DP-27 Light machinegun

[kiwicollector]

Since it was a beautiful spring day, I took my DP outside for a photo shoot and write up a some history about the weapon.

DP-27 Photo essay (warning not 56k friendly)

I feel it still needs some work, but not really sure what to add without ending up regurgitating what others have already written. What do you guys think?

Some of the pictures:

[James Purnell]

A++++. The pictures you took are just beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to present this high quality and informative article to us. I can see from the pictures that your DP was manufactured in 1944, what is the arsenal of manufacture? Have you fired this fine piece, and what is its history?


Jim

[Devilmorfose]

hi kiwicollector.. are you the one who has also registered on the RO forums as 'bas'?
im also registered there under this name so ive seen your photos before, great collection!

[Tyler Ramsey]

What A wonderful piece!
Thanks a lot for showing it, it's not everyday you get to see one of these.

[R_Hessian]

Fire

VERY, VERY nice- I had the chance when in the Marines to fire this weapon, I thought it fired much like our BAR and had a very comfortable rate of fire. The owner also had one in 8mm that was converted the Germans or so he said.

I also found it to be right on target ( or maybe it was the gunner )

Good for you!
Robert

[kiwicollector]

A++++. The pictures you took are just beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to present this high quality and informative article to us. I can see from the pictures that your DP was manufactured in 1944, what is the arsenal of manufacture? Have you fired this fine piece, and what is its history?


Jim

Hi Jim,

I have no idea where it was made and I haven't really had any luck finding a source on the meanings behind the Russian marking. If someone can recommend a book on that subject I would be very grateful. I don't know the history behind the gun either, the barrel is BNP marked so it has been through the UK, I've owned it for 6 years and before that it was in another private collection. There is another floating around NZ, but that's all I know of locally.

No I haven't fired it. It's one of the pecularities of local laws, as a collector we can own but not shoot full-autos.

Thanks for the feed back guys.

(Devilmorfose, yes I'm from the RO forums as well).

[mietek]

[QUOTE=Robert Zimkas] The owner also had one in 8mm that was converted the Germans or so he said.[\QUOTE]

Conversion to mauzer ammo? I never heard about it, could you write more?
What magazine was used with it?

Nice pictures.

Unfortunately in Poland many of DP, DPM and DT were recently destroyed (same happened to Mosins, PPS, PPSh, TT ).
Some are still for sale: http://www.amw.com.pl/zos_catalog.php?cZosPath=3 , but only for companies, not for collectors.

mietek

[Adrian Stevenson]

Great article and photos.

My only inquiry is why sometimes the gun is refered to as the "DP27" in some books and the "DP28" in others? As an onwer of one of these I found the article very interesting.

Cheers, Ade.

[Johnnie]

Absolutelt GREAT photos of a highly interesting WW2 LMG. I got to shoot one many years ago. Congrats,

Johnnie

[kiwicollector]

Great article and photos.

My only inquiry is why sometimes the gun is refered to as the "DP27" in some books and the "DP28" in others? As an onwer of one of these I found the article very interesting.

Cheers, Ade.

Good question Adrian, from what I've noticed, most western authors call it the DP-28 while in Finland and Russia they call it the DP-27. Since the weapon is Russian, I try to stick to DP-27 as it is "more correct".

Have you read this article? http://www.cruffler.com/historic-march01.html

It's a summary of the chapter on the DP in D.N. Bolotin's book.

[Matt Weber]

I also found it to be right on target ( or maybe it was the gunner )


Good thing I got my boots on now, cause the stuff is gettin' deep! (just kidding Robert!)

Kiwi,
Excellent looking weapon!! and one that we don't get to see too often here.
Great article, and great looking photos! Is this weapon still "live"? and if so, do you still shoot it? (I hope so!)

Robert, I would also like to question the fact that the Germans converted these to 8mm. I never heard of that? Not saying it's not possible, but really wouldn't make any sense?, as captured Russian ammo was more than plentiful, and they never converted the other Russian weapons they captured (such as T33, SVT40, PPsh41, not to mention all the tanks, and artillery pieces!). Did you just hear this from someone, or do you have any proof of this? Please share more!

Matt

[R_Hessian]

Posting!

Matt,

Take off your rubber boots ! What I said was, "The owner also had one in 8mm that was converted by the Germans or so he said."

After I fired the DP I thanked him and he made the statement about having a German conversion... no he did not have it there at the range, thats were the " or so he said " part comes in .

Robert

[James Purnell]

The Germans did convert some PPSh 41's to 9mm. The conversion consisted of a new barrel and an adapter that fit into the PPSh's magazine well so the gun would accept the MP 40's 32 round magazine. The converted gun was designated MP 41(r). The standard 7.62 Russian PPSh carried the designation MP 717(r).

Jim

I also found it to be right on target ( or maybe it was the gunner )


Good thing I got my boots on now, cause the stuff is gettin' deep! (just kidding Robert!)

Kiwi,
Excellent looking weapon!! and one that we don't get to see too often here.
Great article, and great looking photos! Is this weapon still "live"? and if so, do you still shoot it? (I hope so!)

Robert, I would also like to question the fact that the Germans converted these to 8mm. I never heard of that? Not saying it's not possible, but really wouldn't make any sense?, as captured Russian ammo was more than plentiful, and they never converted the other Russian weapons they captured (such as T33, SVT40, PPsh41, not to mention all the tanks, and artillery pieces!). Did you just hear this from someone, or do you have any proof of this? Please share more!

Matt

[Adrian Stevenson]

Talking of German converted 9mm PPSh41's, I have some pics of one if anyone wishes to see them? They were taken in the Notts & Derby Regt Museum of a captured example they have.


Cheers, Ade.

[Johnnie]

Matt,
They DID convert a number of PPsH-41,s to 9mm Para. using MP-40 mags. I have references to them in storage back home, with photos. Unsure how many though. If I recall right, they were used by second line police units.
I doubt they converted any DP-27,s due to the difficulty of making the pan magazines (designed for Russian 7.62mm rimmed) work w/ rimless German 7.92mm.
Maybe someone else has more info.
Regards,
Johnnie

I also found it to be right on target ( or maybe it was the gunner )


Good thing I got my boots on now, cause the stuff is gettin' deep! (just kidding Robert!)

Kiwi,
Excellent looking weapon!! and one that we don't get to see too often here.
Great article, and great looking photos! Is this weapon still "live"? and if so, do you still shoot it? (I hope so!)

Robert, I would also like to question the fact that the Germans converted these to 8mm. I never heard of that? Not saying it's not possible, but really wouldn't make any sense?, as captured Russian ammo was more than plentiful, and they never converted the other Russian weapons they captured (such as T33, SVT40, PPsh41, not to mention all the tanks, and artillery pieces!). Did you just hear this from someone, or do you have any proof of this? Please share more!

Matt