Submachine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

H&K’s Experimental SMG and SMG II for the US Navy

January 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 31

In the 1980s, the US Navy requested a new submachine gun to replace the MP5 then in use. In particular, the Navy wanted a gun that was optimized for use with a suppressor. H&K built […]

EOKA Cut-Down Beretta 38 SMG

December 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 24

This cut-down Beretta Model 38/44 submachine gun was made by the EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston) terrorist group, which fought in the late 1950s for Cyprus to be reunified with Greece, instead of being a […]

Italian Sci-Fi Blaster: The Franchi LF-57

December 23, 2019 Ian McCollum 28

Introduced in 1957, Franchi’s LF-57 submachine gun has a very distinctive sci-fi look to it, but was never able to become a major player in the Cold War arms market. It is in all ways […]

Shooting the AuSTEN MkI – Not Actually So Bad!

October 16, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

This is Lot 1019 in the upcoming October Morphy Extraordinary auction. I have read much about the Australian dislike for the Austen submachine gun, but until now I never had the chance to actually try […]

The Owen SMG: Looks Bad; Shoots Good

October 15, 2019 Ian McCollum 15

This is Lot 2012 in the upcoming October Morphy Extraordinary auction. The Owen Gun is one of the really good submachine guns fielded during the Second World War, but is a very scarce gun to […]

SMG Comparison: Bernardelli VB vs Beretta Model 4

October 12, 2019 Ian McCollum 3

These are Lots 1069 (Bernardelli) and 2034 (Beretta) in the upcoming October 2019 Morphys Extraordinary auction. Yesterday we looked at the short-lived Bernardelli VB submachine gun made a few years after World War 2, and […]

Bernardelli VB: Not Actually a Beretta 38 Copy

October 11, 2019 Ian McCollum 24

This is Lot 1069 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphys Extraordinary auction. The Bernardelli company, known mostly for sporting arms, made an effort to break into the law enforcement/military/security market in the year after World […]

The WW2 Double-Magazine MP40/I

October 9, 2019 Ian McCollum 20

This is Lot 2051 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphys Extraordinary auction. The MP40/I was an experimental modification of the MP-40 submachine gun developed by the Erma company (we think) in late 1942. It was […]

At the Range with the Marlin UD-42 SMG

October 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

This is Lot 1106 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphys Extraordinary auction. The Marlin / United Defense US-42 submachine gun was not used by the American military, but it did see service in World War […]

Marlin M2 at the Range: A Remarkably Nice SMG

October 5, 2019 Ian McCollum 7

This is Lot 1037 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary auction. After yesterday’s history and disassembly, I had a chance to take the Hyde/Marlin M2 submachine gun out to the range today for some […]