Shortly after introducing the MP5 submachine gun, Heckler & Koch added an integrally suppressed model to its line at the request of special operations forces. It was called the MP5SD, for “schalldampfer”, or suppressed. In order to minimize noise, the barrel was drilled with holes immediately in ...

The MP-18,I was most likely the first true submachine gun to see combat use, issued in the final months of World War One to German Sturmtruppen. These guns were originally fitted with 32-round drum magazines form the Artillery Luger, but they were almost all quickly changed to standard System Sch...

Developed by Heinrich Vollmer in the 1920s, this quite distinctive submachine guns was marketed by the Erma company starting in 1932 and sold quite well internationally. This particular example was used by the German police and is chambered for 9x19mm. Many of these guns were also sold to Spain w...

The MP-34 was made by Steyr-Solothurn in four different calibers - 9x19 for the Germany army, 9x25 for the Austrian army, 9x23 for the Austrian police, and .45 ACP for the export market. This is one of the .45 caliber examples, of which only about 500 were made, all for South American countries (...

Having taken a close look at this original Erma EMP submachine gun yesterday, we are out at the range with it today. Like several of the interwar SMGs, the Erma was designed with a magazine well long enough to accommodate 9mm Steyr (9x23mm) ammunition, and it was offered in several different cali...

Every year, the Rio Salado Sportsman's Club host's the Arizona PCC (Pistol-Caliber Carbine) Championships. I signed up initially planning to use my Calico carbine, but my travel schedule kept me from getting the gun in shape to use in time. Instead, I polled my Patrons to choose a replacement, an...

Today we are out at the range with the .45 ACP Steyr-Solothurn MP-34. I was curious to see how this submachine gun, much more commonly found in 9mm, would handle with the big .45 caliber cartridge. The answer? Quite nicely! It has a slightly lower rate of fire than the same gun chambered for 9x23...

While the MP5SD is made with a barrel ported right at the chamber to reduce bullet velocity, I am curious to see if it will actually work. Can I tell the difference between 115gr supersonic ammunition and 158gr subsonic? Let's find out...

In the mid 1950s, the Winchester company designed a compact 9mm submachine gun for military use. It was internally called the. "NATO Burp Gun", and according to Winchester historian Herbert House, was developed in part (or with the assistance of) Melvin Johnson. The design was a simple tubular re...

My recent video proposing a particular set of definitions for three generations of submachine gun design generated a lot of comments about the H&K MP-7 and FN P90. I focused largely on the first and second generation guns in that video - as they were the bulk of what I had available to use as exa...

A little while back I had a chance to take an Austen MkII out to the range. There were only a couple hundred of these ever made, at the end of World War Two in Australia. The Mk I Austen was essentially a Sten made with some die-cast components, as this was a specialty of the Australian firm cont...

The Orita SMG was designed by a Romanian Army Captian Marin Orita in 1941, and went into service in 1943. It was used primarily in Southern Europe in late WW2 with Romanian forces. It was a wood-stocked, simple blowback, 9x19mm weapon. As originally designed, the Model 1941 Orita was not drop-saf...

The Pleter M91 is a simple design, but a high-quality one that was manufactured by a proper factory production line. The company making it was planning on (hoping for?) large-scale production, and they invested to proper polymer molds and other tools to make the gun. A total of about 4500 were ma...

Today we have the SIG MKPS out at the range – and WOW! I did not anticipate just how fast-firing of a submachine gun this is. Calculating from the high speed footage, it is running at 1350 rpm – and yet it’s still very controllable. It’s a beautiful looking gun, a beautifully made gun, and a real...

Yesterday we looked at the development and mechanics of the UC-9 folding sneaky submachine gun. Today we are out at the range with it – how does this thing actually handle? Well, actually better than I expected. The laser is a pretty terrible main sighting system, but the gun itself shoots smooth...

The UC-9 is a really interesting example of the market distortion caused by the 1986 Hughes Amendment. This is essentially an Uzi converted into a form factor than doesn’t look like a gun when folded up. It was designed (independent of the ARES FMG, incidentally) by one Utah Connor in the early 1...

Since I have the rather unusual opportunity to examine both the early Swedish m/45 and the improved m/45B at the same time, I figured this would be a good opportunity for a video. There were three substantial changes made to the m/45 when it was improved:

- Barrel proud holes made taller to m...

Yesterday we looked at the development of the Skorpion PDW/SMG in 9x19mm Parabellum both in the 1960s and then when it was revisited in the 1990s at CZ. Today I have the chance to take one of the 1990s Skorpion 9×19 models out the the range for some firing. I was expecting it to be a fairly viole...

Immediately upon the liberation of France in 1944, the French military began a process of developing a whole new suite of small arms. As it applied to SMGs, the desire was for a design in 9mm Parabellum (no more 7.65mm French Long), with an emphasis on something light, handy, and foldable. All th...

One interesting specialized version of the Steyr MPi-81 is this model, built for the Steyr/Saurer 4K 7FA armored personnel carrier. The vehicle could carry 8 infantrymen and their compartment had four firing ports fitted with MPi-81 SMGs. The changes required from the standard MPi-81 pattern were...

I expected the MPi-69 to be a rather difficult gun to shoot well, with its very simple construction and wire stock, but I was pleasantly surprised on the range. The rate of fire is quite low, and it was easy to hold on target. Furthermore, the intent of the cocking handle locking piece became cle...

During World War Two, both German and Russian soldiers often thought that the other side's weapons were better than their own. In particular, both sides often preferred their opponents' SMGs. In late 1941, a group of German officers formally requested that Germany simply copy and produce the PPSh...

The saga of how the original Stemple 76/45 became the Stemple Takedown Gun is a fantastic story of engineering design choices.

Essentially, John Stemple began by building a rather crude copy of the Swedish K in .45 ACP in the mid 1980s, called the Stemple 76/45. He produced and registered 2,0...

When the Stemple STG-76 was designed, it used internal parts from the Finnish kp/31 Suomi submachine gun. Since the whole point of the Stemple was to have a modular and interchangeable gun, it would make sense for BRP to make a version that duplicated the Suomi as closely as possible. This is esp...