KPV heavy machine gun
Encyclopedia
The KPV-14.5 heavy machine gun (Krupnokaliberniy Pulemyot Vladimirova, in Russian as Крупнокалиберный Пулемёт Владимирова, or КПВ) is a Soviet
designed 14.5x114mm-caliber heavy machine gun
, which first entered service as an infantry weapon (designated PKP) in 1949. In the 1960s the infantry version was taken out of production because it was too big and heavy. It was later redesigned for anti-aircraft use, because it showed excellent results as an AA gun, with a range of 3,000 meters horizontally and 2,000 meters vertically against low flying planes. It was used in the ZPU series of anti-aircraft guns. Its size and power also made it a useful light anti-armour weapon on the BTR series of vehicles
and the BRDM-2
scout car.
armoured reconnaissance vehicles. It is intended for fighting against light armoured targets, weapons systems and light shelters at the distances of up to 3000 m, as well as air targets at the distances of up to 2000 m.
Motor Torpedo Boats in their inventory. On 2 August 1964, three P4s belonging to NVN Torpedo Boat Squadron 135 attacked the US destroyer
USS Maddox
in the Tonkin Gulf. The Maddox fired over 280 5 inch (127mm) shells at the charging boats, thus preventing them from discharging their 550 lb TNT armed torpedoes within the necessary 1,000 yard effective range. All six torpedoes missed. However, as the torpedo boats were moving at nearly 52 knots (101.9 km/h), they commenced to duel the destroyer with their 14.5mm heavy machineguns, scoring only one hit on the US warship in the process. At the time of the "Tonkin Gulf Incident", US identification manuals described the P4 as being equipped with 25mm guns, thus identifying the spent projectile (as well as in after action reports) as 25mm instead of the actual 14.5mm caliber bullet.
As the duel between the destroyer and torpedo boats ended, and each departed in opposite directions, 4 F8 Crusaders from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga
attacked the retreating boats. The Crusaders fired Zuni
rockets and 20mm cannons, while the 3 boats replied with their 14.5mm machineguns. The jets reported leaving one boat in sinking condition (it limped back to base), and one F8 was heavily damaged, which was reported as shot down by the NVN, but in fact also limped back to its carrier.
The 14.5mm marine pedestal machine gun mount (14.5mm MTPU) is intended for combat against armoured surface, coast and air targets. It is mounted on decks of boats and can defeat surface and coast targets with a range of 3,000 meters horizontally and 2,000 meters vertically against low flying planes.
) projectile. The KPV is air-cooled and fitted with barrel with a hard chrome plated bore. It uses a short recoil operation
system with gas assistance and a rotary bolt. It can be fed with the 40-round belt from either the left or right side. The barrel can be removed by turning the prominent latch on the forward end of the receiver and pulling on the barrel's carrying handle. Cartridges are fed from either right or left hand side from a metallic belt.
Rounds are also produced by Bulgaria
, China
, Egypt
, Poland
, and Romania
.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
designed 14.5x114mm-caliber heavy machine gun
Heavy machine gun
The heavy machine gun or HMG is a larger class of machine gun generally recognized to refer to two separate stages of machine gun development. The term was originally used to refer to the early generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I...
, which first entered service as an infantry weapon (designated PKP) in 1949. In the 1960s the infantry version was taken out of production because it was too big and heavy. It was later redesigned for anti-aircraft use, because it showed excellent results as an AA gun, with a range of 3,000 meters horizontally and 2,000 meters vertically against low flying planes. It was used in the ZPU series of anti-aircraft guns. Its size and power also made it a useful light anti-armour weapon on the BTR series of vehicles
Bronetransporter
A Bronyetransportyor or BTR , literally "armoured transporter" is any of a series of Soviet or post-Soviet military armoured personnel carriers, made for transporting Bronies....
and the BRDM-2
BRDM-2
The BRDM-2 is an amphibious armoured patrol car used by Russia and the former Soviet Union. It was also known under designations BTR-40PB, BTR-40P-2 and GAZ 41-08...
scout car.
KPVT
The version for use in armoured vehicles is called the KPVT (tankoviy, 'tank'). KPVT is used for armoured vehicle installations, boats, movable and stationary mounts and various antiaircraft mounts. It features a shorter receiver and a heavier barrel jacket. The KPVT also uses a 50-round belt instead of the original 40-round belt. KPVTs are the primary armament of the wheeled BTR-60PB/70/80 series armoured personnel carriers and BRDM-2BRDM-2
The BRDM-2 is an amphibious armoured patrol car used by Russia and the former Soviet Union. It was also known under designations BTR-40PB, BTR-40P-2 and GAZ 41-08...
armoured reconnaissance vehicles. It is intended for fighting against light armoured targets, weapons systems and light shelters at the distances of up to 3000 m, as well as air targets at the distances of up to 2000 m.
Motor Torpedo Boat armament
In 1964, amongst other small craft combatants, the North Vietnamese Navy had 12 P4P4
-Computing:* Intel Pentium 4, a 7th generation processor design* Intel 80486 architecture, a 4th generation processor design-Hobbies:* P4 gauge for model railways* Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, a video game from Atlus-Media:...
