Agram 2000: Croatia’s Gangster Gun

The Agram 2000 was originally developed in the 1990s in response to a Croatian Army need for a submachine gun during the Independence War. It is a closed-bolt, hammer-fired, simple blowback submachine gun. The initial prototypes used a top folding shoulder stock, but the production model omitted this, and had no shoulder support. It uses a proprietary magazine design, with magazines of 15-, 22-, and 32-round capacity produced.

One of the interesting features of the design is the suppressor it was designed with. The barrel is vented just in front of the chamber, to reduce regular 9x19mm ammunition to subsonic velocity, and the suppressor telescopes back of the barrel to reduce overall length. However, a thread-on barrel sleeve is also included with the gun which can be used in place of the suppressor to seal off the barrel vents and maintain full ammunition velocity.

Overall, the Agram 2000 is a substantially smaller, lighter, and handier gun than one might expect from just seeing photos. Agrams were used by irregular forces during the war, but ultimately not adopted by the Army. After Croatia gained independence, the Agram continued to be produced, and has become notorious for use by organized crime in Eastern Europe.

Many thanks to the French IRCGN (Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie) for generously giving me access to film this exceptionally rare specimen for you!

24 Comments

  1. And to my mind, if I were a Croatian Army trials officer, that [too-short recoil spring guide rod] would be enough reason to not adopt this thing in the first place.

    Or, I don’t know, spec a longer guide rod?

    This is just like the statement in the last Q&A that every forgotten weapon is ALWAYS rejected for a really good reason. More often than not, it seems to be something ridiculous like this.

    • By the time Agram 2k was fully refined, a clone of Uzi was adopted by the army and police (in 1993.),
      thus having new additional 9mm smg was almost impossible.
      I don’t think any trials took place actually.

  2. “magazines of 15-, 22-, and 32-round capacity produced.”
    http://zonwar.ru/pp/Agram_2000.html claims that Agram 2000 magazine capacity is 22 or 32.
    It does recognize following variants of Agram-2000:
    Agram alias Agram-1995 – no furniture, straight (stick) magazine (4th image from top)
    Agram-2000 (model of 1997 year) – furniture with hole for thumb, curved (banana) magazine (1st and 2nd and 4d images from top)
    Agram-2002 (late version) – polymer furniture of different shape, straight (stick) magazine (5th image from top), judging from photo it was more compact than earlier version.
    Agram-2000 was attractive for gangsters as it was made during wartime has virtually no markings and was often subject of illicit arms trade (as were other Croatian sub-machine guns of that era, for example Alka M-93 Kratka https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/Alka_M-93_Kratka )

    • The Alka was made in such small, prototype numbers that so far was never found in any “gangster arsenal” bust, it is more of a real forgotten weapon curiosity.

      The prevalence of Agram in eastern Europe, mainly Russian criminal circles, is due to the producers choosing to export it, after they saw their effort is not gonna be adopted ever by the army, that at the same time in mid 90s had no need for any such gun due to the war fortunately coming to an end. They were not the only company that was left with unpaid bills.

    • “Agram 1995.”, nomenclature is not correct,
      is a, lets say, prototype series first version made in 1990. or 91.
      and is heavily based on Kimel AP9.
      Whole inner design and its closed bolt is basicly a straight derivative of Kimel/Intratec, but with many improved and new innovative functions, especially in curved magazine model, that is most produced of them all.
      The rarest one is with folding stock, that was never seen the “market”, but made only as a showcase, a last futile attempt in securing a government contract.

  3. What was going on with both magazine base plates? I’d be surprised if they were made like that originally like that even when covered by a supplementary gripping surface.

    • I bet this Agram 2000 found its way into the Gendramerie collection having been seized from a criminal. And some shady gun plumber has welded the baseplates on to the magazine bodies, because the plates were falling off. But Ian could have mentioned these peculiar baseplates imho.

