The Best Samples of Modern Submachine Guns of the World
Part 1
History of the Firearms
Francis W. Brown
All rights reserved
Francis W. Brown, 2017
PBS Astreul, Kiev, Ukraine, 2018
None of the parts of this book cannot be copied without the consent of the author or the right holders
Design by Fred Burgess
Fotos by:
Jim Thorston
Daniel Smith
Gina Smith
Tanya Dolski
Sam Sanderson
Chris Parkinson
In this book we will get acquainted with the history of the development of submachine guns and examine the best examples of these weapons.
The invention of submachine guns made a big step forward in the development and improvement of small arms. Already in the 30s - 40s, submachine guns became widespread, although their first appearance was in the middle of the second decade of the 20th century.
With the creation of special units of machine gunners, the use of these weapons has increased significantly. This weapon was conveniently used in trenches, in the forest, inside buildings. The submachine gun was easy to handle, since its design was not very complicated. The weapon made it possible to carry with him a sufficiently large supply of ammunition. The submachine gun had a high rate of fire, ensuring the creation of a dense fire at close distances.
This weapon has become very popular due to its high qualities.
A special role in the consumption of submachine guns was played by the extreme simplicity of their device, and hence the manufacturability, low cost of production.
It is also worth recalling that when creating submachine guns, great attention was paid to their reliability in various operating conditions. The reliability that they provide can be compared even with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and an M-16 rifle.
The submachine gun is one of the main types of automatic weapons for the forces of law and order.
In contrast to the machine, the danger zone when working with a submachine gun is much less, and the accuracy of automatic fire is higher.
The submachine gun is compact enough, lightweight; it is relatively easy to put a silencer on it. Only thanks to all these qualities, the samples of the 70s received a second life after some improvements.
Content:
Unfortunately, English is not the author's native language. All errors and inaccuracies in the book remain on his conscience.
Introduction. The history of submachine guns
To increase the infantry firepower in the First World War, new requirements for small arms were put forward. The troops needed to be equipped with high-speed automatic weapons.
Tank machine guns are widespread. They were highly efficient and were considered automatic small arms.
And yet there was a need for the invention of a new weapon, which would have been more rapid than magazine rifles.
The first thing that was invented to increase infantry firepower was an automatic rifle. Yet similar samples of rifles until the mid-30s could not replace the magazine rifles. They were used only for partial armament. Of course, automatic rifles were lighter, more compact, more reliable than magazine rifles, but still it would be better to create another individual weapon based on a new cartridge of lower power.
New ideas matured, in the creation of individual automatic weapons, but for a number of reasons they were practically realized only in the 40s. New automatic weapons were invented on the basis of existing pistol cartridges. And it was called a submachine gun. This weapon was irreplaceable for many years.
The lack of a submachine gun was considered a deficiency in firing range. In this regard, submachine guns could only complement the system of small arms and strengthened the power of infantry fire at close distances.
A new weapon is capable of firing pistol ammunition with continuous machine-gun fire, but its range of fire is small and, therefore, it cannot be regarded as an improved weapon.
The invention of submachine guns to the end did not lead to a solution to the question of increasing the combat power of the infantry.
Of course, the new automatic weapon was superior to rifles in the rate of fire, however, it was inferior to them in range, penetration and accuracy.
That is, we can conclude that the soldiers equipped with rifles, yet lacked a rate of fire at close range, and soldiers armed with submachine guns lacked a range of fire.
In this paper, we will tell about the origin of submachine guns, their further development, and what results modern designers could achieve.
The history of the development of submachine guns
The appearance of a submachine gun is a sample of the intermediate type, combining the qualities of both rifles and pistols.
About the times of use of priming ignition were made revolvers with attached butts. The operation of such weapons allowed to increase the range of aimed fire in 3 - 4 times. Revolvers were made with elongated trunks and attached butts. Guns fired with unitary cartridges. But along with revolvers, some types of pistols were also equipped with auxiliary butts. But unlike revolvers pistols had movable sights and longer barrels. Such samples of pistols are similar to light carbines.
For the manufacture of submachine guns, it took a long time, because this automatic weapon had to have an increased rate of fire, range and accuracy. The tasks required the elongation of the barrel, increasing the power of the cartridge, the introduction of the attachment butt, change the device trigger mechanism, which is necessary for continuous shooting. As a result of these changes, a weapon appeared, which was called a submachine gun.
In 1908, the processing of Mauser pistols of the sample of 1906 and Borchardt-Luther of the sample of 1904 began in Russia. However, this was not successful. Accuracy turned out to be completely unsatisfactory, due to the strong jitter and tosses in the hand of a shooting weapon weighing 800-1000 grams.
In Italy in 1915, during the First World War, Raveli submachine gun was manufactured. He designed twin pistols to avoid strong shaking, and also adapted a heavy shield to them. This weapon was made to use it in fortified areas to repel attacks. However, due to a number of flaws in the system, weapons did not spread. This sample was excluded from the armament. Significant disadvantages of this weapon were too high rate of fire at about 2000 shots / min., Which caused rapid overheating of the barrels, poor accuracy and excessive mass of 6 kg.
In 1918, the German Bergman submachine gun appeared. This weapon was developed on a system with a free gate. However, it was not possible to comprehensively test such an invention, since it appeared already at the end of the war, therefore the submachine gun did not receive distribution. But still, the Bergman submachine gun was investigated in other countries for the invention of new designs, designed much later. Technological changes have been made to the new samples.
In 1921, American General Thompson launched the first model of a submachine gun, called the Thompson Submachine Gun. Due to the free sale of submachine guns, many members of the robber clans used these weapons.
The idea of combining the qualities of a rifle and submachine gun in one image seemed very attractive and promising.
Such an idea was that a soldier who had a rifle could, if necessary, turn a rifle into a submachine gun, but for this it was necessary to have a special device with you. In such a case, a soldier would be able to fire, both at long and short distances.