Motor Torpedo Boats in their inventory. On 2 August 1964, three P4s belonging to NVN Torpedo Boat Squadron 135 attacked the US destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
USS Maddox
USS Maddox
USS Maddox may refer to:, christened in 1918, the ship was transferred to the Royal Navy, then Soviet Navy, and finally given back to the Royal Navy, christened in 1942 and sunk the next year by a German dive bomber, christened in 1944. After a short career in World War II and participation in the...
in the Tonkin Gulf. The Maddox fired over 280 5 inch (127mm) shells at the charging boats, thus preventing them from discharging their 550 lb TNT armed torpedoes within the necessary 1,000 yard effective range. All six torpedoes missed. However, as the torpedo boats were moving at nearly 52 knots (101.9 km/h), they commenced to duel the destroyer with their 14.5mm heavy machineguns, scoring only one hit on the US warship in the process. At the time of the "Tonkin Gulf Incident", US identification manuals described the P4 as being equipped with 25mm guns, thus identifying the spent projectile (as well as in after action reports) as 25mm instead of the actual 14.5mm caliber bullet.
As the duel between the destroyer and torpedo boats ended, and each departed in opposite directions, 4 F8 Crusaders from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga
USS Ticonderoga
The ships named USS Ticonderoga commemorate the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775 by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.-U.S. Navy vessels:...
attacked the retreating boats. The Crusaders fired Zuni
Zuni (rocket)
The Zuni is a unguided rocket deployed by the United States armed forces. The rocket was developed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It can be used to carry various types of warheads, including chaff for countermeasures. It is usually fired from the LAU-10 rocket pod holding four...
rockets and 20mm cannons, while the 3 boats replied with their 14.5mm machineguns. The jets reported leaving one boat in sinking condition (it limped back to base), and one F8 was heavily damaged, which was reported as shot down by the NVN, but in fact also limped back to its carrier.
The 14.5mm marine pedestal machine gun mount (14.5mm MTPU) is intended for combat against armoured surface, coast and air targets. It is mounted on decks of boats and can defeat surface and coast targets with a range of 3,000 meters horizontally and 2,000 meters vertically against low flying planes.
Mechanics
The development of the machine gun began in 1944. The 14.5x114mm M41 cartridge can be used with High Explosive Incendiary - Tracer (HEI-T) or Armour-Piercing Incendiary (API) bullets, and they have approximately twice the energy of a 12.7 mm (.50 BMG.50 BMG
The .50 Browning Machine Gun or 12.7×99mm NATO is a cartridge developed for the Browning .50 caliber machine gun in the late 1910s. Entering service officially in 1921, the round is based on a greatly scaled-up .30-06 cartridge...
) projectile. The KPV is air-cooled and fitted with barrel with a hard chrome plated bore. It uses a short recoil operation
Recoil operation
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used in locked-breech, autoloading firearms. As the name implies, these actions use the force of recoil to provide energy to cycle the action...
system with gas assistance and a rotary bolt. It can be fed with the 40-round belt from either the left or right side. The barrel can be removed by turning the prominent latch on the forward end of the receiver and pulling on the barrel's carrying handle. Cartridges are fed from either right or left hand side from a metallic belt.
Ammunition
- B-32 - Armor-piercing incendiaryIncendiary ammunition-World War I:One of the first uses of incendiary ammunition occurred in World War I. At the time, phosphorus—the primary ingredient in the incendiary charge—ignited upon firing, leaving a trail of blue smoke. They were also known as 'smoke tracer' for this reason. The effective range of...
full metal jacketFull metal jacket bulletA full metal jacket is a bullet consisting of a soft core encased in a shell of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel or less commonly a steel alloy. This shell can extend around all of the bullet, or often just the front and sides with the rear left as exposed lead...
round with a tungsten-carbide core. Projectile weight is 64.4 g and muzzle velocityMuzzle velocityMuzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
is 976 m/s. Armour penetration at 500 m is 32 mm of rolled homogeneous armourRolled homogeneous armourRolled homogeneous armour is a type of steel which is used to armour vehicles.-Composition:Armoured steel must be hard yet impervious to shock in order to resist high velocity metal projectiles. Steel with these characteristics is produced by processing cast steel billets of appropriate size and...
(RHA) at 0 degrees. - BZT - Armor-piercing incendiaryIncendiary ammunition-World War I:One of the first uses of incendiary ammunition occurred in World War I. At the time, phosphorus—the primary ingredient in the incendiary charge—ignited upon firing, leaving a trail of blue smoke. They were also known as 'smoke tracer' for this reason. The effective range of...
tracerTracer ammunitionTracer ammunition are bullets that are built with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base. Ignited by the burning powder, the phosphorus tail burns very brightly, making the projectile visible to the naked eye...
full metal jacketFull metal jacket bulletA full metal jacket is a bullet consisting of a soft core encased in a shell of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel or less commonly a steel alloy. This shell can extend around all of the bullet, or often just the front and sides with the rear left as exposed lead...
round with a steelSteelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
core. Projectile weight is 59.56 g and muzzle velocityMuzzle velocityMuzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
is 1,005 m/s. Tracer burns to at least 2,000 m. - MDZ - High-explosive incendiary bullet of instant action. Projectile weight is 59.68 g.
Rounds are also produced by Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
- KPV heavy machine gunKPV heavy machine gunThe KPV-14.5 heavy machine gun is a Soviet designed 14.5x114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s the infantry version was taken out of production because it was too big and heavy...
is used in GazaGazaGaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
by Izz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesIzz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesThe Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...
military wing of HamasHamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
.
External links
- KPVT large-calibre tank machine-gun
- MTPU 14.5mm marine pedestal machine-gun mount
- Russian/Soviet KPV MACHINE GUN ON WHEELED MOUNT(MARKOV'S MOUNT) IN 14.5 x 114 calibre (M41/44) – Walk around photos
- ZPU-2 - TWIN MOUNT 14.5MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS (Twin mount anti-aircraft 14.5mm KPV machine guns) – Walk around photos
- Modern Firearms page on the KPV-14.5 heavy machine gun