      • I suppose there could have been something on the mag base plates like Agram 2000 (!!!) that the guy who ground the details off the plastic parts thought could leave it traceable. Who knows how those guys think?

      • The magazines of Agram all have closed off magazine floor plates, magazine should not be disassembled by design,
        but of course covered with plastic that here apparently is gone. Adding to the impression of criminality as many of their guns are in neglected and often damaged state, missing such small parts, and with stripped finish.

    • Your loss unfortunately, as at least in Europe the Agram 2000 has gained some fame and infamy from its history of involvment in the wars following the dissolution of Yugoslavia and then the sub-machine gun’s criminal career turning up everywhere across Europe.

      • I’m gonna have to raise my hand and object to the way you’re framing this; weapons do not have “criminal careers”. The weapon cannot itself be “criminal”; that’s solely the province of the human being using the thing. Once you start going down this road, pretty soon you’re putting cars on trial for drunk driving offenses, and prosecuting farm animals for criminal trespass or assault on innocent parties.

        Could be an artifact of “English as secondary language”, but I really get put out with this crap in the US media–It’s never the guy using the weapon, it’s always the fault of the weapon.

        Which I’ve always found disappointing, TBH… I’ve sat there watching and waiting for one of my rifles or pistols to come crawling out of the gun cabinet, intent on murdering me in my sleep. Apparently, they have agency only for other people, not me… I think owning a talking sword or something would be really cool, even if I had to resist its ideas to go out killing people.

        • Yes, I know. Things are things and do nothing wihtout a person using them. Otherwise it is just a rusting chunk of steel. But it is easier to write it this way. Sorry, I was a bit lazy there and I can totally understand how it rubs you the wrong way with the recently flared up (again) gun control discussion in the USA because of the shooting in Uvalde, TX.

        • I agree with initial assesment,
          however in recent history there were cases of some types and models of guns that got connected with criminals mostly, due to their characteristics,
          in USA it was extremely cheap price of various “saturday night specials”.
          They were made in hundred of thousands, of course that there were not so many cases of criminals using them, but again it jumped in statistics waaay higher above some other models.

          Agenda promoting and presenting that all guns should be criminalized and villified, is a different story.

      • This link here is perfect example of internet stupidity that propagates long through the years;
        someone saw beretta and agram, and to his skewered uneducated sight they looked alike (just like a car and small truck look alike because both have windshield and 4 tires, lol!),
        thus writing that Agram is a variant of Beretta, and it was copy pasted ad nauseam in many “articles”.
        I think it all even originates on “securityarms”, very old site that is grandaddy of firearms bullshit and false info.

        In reality, it has absolutely nothing to do with it, not inside or outside, nor designers of agram had access to beretta.
        Other great example of dubious BS info is last paragraph stating “it can take Uzi magazines” which is another nonsense.

  4. Wasn’t Independance War was actually biggest ethnic cleansing after WWII and atrocities committed against serbian people who lived there last 500 years by Croatia nationalist who adopted same ideology and methods like their predecessors who supported Hitler during WWII committing holocaust on serbian people in Concentration camp Jasenovac.

  5. Yeah, it was basicly exact same mirror story as how Ukraine commited genocide in “Donbass” (what about Crimea, what they did there?), with their “neonazi” government and army, biggest nazi of course being their president, thus russian aggression with raping, pillaging, shelling and murdering thousands of civilians is completely justified, nothing wrong with such acts, “yknow, nazis and such, yknow”.

    Kinda reminds on just like Serbia launched wars left and right in “protecting” the citizens of the other ex Yugoslavian republics from their evil nazi governments, peculiary last being in Kosovo 1999. which was not even a sovereign country with its government and institutions, but a part of Serbia.
    Tell us, how many concentration camps albanians made for all these poor serbs there? You can help yourself out, invent that they housed concentration camps for serbs, sponsored by (obviously nazi) Ottoman empire, in middle ages, 500 years ago, so they needed to be taught a lesson at eve of 21.st. century.

Leave a Reply to Sommerbiwak Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.


*