heads into thinking the items that their family didn't sell off during the years are some ultra rare super valuable item. Especially if they can't find much online about it, or the stumble on collector's board and don't bother to actually learn why one version costs less than $5, some $500 and one is $50,000 and the odds of them having $50K is slim to none. However they usually also want to know about the box of baseball(any sport) cards they have from the 1980's and 1990's and they can't believe are barely worth their value for paper pulp because they were collectibles it says so on the box.
The irony is this guy will eventual sell that gun for what its priced because someone will have "fuck you money" and its right their in front of them and they can take it home now.
Otherwise I imagine that shop owner is probably like a gun dealer at shows in my area that has the tables by the front doors, he has had the same guns on them for all the decades for as long as I can remember(same serial numbers because I checked that for while out of curiosity) with prices always 25%+ above the highest side of the market, mainly he keeps the table to be able to be the 1st person able to low ball people walking to sell guns first. He actually has no interest in selling the ones he has priced(as per show rules must be priced, unless you're a historic (non buying & non seller) educational display booth). He might sell it if forced, but it will be so he can then go buy one or 2 of them for what someone paid him to replace it.
Love the channel so much been watching for years now! It's always a better show when Ian is all excited over the mechanics of the gun!!
I used to mix this MG up with the larger DShk HMG on the wheeled mount, didn't really know about the SG-43. Seems they were hardly over produced in comparison to other MGs. I wonder if they were deployed to Korea and Vietnam?
Probably most used Vietnamese machine guns..
You see lots of them in Korea and Vietnam photos. Plenty have been used all over the world including Afghanistan and Iraq.
The SG-43 is still in a lot of inventories to this day
You probably mixed it up with DS-39
They were installed as coaxial MG on t-54 and t-55 tanks, SGMT(T for Tank) variants, since t-55 is the most produced tank ever there are quite a lot of them. And with introduction of PK, many old weapons were given to USSR friendly states.
Ive never given the SG43 much thought, it was just the other Soviet WW2 machine gun. But it’s Soviet simplicity and pragmatism at possibly its finest!
There's something uniquely satisfying about thoughtful, maximised efficiency in a weapon's design. Looks to be machined nicely, was a reliable unit I'd assume. Lovely to see its guts 80ish years after being built.
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I love the charging handle idea. Simple and straight forward.
But in the cramped space of a vehicle you risk to have to charge it right in your chest. That's why it had been modified later.
@@neutronalchemist3241not really
@@alangordon3283 If you think so...
Thank you very much, ian.. I have already asked you to make a video about this amazing rare machine gun, really a very wonderful episode and I enjoyed your interesting style
There's value in giving a newcomer to your field a fair shake. They may not know what you can't do, but they also don't know "what you can't do".
Very interesting story of production. Patriotism over personal pride of designer. You dont hear stories like that often
Honestly he must have really jumped over his shadow to recommend the other design, one takes pride in their own hard work after all, and to recognise its inferior is not something all engineers can do
Great work Ian thank you
Gotta admit... It does look kinda badass!!! 👍
I'd buy that for a dollar!
Heh, the arsenal mark looks like a "bullets point THIS way" marker. Thank god the charging handle is not reciprocating, you'd get punched in the throat trying to aim! 🤣
Иван не забывает про нас и рассказывает про советские пушки. Спасибо, было интересно!
Just a random thought. There is something funny about watching a video about the Soviet replacement for the Maxim after watching a video about Maxims still used in the battle field and realizing the Maxim outlasted the Soviet Union.
Maxim is heavy, bulky and kinda frustrating to operate (because of weight it have some inertia in aiming), but! When it is placed right it will do the job exellent. It's just best mg for stationary defence as long, as you can feed it and have water.
@@PyromaN93and good for anti drone defense when on pickup trucks (Toyota Hilux didn't exist in ww1 but it sure helps with moving the weight). It's an interesting coincidence that a Shaheed type drone moves at about the same speed at a 1917 biplane.
That's a pretty interesting and simple mechanism. Are there any heavy caliber convertions of this gun?
From what I know, no.
В ЮАР на основе Горюнова создан единый пулемёт
By coincidence we were looking at one of these today in the collection of the regimental museum at Shrewsbury Castle, brought back by the King's Shropshire Light Infantry from Korea.
i was never this early for Ian
I got 100?
So original. Do you have thoughts of your own?
its an interesting approach to a tilting bolt deisgn but flipped on its sode
Ahoy Ian! I have a set of Soviet 7.62 x 54R permanent links and they are so durable and reusable, especially compared to 7.62 NATO disintegrating links. Too bad I don't have a gun for them:( The cartridge ripper design is what really impresses me, as it's what allows fully rimmed rounds to be easily fed automatically into the breech. I don't know of any other full auto MG that uses such unique engineering, but that's practical Soviet design for you:) John in Texas
I think it's important:
"Pyotr Maksimovich Goryunov died suddenly on December 23, 1943, returning from Moscow, where he was debugging his machine guns before being sent to the front."
I find it reassuring that sometimes even Ian gets his extractors and ejectors muddled too!
