So I just got my RB Models 12.7mm DshK aftermarket parts in the mail, and they’re giving me some trouble.
The barrels seem too long, and they also don’t align correctly using the Tamiya DshK body.
To make matters stranger, the gun body used in promotional pictures looks completely different from the Tamiya one, and it looks like it’s been cut clean off at the front:
So…can anyone help me figure out what’s up? I’d like to have a DshK for the top of my JS-3. Are there even any photos of a non-DshK-ed JS-3?
This isn’t my forte, but I’m going to guess that part of the problem might be that the RB Models parts are for a DShK model 1946. The Tamiya JS-3, assuming it depicts a early Sept. 1945 model, should still be sporting a DShK model 1938. Obviously the clamps holding the bolt carrier assembly to the barrel should line-up. I don’t know what’s going on with the receiver, but the photo you posted doesn’t look right.
Look at side-by-side comparison reviews of any after-market barrels on sites like PMMS and you will see a wide discrepancy in barrel lengths, fittings, muzzle brakes, etc.
He says, among other things, that: “Although this is supposed to represent the later DShKM, I gather that the main difference is the original 1938 model had a rotary feed mechanism, whereas the 1946 upgrade changed this to a pawl feed system. In other words, the parts as supplied by RB model should be suitable for WWII guns. I have, however, seen different muzzle brakes on what I think are all DShKs, but the parts as supplied in this set match the pictures I have for use on IS-2s in Berlin and various locations in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war” (italics added for emphasis).
Like I said, I’m out of my league here. If this guy says it will work for earlier versions, so be it. But I know from shopping for other barrels, there can be a lot of unexplained variations between different manufacturers for the same barrel.
