The KORD (Russian: Корд; ковровские оружейники дегтярёвцы Kovrovskiye Oruzheyniki Degtyarovtsy; Kovrov Armorers of Degtyarev plant) is a Russian large-caliber machine gun, chambered for 12.7×108mm, developed by the Degtyarev plant in 1992. Production began in 1998.
Designed for the destruction of lightly armored targets and weapons, and eliminating enemy personnel at ranges of up to 1,500-2,000 meters, and also for engaging aerial targets at slant ranges up to 1,500 meters.
History[]
The KORD was created in the 1990s as a replacement for the NSV ("Utes"), the production of which, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, was partially outside the Russian Federation. The machine gun is developed at the Kovrov Degtyarev Plant (ZID).
The KORD is currently in production; the machine gun has been officially adopted for use in the Russian Army. In addition to the infantry version, it is also given a role as an anti-aircraft gun on the turret of the Russian T-90S MBT.
Design Details[]
The KORD is a belt-fed automatic weapon that feeds from either the left- or right-hand side. The machine gun is gas-operated with a rotating bolt and a long-stroke gas piston.
The trigger mechanism can be controlled manually (from the trigger installed on the machine gun), and from the electric trigger (for tank variants). The machine gun has a fuse from accidental shots.
The adjustable iron sight is primarily used. It is possible to mount optical and night sights on the weapon.
Spent casings are ejected forward through a tube pinned on the right-hand side of the receiver.
The quick-change barrel is air-cooled, built on the ZID's own technology, which provides equal heating when shooting, and therefore - and equal thermal expansion (deformation) of the barrel.
Due to this, accuracy in comparison with the NSV increased by 1.5-2 times when shooting from the tripod (when shooting from the bipod, accuracy is comparable). As a result, when shooting at a distance of 100 m, the grouping is only 220 mm.
The original idea of equal heating of the barrel and the corresponding patent belongs to Aleksandr Yakovlevich Kurzenkov, senior engineer of the Kovrov Degtyarev plant (ZID).
Ammunition[]
The basic ammunition claimed by ZID to be used in the KORD - B-32 and BZT-44. At the same time, obviously, the machine gun can use any kind of ammunition in the 12.7mm standard, including MDZ and BS (BS-41). The latter has a bullet with a tungsten core, which significantly improves armor penetration. If the B-32 bullet pierces 20 mm steel plate from a distance of 100 m, the BS and BS-41 bullets can do the same from a distance of 750 meters.
Modifications[]
- 6P49 - Tank variant.
- 6P50 - Infantry machine gun.
- 6P51 - Tank variant with the left-side feed.
- 6P57 - The 6P50 variant with the 6T19 bipod.
- 6P58 - The 6P50 variant on the 6U16 pivot.
- 6P59 - The 6P50 variant on the 6U16 pivot and SP rack.
- 6P60 - The 6P50 variant on the 6T60 tripod.
Comparative Evaluation[]
The KORD machine gun is the world's first serial large-caliber machine gun, which can be fired from a bipod, and if necessary, even without it.
At the moment, it is one of the lightest full-fledged machine guns of 12.7mm caliber - the Browning M2HB has a weight of 58 kg (on a tripod), and even the body of the machine gun weighs 38 kg (more than 20% heavier than the KORD on a tripod), and only the Browning M2 Lightweight, featuring a lightweight quick-change Stellite barrel with a flash suppressor, has a weight of 27 kg, while it can be used anywhere using the original M2.
The XM312 machine gun, while even lighter than the KORD, cannot be considered as a full-fledged machine gun, because of its low cyclic rate of 260 rounds per minute.