A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries.
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 submachine gun was developed during World War I (1914–1918) as a close quarter offensive weapon, mainly for trench raiding. At its peak during World War II (1939–1945), millions of submachine guns were made for assault troops and auxiliaries whose doctrines emphasized close-quarter suppressive fire. New submachine gun designs appeared frequently during the Cold War, especially among special forces, covert operation commandos and mechanized infantrymen. Submachine gun usage for frontline combat decreased in the 1980s and 1990s, and by the early 21st century, submachine guns have largely been replaced by assault rifles, which have a longer effective range, have increased stopping power, and can better penetrate the helmets and body armor used by modern soldiers. However, they are still used by security forces, police tactical units, paramilitary and bodyguards for close-quarters combat because they are "a pistol-caliber weapon that's easy to control, and less likely to overpenetrate the target".
The IMI Galil is a family of Israeli-made automatic rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. Originally designed by Yisrael Galili and Yakov Lior in the late 1960s, the Galil was first produced by the state-owned Israel Military Industries and is now exported by the privatized Israel Weapon Industries.
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 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 STEN is a British submachine gun chambered in 9×19mm which was used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and during the Korean War. The Sten paired a simple design with a low production cost, facilitating mass production to meet the demand for submachine guns.
The Steyr AUG is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG.
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.
Knight's Armament Company (KAC) is an American firearms and firearms parts manufacturer, known for producing the Rail Interface System (RIS) and the Rail Adapter System (RAS) grips for firearms use. The company produces a variety of firearms, including AR-15-style rifles.
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 CZ Model 23/25 was a series of Czechoslovak designed submachine guns introduced in 1948. There were four generally very similar submachine guns in this series: the Sa 23, Sa 24, Sa 25, and Sa 26. The primary designer was Jaroslav Holeček, chief engineer of the Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod arms factory.
The Moschetto Automatico Revelli-Beretta Mod. 1915 was a self-loading carbine that entered service in 1918 with the Italian Armed Forces. Designed as a semi-automatic carbine, the weapon came with an overhead inserted magazine, an unconventional design based on the simplicity of allowing a spent round to be replaced using assistance from gravity. The gun was made from half of a Villar-Perosa aircraft submachine gun.
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 Beretta Model 38 was an Italian submachine gun introduced in 1938 and used by the Royal Italian Army during World War II. It was first issued to Italian police units stationed in Italy's African colonies. The Italian army was impressed by the gun's performance and decided to adopt a version to be used by the army's elite formations and military police, but requested a modified variant which had no bayonet and a different muzzle brake. This variant was widely used by the Royal Italian Army on all theatres of World War II Italy was involved in. The guns were also used by the German, Romanian and Argentine militaries of the era.
The FAMAE SAF is a submachine gun produced and manufactured by FAMAE since 1993.
The BXP is a 9×19mm submachine gun developed by Andries Piek, with the fully automatic version finalised in 1978, and the semi-automatic version for civilians coming later in 1984. Due to an international arms embargo against South Africa, South Africans designed and manufactured some weapons as a small firearms industry developed locally. The BXP was one of these locally designed and developed firearms, and is considered the final stage of development of the line of hand machine carbines that started with the LDP in Rhodesia and the Kommando in South Africa. Produced originally by the South African company Milkor (Pty) Ltd, its name 'BXP' stands for 'Blowback eXperimental Parabellum', hinting both at its operating mechanism as well as its caliber. The original automatic version of the BXP was intended for use by South African law enforcement, including the South African Police, the Correctional Services, and the specialised airport security unit based at the then Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg.
The KRISS Vector is a series of weapons based upon the parent submachine gun design developed by the American company KRISS USA, formerly Transformational Defense Industries (TDI).
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 Gerard J. 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 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.
