Lercker pistol

Last updated
Lercker
Type Machine pistol
Place of originItaly
Production history
DesignerCarlo Cuppini and Cesare Lercker
Designed1950
No. builtApprox. 150
Specifications
Mass0.93 kg (2.05 lb)
Length184 mm (7.2 in)
Barrel  length104 mm (4.1 in)

Cartridge 6.35mm Auto
Action Recoil, blowback, open bolt
Rate of fire 1200 rpm
Feed system20-round detachable box magazine

The Lercker was a selective-fire machine pistol developed in Bologna, Italy after the Second World War.

Designed to appear and operate as a handgun, while firing as a fully automatic weapon, the Lercker was chambered for the 6.35×16mmSR Browning Auto (.25 ACP) cartridge, a small cartridge by post-war standards. The small size of the round helped to facilitate the large magazine capacity; the Lercker could carry 20 rounds in a magazine in the pistol grip (an additional round can not be stored in the chamber, because the weapon fires from an open bolt). The small cartridge also produced much less recoil than larger cartridges such as the 9mm Parabellum, making the weapon easier to control in the selective-fire mode. With a 102 mm (4 in) barrel and an overall length of just 184 mm (7.2 in), the Lercker was a compact design. Unusually for any pistol-type weapon, the Lercker fired from an open bolt for every shot, such that the slide stayed in the retracted position before firing commenced. It was capable of firing at a rate of 1200 rounds per minute, a high figure for the time. [1]

The Lercker was introduced in 1950, but only about 150 of the guns were produced before production ended. [2] The weapon was banned by the Italian government, as it was the functional equivalent of a submachine gun, but small enough to conceal easily. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firearm</span> Gun for an individual

A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machine pistol</span> Fully automatic handgun

A machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire, including stockless handgun-style submachine guns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Submachine gun</span> Type of automatic firearm

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StG 44</span> German World War II assault rifle

The StG 44 is a German assault rifle developed during World War II by Hugo Schmeisser. It is also known by its early designations as the MP 43 and MP 44. The StG 44 was an improvement of an earlier design, the Maschinenkarabiner 42(H).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FG 42</span> German automatic paratrooper rifle

The FG 42 is a selective-fire 7.92×57mm Mauser automatic rifle produced in Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapon was developed specifically for the use of the Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry in 1942 and was used in very limited numbers until the end of the war.

A semi-automatic firearm, also called a self-loading or autoloading firearm, is a repeating firearm whose action mechanism automatically loads a following round of cartridge into the chamber and prepares it for subsequent firing, but requires the shooter to manually actuate the trigger in order to discharge each shot. Typically, this involves the weapon's action utilizing the excess energy released during the preceding shot to unlock and move the bolt, extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge case from the chamber, re-cocking the firing mechanism, and loading a new cartridge into the firing chamber, all without input from the user. To fire again, however, the user must actively release the trigger, allow it to "reset", before pulling the trigger again to fire off the next round. As a result, each trigger pull only discharges a single round from a semi-automatic weapon, as opposed to a fully automatic weapon, which will shoot continuously as long as the ammunition is replete and the trigger is kept depressed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mauser C96</span> German semi-automatic pistol

The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semi-automatic pistol</span> Type of pistol

A semi-automatic pistol is a handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired. Only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled, as the pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.45 ACP</span> Pistol cartridge designed by John Moses Browning

The .45 ACP, also known as .45 Auto, .45 Automatic, or 11.43×23mm is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it was adopted as the standard chambering for Colt's M1911 pistol. The round was developed due to a lack of stopping power experienced in the Moro Rebellion in places like Sulu. The issued ammunition, .38 Long Colt, had proved inadequate, motivating the search for a better cartridge. This experience and the Thompson–LaGarde Tests of 1904 led the Army and the Cavalry to decide that a minimum of .45 caliber was required in a new handgun cartridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makarov pistol</span> Semi-automatic pistol

The Makarov pistol or PM is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military and Militsiya side arm in 1951.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desert Eagle</span> Semi-automatic pistol

The Desert Eagle is a single-action, gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol known for chambering the .50 Action Express, the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">10mm Auto</span> Firearm cartridge

The 10mm Auto is a powerful and versatile semi-automatic pistol cartridge introduced in 1983. Its design was adopted and later produced by ammunition manufacturer FFV Norma AB of Åmotfors, Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magazine (firearms)</span> Ammunition feeding device of a firearm

A magazine, often simply called a mag, is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun or externally attached. The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action. The detachable magazine is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "clip", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine or cylinder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.30 Carbine</span> Light rifle cartridge for M1 Carbine

The .30 Carbine (7.62×33mm) is a rimless carbine/rifle cartridge used in the M1 carbine introduced in the 1940s. It is a light rifle round designed to be fired from the M1 carbine's 18-inch (458 mm) barrel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type 94 Nambu pistol</span> Semi-automatic pistol

The Type 94 Nambu 8 mm pistol is a semiautomatic pistol developed by Kijirō Nambu and his associates for the Imperial Japanese Army. Development of the Type 94 pistol began in 1929, and after several redesigns the final prototype was tested and officially adopted by the Japanese army in late 1934. The Type 94 pistol entered production in 1935. Approximately 71,000 pistols were manufactured before production ended in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handgun</span> Short-barreled firearm designed to be held and used with one hand

A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun which needs to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns are single-shot pistols, the two most common types of handguns used in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other handguns such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9×25mm Mauser</span> Pistol cartridge

The 9×25mm Mauser is a cartridge developed for the Mauser C96 service pistol around 1904 by DWM. Mauser pistols in this relatively powerful caliber were primarily intended for export to Africa, Asia, and South America. The 9mm Mauser Export cartridge was produced specifically for Mauser pistols and carbines made from 1904 to 1914 and then later from approximately 1930 to 1945 for submachine guns chambered for this caliber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steyr M1912 pistol</span> Semi-automatic pistol, Machine pistol (Repetierpistole M1912/P16)

The Steyr M1912, also known as the Steyr-Hahn, is a semi-automatic pistol developed in 1911 by the Austrian firm Steyr Mannlicher, based on the mechanism of the Roth–Steyr M1907. It was developed for the Austro-Hungarian Army and adopted in 1912. It was the standard Austro-Hungarian military handgun of World War I. It was able to endure the adverse conditions of trench warfare during World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7.92×33mm Kurz</span> German firearm cartridge developed for the StG 44 rifle

The 7.92×33mm Kurz is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate rifle cartridge developed in Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II, specifically intended for development of the Sturmgewehr 44. The ammunition is also referred to as 7.9mm Kurz, 7.9 Kurz, 7.9mmK, or 8×33 Polte. The round was developed as a compromise between the longer 7.92×57mm full-power rifle cartridge and the 9×19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Repeating firearm</span> Firearms that can be discharged multiple times after a single ammunition reload

A repeating firearm or repeater is any firearm that is capable of being fired repeatedly before having to be manually reloaded with new ammunition into the firearm.

References

  1. Hogg, Ian V. Pistols of the World, 3rd Edition. Northbrook, IL: DBI Books, 1992, p. 194.
  2. Hogg, Ian V. op. cit., p. 194.
  3. Zhuk, A.B. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Handguns. London: Greenhill Books, 1995, p. 239.