SMG With a Monopod? The Vollmer VMP-1930
Forgotten Weapons
•
12m
In 1925, the German military began a series of secret SMG trials at the Kummersdorf testing grounds. One of the participants was Heinrich Vollmer. He was funded directly by the government for his small arms R&D until 1930, and iteratively developed his design until it went into large-scale production as the Erma EMP. What we are looking at today is the VMP 1930 pattern (a C&R transferrable example). At this stage, the gun had most of its final design elements, including a traditional box magazine, self-contained recoil spring system, and bare barrel. It also had a collapsing monopod in the vertical front grip, which would be later discarded.
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
From the American Revolution: Short L...
The standard weapon of the British Army in the American War of Independence was the “Brown Bess”, and today we are looking at a 1769 Short Land Pattern example of the Brown Bess. This was a smoothbore .75 caliber, 10.2 pound flintlock with a whopping 42 inch barrel (the Long Land Pattern it super...
-
Prototype Silenced Sten Mk4(S) at the...
Yesterday we looked at the mechanics and the history of the Sten Mk4(S), and today we have it out at the range! The very short barrel and its porting reduce the velocity of standard 115gr 9mm ammunition below the speed of sound, and so the gun is very quiet. To my surprise, the complete lack of c...
-
FG-42: Perhaps the Most Impressive WW...
The first production version of the FG42 used a fantastically complex milled receiver and a distinctive sharply swept-back pistol grip. A contract to make 5,000 of them was awarded to Krieghoff in late spring of 1943, but by the fall its replacement was already well into development. The milled r...