We’re getting a fairly thorough collection of Russian weapon manuals collected in the Vault, and here’s another one that’s a bit less common.
The NSV was the .50 caliber heavy machine gun chosen by the Russian military to replace the aging DShK design. The NSV is significantly lighter and more accurate, and was formally adopted in 1972. It uses a construction more like the PK, with a heavy stamped receiver instead of a milled one. It is a gas piston operated, air cooled design with a quick-change barrel (another improvement over the DShK).
American shooters should note that while the Russian .50s use the same bore diameter as the US .50, the Russian case is longer (12.7 x 109mm, compared to the 12.7 x 99mm BMG cartridge). The NSV was only in service for 19 years when it was replaced with the improved KORD design – in part because the breakup of the Soviet Union put the NSV factory in independent Kazakhstan instead of Russia (oops!).
At any rate, the NSV was a big improvement for its time; a much more modern design than its predecessor. For thos eof you who read Russian (or like looking at the pictures), we have a very thorough (116 pages) technical manual on the NSV for you:
NSV 12.7mm Technical Manual (Russian)
The scans of official gun manuals are very much appreciated. Thanks a lot for making these invaluable sources available to a broad audience.
If I may make a recommendation, it is to create the scans not as JPEG but as TIFF file. JPEG is the right thing for photographs. Text and line drawings are much better suited for TIFF. The gray halos around lines and letters in the recent NSV manual are a tyical result of JPEG.