Submachine Guns - Forgotten Weapons

MP-40/I: The Dual-Magazine Experimental MP-40

September 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 17

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 presumably developed in response to complaints of Soviet fire superiority with […]

The Swedish Suomi M-37/39 Submachine Gun

September 13, 2017 Ian McCollum 11

When the Swedish military decided that 1937 seemed like a pretty good time to be getting some new submachine guns, they arranged to purchase a version of the m/31 Suomi from their Finnish neighbors […]

Suomi M31: Finland’s Famous Submachine Gun

September 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 39

Designed by Finland’s most notable arms inventor, Aimo Lahti, the m/31 Suomi submachine gun is an iconic weapon of the Winter War and the Continuation War. It is a first-generation submachine gun with a […]

Lanchester MkI: Britain’s First (But Not Last) Emergency SMG

September 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 26

The Lanchester MkI was the first British effort to produce a domestic submachine gun during World War II. The British military had rejected these types of arms as “gangster guns” prior to the war, and […]

The Schmeisser MP41: A Hybrid Submachine Gun

September 2, 2017 Ian McCollum 44

Most people think that the MP41 is simply an MP40 in a wooden stock, but this is actually not the case – and unlike the MP40, the MP41 can be accurately called a Schmeisser – […]

Sudayev’s PPS-43: Submachine Gun Simplicity Perfected

August 31, 2017 Ian McCollum 66

The PPS-43, designed by Alexei Sudayev based on a previous submachine gun design by I.K. Bezruchko-Vysotsky, was the Soviet replacement for the PPSh-41. The Shpagin submachine gun was a very effective combat weapon, but was […]

Soviet PPD-40: Degtyarev’s Submachine Gun

August 28, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

Degtyarev’s PPD-40 was the first submachine gun adopted in a large scale by the Soviet Union. Its development began in 1929 with a locked breech gun modeled after Degtyarev’s DP light machine gun, but evolved […]

The Italian Last-Ditch TZ-45 Submachine Gun

August 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 27

The TZ-45 is a late-war (some might say last ditch) Italian submachine gun made in small numbers and notable primarily for being the first SMG to use a grip safety on the magazine well. The […]

MP-28: Hugo Schmeisser Improves the MP18

August 22, 2017 Ian McCollum 32

The MP28,II was Hugo Schmeisser’s improved take on the original World War One MP18,I design. It used a simple box magazine in place of the Luger drum magazines, and this magazine would form the basis […]

Bergmann’s MP35 Submachine Gun: It Feeds From the Wrong Side

August 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 50

Guns in this video: Pre-War MP35 and wartime MP35/1 The MP35 submachine gun was designed by Theodore Emil Bergmann, the son of the Theodore Bergmann who had manufactured the turn of the century line of Bergmann […]