[ RPD at the Range ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and yesterday we took a look at this Chinese RPD on the table.
Took it apart, talked about some of its development and history.
Today we are out at the range, courtesy of Woody's Weapons and Sienna Armoury,
and we're going to do some shooting with it.
I've actually been wanting to do some shooting with an RPD for quite some time,
because it just seems like a really neat gun:
light weight, intermediate cartridge, it should be very pleasant to shoot.
Now the drum here is of course not really a drum magazine,
this is just a drum-shaped belt holding box.
I want to get my starter tab accessible there, like that,
and then we're going to clamp this onto the belt holding bracket here.
Lock it in place.
Then pull our belt out,
feed our starter tab through.
And ...
Now we're good to go if the wind cooperates.
Alright, we'll go with that, here we go.
Whoo! That is a really high rate of fire.
And it's kicking brass sort of backwards, and some of it's hitting my arm.
A little unpleasant, but not as unpleasant as being downrange.
Actually, it probably would not happen
if I were shooting this the way I'm supposed to shoot it, right handed.
Wow!
So I knew these had a realistic rate of fire a little higher
than their reported on-paper rate of fire.
And they really do. This thing is fast.
Not MG 42 fast, but faster than I was anticipating.
Alright, so the felt recoil is not that bad, but there is a lot of it.
And the gun vibrates around quite a bit.
And I have a difficult time keeping a sight picture
while actually shooting in an extended burst.
... Not because the gun's climbing, just because the whole gun is vibrating
including the stock vibrating under my face.
You could probably get used to it pretty well,
but that's my initial impression.
Oh, also keep in mind that these belts are set up in 25 or 50 round increments.
So you never have more than 49 links worth of belt sticking out from the end of the gun.
Once you get to the end of the first belt it just disintegrates,
and you have another airplane come over.
I can occasionally pull off singles, for whatever the purpose of that would be.
The more I shoot this, the more I think I like it.
Alright, now this brings me to an important point, having just dumped the remains of the belt.
This gun was specifically not designed for dumping belts.
This gun was designed for firing in short controlled bursts.
And the idea was your barrel has about 300 rounds worth of heat capacity
in short controlled bursts.
300 rounds is the official loadout of a gunner with an RPD.
So in theory you don't need a quick-change barrel, because you're not going to shoot
enough fast enough, if you're sticking to doctrine, to overheat the barrel.
And by not having a quick-change barrel they are able to keep the gun lighter,
the mechanism simpler, it's less expensive to manufacture.
There's a whole lot of good reasons to not have a quick-change barrel.
However, those only really hold up if you obey the intended fire discipline standard for the gun.
Alright, I know you guys want to see me shoot this offhand,
and I'm a little nervous about this thing offhand because of that high rate of fire,
but we will give it a try.
The handguard is a little undersized on these.
They weren't really designed for offhand fire,
and I think the size of the handguard shows that, but it should be doable.
The drum also kind of gets in the way of a good hold with the front hand.
That's actually not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
Again, the intermediate cartridge, even though we've got a high rate of fire,
there's not that much recoil, it's not that hard to control.
I can certainly ... absolutely see why the SEALs liked these things in Vietnam
with the barrels chopped down, and the bipods thrown away,
and using them as hip firing, high rate of fire, high capacity.
That would be a potent piece of kit.
Alright, I'm going to put it down now. ...
If I shoot too much more the handguard is going to get super hot.
Alright, you really can't do the ... M60 whop the top cover thing,
because it's got a spring latch that doesn't quite work that way.
Anyway, we're going to go back to one last bit of shooting prone.
This is fun.
I would not call this a good like introductory beginner machine gun.
It is a violent gun.
... Part of me thinks that this one is over gassed.
It is however set to gas setting number 1, which is the smallest one.
So in theory we could crank the rate of fire up, if we wanted to, by going to a larger gas port.
We're not going to do that.
Like it's a fun gun, but it's one that requires your attention and concentration to properly use.
And the safety to be off.
Well, once again, a big thanks to Woody's Weapons and Sienna Armoury
for giving me access to this post-sample registered RPD here in the US.
It's been a good time shooting, hopefully you guys enjoyed watching.
Thanks.
Whoo!