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Writer's pictureVlad Besedovskyy

How DP-27 machine gun became known as "Emma"?

One of the most famous Soviet machine guns, DP-27 (although sometimes wrongfully designated as DP-28) has quite a bit oh history both behind and ahead of it. However, little is known about its service in military forces other than the Soviet Army.


Machine guns in Finland prior to the War with the Soviet Union

Let’s start with the fact that when Soviet Union attacked Finland, it had its own light machine gun, developed by Aimo Lahti and Arvo Saloranta, which was adopted into service in 1926 (a link to an article about this machine gun will be provided at the end).

The mechanism of this machine gun operated on the recoil energy of the barrel with a short recoil travel, and it was locked by a wedge. The gun could fire in both semi-automatic and fully automatic modes from an open bolt.

In comparison, the Degtyarev machine gun, developed around the same time, looked much more modern, with its mechanism working on the energy of gas diverted from the barrel and locked by expanding locking lugs.

Even the magazine of the Degtyarev machine gun was superior, as it held 47 rounds compared to the 20 rounds of the Lahti-Saloranta’s box magazine. Additionally, the spring of the Finnish magazine was so stiff that the machine gun had to be equipped with a special loader for the magazine.

The two machine guns were also incomparable in terms of the number of parts: while the DP consisted of 68 parts, the Lahti-Saloranta boasted a staggering 188 parts.

Both machine guns used the same cartridge—7.62x54mmR.



Captured equipment

According to Finnish sources, the Soviet-Finnish War, known in Finland as the "Winter War," brought the Finnish army around 3,500 DP machine guns. An additional 5,000 machine guns were captured during the so-called "Continuation War."

Finnish soldiers quickly appreciated the simplicity and reliability of the Soviet machine gun, as well as its larger magazine capacity (a 75-round drum magazine was soon developed for the Finnish machine gun, but it was attached underneath like the box magazine and failed to impress either Finnish military commanders or soldiers).

Because of the top-mounted drum that rotated during firing and resembled a phonograph record, the machine gun earned the nickname "Emma" after a popular Finnish waltz of that period. The Finnish military leaders reacted just as quickly—at the "State Rifle Factory" (Valtion Kivääritehdas / VKT), a repair facility for the machine guns was established, and shortly thereafter, the production of individual spare parts and 47-round drums began.


Among the drawbacks noted were the difficulty of loading magazines, poor ergonomics (especially for shooting from the shoulder), rapid barrel overheating (Finnish regulations required changing the barrel after 200-300 continuous rounds), non-interchangeable parts, and uncontrolled firing when the trigger mechanism was worn out (in such cases, it was recommended to grab the drum with your hands to stop it from rotating).

Metal containers, modeled after Soviet designs and capable of holding three magazines each, were produced for carrying the magazines. By 1943, Finnish machine gun crews had between six and nine magazines per gun (the standard configuration being six magazines). However, as in the Red Army, magazines could also be carried in canvas bags.

Additionally, the machine gun crew was provided with two spare barrels and a tool kit.

The captured DP machine gun also received a distinctively Finnish feature—a wooden stock without a bulge on the underside (it is said that Finnish specialists also produced receiver boxes).

The Soviet light machine gun was so superior to the Finnish one that the production of the "Lahti-Saloranta" light machine gun was discontinued in 1942 due to its obsolescence. By that time, the Finnish army had about 4,200 of these machine guns and nearly twice as many Soviet ones.


Quote from the user

In conclusion, I will present the opinion of a Finnish firearm enthusiast who had the opportunity to shoot with the Degtyarev machine gun:

"The contrast compared to the "Lahti-Saloranta" is simply remarkable. This was my grandfather's favorite weapon during the Continuation War, and I can easily understand why. Loading the magazine is a task for two people, and swapping it out isn't particularly quick either, but once it's time to open fire, everything runs smoothly. The weapon should always be fired from the bipod. When shooting from the bipod, the only correct place for your left hand is on the stock; placing it elsewhere is just asking for injury. The ergonomics when using the bipod are surprisingly good—very similar to any standard rifle. The sight picture is quite open (plenty of space on both sides of the front sight) for an automatic weapon and allows for quick and easy target acquisition. Operating the safety is instinctive (the right index finger presses it when the right hand is in the firing position), and the single-stage trigger is also quite comfortable. Although the bipod may look awkward, and in some ways it is, the machine gun is surprisingly stable—I even tried firing it from the bipod with just one hand, and it caused no issues with controlling the weapon. This light machine gun is very manageable on the bipod, partly due to its relatively low rate of fire. The low rate of fire also makes it easy to fire accurate short bursts. Shooting it was a real pleasure—rapidly rising targets received short bursts of two rounds each and fell down. Over the years, I've fired several Degtyarev machine guns and have never encountered any reliability issues. This includes several range sessions where one gun fired more than 500 rounds without any cleaning. This machine gun is one of the few World War II-era weapons that I would still confidently use in combat today. It's no surprise that even today, some Degtyarev M/27s continue to appear in photos and videos from places like Afghanistan and Libya.".

The Degtyarev light machine gun remained in service with the Finnish Army until the 1990s. It began to be replaced in the 1960s by the Finnish version of the Kalashnikov machine gun. By the late 1990s, nearly all of the remaining Degtyarev machine guns were sold to collectors.


Small comment on the magazines...

It is worth noting that complaints about broken magazines were not among the criticisms of the Degtyarev machine gun. This can likely be explained by the fact that although Finnish-made magazines were modeled after Soviet ones, they were of higher quality.


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