Original Item: Only One Available. This is a magnificent Soviet RPD display light machine gun built from excellent genuine issue parts and reassembled on a beautiful non-firing BATF compliant newly made solid steel non-firing dummy receiver. As the receiver is completely inert, that makes this 100% legal to own without a license of any kind. Every part on this display gun is original manufacture other than the receiver.

While the RPD began production in 1944 this example is almost most likely a post WWII RPD Soviet Machine gun. It is marked with 11 in an oval on the top plate, which indicates that it’s a Czechoslovakian refurbishment. The marking is very prominent, as are the rest of the markings on the top cover. They can be read as:

(11)
1959
HZ 0806

Included with the display gun are an original Belt drum which locks onto a bracket below the feed tray, and a strip of links for ammunition (where permitted). No Dummy Rounds or Shell Casings Included.

Offered in very good condition complete with Soviet markings. Ready to display!

The RPD (Russian: ручной пулемёт Дегтярёва Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova, English: Degtyaryov hand-held machine gun) is a 7.62mm light machine gun developed in the Soviet Union by Vasily Degtyaryov for the 7.62×39mm M43 intermediate cartridge. It was created as a replacement for the DP machine gun chambered for the 7.62×54mmR round. It is a precursor of most squad automatic weapons. It was succeeded in Soviet service by the RPK.

Work on the weapon commenced in 1943. Three prominent Soviet engineers were asked to submit their own designs: Vasily Degtyaryov, Sergei Simonov and Alexei Sudayev. Among the completed prototypes prepared for evaluation, the Degtyaryov design proved superior and was accepted into service with the Soviet armed forces as the 7.62 mm Ручной Пулемёт Дегтярёва, PПД (RPD, Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova or "Degtyaryov light machine gun") model 1944. Although the RPD was ready for mass production during the final stages of World War II, large scale delivery of the weapon did not begin until 1953. During the Vietnam War, the RPD served the Viet Cong as their standard light machine gun.

After the introduction of the Kalashnikov-pattern support weapons, such as the RPK and PK machine guns in the 1960s, the RPD was withdrawn from most first-tier units of the former Warsaw Pact. However, the RPD remains in active service in many African and Asian nations. Apart from the former Soviet Union, the weapon was manufactured in China (as the Type 56 LMG), Egypt, North Korea (Type 62) and, since 1956, Poland.