Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/693549
When the barrel gets hot, one should change it, which is quite easy – unless the gun is glow- ing-hot or at it last legs, shot to pieces over the years. The hardest part – and one that is the strangest to the guys used to ergonom- ic Western guns – is to slide this damnably small barrel latch. But you can do that even with a regular glove, and not risking burning your hand. Then it's easy – just grab the barrel handle and give it a good shove forward out of receiver. Interesting point: of the two barrels, serialized to the gun, each one had a different muzzle device – perhaps to help recognize the assistant gunner which is which at night by touch. The sights are easy to use and clear. The tan- gent rear sight (sitting BACKWARDS on feed cover) has settings up to 1500 meters, which seems a bit over the top for the open sights. Anyway, they are totally adequate and allow precision fire, which we proved having no diffi- culty in hitting a deer target (quit that snickering – that's what we found at the firing range) with single shots and short bursts (see photos). The gun was battle-zeroed for 300 m so that's why all the hits are high. If we are able to shoot PKM standing, we may add walking with it. Shooting a machine gun on the move is a bit more complicated than with the rifle, and takes some training, but it is worth a while. Of course it takes brawns to heave it. The PKM is light for a Gimpy at 7.5 kgs empty, but with a loaded 100-rd belt in a clip-on box, it's rather 9+ kgs (20 lbs) – still light, but necessitates some previous mus- cle-building to properly use and control. You really need to exercise your support hand, which has to carry most of the weight – and then you have to walk with it... Anything for fun! But still, it won't do for IPSC – we have tried that as well. Belt box exchange needs training. It sure is doable without it, but it would be slow and awkward. To reload one has to hit the lugs with the catch (blindly – the lugs are on the bottom of the gun, and you need to keep your eyes on the target), then extract the belt, put it into the feeder, put the first round rim into the T-slot. The box itself is a bit awkward, big and made out of sheet-metal, protruding down- wards and to the sides, gets in a way in every stance but the prone. Non-disintegrating belt provides a challenge on its own. At the begin- ning all is just hanky-dory – but after expend- ing half a belt, the empty half just hangs there from the left side of the gun, ready to entangle your feet. It helps if you can lay your hands on in action