North Korea type 73 machine guns fit enta di fight for Ukraine

Di strange North Korean Type 73 machine gun dey get new attention bicos di Hermit Kingdom dey support Russia war for Ukraine, wey don include deployment of plenty troops.

According to report, di weapon, wey fit di Russian 7.62x54mmR cartridge, na unique mix of Cold War Soviet and Czech designs.

Pictures wey show Type 73s, wey dem talk say dem take am for Russia Kursk region recently, don start dey circulate online since yesterday.

Dem get plenty report wey no dey confirm say North Korean soldiers fit don carry di guns come with dem or say Pyongyang dey supply dem as military help to Russian forces.

E don clear say Russia don already collect different kinds of weapon from North Korea.

Dis one include di KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, Bulsae-4 anti-tank missile vehicles, and rocket-propelled grenades, plus millions of artillery rounds and plenty odir kinds of ammunition.

Wetin be di origin of di images be, dem clearly show Type 73 machine guns, wey get plenty different features.

Di North Korean gun mix design elements from at least three different machine guns.

Di Czech 7.62x39mm Vz. 52/57 machine gun and di Soviet 7.62x54mmR Soviet RP-46 (wey self be belt-fed version of di Soviet DP family) and PK series.

Wetin dey most noticeable about di Type 73 wey weigh about 22-pound wen e plenty and four-foot long be say e fit take feed from top-mounted box magazine (like di Vz. 52/57) or from belt of ammunition wey dem load from di right side (also like di Vz. 52/57, as well as di RP-46 and PK).

Wen you use am with box magazine, di gun get one kind old-school look wey remind person of designs wey don dey since before World War II like di Czech ZB-26 and di British Bren.

Di Bren, plus Vz. 52/57, self come from di ZB-26.

Di Type 73 get some features wey no be normal, e get muzzle device wey fit allow person fire rifle grenades.

Wen dem no dey use dat capability, dem fit screw cover wey get muzzle brake for di front end of di gun wey long almost two feet.

Dem believe say e don enta North Korea service since 1973, but hard details about di Type 73 and how e develop still dey scarce.

“Honestly, na di result of plenty of North Korea past leaders, Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, wey be like real gun pipo.

And dem both be big fans of Czechoslovakian firearms especially,” firearms expert Ian McCollum wey dey run di Forgotten Weapons website talk for one video about di Type 73 back in 2022, wey you fit watch full below.

Dire get some logic wey dey behind di design.

Ammunition belts fit dey heavy for units to carry wen dem dey do active operations or even small patrols.

Box magazine, though e no go fit carry plenty ammunition at once, go help make di gun easier to handle wen dem dey move, even wen dem dey fire from shoulder.

Di Type 73 dey weigh 22 pounds wen e empty, e dey just over two pounds heavier than di regular current-generation Russian PKM, but e dey much lighter.

Di U.S. Army standard 7.62x51mm M240B light machine gun, wey dey weigh almost 28 pounds before dem even load ammunition belt.

Top-mounted magazine go allow di gunner make e fit dey low for ground while e dey fire from prone position without losing capacity.

“So di concept be say you go carry this one with box magazine inside for any kind immediate action wey fit happen, like for patrol or something,” McCollum talk for him 2022 video.

“And din, if you find yourself for position wey you really need to use di gun for sustained fire, na dire you go start to dey feed am belts.”

Again, as information no plenty, Type 73 no really popular for North Korea service.

“Honestly, Czech 52/57 no really successful too.”

Di idea of belt or magazine dual-feed system no really catch on.

As far as I fit see, e be like say e sound better for paper than wetin e be for real life.

And e turn out say pipo just dey prefer to use di belts,” McCollum talk. “So, to get magazine feed be like extra wahala for di gun.

E make am cost more to produce. E dey give you extra openings for dirt to enta and oda wahala wey fit happen and all dat kind things.”

By di 1980s, di North Koreans don develop new Type 82 machine gun, wey be PK-series clone.

Di PK family don dey and still dey one of di most popular light machine gun design for di whole world.

Variants of dat design dey widely used for both sides of di war for Ukraine.

“E be like say plenty Type 73s don move go reserve or militia service, but nobody fit sure,”

Dan Shea and Heebum Hong write for one article for Small Arms Defense Journal for 2013.

“While e fit sometimes dey show for 1970s propaganda and for military parades, from di early 1980s e don dey more and more difficult to see one wey dey use.”

Before now, Type 73 don show outside North Korea small small and na mostly bicos of Iran, wey collect some of di guns during di Iran-Iraq War for di 1980s.

Di guns don later show for di hand of Iranian proxies for Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, and also with militant groups for Africa.

Between 2016 and 2017, Australian and French forces collect plenty Type 73s during maritime interdiction operations for di Arabian Sea area.

Some official and expert sources wey dey around dat time talk say dem be variants or derivatives of di Soviet RPD light machine gun design, wey show how e rare to see dem outside North Korea.

For Russian soldiers, if dem fit get any extra machine guns, especially ones wey use common ammunition, e fit really help dem.

Di war for Ukraine don already show say both sides dey use old and wey suppose don obsolete weapons, including machine guns wey don dey since World War II or before, to boost diir weapons.

If North Korean Type 73s dey enta Russian units or dem dey use am for Russia war against Ukraine, new information about di guns, including how di design dey perform for real combat, fit begin show now.

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