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 United States Army Brigadier General John T. Thompson in 1918. It was originally designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare of World War I, although early models did not arrive in time for actual combat.
The M1 carbine is a lightweight semi-automatic carbine that was issued in the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The M1 carbine was produced in several variants and was widely used by paramilitary and police forces around the world after World War II.
The MP 40 is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by the Axis powers during World War II.
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).
An automatic rifle is a type of autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally select-fire weapons capable of firing in semi-automatic and automatic firing modes. Automatic rifles are distinguished from semi-automatic rifles in their ability to fire more than one shot in succession once the trigger is pulled. Most automatic rifles are further subcategorized as battle rifles or assault rifles.
The Lebel Model 1886 rifle also known as the "Fusil Mle 1886 M93", after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service in the French Army in 1887. It is a repeating rifle that can hold eight rounds in its fore-stock tube magazine, one round in the elevator plus one round in the chamber; equaling a total of ten rounds held. The Lebel rifle has the distinction of being the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition. The new propellant powder, "Poudre B," was nitrocellulose-based and had been invented in 1884 by French chemist Paul Vieille. Lieutenant Colonel Nicolas Lebel contributed a flat nosed 8 mm full metal jacket bullet. Twelve years later, in 1898, a solid brass pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet called "Balle D" was retained for all 8mm Lebel ammunition. Each case was protected against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a primer cover and by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet. Featuring an oversized bolt with front locking lugs and a massive receiver, the Lebel rifle was a durable design capable of long range performance. In spite of early obsolete features, such as its tube magazine and the shape of 8mm Lebel rimmed ammunition, the Lebel rifle remained the basic weapon of French infantry during World War I (1914–1918). Altogether, 3.45 million Lebel rifles were produced by the three French state factories between 1887 and 1916.
The .45 Reising submachine gun was manufactured by Harrington & Richardson (H&R) Arms Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and was designed and patented by Eugene Reising in 1940. The three versions of the weapon were the Model 50, the folding stock Model 55, and the semiautomatic Model 60 rifle. Over 100,000 Reisings were ordered during World War II, and were initially used by the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and the United States Coast Guard, though some were shipped to Canadian, Soviet, and other allied forces to fight the Axis powers.
A battle rifle is a semi-automatic or select fire service rifle chambered to fire a full-power rifle cartridge and a internal box magazine or detachable box magazine. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-power rifle cartridge assault rifles from full-powered rifles as both classes of modern firearms have a similar appearance and share many of the same features such as detachable magazines, pistol grips, separate upper and lower receivers etc. Battle rifles were most prominent from the 1940s to the 1970s, when they were used as service rifles. While modern battle rifles largely resemble modern assault rifle designs, which replaced battle rifles in most roles, the term may also describe older military full-power semi-automatic rifles such as the M1 Garand, SVT-40, Gewehr 41, Gewehr 43, Type 4, FN Model 1949, and MAS-49.
The MAS-49 is a French semi-automatic rifle that replaced various bolt-action rifles as the French service rifle that was produced from 1949. It was designed and manufactured by the government-owned MAS arms factory. The French Army formal designation of the MAS-49 is Fusil semi-automatique 7 mm 5 M. 49.
The Kulsprutepistol m/45, also known as the Carl Gustaf M/45 and the Swedish K SMG, is a 9×19mm Swedish submachine gun (SMG) designed by Gunnar Johansson, adopted in 1945, and manufactured at the Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The m/45 was the standard submachine gun of the Swedish Army from 1945 to 1965. It was gradually replaced in Swedish service by updated Ak 4 battle rifles and Ak 5 assault rifles. The last official user of the m/45, the Swedish Home Guard (Hemvärnet), retired it from service in April 2007.
The MAS Modèle 36 is a military bolt-action rifle. First adopted in 1936 by France and intended to replace the Berthier and Lebel series of service rifles, it saw service long past the World War II period. It was manufactured from late 1937 onward by Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne (MAS), one of several government-owned arms factories in France. Only 250,000 MAS-36 rifles were available to equip the French infantry during the Battle of France in 1940. Mass production finally caught up after World War II and MAS-36 rifles became widely used in service during the First Indochina War, the Algerian War, and the Suez Crisis. Altogether, about 1.1 million MAS-36 rifles had been manufactured when production ceased in 1952.
The Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1924 M29, designed in 1924 by the Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault, is a 7.5×54mm French light machine gun, which was the standard issue machine gun of the French Army from 1925 until the 1960s and was in use until 2000-2006 with the National Gendarmerie.
The Berthier rifles and carbines were a family of bolt-action small arms in 8mm Lebel, used in the French Army, and French Colonial Forces, from the 1890s to the beginning of World War II (1940). After the introduction of the Lebel rifle in 1886, the French Army wanted a repeating carbine using the same ammunition as the Lebel to replace their single shot carbine based on the Gras rifle. At the time, many armies based their carbines on their standard rifle model, however the Lebel rifle's tube magazine made it difficult to follow this approach. The Modele 1890 Berthier Cavalry Carbine addressed this issue by combining a modified Lebel action with an en-bloc clip magazine. With its successful cavalry introduction, the Berthier would go on to be produced in many different carbine and full-length rifle versions.
The CETME Model 58 is a stamped-steel, select-fire battle rifle produced by the Spanish armaments manufacturer Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales (CETME). The Model 58 used a 20-round box magazine and was chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO round. The CETME 58 would become the foundation of the widely deployed German Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifle. Semi-automatic variants were also produced for the civilian market.
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate-rifle cartridge and a detachable box magazine. Assault rifles were first put into mass production and accepted into widespread service during World War II. The first assault rifle to see major usage was the German StG 44, a development of the earlier Mkb 42. While immediately after World War II, NATO countries were equipped with battle rifles, the development of the M16 rifle during the Vietnam War prompted the adoption of assault rifles by the rest of NATO. By the end of the 20th century, assault rifles had become the standard weapon in most of the world's armies, replacing full-powered rifles and submachine guns in most roles. The two most successful modern assault rifles are the AK-47 and the M16 designs and their derivatives.
The M3 is an American .45-caliber submachine gun adopted by the U.S. Army on 12 December 1942, as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M3. The M3 was chambered for the same .45 ACP round fired by the Thompson submachine gun, but was cheaper to mass produce and lighter, at the expense of accuracy. The M3 was commonly referred to as the "Grease Gun" or simply "the Greaser," owing to its visual similarity to the mechanic's tool.
The Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917, also called the RSC M1917, was a gas-operated, semi-automatic rifle placed into service by the French Army during the latter part of World War I. It was chambered in 8mm Lebel, the rimmed cartridge used in other French Army infantry weapons of the time. In total, the French national armories, primarily Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne (MAS) and Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Tulle (MAT), manufactured 86,000 RSC M1917 rifles until production ended in late November 1918. However, very few examples have survived in fully-functional, semi-automatic condition and those have become highly sought-after collectibles.
The PPS is a family of Soviet submachine guns chambered in 7.62×25mm Tokarev, developed by Alexei Sudayev as a low-cost personal defense weapon for reconnaissance units, vehicle crews and support service personnel.
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, and is the first mass-used intermediate cartridge in the world.
