PPSh-41

PPSh-41
PPSh-41
Type	Submachine gun
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1941-Present
Used by	See Users
Wars	World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Cambodian Civil War, various conflicts in Asia and Africa
Production history
Designer	Georgi Shpagin
Manufacturer	Fémáru Fegyver és Gépgyár (Licensed)
Produced	1941
No. built	Approx. 6,000,000
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	(without magazine) 3.63 kg (approx. 8 lbs.)
Length	843 mm
Barrel length	269 mm
Cartridge	7.62x25mm Tokarev
Action	Blowback, open bolt
Rate of fire	900 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	488 m/s (1,600.6 ft/s)
Effective firing range	200-300 m
Maximum firing range	~500 m
Feed system	35-round box magazine 71-round drum magazine

The PPSh-41 (Pistolet-Pulemyot Shpagina; [Пистолет-пулемёт Шпагина] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); Shpagin Machine Pistol; nicknamed Pah-Pah-sha, Shpagin and Burp Gun) submachine gun was one of the most mass produced weapons of its type of World War II. It was designed by Georgi Shpagin, as an inexpensive alternative to the PPD-40, which was expensive and time consuming to build. The PPSh operated with simple blowback action, had a box or drum magazine, and fired a 7.62x25mm pistol round. It was made with metal stampings to ease production, and its chrome-lined chamber and bore helped to make the gun very low-maintenance in combat settings.

History

File:Soviet soldier metro.jpg

Soviet soldiers storming the Berlin metro in 1945.

The impetus for the development of the PPSh came partly from the Winter War against Finland, where it was found that submachine guns were a highly effective tool for close-quarter fighting in forests or built-up urban areas. The weapon was developed in mid-1941 and was produced in a network of factories in Moscow, with high-level local Party members made directly responsible for production targets being met.

A few hundred weapons were produced in November 1941 and another 155,000 were produced over the next five months. By spring 1942, the PPSh factories were producing roughly 3,000 units a day. The PPSh-41 was a classic example of a design adapted for mass production (other examples of such wartime design were the M3 submachine gun, MP40 and the Sten). Its parts (excluding the barrel) could be produced by a relatively unskilled workforce with simple equipment available in an auto repair garage or tin shop, freeing up more skilled workers to other tasks. The PPSh-41 used 87 components compared to 95 for the PPD-40 and the PPSh could be manufactured with 7.3 machining hours compared with 13.7 hours for the PPD.

In the field, the PPSh was a durable, low-maintenance weapon that could fire 900 rounds/min. The weapon had a crude compensator to lessen muzzle climb and a hinged receiver which facilitated field-stripping and cleaning the bore in battle conditions.

Over 6 million of these weapons were produced by the end of the war. The Soviets would often equip whole regiments and even entire divisions with the weapon, giving them unmatched short-range firepower. Though 35-round curved box magazines were available from 1942, the average infantryman would keep a higher-capacity drum magazine as the initial load. The PPSh-41 drum magazine was a copy of the Finnish M31 Suomi magazine which held 71 rounds, but in practice, misfeeding of the spring was likely to occur with more than 65 or so cartridges. The standard load was probably one drum and a number of box magazines, when box magazines were available.

Features

The PPSh-41 on display.

Some of the PPSh's drawbacks included the difficulty of reloading, the tendency of the drums to jam (solved by the box magazines) and the high risk of accidental discharge when dropped - the last being a fault common to all open bolt submachine gun designs. Despite these drawbacks, the PPSh-41 was still admired by Soviet soldiers for its low recoil, reliability, and lethality at close range. The PPSh fired the standard 7.62x25mm pistol round such as used in the TT-33 pistol.

The captured PPSh was in particular a favorite weapon of the Germans. Because of the similarities between the 7.62x25mm Tokarev and the 7.63x25mm Mauser cartridge used in the Mauser C96 pistol, the PPsh was easily supplied with ammunition. In fact so many were captured that it became the second-most-common submachinegun used by German forces. Also, attempts were made to convert the weapon to 9mm Parabellum to conform to German logistics. The Wehrmacht officially adopted the converted PPSh-41 as the MP41(r); unconverted PPSh-41s were designated MP717(r). German-language manuals for the use of captured PPShs were printed and distributed in the Wehrmacht.

During the war the PPS, an even more simplified submachine gun, was introduced in Soviet service, although it did not replace the PPSh-41 during the war.

Users

A German soldier with the PPSh-41 amid the ruins of Stalingrad, 1942.

• Albania
• Benin
• Cambodia
• China
• Cuba
• Nazi Germany: Used captured and converted PPSh-41s.
• Hungary
• Laos
• Morocco
• Nicaragua
• North Korea
• Poland
• Soviet Union
• Vietnam

Variants

• Type 50
• K-50M
• In 2008, a semi-automatic version of the PPSh-41 became available as SKL-41 on the German market. This version is converted to fire the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, and besides replicas of its original magazines it also accepts MP 40 magazines.

See also

• List of submachine guns
• List of Russian Weaponry

External links

• Video of PPSh being fired with drum magazine
• Video of PPSh being fired in burst with 9 mm conversion
• 17 photos of PPSh41 and its parts