BBC Image: PKM in Iraq Militia hands shows Feed Box use

Gun Watch ^ | 30 May, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

In this image   From the BBC, a militia leader makes sure that the PKM is up front and center.  As in the picture of the Al Shabab marchers, it makes sense to put some of the more powerful weapons up front, to show that you are well armed, perhaps to intimidate enemies, or gain some political clout.  This might be considered a local version of the Soviet May Day military parade.

With both side and bottom shots of the soldier/militiaman with the PKM, the use of the feed box/ammunition box is clear.   They are conspicuously lacking in the photo of Al Shabab, in Africa, below.

The following  screen shot shows another Iraqi militiaman in Anbar province, in the same group as the first photo, with a PKM without an ammunition box.  He has an ammunition belt over his left shoulder.

I do not know if use of the PKM without a feed box/ammunition box is common.  The rest of the armed men appear to have AK variants.   Perhaps someone with sharper eyes can spot a different model rifle.  Vast numbers of all sorts of rifles were discovered in Iraq.  Iraqis prize weapons, and rifles have likely been accumulated there from the time of their invention until the present.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[marktwain]

There are many PK and PKM variants. I think all are meant to be used with an ammunition box, but others may help educate me on actual practice in the field.

[marktwain]

PKM ping

[2banana]

Muslims are not really into tactics. But they are into looking what they think is cool...

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

Muslims are not really into tactics. But they are into looking what they think is cool...

That was my experience from Afghanistan. An Army of adolescents.

[marktwain]

God grant us inept enemies.

May they come to know Jesus.

[archy]

I do not know if use of the PKM without a feed box/ammunition box is common.

Oh yes. But the box is right handy for keeping sand from collecting on the ammo and links, which can then be transferred to the feed group, causing jams or premature wear.

BTW: The belts for the PK/PKM/Pecheneg are also those for the WWII-era SG43/SGM Goryunov, usually seen mounted on a tripod or wheeled mount or as a co-axial gun aboard armoured vehicles [SGT version], or even for the water-cooled Maxim machineguns used during the WWI and Finnish Civil War period of 1918. Like an AK, they just work, and work and work.

[archy]

There are many PK and PKM variants. I think all are meant to be used with an ammunition box, but others may help educate me on actual practice in the field.

The Pecheneg is more akin to the way we use the Squad Automatic Weapon, meant as a lighter support weapon that nevertheless can dump a lot of firepower and is a bit longer-ranged than a 7,62x39mm AKM or 5,45mm AK74. They are real handy at night, when a long burst from a MG-caliber weapon is the universal symbol to the enemy for *throw grenades here.*

Like the RPK and RPK74, the Pecheneg does not have a quick-change barrel, limiting its sustained fire role. But that is not the role for which it is meant, and the commonality of parts and components with the PK/PKM/PKT means that the troops are already familiar with it and there is a good parts availability in the field.

In all, the PKM is around my #2 favourite tool in the toybox, depending on the exact job to be done and the condition of the individual examples available. But nothing, not the MAG/M240, not the PKM, not the MG3, NOTHING is perfect in the auto weapons biz. And some things could be better.

[archy]

PKM ping

PKM/Pecheneg in the Ukraine use FReeppost.

[Squantos]

Loves me some Hk21 ......:o)

[archy]

Loves me some Hk21 ......:o)

I've been thinking about doing a little tinkering with one of those US-made PTR copies of the H&K91. Magazine fed, like a HK11, I expect, but I've got an awful lot of MG34/42/53/59 MG1/MG3 belts [gurt 33] around, so maybe not.