MPi-81: Steyr Basically Makes the Uzi

The MPi-69 was adopted by Austria to replace its aging MP40 submachine guns, and it included an unorthodox charging handle design connected to the sling. Clearly this didn’t turn out to be such a great idea, because when the questions of Austrian military SMGs was revisited in 1981, the feature was removed. The MPi-81 is essentially the exact same gun, but with a sling swivel at the barrel nut and a standard sort of non-reciprocating charging handle where to old sling-attached type was originally affixed.

13 Comments

  1. FYI.
    The Puch in Steyr-Daimler-Puch should be pronounced with an “h sound” at the end, as in Holland or Koch (from Heckler & Koch), not with a “ch sound” as in putsch or Deutsche.

    • Strictly speaking, if you say it as though it were spelled “pook” with a “u” sound, that’s about right.

      Another way to think of it is like the word “puukko”, meaning a traditional type of Finnish hunting knife, minus the “o” at the end.

      cheers

      eon

      • Sorry, but Damjan is correct. It is a voiceless uvular fricative, that is written with “ch” in German language. Similar to “kh” being used for some non-english words, but without the scratchiness in the throat.

          • Dear Damjan, eon, Sommerbiwak & Daewoo, and especially Mr. M: I knew the way NOT to prounounce “Puch” (putch), and I knew that it’s “pukh” in High German and “Pusch” in Bavarian, but I also know the Austrians are different in everything. So I consulted a native Viennese of my acquaintance, who assures me it’s pronounced “Pux.” If you listen closely to the film soundtrack recommended by Daewoo, you’ll notice the very soft S after the “Puk.” Hopefully my friend is not joshing me. Let us all gather round, and get Mr. M’s German pronunciation at least up to the level of his French, Russian, and Finnish.

          • I know that Austrians speak german with a dialect, ofc I’m not from there,
            but also know that Puch jeeps were called here always like Damjan wrote – though it theoretically may be a quirk from Damjans homecountry pronunciation (I think is not), as by regionalism sometimes it happens vocabulary stuff is twisted.
            One crude local example often heard, is calling Browning – Browing.
            But dialectish wise, its possible Puch is pronounced differently in southern or northern Austria, etc.

  2. “(…)MPi-81 is essentially the exact same gun, but with a sling swivel at the barrel nut and a standard sort of non-reciprocating charging handle where to old sling-attached type was originally affixed.”
    https://armourersbench.com/2020/05/03/steyr-mpi-81/ claims that While the MPi 69 had a cyclic rate of around 500 per minute, the MPi 81 increased this rate to ~750rpm., was that change intentional? If yes what is whyabout for that.
    Interestingly Kepplinger, who was former employee of Steyr, when designing own sub-machine gun, namely MP-80 see 1st image from top http://zonwar.ru/news5/news_977_MP-80.html elected to provide Rate-of-Fire equal to 500 rpm.

    • Change is intentional, but very simple one, with putting a fat spring on the end of mainspring guide rod.

  3. you were in NH and I didn’t know about it? dang it!

    I hope you did more at the Shooter’s Outpost they have a pretty good collection…

  4. I have a question. How is it possible, when i release the trigger while shooting, the sear does not catch the safety notch on the bolt, but the “fire” catch, the second one. Otherwise I would be not able to continue with shooting, would I?

    • Its possible because recoil propells the bolt forceful enough to go way past the point of the second, main catch. If there is a squib round, or more importantly if gun falls on the ground, bolt would be caught by security notch,
      but at the same time bolt has not moved far enough back to strip a new round, thus if you pull the trigger from that position, you get impotent clank of empty bolt slamming forward, instead of bang.

  5. Hello,
    I have this gun mpi-81 with a serial number 41694. Is it a pre 86 gun? Also would you happen to have an idea of what these guns will sell for today?
    Thanks Jason

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