Talk:DShK heavy machine gun

Why exactly are there so many "mockups" of this gun rather than the real thing? I mean, I understand if the filmmakers were doing a period piece which would call for the gun, but even in things that aren't set in Cold War Russia, you see M2HBs mocked up to look like DshKs. Can anyone explain?

Ask Moviepropmaster2008. He is a Armourer. He knows better than all of us.-Oliveira 15:07, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

- Actual AKs/AKMs weren't available in the U.S. for a long time due to the eastern bloc weapons ban during the Cold War, I imagine the DShK was probably subject to the same ban. The fact that they're also foriegn heavy machine guns (or simply foreign heavy weapons period) probably didn't help matters. However, I'd like to know for sure what the deal is, for the record. StanTheMan 04:38, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, the U.S. Govt had this stupid ban on ALL Soviet Bloc weapons (except for those which had special trade agreements, which is why we got Yugo, Chinese and Egyptian guns). But it was illegal to import or sell those weapons for the most part. But after the wall came down, we had all these DShK barrels and these M2HBs. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that you can fake a DShK pretty good with just the barrel. DShK guns are now available, but only slowly did armories start to get them. For one, they don't rent out that much and they're REALLY EXPENSIVE. Rentability and marketability is a major factor in what guns get purchased by an Armory/Manufacturer. We could run out any buy every obscure gun out there on the market, but it doesn't add up "business sense" wise....." MoviePropMaster2008 04:48, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

- Well, that's where the 'foreign heavy weapon' thing comes in - I sorta figured they weren't cheap, and of course the modification of a DShK barrel to an M2 would be cheaper, and probably pretty easy, given the caliber width is exactly the same anyway. Though the M60 mockups sound awfully strange but I guess they work too. Anyway, still, good to know the details, thanks MPM. StanTheMan 04:56, 14 October 2010 (UTC)