Vasily Degtyaryov
Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov was born on January 2, 1880 and died on January 16, 1949. He was born in Tula, Russia.
History
After Degtyaryov left school at 11 years old he went to work for the Tula Arms Plant as a spring testers and machine operator. After the start of WWI, Degtyaryov was drafted into the Army as an engineer and stationed at the Sestorets Arms Factory, where he was trained by Vladimir Fedorov. His first design was a prototype for an automatic rifle which was submitted to military trails in 1916, where it was ultimately rejected. After WWI Degtyaryov moved to the Oranienbaum proving grounds where he oversaw experimental weapons testing.
In 1924 he earned moved to Kovrov, where he worked at the newly established plant. While at Kovrov he worked with Fedorov working on new machine gun and submachine gun designs, two of which were the DP-28 light machine gun and the PPD submachine gun. Both rifles were accepted into military service and used in WWII. After Fedorov retired, Degtyaryov became the Chief of Design and was awarded the title of Major General of Engineers.
Awards
- Hero for Socialist Labor
- Stalin State Prize
Notable Designs
- Model 1929
- Model 1931
- PPD-34
- PPD-38
- PPD-40
- PTRD
- Fedorov-Degtyaryov
- DP-28
- DS-39
- RP-46
- RPD
- DK
- DShK
