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Thanks to the cinema, the Red Army and the Wehrmacht earned at least two symbolic types of weapons. Germany thus became a submachine gun MP 38/40, and for the Soviet Union - PCA. These two PP incredibly similar, but at the same time completely different. Hence the question arises, whose arms were still better?
"Schmeiser" to favorites
MP 38/40 history began long before World War II. Legendary submachine gun was the fruit of deep modernization VMP1925 machine, created in 1925. Developed weapon was German armourer Heinrich Volmer. When Nazi Germany began to rebuild his army for future conquests, its Command recall the submachine guns importance as a very promising weapon in the future war. It was then that appeared MP 38/40. Baptism of fire machine gun was held in Spain. Subsequently, the machine has been modified by another German gunsmith - Hugo Schmeisser, after which, in fact, earned a "gentle" in the name of the Soviet troops.
Despite the fact that the MP 38/40 firmly entrenched in popular culture as perhaps the only weapon Wehrmacht soldiers, in practice, the situation was quite different. The main weapon of the German Army was the rifle Mauser 98k. rifles mentioned ratio and PP in the forces was approximately 1 to 10 (where 1 is the MP 38/40). Used gun gun for the most part sabotage, assault, assault units, as well as the crews of combat vehicles and troops of guards.
"I love you blinded him from what was"
Before World War II in the Red Army already had a submachine gun. However, he had a number of shortcomings, primarily hindered him to become really massive. As a consequence, in 1940, commissioned by the party on the basis of already existing PPD similar in design, but at the same time adapted for mass production of a submachine gun. gunsmiths task was to "not to drop the" tactical and technical characteristics of weapons, but at the same time to make the machine quite cheap. Adopted the legendary PCA was already adopted December 21, 1940.
In contrast to the Wehrmacht troops, PCA from the beginning he claimed the truly mass weapons of land forces. By the way, it is the experience of the Soviet submachine-units during the Second World War proved a distinct advantage infantry fully armed with automatic weapons. By the end of the war about 55% of the men were armed with these weapons.
From love to hate
The main disadvantage of MP 38/40 was selected for the ammunition of the machine. caliber cartridge 9 × 19 mm Parabellum had mildly "doubtful" ballistic quality. We had a small bullet initial velocity. By large area drag it can not step up to 400 m / s. This in turn adversely affected the effective range.
The second major drawback MP 38/40 was ergonomics weapons. It was not the best. I added a spoonful of tar and butt. On the one hand, a folding buttstock made weapons are very compact, which is quite practical. However, the hinge butt "Schmeiser" wear out quickly, and it adversely affected the accuracy of shooting at sighting the fire. Finally, the soldiers of the Wehrmacht simply hated their machine for simple lack of the barrel jacket. To take up his hand without gloves after the shooting was not possible.
But MP 38/40 was still a good weapon. At the machine it had a simple and robust design (no way inferior to the Soviet PCA). Many of the shortcomings have been "smoothed" subsequent modifications during the war. Use the "Schmeisser" in different countries of the worlds up to 70-ies of XX century.
Victory weapons
For a variety of characteristics of the PCA beat his rival from Germany. Effective range aspired to 200 meters against 100-120 in MP 38/40. At the machine was much better ergonomics, though it weighed more - 5.3 kg versus 4.8 kg in case with loaded ammunition, and was far from being so compact. According to the rate of the Soviet machine also beat "colleague" - 1000 rounds per minute against 600-900 shots. Weapons should be commended for the huge capacity selector (drum) stores in 71 cartridge. And it was easier to clean!
Of course there were shortcomings in the Soviet machine. These should include the replacement of the store complex, insufficiently reliable fuse and an increased risk of arbitrary firing weapons in the event of a fall on a hard surface. In the darkness, the PCA was much easier to identify the characteristic triple muzzle flash. Finally, it was very noisy. Fighter, located on the side of the machine gunner in the 23 meters, could earn eardrum.
Interested in guns? How about to find out how China created a "laser AK-47" for the struggle against terrorists and enemies.
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A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/130718/47068/