PMK-40 Anti-Personnel Mine
in Pictures

 

 

Here we have many detailed color pictures of the Soviet PMK-40 anti-personnel land mine. Almost everything that can be photographed has been. To view a specific part of the weapon simply click on the desired part below.

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The Exterior of the PMK-40

These photographs show both sides of the land mine.  The lid is composed of a very thin Bakelite plastic that has become brittle and cracked over the years.  While the cover is plastic, the body of the mine is actually made of a pressed cardboard treated with a water resistant oil coating.  The fuse plug containing the detonator of the mine is also made of Bakelite.

 

 

Top and Bottom of the Mine

Here you can see the top of the PMK-40 (on the left) and the underside (on the right).  The small size of the mine and its dark, earthy color made it very difficult to detect under field conditions.  Underneath the mine the channel for the detonator can be seen in line with the fuse plug.

 

 

Under the Bakelite lid

This series of photographs show what the next step of disassembly looks like.  First, the cover is gently taken off of the mine.  When the mine was new this cover would have been affixed to the mine body by some form of adhesive.

After the cover is removed a cardboard sheet can be seen.  Under normal circumstances the explosive filler would lie beneath. 

Below illustrates what the underside of the thin Bakelite cover looks like.  Cast into the cover is what appears to be a number "6" or "9".  This possibly indicates factory or lot number.

The small metal lever near the center of the mine is the actuator that releases the trigger when stepped on.  The trigger is under spring tension and once released will puncture the detonator beginning the fire chain that detonates the mine.

 

 

Fuse Well Closeup

Looking now at the fuse well, it is a small cylindrical protrusion on the side of the PMK-40.  It is easily removed by hand as seen in the picture below.  Normally this device would have a detonator attached to the end of it, but in the case of this deactivated sample it is missing.

The final picture at the bottom right shows the relationship between the fuse well and the channel that contains the detonator and the spring loaded striker.

 

 

The Mine Interior

Internally the PMK-40 is a very simple mine.  On either side of the detonator channel is the explosive filler.  In the channel directly opposite the fuse plug is the spring loaded actuation lever.  When depressed it releases the striker which then activates the fuse, causing it to explode.  This primary explosion is what actually detonates the filler in a secondary explosion.