Submachine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

The Marines’ First SMG: 1921/28 Thompson Gun

October 9, 2018 Ian McCollum 28

This Thompson is being sold at Morphys on October 30, 2018. The USMC had acquired a few hundred early 1921 model Thompson submachine guns in 1926, and prompted the US Navy to formally test the […]

Thompson 1921: The Original Chicago Typewriter

October 6, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

This Thompson is being sold at Morphys on October 30. The first prototype Thompsons submachine guns (and it was Thompson who coined that term, by the way) were produced in 1919 and dubbed the “Annihilators”. […]

Ukrainian or Russian Partisan Modified MP40

September 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

Some collectors hunt for firearms which look perfectly new form the factory, and others prefer arms that show lots of evidence of use and history. Well, this is definitely one of the latter type – […]

Suomi m/31 – Finland’s Excellent Submachine Gun

August 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 15

RIA’s catalog page for this SMG (transferrable) Designed by Aimo Lahti, the Suomi m/31 submachine gun is in my opinion one of the standout submachine guns of the World War Two era. Despite its hefty […]

Book Review: The Suomi M/31 by Michael Heidler

August 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 9

Michael Heidler’s bi-lingual (German and English) book on the Finnish Suomi m/31 submachine gun is a small but dense history of one of the best submachine guns of World War Two. It covers Aimo Lahti’s […]

Star Z-70B: Spain’s Improved SMG

August 4, 2018 Ian McCollum 24

The Star Z-70B was an incremental improvement on the earlier Z-62 and Z-63 submachine guns adopted by the Spanish military and security services. It remains an open bolt, selective fire design, with an underfolding stock. […]

Ken Hackathorn on the Thompson and the MP5

July 19, 2018 Ian McCollum 44

Today I am speaking with Ken Hackathorn about submachine guns – specifically the Thompson and the MP5. Mr Hackathorn has an extensive resume that he is quite humble about, but I will point out that […]

OVP 1918: Italy’s first WW1 Submachine Gun

July 7, 2018 Ian McCollum 34

The original Villar Perosa machine gun was a rather odd combination of features; a double-barreled gun in 9mm Glisenti with spade grips and a blistering rate of fire. This proved to be of limited practical […]

Hungarian KGPF-9: Kalashnikov Genetics in a 9mm SMG

May 14, 2018 Ian McCollum 10

This modern Hungarian submachine gun bears a remarkable similarity to the Hungarian AKM rifle in many aspects, from the pistol grip to many of the manufacturing practices. In fact, the more we did into […]

Maschinengewehr des Standshützen Hellriegel: A WW1 Phantom

May 8, 2018 Ian McCollum 44

I have gotten quite a lot of questions about this experimental Austrian machine gun or submachine gun since it was included in the Battlefield One computer game. Unfortunately, the sum total of information we have […]