Submachine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

Shooting the M3A1 Grease Gun

March 9, 2018 Ian McCollum 13

The M3 (and its followup improved M3A1 model) was the United States’ answer to the high cost and manufacturing complexity of the Thompson submachine gun. The M3 “Grease Gun” (because really, that is what it […]

The Uzi Submachine Gun: Excellent or Overrated?

March 5, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

The Israeli Uzi has become a truly iconic submachine gun through both its military use and its Hollywood stunts – but how effective is it really? I found this fully automatic Uzi Model A to […]

Sheet Metal and Wood: The Polish Sudayev PPS 43/52

February 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

Poland was one of the states which manufactured the Soviet PPS-43 submachine gun under license, but they decided to make a change to is in 1952. Where the original PPS-43 used a top-folding metal stock, […]

MAT 49: Iconic SMG of Algeria and Indochina

January 16, 2018 Ian McCollum 31

The MAT-49 was developed by France after World War Two to satisfy the need for a more modern submachine gun to replace the MAS-38. The military had come around to standardizing on the 9x19mm cartridge […]

MAS-38 Shooting Fail

January 15, 2018 Ian McCollum 48

I have been getting a lot of comments asking when there will be a shooting video with my MAS-38 submachine gun. If has cleared the NFA transfer process, so it’s not actually in my possession. […]

Marlin UD-42 from the Dutch Resistance

January 11, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

The UD-42 was originally the design of Carl “Gus” Swebilius, who was at the time (1940) working for the High Standard company. It failed to attract interest form the US military, but was appealing to […]

Croatian Šokac SMG – A PPSh-41 Copy from the 1990s

January 9, 2018 Ian McCollum 21

The Šokac is just one of more than a dozen different submachine guns developed and produced domestically in Croatia during the Yugoslavian civil war of the early 1990s. It is a mechanical copy of the […]

The Iconic “Burp Gun” – Shooting the PPSh-41

December 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 40

The Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun is most distinctive for its very high rate of fire – approximately 1250 rounds/minute – and large drum magazine. What may come as a surprise to those who have […]

Shpagin’s Simplified Subgun: The PPSh-41

December 15, 2017 Ian McCollum 37

After making the decision to mass produce a submachine gun, the Soviet Union adopted the Degtyarev PPD-38 and PPD-40, but this design was too expensive for the huge scale of production that the USSR […]

The Swiss Cheap Out: SIG 310, aka MP48

December 1, 2017 Ian McCollum 38

The SIG 310, aka MP48, is the final evolution of SIG’s submachine gun design from the 1920s. It began as the MKM/P/S/O with a folding magazine well, wooden stock, and fancy lever-delayed operating system. Over […]