Blüm machine gun
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The Blüm machine gun (Russian: Пулемёт Блюма) was a Soviet training machine gun designed by Mikhail Nikolayevich Blüm around 1929. It was chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge.[1] The gun was developed in order to reduce the training costs in terms of ammunition and wear of the Soviet machine guns in service at the time.[2]
Known production figures for this gun at the Degtyarev plant are: 33 made in 1933, 1,150 made in 1934 and 1,515 made in 1935.[1]
The large surplus of 7.62×54mmR machine guns and ammunition available in the Soviet Union after the end of World War II made the Blüm guns obsolete for training purposes.[2] After they were decommissioned from the military in the 1950s, some of Blüm guns were refitted with wooden stocks and used as varmint guns in a campaign to control wolf populations.[1] In this application they were considered superior to 12-gauge shotguns loaded with buckshot, particularly because they were employed from aircraft flying at 50–100 meters, and a salvo from the Blüm gun could kill an entire wolfpack.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Семен Федосеев (3 March 2010). "Забытый пулемёт Блюма". Военно-промышленный курьер № 8 (324). Retrieved 2013-08-15. A slightly abridged version of this article appears in the book by the same author Семен Федосеев (2009). Пулеметы России. Шквальный огонь. Яуза / Коллекция / ЭКСМО. pp. 383–385. ISBN 978-5-699-31622-9.
- ^ a b c "Малокалиберный пулемёт М. Н. Блюма", ОРУЖИЕ 2004/11, pp. 28 and 65
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