Until now, the indisputable advantages of domestic small arms were the following: simplicity, reliability and low price. In terms of its combat characteristics, it did not lag behind foreign competitors, but did not have any advantages over them, and even lost in such positions as accuracy and accuracy of the battle. All this was the result of a fundamentally different approach to the design of weapons.
Western weapons schools, as a rule, first create a new design with the given characteristics, and only after they try to reduce the cost and simplify it, and even this happens only under pressure from the customer. Domestic masters created barrels for almost the entire history in conditions of a lack of funds, materials or the necessary equipment, which affected the design of weapons, and it always had no equal in price-effectiveness ratio.
The single machine gun "Pecheneg" is an attempt to achieve excellent combat qualities while maintaining high reliability and simplicity of design. The creation of the machine gun was preceded by a deep analysis of the factors affecting the characteristics of weapons, carried out at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Engineering. In the course of the study, it was revealed that the accuracy of shooting strongly depends on the natural vibrations of the barrel and its thermal properties. Moreover, the uneven heating of the barrel causes not only an increase in its own vibrations, but also deformation, which leads to a significant decrease in the accuracy of fire and reduces the resource of weapons. In addition, even when firing fifty rounds of ammunition, hot air begins to rise above the barrel, which distorts the outline of the target and prevents accurate aiming.
It was concluded that the elimination of these shortcomings can greatly increase the accuracy of the fire, improve the aiming conditions and extend its life, while there is no need to change the well-established PC automation.
As a result, measures to create a single machine gun came down to the development of a new barrel group under the Kalashnikov machine gun. And its result was “Pecheneg” - a machine gun that almost doubles the accuracy of fire of a PC, while it does not require replacing the barrel and allows intense fire for a long time without loss of accuracy. According to the developers, the Pecheneg machine gun is able to shoot 1,000 rounds in a single burst, while maintaining the initial accuracy and the declared barrel life.
Such results were achieved through the use of a new barrel (with specially designed finning) and an original air cooling system. Under the influence of low pressure that occurs in front of the barrel of a firing machine gun, traction is created - the air flow passing under the barrel cover and cooling it. In addition, the casing and the handle for carrying the machine gun mounted on it remove warm air from the aiming line, thereby providing good visibility to the arrow. Since the machine gun "Pecheneg" does not require replacing the barrel, the designers moved its bipod under the muzzle, which made the shooting more stable and more accurate.
The Pecheneg machine gun was tested by combat in the Caucasian conflicts and received positive feedback. However, some shortcomings were revealed that the gunsmiths tried to eliminate in the new version of their offspring - "Pecheneg-2." The disadvantages of the development included a strong muzzle flame, unmasking the firing position, an inconvenient carrying handle located in front of the center of gravity, and the inability to install a machine gun on some types of armored vehicles.
Despite these shortcomings, which should be eliminated in the new version of the Pecheneg, this weapon is the most advanced single machine gun in Russia and one of the best in the world. The machine gun retained the merits of its predecessor, the PC, while it outperformed infantry machine guns of foreign manufacturers in terms of fire efficiency. Thanks to the Russian weapons school, Russian machine guns are still among the best.