I didn't knew I needed this vid before watching it.
19:12 What is also noteworthy is that Kalashnikov and Zaitsev participated in the modernization of the SG43.
YT actually recommended videos from youtubers Im actually subscribed just as they are uploaded isnt that just nice.
Thanks
Saw one of these at auction. This video is making me regret not throwing down a bid.
I would think that it wouldn't take that much to make it a .50 caliber machine gun. Such an effective and simple design that apparently worked great.
I watched this video, and just rewatched the one you did on the DS-39, and I can see why Degtyarev's DS-39 was unable to be reworked. The DS-39 seems so much more complicated to use and maintain than the SG-43. The Shpagin rotary feed on the DS-39 seems very bulky, and the dual-fire rate system is an easy point of failure. The SG-43 just has less to go wrong, but it's sad it doesn't get more attention, as it looks like a modern system.
It's too bad we didn't get a modern GPMG-style gun of Goryunov's design. It looks like a nice gun to shoot and service.
So the section about the locking piece is incorrect. That little tab is literally just a small thin sheet metal tab. I believe the locking surface is cut to the exact dimensions via the cut in the side of the receiver otherwise there would be no easy way to cut the locking surface. There is no removable locking surface. I would be more then happy to post pics of mine as I've removed the tab to view this area better.
YES!!! Ive been waiting for the SG43 for a long time. Thanks! Will you have a video on the SGM also? thanks again!
Same, been waiting years for this bad boi
there are not a lot of changes on SGM version... i know i own one
@@ManOnTheRange In Finland when he is often is lot of SGM, sime like Czech republic or Slovenia where he is often going.
@@DOMINIK99013 i am from Slovakia i know... my SGMT was taken from T-54 originally and sold to public
Very robust looking MG, the made that thing to be squaddie-proof and then some!
I can't help but wonder whether this "heavy" machine gun was approaching obsolescence even as it was introduced into service in 1943.
The Germans had gone to their universal, relatively light, GPMG concept which became the global standard pretty quickly after the war. The British were concentrating on the light machine gun (the Bren) and issuing fewer and fewer Vickers water cooled guns as the war progressed.
Even the US were trying to move on from the heavy barrel, tripod mounted Browning m1919A4, by creating the bipod mounted m1919A6.
By 1943 the "heavy" rifle calibre machine gun had pretty much had its day.
As Ian indicated, Russia "met demand" for these heavy guns in 1944 with just 75,000 in stock. For the 1944 size of the Red Army, that was a pittance. By comparison, wartime production of the light DP-27 was over 700,000.
I suspect the SG 43 was like the last, great battleships built in WW2......technically fantastic examples of an obsolete military system.
I thought he said a war stock of 75000 thats a deliberately over stock for ready to ship out and issue.
@@DB-yj3qc I certainly don't claim any expertise.....but I looked up a couple of other Web sources and the standard war time production number given is ">80,000", which sounds to me like a wartime "stock" of around 75,000.
If you can find a definite source, I'd be most interested to hear the correct answer.
With hinesight it could be argued. I wouldn't say so as they still used them for 20 years before replacing them with the PK.
That and the future of war has proven to not always be a linear progression of whatever was the salient feature of the last war. Something like this sg43 was outclassed in the fast moving armoured combat of WW2, but I suspect it suited Korea just fine, if any were deployed. Bad for a Vietnan or war on terror counter insurgency but here in Ukraine water cooled Maxims are popular again and not just out of necessity (they are put in fixed defensive positions, true to their original use, or mounted on trucks for steady hosing of drones). A well built weapon like this, one can always keep in storage somewhere because sooner or later its war will come again @@atfyoutubedivision955
Excellent. Waiting for this on Forgotten Weapons! Best content UA-cam
It's ironic Ian mentioned the SG43 was roughly analogous to the Browning M1919 - I believe the M1919 was/is sometimes used by Hollywood armorers as the basis for making a "fake" Goryunov. (I'm thinking Red Dawn but posssibly I'm mistaking it for the M2HB based DShK replica?)
The second he said that he was at shooters outpost in NH I laughed. I literally just shopped there last week.
As soon as Stalins name got mentioned as being part of the delay in production of this HMG, my first thought was that he'd had the designer either shot, or sent to a Siberian gulag. The "usual" fate for someone who made Stalin "suspicious"!
@@ДушманКакдела Just seven hundred thousand up to 1.2 million, but who's counting, right?
@@isaac6705
Stalin personally goes and kills random people, Obunga is directly responsible for thousands of civvie deaths.
It was interesting to learn about the SS-77 connection. I wish someone was continuing that lineage. It's a smart design.
simple, effective. Nice design. thank you, as always, for sharing this.
Yessss!
I've been waiting for this MG for a while.
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Dear Ian that's gorgeous presentation I waiting for show KPV or Krupnokaliberny Pulemyot Vladimirov 14.5 mm heavy machine gun! Bulky and chunky gun !!! Please highlight!
Love that rear charging handle
No parts from the sg-43 work in a sgm. Barrels don’t swap nor bolts nor triggers or carriers. Minor springs and pins and that’s about it
If you wanted to just copy a machine-gun in 1939 for your country's military, what MG would be the best?
The German MG-34? Still expensive to make with all the machined parts, but is accurate and very general-purpose (use as light bipod MG or medium on a tripod, and also fits well in tanks where the barrel can be quickly replaced with a twist of the receiver). Weighed only 12.1 kg (26.7 lb) or 32 kg (70.5 lb) on a tripod.
The Browning M1919A4 medium machine-gun? Improved longer & heavier barrel for sustained fire, but the barrel was difficult to remove & replace. Fired from a closed bolt caused ammo cook-offs. Heavy at 31 lbs, but mounted on the "lightweight" (14 lb), low-slung tripod for infantry use.
"Non-reciprocating"
Well, that's good. Haha
One of my favorite MGs. As beautiful as a killing tool can be.
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I find it funny that the pneumatic die grinder I used in college had the same exact trigger safety that this gun has
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I have a genuine question. Fellow gun enthusiasts do you all also put on forgotten weapons to go to sleep. So peaceful so informative so ian. 10/10 sleep material
Great stuff lan as usual
2:20 Goryunov was 40 when he finish to develop a machine-gun, and died in December 1943 , i.e. not so young...
That story sounds improbable to me.
1) Why would Stalin doubt about the working machinegun from a new designer when all others didn't work? The country was not in a state to play favourites and he knew that.
2) Gorynov was not young and not a designer like the story states. He was about 40 years old by that time and worked as calibrator in the design buerau. Designing a new gun wasn't his day job.
@Forgotten Weapons - I normally don't post comments on UA-cam, but I'm wondering if what happened to me is a sign of things to come? Expect UA-cam shenanigans.
I went to the UA-cam home page today and I got a weird questionnaire in place of the "Suggested for You" or "Try UA-cam Plus" row.
It showed a thumbnail of this video (Goryunov SG43) and had the question "How would you feel about seeing this video in a Child's feed?" or something along those lines (I'm paraphrasing) but definitely wanted my reaction to a Child seeing this video. Below the question was a rating scale with angry-face to happy-face ratings and some category radio boxes to the side for "reasons you feel this way". I immediately checked the "happiest face" box and the "Educational" and "Teaching Life Skills" boxes and submitted. I should have screen-shotted this but that didn't happen.
I just thought you (and any other firearm-related YT people out there) should be aware of this. My first thought is that there's going to be another wave of de-monetization or outright censorship coming through for you guys and they're going to use the poll results for "Reasons".
Amazing work Ian - I am a huge fan and have learned many interesting things through your work. Best of luck to you.
Never herd of this one. Thanks Ian
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I would love to watch high speed camera footage of that gun running!!
Just curious, how does the camming of the SG-43 differ from the Czech ZH-29 rifle?
My fathers SG-43 has a remote firing button on it. It’s just a cable with a button that goes to a solenoid. Don’t really have the history on that part but it’s kinda neat
That's SGMT - SG43-Modernized-Tank variant, with solenoid trigger mechanism.
@@AcNicolas that’s what we were thinking but it doesn’t have the right barrel and has spade grips. We’re “sure” it had conversions done later but the cut receiver came as it was. We did the rebuild. From what I understand, it was in military service as we received it before it was torched. Best guess is there was a middle man somewhere, its interesting at any rate.
A lot of those still in the older tanks that are being dusted off and put in service to replace lost ones.
How come feeding from the left is preferred in machine guns? Thinking about it almost every machine gun is feed from the left. I was a army MG3 gunner in the army and also right handed. Thinking about loading might perhaps be more easy from left. And also most people are right handed. In setup we used we had the spotter/helper to the right. But that was mostly to do with barrel change I think. But we always trained doing the barrel change our self. The MG3 could easily be operated with one person
Probably the familiarity of the first one doing that?
The 7.62mm SG-43/SGM series of machine-gun is in fact a medium machine-gun, _not_ a heavy machine-gun.
i do own originally coax version of SG-43 converted into standar infantry version but saddly im missing original cradle so i cant mount it on my wheeled mount
Praise be gun Jesus, for upholding our glorious gun history.
Amazing informative video of ingenuity
Ian Ian Ian...what a great mind..a salute to you. Yore a bit of a household name out here. Not about guns and knowledge of them particularly but how you do it
Stalin already made a mistake when he insisted on adopting the Tokarev rifle as a more experienced gunsmith, although the Red Army wanted the Simonov rifle. During the war, the Tokarev rifle performed poorly among inexperienced fighters. And Simonov in 1944 modernized his rifle chambered for 7.62x39, and the result was SKS. Stalin was very worried about his mistake.
YES YES YES FUCKING FINNALY YES, I couldn't fucking wait for this episode
with apologies to Ian, here's an old video from C2builder on the SG-43, including anti-aircraft use.
ua-cam.com/video/snLnlx4FbLs/v-deo.html
Neat ! Thanks
@@wastedangelematis when they say Soviet/Russian weapons are over-gassed, they're not kidding. It can lift the belt with no manual assist from the gunner or assistant gunner
C2builder has no new videos, but what's posted there is gold