Why did the American special forces in Vietnam make sawn-off shotguns from the Soviet RPD-44

  • Aug 30, 2022
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Why did the American special forces in Vietnam make sawn-off shotguns from the Soviet RPD-44

In 1946, the Indochina War broke out in Vietnam with France. The local colonies wanted to overthrow the power of the overseas invaders. In 1955, the banner that fell from the hands of the French colonialists was picked up by the Americans, starting perhaps the most unpopular war in their history. Not the last role in the conflict, which lasted another 20 years, was played by American special forces. Many interesting moments were connected with his activity. For example, the conversion of Soviet RPD-44s into sawn-off shotguns.

US Marines with RPD-44. |Photo: profile.ru.
US Marines with RPD-44. |Photo: profile.ru.
US Marines with RPD-44. |Photo: profile.ru.

What is the best weapon in war? Often the best weapon is the one for which you can easily get ammunition. Sometimes these are trophy weapons. For example, in situations where it comes to soldiers of special units who are forced to make long raids lasting weeks and even months behind enemy lines. So, the American "Green Berets" fighting in Vietnam, of course, did not shy away from using the weapons of the "Reds", including those received as military aid from the Soviet Union.

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Green beret with RPD. |Photo: sk.pinterest.com.
Green beret with RPD. |Photo: sk.pinterest.com.

With Kalashnikov assault rifles in Vietnam, everything was really not as sweet as many imagine. Especially at the beginning of the war. Machine guns are another matter. In particular, the Asian communist brothers received from the USSR Degtyarev light machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber of the 1943 model (adopted into service in 1948). The Americans were especially fond of this machine gun, since at the time of the first half of the war in Southeast Asia their own light machine gun was not very satisfying.

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It was a good weapon. | Photo: war-time.ru.
It was a good weapon. | Photo: war-time.ru.

Of course, we are talking about the American single M60 machine gun that was born, the development of which began after World War II thanks to the analysis of the German MG-42 machine gun and the assault rifle of German paratroopers FG-42. In general, the American M60 turned out to be comparable to the Soviet RPD-44 weapon. Almost the same dimensions, slightly lower rate of fire, slightly higher bullet speed, the same effective range. True, the M60 had two hefty flaws. First: at first, the machine gun turned out to be not very reliable, which is why it had to be modified several times. Second: the M60 weighed 3 kg more than the RPD-44 (10.5 kg versus 7.4 kg).

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The Americans did not like the M60 machine gun very much. ¦Photo: Pinterest.
The Americans did not like the M60 machine gun very much. ¦Photo: Pinterest.

Therefore, the American special forces willingly acquired the Soviet RPD-44. True, they were often used not as machine guns, but as improvised PP: the special forces cut off most of the of the RPD-44 barrel, making it a kind of rapid-fire sawn-off shotgun of 7.62 mm caliber, thereby obtaining a very interesting short-range weapon fight. By the way, even before the start of the war, the Americans understood the need to create some kind of small light machine gun. One of the attempts to do this was field tests of the Stoner 63 modular rifle complex, reviews of which remained extremely controversial. However, it was thanks to the experience of the Vietnam War that such a “quick-firing baby” weighing 6.85 kg as the M249 SAW machine gun appeared in the US Army.

In continuation of the topic, read about
submachine gun "Cheetah": what was the machine-designer from the "dashing 90s" capable of.
Source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/070622/63216/