The feed is not straightforward, as the gun fires the 7.62×54mmR round, and this has to be withdrawn rearwards from the belt before ramming into the breech.

The World War II version of the gun had a smooth outline to the barrel, and the cocking handle was under the receiver, with no dust covers to the feed and ejection ports.

In 1944-1945 the machine gun was improved by Alexander Zaytsev and Mikhail Kalashnikov, with the new version receiving SGM ("M" for modernized) designation.

[5] A coaxially-mounted stockless electric solenoid-fired variant was developed under the designation SGMT (the "T" standing for Tankovy, or "Tank").

[6] The KGK (Korszerűsített Gorjunov-Kucher) general purpose machine gun was based on the Goryunov machine gun modified by a FEG team headed by József Kucher[10] (partner of Pál Király best known for his Kucher Model K1 SMG) and produced in Hungary during the 1960s and 1970s.