Gear for Carrying DP27 Pan Magazines

Today we are taking a look at three different pieces of kit developed to carry Degtyarev DP pan magazines. These mags are really inconveniently shaped, and traditional magazine pouches just don’t work for them. Instead, the Soviets initially fielded a stamped steel can that held three pans. This was durable, but had to be carried by hand, and basically limited a solider to carrying 6 pans (just 282 rounds) at the expense of having anything else in hand. An improved World War Two system was the cloth 3-pan carrying bag, which included a shoulder strap.

Today, the Degtyarev remains in use with Ukrainian Territorials, and there is domestic Ukrainian production of DP-specific web gear. Specifically, I have an Akinak 2-pan Multicam pouch to show you (they also make a gunner’s backpack based around a 4-pan storage pouch).