SG43 and SGM "Goryunov"

### Sights

cylinder on dovetail; rear, tangent leaf with U backsight; anti-aircraft sights also available

### Marketing agency

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The designer Petr M Goryunov produced his SG43 to supplement the DP and DPM. The gun was modified and improved until there were eventually six versions, all with comparatively minor differences. These versions are: (1) SG43: This has a smooth barrel with no fins at all. It has the cocking handle lying horizontally between the two vertical spade grips of the firing gear. The sear is attached to the return-spring guide. The barrel lock is a simple wedge which comes out to the side. There are no dust covers over the feed and ejection openings. (2) SG43B: This has a micrometer barrel lock and dust covers over feed and ejection openings. (3) SGM: This has longitudinal barrel fins and a separate sear housing. Dust covers are on late production models. The cocking handle is on the right-hand side of the receiver. (4) SGMT: This is the tank version of SGM with a solenoid on the backplate of the receiver. (5) SGMB: Similar to SGM but has dust covers over the feed and ejection ports. (6) Hungarian SG general purpose machine gun: This gun has an RPD butt-stock with a pistol-grip. It has an external resemblance to the PK general purpose machine gun but there is no hole in the butt-stock and the ejection slot is lozenge-shaped rather than rectangular. The Chinese version of the SG43 is known as the Type 53 and the SGMB is called the Type 57 heavy machine gun.

The Goryunov is gas operated, belt-fed and fires from a wheeled tripod which can be manhandled or pulled by a draught animal or vehicle; there is also a series of conventional tripods. It has a variable track gas regulator. The barrel is changed readily. The SG43 has a simple wedge which drives into a dovetail slot on top of the barrel; all other models have a milled catch on the barrel lock which must be depressed before the lock can be withdrawn. The belt is the standard Soviet closed pocket type used in the RP-46, holding 250 7.62 × 54R cartridges. It is loaded by forcing the rounds into the metal pockets as far as they will go. The gun fires from the open breech position and since it has the closed pocket belt, the cartridge is withdrawn from the belt, lowered to the level of the barrel and then rammed by the bolt. All SG43 series fire at automatic only, although the heavy barrel and the easy change make it possible to sustain a good rate of fire. The wheeled mounts incorporate coarse traverse and elevating gears and a fine elevating knob, but the traverse lock lever can be released so that free traverse through 360º is possible. The foresight is a cylinder mounted between two protectors. It is zeroed for elevation by screwing in and out, and for line by undoing the nut at the base and pushing the foresight on its dovetail into the required position. The rearsight is a U-notch mounted on a tangent leaf. For loading the feed cover is lifted to the vertical position and the belt is placed in the feedway from right to left with the first round positioned so that its rim lies inside the claws of the cartridge gripper. The cover is lowered and the gun cocked. The cocking handle on the SG43 and SG43M lies horizontally between the grips and, on the others, projects from the right of the receiver. To fire the gun the trigger-locking lever must first be raised with the left thumb and then the trigger can be operated with the right thumb. The return spring drives the slide forward carrying the bolt. The bolt picks up the cartridge which is lying above the feedway and pushes it into the chamber. As it enters the chamber the extractor on the bolt face grips the rim. The bolt comes to rest but the slide continues on. The raised piston post moves up the hollow interior of the bolt and forces the rear end to move sideways into a locking recess in the right-hand wall of the receiver. The piston post then continues on and strikes the firing pin driving it into the cap of the cartridge. As the slide travels forward the diagonal grooves cut in its top surface, engage ribs in the feed slide, which is pushed out to the right and the feed pawl slips over the next cartridge in the belt. Lying under the feed cover is the lower feed cover. Resting on top of this, with a lug which reaches down to the bolt, is the cartridge gripper. The lug engages in the bolt so the cartridge gripper reciprocates above it. The cartridge gripper has a pair of spring-loaded claws which grip over the rim of the cartridge in the belt when the bolt goes fully forward. Gas is diverted into the gas cylinder and forces the piston and slide rearwards. The piston post on the slide moves back along the hollow interior of the bolt. There is a period of free travel while the chamber pressure drops to a safe level and then the piston post forces the rear end of the bolt out of the locking recess and carries it back. The empty case is withdrawn by the extractor and is ejected through the left of the gun. As the bolt goes back the cartridge grippers pull the round out of the belt. The spring-loaded depressor arm projecting down from the underside of the feed cover forces the round down into the lower feed cover where it rests, nose slightly down, in the feedway where it can be fed by the next forward movement of the bolt. As the slide goes back the grooves on the top surface pull the feed pawl inwards and the next round is moved over into position for the cartridge grippers to seize it at the end of the next feed stroke. The SG43 series two-wheeled carriage can be adapted to form an anti-aircraft mount. An alternative, more conventional ground tripod constructed using heavy pressed steel components is known as the Sidorenko-Malinovski tripod. Variant KGK The Korszerü Gorjunov Kolosnyikov (KGK) was a general purpose machine gun variant of the SG43 produced in Hungary during the early 1960s. Numerous modifications were introduced to the original SG43 to suit it for the GPMG role, including a revised receiver and method of securing the interchangeable barrel, the addition of a butt stock and pistol grip, and the ability to be mounted on either a bipod or tripod. It is reported that less than 1,000 were made. Weight as a light machine gun was 13.63 kg and overall length 1.308 mm.

lol guys isnt this just like a pk!! lolol