Difference between revisions of "ShKAS (7.62 mm)"

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== Description ==
 
== Description ==
''Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.''
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<!--''Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.''-->
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The '''{{PAGENAME}}''' ('''Sh'''pitalny-'''K'''omaritski '''A'''viatsionny '''S'''korostrelny or ''Shipitalny-Komaritski rapid-fire for aircraft'' – Russian: '''ШКАС''' - '''Ш'''питального-'''К'''омарицкого '''А'''виационный '''С'''корострельный) is a 7.62 mm caliber machine gun which was first produced in 1933 for usage in Soviet aircraft which saw action all the way through World War II in many of the fighters, attackers and bombers of the day. The ShKAS is a single chamber, gas-operated revolver-type machine gun in which a firing pin strikes the primer of the bullet in the chamber to fire the round.
  
 
=== Vehicles equipped with this weapon ===
 
=== Vehicles equipped with this weapon ===
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== General info ==
 
== General info ==
''Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.''
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<!--''Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.''-->
  
The ShKAS is a gas operated revolver type machine gun.
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The designers Boris Shpitalniy and Irinarkh Komaritsky departed from traditional methods of feeding belt linked ammunition into the ShKAS and utilised a feed design nicknamed “bird-cage” or “squirrel-cage”<ref>[Ian V. Hogg (1978). The illustrated encyclopaedia of firearms. New Burlington Books. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-906286-41-8]</ref>.  Even declassified documents regarding the United State’s evaluation of the feed system stated, ''“…an interesting departure was made from the heretofore orthodox practice of feeding ammunition to a gun of this caliber [sic].”'' <ref>[Chinn, George M. The Machine Gun, Vol II, Part VII. US Department of the Navy, 1952, p. 78-79]</ref>
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The ammunition belt enters the feed cage forward of the firing chamber. When the gun is fired, a gas piston actuates an arm connected to the cylindrical feed cage, rotating it one position to introduce the new bullet. As the feed cage (holding ten rounds) rotates a helical groove and guides the bullets rearward.  Through this process of working the bullets rearwards, they are automatically delinked from the metal disintegrating link belt.  The rounds make it to the final position at the bottom of the drum where they are then chambered into the receiver, ready to be fired. 
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One of the benefits of this feed system is during the camming of the rounds; there is relatively no drag on the ammunition allowing the gun to be fired at high rates of speed; however, prolonged actuation can provoke these guns to jam. Rates of fire could be regulated through changing of the holes in the gas regulator, three different hole sizes going from largest to smallest would slow down the rate of fire to a more moderate rate.
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{{Quote
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|The ShKAS machine gun had a high rate of fire but it also had 48 ways of jamming. Some of them could be fixed immediately, some could not. And 1,800 rounds a minute was an insanely high rate of fire. If you pulled the trigger too long, the ShKAS would fire all its ammo in one go and that would be it!!<ref>[Drabkin, Artem. The Red Air Force at War: Barbarossa and the Retreat to Moscow – Recollections of Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword Military, 2007. ISBN 1-84415-563-3]</ref>
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|Viktor M. Sinaisky - Soviet machine gun technician
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}}
  
 
=== Available shells ===
 
=== Available shells ===
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'''Pros:'''  
 
'''Pros:'''  
* The fastest firing rifle-caliber machine gun in WWII.
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* The fastest firing rifle-calibre machine gun in WWII
 
* Every belt is extremely effective at causing fires on enemy aircraft (tracers and stealth are the most effective)
 
* Every belt is extremely effective at causing fires on enemy aircraft (tracers and stealth are the most effective)
* Incredibly easy to knock out gunners and pilots on enemy aircraft (or exposed crew members on ground and naval forces).
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* Incredibly easy to knock out gunners and pilots on enemy aircraft (or exposed crew members on ground and naval forces)
* If fired in short bursts, most aircraft can last make a belt last a entire game in RB.
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* If fired in short bursts, most aircraft can make a belt last an entire game in realistic battle
  
 
'''Cons:'''  
 
'''Cons:'''  
* Can easily jam. It is recommended to fire in bursts lasting no longer then one second. Somewhat inaccurate.
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* Can easily jam. It is recommended to fire in bursts lasting no longer than one second
  
 
== History ==
 
== History ==

Revision as of 21:04, 20 April 2019

Description

The ShKAS (7.62 mm) (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny or Shipitalny-Komaritski rapid-fire for aircraft – Russian: ШКАС - Шпитального-Комарицкого Авиационный Скорострельный) is a 7.62 mm caliber machine gun which was first produced in 1933 for usage in Soviet aircraft which saw action all the way through World War II in many of the fighters, attackers and bombers of the day. The ShKAS is a single chamber, gas-operated revolver-type machine gun in which a firing pin strikes the primer of the bullet in the chamber to fire the round.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Vehicles equipped with this weapon
Fighters 
I-153  I-153 M-62 · Zhukovsky's I-153-M62
I-16  I-16 type 5 · I-16 type 10 · I-16 type 18 · I-16 type 24 · I-16 type 27 · I-16 type 28
LaGG  LaGG-3-4 · I-301
MiG-3  MiG-3-15 · MiG-3-15 (BK)
Yak  Yak-1
Twin-engine fighters  I-29 · Pe-3bis (Defensive) · Pe-3 (e)
Attackers 
IL-2  IL-2 (1941) · IL-2 (1942) · ▀IL-2 (1942) · IL-2-37 · IL-2M type 3 · IL-2M "Avenger" · IL-2M (1943)
Su-2  Su-2 (M-82) · Su-2 MV-5 · Su-2 TSS-1
Su-6  Su-6 (AM-42) · Su-6 (M-71F)
Other  BB-1 · IL-10 · Tandem MAI · Yak-2 KABB
Bombers 
Pe-2  Pe-2-1 · Pe-2-31 · Pe-2-83 · Pe-2-110 · Pe-2-205 · Pe-2-359
SB-2  SB 2M-100 (Defensive) · SB 2M-103 MV-3 (Defensive) · SB 2M-103 (Defensive) · SB 2M-103U (Defensive) · SB 2M-103U MV-3 (Defensive) · SB 2M-105 (Defensive)
Yer-2  Yer-2 (M-105) (Defensive) · Yer-2 (M-105) TAT (Defensive) · Yer-2 (M-105R) LU (Defensive) · Yer-2 (M-105R) TAT (Defensive)
Other  Ar-2 (Defensive) · DB-3B (Defensive) · IL-4 (Defensive) · MBR-2-M-34 (Defensive) · Pe-8 (Defensive) · Po-2 Night Witch (Defensive) · Yak-4

General info

The designers Boris Shpitalniy and Irinarkh Komaritsky departed from traditional methods of feeding belt linked ammunition into the ShKAS and utilised a feed design nicknamed “bird-cage” or “squirrel-cage”[1]. Even declassified documents regarding the United State’s evaluation of the feed system stated, “…an interesting departure was made from the heretofore orthodox practice of feeding ammunition to a gun of this caliber [sic].” [2]

The ammunition belt enters the feed cage forward of the firing chamber. When the gun is fired, a gas piston actuates an arm connected to the cylindrical feed cage, rotating it one position to introduce the new bullet. As the feed cage (holding ten rounds) rotates a helical groove and guides the bullets rearward. Through this process of working the bullets rearwards, they are automatically delinked from the metal disintegrating link belt. The rounds make it to the final position at the bottom of the drum where they are then chambered into the receiver, ready to be fired.

One of the benefits of this feed system is during the camming of the rounds; there is relatively no drag on the ammunition allowing the gun to be fired at high rates of speed; however, prolonged actuation can provoke these guns to jam. Rates of fire could be regulated through changing of the holes in the gas regulator, three different hole sizes going from largest to smallest would slow down the rate of fire to a more moderate rate.

Quote icon.png

The ShKAS machine gun had a high rate of fire but it also had 48 ways of jamming. Some of them could be fixed immediately, some could not. And 1,800 rounds a minute was an insanely high rate of fire. If you pulled the trigger too long, the ShKAS would fire all its ammo in one go and that would be it!![3]

— Viktor M. Sinaisky - Soviet machine gun technician

Available shells

  • Default (T/Ball/Ball/AP-I/AI)
  • Universal (AP-I/AI/API-T)
  • Tracers (AP-I/API-T)
  • Stealth (AP-I/AP-I/AP-I/AI)

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns, that have firepower equal to these type of weapons.

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against the main opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • The fastest firing rifle-calibre machine gun in WWII
  • Every belt is extremely effective at causing fires on enemy aircraft (tracers and stealth are the most effective)
  • Incredibly easy to knock out gunners and pilots on enemy aircraft (or exposed crew members on ground and naval forces)
  • If fired in short bursts, most aircraft can make a belt last an entire game in realistic battle

Cons:

  • Can easily jam. It is recommended to fire in bursts lasting no longer than one second

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of this weapon. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

  • reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
  • references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the weapon;
  • other literature.


Aircraft machine guns
USA 
7.62 mm  Browning · M134 Minigun
12.7 mm  GAU-19 · M2 Browning · M3 Browning
Germany 
7.62 mm  MG3
7.92 mm  MG 15 · MG 17 · MG 81
12.7 mm  FN M3P
13 mm  MG 131
USSR 
7.62 mm  DA · GShG-7.62 · PKT · PV-1 · ShKAS
12.7 mm  A-12.7 · Berezin UB · TKB-481 · YaK-B
Britain 
7.62 mm  FN 60.30 · L8A1
7.7 mm  Browning · Lewis · Vickers E · Vickers K
Japan 
7.7 mm  Te-1 · Type 89 · Type 89 'special' · Type 92 · Type 97 navy
7.92 mm  Type 1 · Type 98
12.7 mm  Ho-103 · Ho-104
13 mm  Type 2
13.2 mm  Type 3
China 
12.7 mm  QJK99-12.7-1
Italy 
7.7 mm  Breda-SAFAT · Lewis
7.92 mm  FN Browning
12.7 mm  Breda-SAFAT · FN M3M · Scotti
France 
7.5 mm  Darne 1933 · Fabrique Nationale Mle 38 · FN Browning · MAC 1934 · MAC 1934T · Mle 33 · Mle 1923
7.62 mm  PKA
Sweden 
7.7 mm  FN-Browning M.36 No.3
8 mm  Ksp m/22 · Ksp m/22 Fh · Ksp m/22 Fv · Ksp m/22-37 R
12.7 mm  Akan m/39A · Akan m/40 · Akan m/45 · LKk/42
13.2 mm  Akan m/39 · Akan m/39A

  1. [Ian V. Hogg (1978). The illustrated encyclopaedia of firearms. New Burlington Books. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-906286-41-8]
  2. [Chinn, George M. The Machine Gun, Vol II, Part VII. US Department of the Navy, 1952, p. 78-79]
  3. [Drabkin, Artem. The Red Air Force at War: Barbarossa and the Retreat to Moscow – Recollections of Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword Military, 2007. ISBN 1-84415-563-3]