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russia was one of the earliest countries to be equipped with the maxim machine gun. at the end of the 19th century, it conducted a large number of tests and tried rare calibers such as 11.43 mm and 10.67 mm. later, it chose the 7.62 mm caliber. after continuous modification and optimization, it eventually developed into the m1910 heavy machine gun, which had a profound impact on both the russian and soviet armies. an interesting variant of this machine gun is the zpu m4 anti-aircraft machine gun.

zpu m4 is an air defense equipment developed by the soviet union in the 1920s. at that time, the air force had grown into a new branch of the military and demonstrated strong deterrence. anti-aircraft machine guns and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were very popular at the time. after all, the aircraft technology was not very strong at the time, and anti-aircraft machine guns could meet most of the combat needs.

in 1928, the general artillery administration instructed the tula arms factory to develop 2-, 3- and 4-barrel anti-aircraft machine guns based on the m1910 machine gun. the 4-barrel version is the zpu m4, which is also relatively well-known.

the reason for using the old multi-mounted machine gun was that the m1910 machine gun itself was highly reliable and its ballistic characteristics met the air defense requirements at the time, which directly saved the development process of the machine gun. the multi-mounted structure was just to simply and crudely increase the firepower density. yes, it was that simple.

the anti-aircraft machine gun has a sturdy bracket, which can be installed on a car or ship deck, or directly on the flat ground. there is a shoulder support structure at the rear of the machine gun, which the shooter uses to support his shoulder to control the movement direction of the machine gun and shoot.

four machine guns were installed side by side, and could be moved together in elevation or horizontal direction. there was no limit on horizontal rotation, and the elevation angle was between -10° and 85°. an ammunition box was installed under each machine gun. initially, each ammunition box contained 250 rounds of ammunition, and later it was increased to 500 or even 1,000 rounds. for a single machine gun with a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute, the amount of ammunition was very sufficient.

the machine gun retains the water-cooling sleeve, and the cooling water circulates through pipes with the water tank below. the cooling water is replenished by a manual pump. each machine gun contains approximately 4 liters of cooling water.

the machine gun uses a circular sight and can attack targets at a maximum altitude of 1,400 meters. it poses a greater threat to low-altitude targets with a speed below 500 kilometers per hour. the flames sprayed by the four machine guns, let alone hitting the target, the dense barrage can scare away many rookie pilots.

each zpu m4 anti-aircraft machine gun requires three crew members to operate, including one shooter, and the other two are responsible for replenishing ammunition or taking over from the injured shooter.

in the 1930s, the soviet union upgraded the zpu m4 machine gun, optimizing the aiming equipment. some articles mentioned the installation of a 2x optical sight and a limiter, but old photos basically show circular sights.

the originally smooth cylindrical water-cooling sleeve has added longitudinal grooves to strengthen the structure, and the internal cooling water has also been replaced. the machine gun originally used ordinary water for cooling, but in winter, the water freezes and expands, which may burst the water-cooling sleeve. after shooting and heating up, the water will either leak out or evaporate quickly and produce water vapor. the new coolant basically uses half water and half glycerin, and 0.1% sodium hydroxide is added. it is said that this antifreeze coolant will not freeze at minus 50°.

when world war ii broke out, the soviet army was equipped with a lot of zpu m4 anti-aircraft machine guns. these machine guns played a big role after the outbreak of the great patriotic war. in the famous battle of brest fortress, the soviet anti-aircraft battalion fired machine guns at enemy infantry. the dense firepower made it difficult for the german infantry to move. later, the german army was able to advance after the machine guns were destroyed by aerial bombs.

at least in the early stage of the great patriotic war, the zpu m4 machine gun was still performing its duties most of the time, but it could no longer cope with aircraft with better performance after the spring of 1943. the production of the zpu m4 continued until 1945. the main reason for its persistence was that this anti-aircraft machine gun proved to be a very effective anti-infantry weapon. therefore, after 1943, it was used as a heavy machine gun on the battlefield most of the time.

the finnish army also seized some zpu m4s during the fighting. it is not known whether it was due to the need for lightweighting or the inability to provide coolant like the soviet army, but the finns drilled holes in the sleeve to turn it into an air-cooled machine gun. this weight change obviously had little effect on the bulky machine gun, but instead reduced the sustainability of firepower.

after world war ii, the zpu m4 was retired from soviet equipment and replaced by new anti-aircraft machine guns. some machine guns were transported to other countries for use. during the vietnam war, the zpu m4 was also used to fight helicopters.