Haven't seen this thread yet hope to have goodd discussions, and keep in mind I don't know everything im am only 13.
I think it is the DP light machene gun or the PPSH-41 smb they each had good mobility for urban fighting and had good ammo capacity and accuracy.
Mosin Nagant, the most common and widely used by Red Army infantry as some 35,000,000 were produced till '50. PPSh 41/41s probably the next handy and lovable gun used by their infantrymen. Some 6 million were produced. Its closest German rival was MP 40/40s, I believe! Meanwhile one cheap but handy weapon they introduced, ie., SVT 40, but unable to suppressed the popularity of Mosin N.
The mosin nagate rifle was very good and created the bulk of the soviet infantry arsenal but it was bolt action and only had a five round magazine. But now that you mention it, it does seem much more important.
I heard that the SVT 40 was hated by a lot of soviet soldiers, it had a very awkward magazine fitting, and wasn't reliable enough to fight the German army (against men like that you cant afford to have a stoppage), I'd say their best small arm was the PPSh-41, it had an outstanding fire rate and was pretty accurate at close range (which most infantry battles were). Its use of a muzzle jacket reduced upwards recoil drastically (Something which the MP-40 could have really done with.) The downsides were that it was prone to accidental firing if it was dropped or took a hard knock and that if you tried to use the Drum magazine you would note that, although it is fitted for 71 rounds, after 65 jamming becomes a nightmare, as does reloading.
What is the opinion of experts on the Russian heavy machinegun, the one with the self-contained shield?
Since the heavy Maxim with shield, had been realising as an outclassed heavy weapon, what I think they developed a lighter one on wheel mounted gas operated belt fed 7.62mm system Goryunov or SG 43. I heard that this handy auto mg with optional shield remained pretty good to refresh morality of the Red Army there in European theatre, since its muzzle velocity and effective range were pretty good, comparing to M1919.
Home page for Mosin Nagant, the development with its variations .. http://www.mosinnagant.net/USSR/Russian-M44-Carbine.asp
http://www.scribd.com/doc/101755278/Small-Arms-Profile-No-12-Russian-Submachine-Guns http://www.scribd.com/search-documents?query=small arms profile
The Mosin Nagant has always been my favorite. I haven't got to fire it yet, but it was among the best choices when it came to sniping.
Their tanks were superior to the Germans, mainly because they were designed to handle the frigid temps in Russia. Lack of attention to the weather really exacted a heavy toll on the German army.
I would have to say the PPSh-41 ranks very high when compared with submachine guns of that era. It was cheap to mass produce, so the Soviets built them in gigantic quantities. It fired a potent round (7.62x25mm Tokarev) and had an ample ammunition supply (35-round "stick" magazine or 71-round drum). The Axis forces captured a huge number of them and pressed them into service. Some were left in the original chambering, while others were converted to 9x19mm Parabellum.
Well, I want to mention that when the pressure increased at the production line to produce more and more Pistolej Pulemjot Shpagina 1941 for Red Army, they used to cut the barrels into two from the available reserved Mosin Nagant ( 20" - 28" ) barrels and made ready PPSh barrels (10.59" / 269 mm ) stock piles.
The raw courage of the Russian soldier was in my mind their best weapon. Living off virtually nothing for rations and no time away from the front was more than any western army would have endured for the extended periods of time the Russians did. Of course it is no secrete that it takes a very brave man to be a coward in the Red Army these men and yes women were almost superhuman in the level of hardships they had to endure. They took it on the chin got knocked down and got up swinging. Like them or hate them the facts do not lie, these men and women destroyed the bulk of the German army and crushed the Nazi beast in their own house, Berlin.
The PPSh-41 and PPS-43 submachine-guns were reliable weapons produced in huge quantities. The DP-28 wasn't a bad light machine-gun (LMG). The Mosins were, frankly, antiques. The SVT-40, while not as good as other contemporaries such as the M1 Garand, was not a bad semi-automatic rifle considering. The Germans captured large quantities of them and pressed them into service.
