The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a submachine gun developed in the 1960s by German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It uses a similar modular design to the Heckler & Koch G3, and has over 100 variants and clones, including selective fire, semi-automatic, suppressed, compact, and even marksman variants. The MP5 is one of the most widely used submachine guns in the world, having been adopted by over forty nations and numerous militaries, police forces, intelligence agencies, security organizations, paramilitaries, and non-state actors.
A machine pistol is a handgun that is capable of fully automatic fire, including stockless handgun-style submachine guns.
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automatic firearm with notably less firepower than a machine gun. As a machine gun must fire rifle cartridges to be classified as such, submachine guns are not considered machine guns.
The Thompson submachine gun is a blowback-operated, selective-fire submachine gun, invented and developed by Brigadier General John T. Thompson, a United States Army officer, in 1918. It was designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare of World War I, although early models did not arrive in time for actual combat.
The Colt Automatic Rifle-15 or CAR-15 is a family of M16 rifle–based firearms marketed by Colt in the 1960s and early 1970s. However, the term "CAR-15" is most commonly associated with the Colt Commando ; these select-fire carbines have ultrashort 10.5-inch (270 mm) and 11.5-inch (290 mm) barrels with over-sized flash suppressors.
The Beretta M12 is a 9×19mm Parabellum caliber submachine gun designed by Beretta. Production started in 1959, the first users were the Italian Carabinieri, Italian State Police and the Guardia di Finanza, though in limited numbers; it was only widely issued beginning in 1978, replacing the old Beretta MAB. In 1962 the Italian Army bought a limited number of Franchi LF-57 submachine guns, judged better than the M12 but never issued to the troops, and only in 1992 the M12S2 variant was introduced, in very limited numbers. The Italian Air Force bought instead many M12S and M12S2 for the airport security units. However, the weapon had a higher initial success in the Arab countries and South America.
The FAMAE SAF is a submachine gun produced and manufactured by FAMAE since 1993.
The Peruvian MGP series is a family of 9mm submachine guns and semi-automatic pistols which have been produced by the Peruvian Navy's SIMA CEFAR factory since the 1980s. MGP stands for Marina de Guerra del Peru. Although compact as submachine guns, they are somewhat bulky as pistols.
The PPSh-41 is a selective-fire, open-bolt, blowback submachine gun that fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev round. It was designed by Georgy Shpagin of the Soviet Union to be a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40.
The Star Z-84 was a Spanish selective-fire submachine gun originally manufactured by the now defunct Star Bonifacio Echeverria, S.A. The Z-84 is a sturdy, well-designed weapon that never saw high production due to politics. Originally manufactured for use by Combat Swimmers, the Z-84 could be used right out of the water without any need to drain the working parts or magazine, known as over-the-beach or OTB capability.
The Pistola Mitragliatrice Fiat Mod. 1915, commonly nicknamed the Villar Perosa, was an Italian portable automatic weapon developed during World War I by the Officine di Villar Perosa.
The Colt 9mm SMG, also known as the Colt Model 635 or Colt M635, is a 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun manufactured by Colt, based on the M16 rifle.
The GSG-5 is a semi-automatic rimfire rifle chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. It is built by German Sport Guns GmbH, an airsoft wholesaler located in Ense-Höingen, Germany. It was unveiled at the IWA & Outdoor Classics trade show in March 2007 following the legalization of previously forbidden military-style weapons in Germany.
The Pleter submachine gun is a submachine gun created in 1991, when the Breakup of Yugoslavia left Croatia with few weapons to arm their yet to be formed military in the midst of the Croatian War of Independence. The embargo prevented the newly formed state from legally buying equipment abroad, so they chose to try to design and produce some new weapons locally, mostly based on second generation of submachine guns.
The Star Model Z62 is a submachine gun of Spanish origin which was developed to replace the Star Model Z45 in 1962.
The PP-19 Vityaz is a 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun developed in 2004 by Russian small arms manufacturer Izhmash. It is based on the AK-74 and offers a high degree of parts commonality with the AK-74. The gun is directly developed from the PP-19 Bizon. "Vityaz" (витязь) is Russian for "brave warrior" or "knight".
The B&T APC is a submachine gun produced and manufactured by B&T of Switzerland. Announced in 2011, the standard series uses standard 9×19mm (APC9), .40 S&W (APC40), 10mm Auto (APC10), and .45 ACP (APC45) ammunition.
The R9-Arms submachine gun is a select fire submachine gun chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum. The R9 is notable because some of them are marked "R9-ARMS CORP. U.S.A.", although no such firm exists. It was made for sale to criminal organizations around the world. Unlike most improvised firearms, the R9 is not a copy of an existing weapon design, nor a low quality insurgency weapon such as the Błyskawica submachine gun.
The Beretta PMX is a 9x19mm Parabellum caliber submachine gun, designed and manufactured by the Italian company Beretta. The PMX was presented in 2017 and is intended to replace the Beretta M12 as an ordinance weapon of some law enforcement in Italy.
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