Old machine guns in contemporary conflicts

[cuprum]

Article in Russian. To read using Google Translator:

https://defence.ru/strelkovoe-oruzhie/starinnie-pulemeti-v-goryachikh-tochkakh-xxi-veka/

[mysteriousbill]

Is that an MG-42 or one of the postwar MG1s or 3s?

[twrchtrwyth]

Is that an MG-42 or one of the postwar MG1s or 3s?

A 42 according to the article text. I guess only a MG expert could really tell.

[von Lucky]

A nice collection in that article. I'm currently collecting 1/72 plastic for an imaginations / Balkan conflict project, and have been utilising WWII sets for the rifles and SMGs. I guess I can mix in a few more of the support weapons (HMGs, etc) and not look too out of place.

[Cherno]

It indeed looks like a MG42.

There have been reports of StG 44s being used in Africa and the Middle East in recent conflicts.

[cuprum]

By PTRS-41 till STG-44: the most exotic weapons Syrian militants
http://todaysmilitary.ru/2015/10/05/ot-ptrs-41-do-stg-44-samoe-ekzoticheskoe-oruzhie-sirijskih-boevikov/






The threat from the museum

https://defendingrussia.ru/a/maksimy_i_degtjari_v_vojnah_21_veka-5376/
https://defendingrussia.ru/a/protivotankovyje_udochki_v_sovremennyh_konfliktah-5686/
https://defendingrussia.ru/a/pistolety_pulemety_iz_sovetskogo_kino_sovremennyje_vojny-5578/
https://defendingrussia.ru/a/staryje_vintovki_v_sirii_afrike_i_na_ukraine-5346/












Russian weapons forum. The theme of the old weapons in contemporary conflicts. A lot of interesting photo: http://popgun.ru/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=726653

[Wyrmalla]

WWII after WWII's am excellent blog for all sorts of old equipment in post-war use (not just guns though).

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/

[Elbows]

What's more fascinating to me is how they've managed to find/keep/use ammunition for some of these older firearms.  That's the real surprise.  There are loads of Stg44's in the Syrian/Arab Spring conflict --- seen a lot of pictures of them, so someone found a small stash somewhere.  But where in the hell are they getting the unique ammo for that rifle?  8mm Short or whatever.

That's what blows my mind. 

[cuprum]

For most of the old weapons (at least in the Soviet) is quite suitable modern ammunition.   

[Westfalia Chris]

But where in the hell are they getting the unique ammo for that rifle?  8mm Short or whatever.

Serbia, IIRC. AFAIK, the StG44 was in use with GDR police formations and Yugoslavian paratroops post-WW2, and there is still a factory that makes the ammo.

[Ahistorian]

As a Bush Wars and Post-Apoc player, this is sheer fantastic!!    I knew about the Syrian Stg44s, but the breadth of use for some of this old equipment is staggering.

[carlos marighela]

Serbia, IIRC. AFAIK, the StG44 was in use with GDR police formations and Yugoslavian paratroops post-WW2, and there is still a factory that makes the ammo.

Indeed. The Yugoslavs manufactured 7.92 kurz for their StG 44s and Serbia still does. I would imagine there is still a shed load, warehoused in Syria.  The Volkspolizei and NVA were issued the StG 44 from stocks captured and warehoused by the Soviets and when they were replaced with German made AK clones, the DDR passed them on to all and sundry. They've turned up as far away as Eritrea, Syria and Vietnam.

By the by, that photo of the Madsen being used by PMERJ is a few years old now. It was a weapon captured from traficantes, who in turn had stolen it from a museum. Its original provenance  was the Argentine Army IIRC. PMERJ have lots more modern toys, in fact they were a real winner, toy wise, from the World Cup and the Olympics. Of course they had quite enough before that.

[Arlequín]

I'm bemused that Surfer Localism in Brazil requires that you carry an assault rifle to keep kooks and bennys off your break. 

[carlos marighela]

I'm bemused that Surfer Localism in Brazil requires that you carry an assault rifle to keep kooks and bennys off your break.  

Whatever it takes to keep the tourists at bay.  

Actually it doesn't work. The dopiest tourists delight in  the most obscene form of tourism: jeep tours up  a couple of selected morros, precisely because of the naughty thrill of it all and the spicy dinner table conversations that ensue upon their return.

'When we were in the 'Real Rio' (TM) we saw actual drug dealers with real automatic weapons! Despite not speaking a word of the language our one hour, tightly chaperoned, guided zoo tour gave us a real understanding of the underlying social conditions in Brazil, yadda, yadda, yadda......'

Kuh-hunts, the lot of 'em.  

[Westfalia Chris]

Could we please get back on tangent.