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Caliber: 12,7x108 mm
Weight: 25 kg (gun body) plus 16 kg (6T7 tripod) or 7 kg (6T19 lightweight mount with
bipod)
Length: 1980 mm
Length of barrel: no data
Feeding: belt 50 rounds
Rate of fire: 650750 rounds/min
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 left some military factories located outside Russia;
worse still, some of these factories were the primary makers of certain weapon types,
such as the 12.7mm NSV and NSVT heavy machine guns. The “Metallist” factory that
made these guns for the Soviet army remained in the nowindependent Kazakhstan, and
it kept all master drawings and other manufacturing documentation for this important
weapon. It was therefore decided to take the opportunity to develop an improved HMG
for use both by infantry and on vehicles (mostly tanks), and this task was handed over to
the designers of the Degtyarov plant (ZID, the former Degtyarov machine gun factory ) in
the city of Kovrov.
The new 12.7mm weapon was to retain same mounting interfaces as NSV, while
providing better longrange accuracy. The ZID team did not have to start from the ground
up – actually, the factory’s design team had been working on an improved 12.7mm HMG
since 1987 but the fall of the USSR delayed its development. The new Russian Army
requirement allowed them to shake the dust from their older design drawings, and while
development was rather slow (because of the constant lack of funding), the finalized gun
was adopted by the Russian Army in 1997 and put into mass production in 2001. Known
as “KORD” (Konstruktsija ORuzheinikovDegtyarovtsev – design of Degtyarov plant
team), or under the official index 6P50, this weapon is now issued to infantry troops and
is mounted on most modern Russian tanks, such as the T80U and T90. Because it
uses the same firing and mounting interface, KORD can be also retrofitted to older tanks
(i.e. T64 and T72), to replace wornout NSVT weapons. One unusual feature of the
KORD is its relatively low recoil, which allows it to be used not only from the same
lightweight tripod or AA mounts as the NSV, but also from a proprietary "bipod" mount
6T19, creating what could be called a lightweight heavy MG. In this configuration the
KORD weighs ‘only’ 31kg, thus allowing it to be carried on the battlefield by a single
soldier, although obviously for short distances only. This makes the KORD very useful
during ‘limited warfare’ operations in urban and forest environments, as the HMG team
can change positions almost as fast as the infantry it supports, and is able to fire from
almost anywhere, including the high stories of urban buildings (through the windows) or
even from the rooftops.
The Kord heavy machine gun is a gas operated, air cooled, belt feed, automatic only,
weapon. It uses a more or less conventional long stroke gas piston, located below the
barrel which is locked using a rotary bolt with multiple lugs. The barrel is quick
detachable and is fitted with highly effective muzzle brake. There are two basic patterns
of muzzle brakes – early cylindrical one and current “flat” muzzle brake / flash hider
The belt feed uses the same steel, nondisintegrating belts as the NSV. The standard
feed direction is from the right, but the Kord can be set up to feed from the left if required.
Spent cases are ejected forward through a short tube pinned to the right side of the
receiver.
Like the NSV, the Kord has no firing controls on the gun body, other than a firing lever
and mechanical safety. Actual fire controls and charging mechanisms, be that a manual
trigger with pistol grip and manual charging handle, or an electric solenoid trigger and
pneumatic or electrical charging system, are installed on the mount. The Kord retains the
same mounting interface as the NSV, so it is used from the same infantry tripods 6T7,
AA mounts 6U6 or tank mountings. Because of reduced recoil (compared with the NSV
or other 12.7mm HMGs, thanks to the effective muzzle brake and buffers) the Kord is
equipped with one rather unique mounting 6T19, which consists of a standard gun cradle
of the NSV tripod (with pistol grip, charging mechanism and shoulder stock), with
attached bipod legs.
The Kord has iron sights as standard (hooded front post and tangent rear), plus a special
rail on the left side of receiver, which can accept mountings for variety of telescopic or
infrared sights.