Interesting photo, ID of gun?

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There is an obituary in today’s New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/europe/faye-schulman-dead.html) of a lady (Faye Schulman) who was a resistance fighter and photographer in WWII. It’s worth reading, but the interesting part for the High Road is the photo of her which I’ll try to include below. It is credited as 1943 in Poland, and she’s sighting (sort of—grip is a bit unusual) a rifle with a drum magazine located very far forward. Or maybe it’s something else and I’m interpreting it poorly. Being the NYT, of course there is no informative caption about the gun...

Does anyone recognize it? I can’t imagine how the action would work with it, but I am no mechanical engineer. It almost looks like a movie prop—I’m sure you didn’t get a lot of time to pose for pictures in 1943 in the woods of Poland so it would be entirely understandable to take some PR shots later and over the course of nearly 80 years provenance gets confused. It is certainly a beautiful picture.

merlin_188392173_dc1376c0-b55c-45fa-9bdb-7378e208730e-superJumbo.jpg
 
I knew it was a Soviet PP something or other but couldn't recall the exact designation. I'm glad there's so much collective knowledge here. That's also a fascinating biography of her and a very good read. Thanks for the link.
 
and she’s sighting (sort of—grip is a bit unusual) a rifle with a drum magazine located very far forward.
The grip is fairly standard. You can't really reach around the drum effectively. If you try to awkwardly hold it by the side the rise and slant is almost impossible to control and to have your hand too far forward is certainly going to earn a burn. Also, given manufacturing tolerances and field-wear to hold the drum on the side or bottom edge ofter results in a radial movement of the magazine that can queer feeding.

The stick mags work well as a fore grip when engaged his up.

There's a fine technique using the sling as well.

Fantastic guns, they are.

Todd.
 
Those drums were the gun's Achilles heel. They were not really interchangeable. You found two or three that worked in your gun, and you guarded them with your life.
 
Those drums were the gun's Achilles heel.
Yep. The Soviets also failed to commonly issue a pouch big enough for spare drums. Spares (from memory) were the stick or coffin mags and went into a sack tied to the belt.

"PapaShah" pretty iconic. (Although I'll admit to looking at that twice to be sure it was not a Suomi since the phot is from Poland.)
 
Action: It was a fairly simple blow back action chambered for the 7.62x25mm Tokarev; later chambered for the 7.63x25mm Mauser and the 9mm Parabellum. Outer metal frame was welded stampings and bolt was essentially cast and machined just enough to slide back and forth . They were typical of the submachineguns of the time. Reasonably reliable and heavy. Fired from open bolt.
 
This One is Iranian and in 9mm It exhibits superb fit and finish, for a subgun. The writing is Farsi. Wish I could read it. Save for a few dings in the stock, it appears to be unfired.
 

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easy ID there PPSH41 is correct suprised all did not know it
 
There is an obituary in today’s New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/europe/faye-schulman-dead.html) of a lady (Faye Schulman) who was a resistance fighter and photographer in WWII. It’s worth reading, but the interesting part for the High Road is the photo of her which I’ll try to include below. It is credited as 1943 in Poland, and she’s sighting (sort of—grip is a bit unusual) a rifle with a drum magazine located very far forward. Or maybe it’s something else and I’m interpreting it poorly. Being the NYT, of course there is no informative caption about the gun...

Does anyone recognize it? I can’t imagine how the action would work with it, but I am no mechanical engineer. It almost looks like a movie prop—I’m sure you didn’t get a lot of time to pose for pictures in 1943 in the woods of Poland so it would be entirely understandable to take some PR shots later and over the course of nearly 80 years provenance gets confused. It is certainly a beautiful picture.

View attachment 1002277
A Jewish woman in Poland in 1943 with a perfectly fitting animal-skin coat and matching hat, and good boots? I'm going with the "PR photo taken years later" theory.
 
A Jewish woman in Poland in 1943 with a perfectly fitting animal-skin coat and matching hat, and good boots? I'm going with the "PR photo taken years later" theory.

Clicking on the links in the story I found:

https://www.jewishpartisans.org/partisans/faye-schulman
includes much of the text the NYT used, also the photos that I couldn't see in the browser that succeeded in opening the NYT link, with notes from Mrs. Schulman. Including the one in the OP. The note does date it 1943 and she is wearing the same coat and hat in another photo, so either that was also taken after the war or if not there must be a very interesting story about it.

and
http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/3306:faye-schulman/
has a video interview with her, with a transcript. Very interesting.
 
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