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Hungarian Weapons - Kucher Machine Guns |
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Designed by József Kucher, Institute of Military Technology, Budapest Quantity: Unknown, manufactured by Danuvia SzerszámGépgyár, Budapest Operation: delayed blowback Caliber: 7.62x54r Weight 12kg [26 lbs], 28kg [62 lbs] with mount Effective distance 1000 meters Tangent rear sight Muzzle velocity 862 m/sec 800 rpm firing rate |
The Defense Minister ordered József Kucher to design this machine gun in 1949. The gun chambered the Soviet 7.62x54R cartridge. Blowback operated, fixed barrel machine gun, barrel with cooling fins. The gas port was located close to the chamber to reduce the size of moving parts. The gas piston rod was integrated with the bolt carrier, which also performed cartridge feeding. The bolt carrier kept the bolt in a locked position until the bullet exited the barrel. After bolt opening and shell ejecting, the bolt was moved forward loading the next cartridge by spring force.
The available heavy mount allowed this gun to be used for anti-aircraft purpose. It was recommended to replace the barrel after every 600 rounds of continuous firing to avoid barrel overheating. A flash hider was mounted at the muzzle end. Proper firing of the gun was a 2-man operation. The gun was equipped with a bipod, a flip-up carrying handle, a pistol grip and a flip-up shoulder-rest butt plate.
The weapon went through 5 prototypes before Kucher was satisfied with the results. The gun performed successfully at the military trials on 11/20/52.
It was adopted by the Defense Ministry, and manufacturing was approved.
An unknown quantity of K1's were manufactured. It appears that due to political pressures and plain ignorance, the far inferior Soviet
Degtyarev DP Machine Guns were much more widely produced and used.