One of the first new weapons adapted and used by the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army after the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war was the Type 50, a copy of the Soviet PPSh-41. The story of its manufacture begins at the Japanese occupied Mukden Arsenal. It was briefly occupied by the Sov...

During World War Two, Madsen (DISA) manufactured a licensed copy of the Finnish Suomi (see: https://youtu.be/hjs1uiAIpNQ). When the war ended, they wanted to replace this with a more modern, inexpensive design of their own. The result was the Model 1946 Madsen, a creative clamshell design of stam...

A few of weeks ago I published an article/video detailing the appearance of Swedish Carl Gustaf m/45 submachine guns in Ukraine. One notable feature of the guns was that their configuration appeared to sit somewhere between the m/45A and the m/45B. In this video we examine why!

Be sure to check ...

I came across this prototype (serial number 7) PDW/compact SMG in a collection, and had the opportunity to take it out to try on the range. I don't have any specific data about it, but it was made by Matra Manurhin, which only existed for 5 years, from 1985 until 1990. This was part of the repeat...

The Zagi is one of the more prolific of the Croatian homeland War submachine guns. It was developed with the intention of making substantial numbers, and a lot of capital was put into the PHTO (First Croatian Arms Factory, or Prva Hrvatska Tvornica Oružja) for its manufacture. This included polym...

The Šokac was one of the more prolific Croatian domestic submachine guns of the Homeland War. This particular example is one that was specifically presented to the police chief of the town of Slavonsky Brod (the town where the guns were made). It is a mid-range production example, with the polyme...

The war in Ukraine has seen a plethora of vintage weaponry being used by both sides. Everything from M1910 Maxims to TT pistols. One of the more surprising vintage weapons to turn up fairly regularly is the classic ‘Sweden K’ or Carl Gustaf M/45.

Be sure to check out our accompanying article for...

You've probably heard all the stories about negligent discharges with open bolt SMG's such as STEN's, Sterlings etc. But what is it about the systems that causes this risk, and what impact does this have with operating them? Why is it backwards compared to normal, closed bolt operation rifles suc...

At the beginning of Croatia's Homeland War, a severe need for small arms led to a whole plethora of simple submachine gun designs. Some were made in proper factories with professional tooling, and some were made by a couple blokes in a shed - and the Vila Velebita we are looking at today definite...

In the late 1940s the French developed a new suite of small arms, including a competition to replace the 7.65mm MAS-38 submachine gun with a new 9x19mm SMG. The eventual winner of this program was the MAT-49, which became an iconic part of French Army weaponry in Algeria and elsewhere. The St Eti...

The best of the submachine guns made in Croatia during the Homeland War was the Ero, made by a company called Arma. The Ero is a basically perfect, parts-interchangeable copy of the Israeli Uzi that was developed in 1992 and adopted into Croatian Army service in 1993. The only really distinguisha...

The 9mm Sterling Mk.4 L2A3 SMG has quite unique magazines. People are generally aware that the follower is made from rollers, but there's some other cleverness going on in there too, including massive improvements from the STEN magazine.

0:00 Introduction to Sten and Sterling Magazines
3:46 Sten...

"EROP" was a small company based in Paris, which produced about 18 submachine gun prototypes between 1954 and 1956. These were submitted to French military trials in several different configurations first in 1954 and later in 1956, and none of them were given any further consideration after that....

The Vigneron was Belgium's standard submachine gun during the early years of the Cold War. It was originally adopted as the M1 in 1953, and about 21,300 were made. In 1954, several modifications were made, resulting in the M2 pattern. Many of the original M1s were converted to M2 specification, a...

We quite literally peak behind the curtain in this week's episode to examine why making a semi-automatic firearm (like the Sten) is so much more difficult than one that's purely automatic (like the MP 40).

Join Jonathan as he takes this real-life World of Guns cross-sectional look at one of Brit...

Gevarm was the gun-making subsidiary of Gevelot, a long-standing French ammunition manufacturer. In 1956 they brought a simple new submachine gun to market. It was chambered for 9mm Parabellum, with a simple blowback action. The construction was very basic, a combination of a tube receiver, stamp...

The Zastava M51 is a prototype Yugoslav submachine gun developed before the adoption of the M56. It uses elements of the Beretta M38 (namely the captive recoil spring system) and PPSh-41 (the selector switch and magazine well) along with a collapsing stock reminiscent of the Polish PM63 machine p...

At the end of September it was confirmed that Russian aircrew survival kits will now include PP-2000 submachine guns. Sources suggest that the PP-2000 and PLK pistol will replace the Makarov and Stetchkin APS currently in service.

Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video her...

In this video Matt looks at the history of Australia's attempt to improve the British STEN gun - the AUSTEN. Despite efforts to improve on the austere STEN, the Australian Army quickly discovered their other indigenous design, the Owen Machine Carbine, was superior. Production Note: This video is...

In this episode Matt takes a look at an interesting hybrid Sten gun that takes parts from both the MkII and MkIII. It's origins are uncertain but it seems to have been an interesting project gun. This gun may be related to the T42 Sten prototype, part of the Sten MkIV development program. Check o...

In this episode Matt takes a look at a rarely seen South American submachine gun, the FAMAE PAF. The PAF was FAMAE's first attempt at submachine gun production, they chose an excellent weapon to copy, basing the PAF on the British Sterling Mk4 (L2A3). Check out our website https://armourersbench....

In this episode Matt takes a look at an Australia's last general issue submachine gun, the F1. Taking cues from both the Australian Owen Gun and the British Sterling submachine gun, the F1 is a fascinating but relatively unknown Cold War submachine gun. Check out our website https://armourersbenc...

In this episode we bring you our first live fire and slow motion footage! Matt had the opportunity to fire a British L2A3 Sterling submachine gun and Vic captured some great video. The Sterling was adopted by the British military in 1954 and standardised as the L2A3 in 1956. The gun featured in t...

When we think of Winchester we think of lever actions and timeless John Browning designs, we don’t usually think about submachine guns. In this episode Matt brings us the very first look at Winchester’s Experimental Submachine Guns developed during the mid-1950s. Very little is known or written a...