A machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire. The term can also be used to describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of Maschinenpistole, the German word for submachine guns. Machine pistols were developed during World War I and originally issued to German artillery crews who needed a self-defense weapon that is lighter than a rifle but more powerful than a standard semi-automatic pistol. This concept would eventually lead to the development of the personal defense weapon or PDW. Today, machine pistols are considered special-purpose weapons with limited utility, with their original niche being filled with either the PDW, carbines, or simply more modern semi-automatic sidearms. Contributing to their already-fringe use, without a shoulder stock and training, machine pistols can be difficult to control for all but the best shooters.
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 Uzi is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel. It is one of the first weapons to incorporate a telescoping bolt design, which allows the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon.
The Vektor R4 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in 1979 based on the IMI Galil rifle. It entered service as the standard service rifle of the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1980. The R4 replaced the R1, a variant of the 7.62×51mm FN FAL. It was produced by Lyttelton Engineering Works, now Denel Land Systems.
The PM-84 Glauberyt is a Polish submachine gun. It is a personal weapon intended for combat and self-defence at ranges up to 150 m with single shot or fully automatic fire mode. It features a compact design, minimum overall dimensions, small weight, very good accuracy, and fire stability. It is designed for heavy weapons platoons personnel and reconnaissance detachments, special anti-terrorist and police troops.
The PP-19 Bizon is a 9×18mm Makarov submachine gun developed in 1993 by the Russian company Izhmash, designed by a team of engineers headed by Victor Kalashnikov. Alexei Dragunov, youngest son of Yevgeny Dragunov, was also a member of the design team.
The Saiga-12 is a shotgun available in a wide range of configurations, patterned after the Kalashnikov series of rifles and named after the Saiga antelope native to Russia. Like the Kalashnikov rifle variants, it is a rotating bolt, long-stroke gas piston operated firearm that feeds from a box magazine. All Saiga-12 configurations are recognizable as Kalashnikov-pattern guns by the large lever-safety on the right side of the receiver, the optic mounting rail on the left side of the receiver and the large top-mounted dust cover held in place by the rear of the recoil spring assembly. Saiga firearms are meant for civilian domestic sale in Russia, and export to international markets.
The PM-63 RAK is a Polish 9×18mm submachine gun, designed by Piotr Wilniewczyc in cooperation with Tadeusz Bednarski, Grzegorz Czubak and Marian Wakalski. The RAK combines the characteristics of a self-loading pistol and a fully automatic submachine gun.
The karabinek wzór 1988 Tantal is a 5.45×39mm assault rifle designed and produced in Poland in the late 1980s.
The Jatimatic is a Finnish 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Jali Timari. The submachine gun made its debut in 1983. The Jatimatic was manufactured in very limited numbers initially by Tampereen Asepaja Oy of Tampere and later—Oy Golden Gun Ltd. The firearm was designed primarily for police, security forces and armored vehicle crews. It was never adopted into service by the Finnish Defence Forces, although the later GG-95 PDW version was tested by the FDF in the 1990s.
The PP-2000 is a submachine gun/machine pistol made by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau. It was first publicly displayed at the Interpolytech-2004 exhibition in Moscow even though its patent was filed in 2001 and issued in 2003.
The Ameli is a 5.56mm light machine gun designed for the Spanish Army by the nationally owned and operated Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales (CETME) small arms research institute.
The Model L is a Spanish 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the late 1970s at the state-owned small arms research and development establishment CETME located in Madrid. The rifle retains many of the proven design elements the institute had used previously in its CETME Model 58 battle rifles.
The PSM was designed by the Tula Design Bureau in 1969 as a self-defense firearm for law enforcement and military officers of the USSR. The pistol entered production at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant in 1973.
The ČZ 2000 is a prototype 5.56 mm caliber Czech weapon system, consisting of a standard rifle, carbine and light machine gun. The system was developed in 1991 after adapting the LADA firearm prototype J. Denel from the Brno-based Prototypa-ZM company is the chief designer for both systems. The ČZ 2000 was to be produced by Česká zbrojovka of Uherský Brod. It was planned to be the new service weapon of the Czech Army, replacing: the 7.62 mm vz. 58 assault rifle, 7.65 mm vz. 61 Škorpion submachine gun and 7.62 mm vz. 59 machine gun. As of 2007, the project has been discontinued.
The RMb-93 is a pump-action shotgun designed and manufactured by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau of Tula, Russia. It is the baseline model of the Rys ("Lynx") series of shotguns, taking the modelname of Rys-K. The RMb-93 has been conceived as a combat weapon for Special Forces and Police units that might face Close Quarters Battle situations. The weapon is thus engineered to reduce size and encumbrance as much as possible.
The PP-91 KEDR is a 9mm machine pistol developed from a prototype from the 1970s and since 1994 adopted by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The SR-2 "Veresk" is a Russian submachine gun designed to fire the 9×21mm Gyurza pistol cartridge.
The Demro TAC-1 is a semi-automatic carbine chambered in either .45 ACP or 9×19mm Parabellum. The TAC-1 is the reintroduction of the Fox Carbine to the law enforcement market after a fallout between Gerry Fox, the inventor, and Dean Machine Inc. of Manchester, CT. Although it is visually similar to the Thompson submachine gun the operation and design is quite different. The design is a closer cousin to the Soviet PPSh-41.
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.
