NOTE: Some films and television series will often use a Browning M2HB or an M60D mocked up to resemble the DShK. Please be sure that the weapon is a genuine DShK and not another weapon mocked up as one.
The DShK (Russian: ДШК, Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun introduced in 1938. First seeing combat during the Winter War and World War II, it was primarily used mounted on vehicles as an anti-aircraft weapon. In 1946, the DShKM was introduced, which proved to be more reliable and easier to produce than the original model. The DShKM is the most widely-produced model of the machine gun, with over one million produced until Soviet production ceased in 1980. License-produced models were also made in Pakistan, Iran, Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Since World War II, the DShK has seen action in numerous conflicts, including the Korean War, First Indochina War, Vietnam War, Six Day War, Iran–Iraq War, The Troubles, Gulf War, Yugoslav Wars, Iraq War, Chechen Wars, Syrian Civil War, and Russo-Ukrainian War.
While not longer produced in Russia, the DShK remains widely used in Russian service, although it is meant to be phased out by its successors, the NSV and Kord. It, along with its contemporary and inspiration the Browning M2, are the only .50 caliber machine guns designed prior to World War II that remain in service to this day.
The DShK heavy machine gun and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors: