MP44 or Sturmgewehr-44

Caliber: 7.92x33 mm (7.92mm Kurz)
Action: Gas operated, tilting bolt
Overall length: 940 mm
Barrel length: 419 mm
Weigth: 5.22 kg
Rate of fire: 500 rounds per minute
Magazine capacity: 30 rounds

This weapon, known as a worlds first assault rifle, was developed in Hitlers' Germany during the World War Two. Initial development took place under the designation of MKb.42 - MachinenKarabine, 1942. The experimental MKb's were developed by two german companies, Karl Walther (MKb.42(W)) and C.G.Haenel (MKb.42(H)). Both guns were intended as a replacement for submachine guns, bolt action rifles and, partly, light machineguns for front troops. Both guns were designed to fire intermediate (between rifle and pistol) cartridge, and have effective range of 600 meters or so. The 7.92mm Kurz cartridge, developed by Polte company, propelled 8.1 g (125 grains) bullet to rougly 680 meters per second.

After initial trials the MKb.42(H), designed by Hugo Schmeisser, was found superior of two, and further development took place under the name of MP-43 (MachinenPistole, 1943, to avoid Hitlers opposition to made anything but SMGs). Some MP-43s were issued to troops at western front, and field reports were very promising. Final version appeared under the designation of Mp-44, and then Hitler finally approved it, but the new gun received also a new designation - SturmGevehr-44, which stands for no more than "Assult Rifle" in german language. This was pure act of propaganda, but the name stuck not only to that gun, but to the whole new class of automatic weapons, designed to fire intermediate cartridges. Total number of MP-43s, MP-44s and StG.44s produced was about 500 000, and these guns proved itself as wery effective, but not withouth some flaws. After end of the war the direct development of the Stg.44 was stopped, but some remained guns were used by East Germany.

The StG.44 is a gas operated, selective fire weapon. The receiver and trigger housing with pistol grip are made from steel stampings. Trigger housing with pistol grip is hinged to the receiver and folds town for disassembly. Gas drive utilises long piston stroke, and bolt is tipped down to lock into the receiver. Gun is fired from the closed bolt (unlike the early Mkb.42(H) which fired from the open bolt). Also, MP-43 and further versions all were hammer-fired, while MKb.42(H) was striker-fired. Charging handle is attached to the gas piston rod, ejection port has a dust cover. Recoil spring is located inside the wooden butt. Handguard were made of stamping.

By the modern standards, the StG.44 was too heavy, it was not too comfortable to fire from prone positions, the butt attachment was not too strong and could be easily damaged in hands-to-hands combat, but it was the FIRST gun of its class, and it was more effective than SMG.

PSG-1

The Guys in the Police and Counter-Terrorism, rely on the best semi-automatic sniper rifle off the shelf. Presenting.... Heckler and Koch's PSG-1.

Caliber: 7.62 x 51mm NATO (.308 Win)
Action: Semi-automatic, roller-delayed blowback
Barrel: 650 mm
Overall length: 1208 mm
Weight: 8.10 kg with scope and no magazine
Magazine: 5 or 20 round detachable box
Scope: Hendsoldt 6x42, 6 settings from 100 to 600 meters
Expected accuracy: Sub-1MOA with match grade ammunition

The PSG-1 sniper system (PrazisionsSchutzenGewehr, or "high-precision marksman's rifle" in English) had been developed by the German company Heckler - Koch by the mid-1980s as an ultimate police and counter-terror weapon. Some German elite law-enforcement groups, like GSG or KSK-9, participate in this development, and since its introduction the PSG-1 had been adopted by various police forces in Europe and Americas. It is way too heavy and somewhat too gentle for military use, so it never seen any military use. Instead, HK developed two more sniper weapons. The first, that actually preceded the PSG-1, was the G3-SG1, an accurized and scope-fitted version of the basic G3 automatic rifle for German Army. And in the mid-1980s HK also developed a derivative of the PSG-1, called MSG-90, for export military sales. The PSG-1 is still offered by the HK, and is one of the most expensive factory-made sniper rifles on the market, hitting the $10.000 price tag in the basic package.

Technically, the PSG-1 is no more than a heavily modified G3 rifle. It features the same roller-delayed blowback action, derived from earlier CETME rifles, and the same stamped steel receiver with separate detachable trigger unit. The heavy barrel is precisely made by the cold hammer forging process with polygonal rifling for improved accuracy and longer life. Special trigger unit features a semi-automatic only hammer group and the adjustable trigger with trigger pull of about 1.5 kg (3 lbs). The ergonomically shaped pistol grip features an adjustable palm stop. Plastic buttstock is also adjustable for height and for length of pull. Another non-typical feature of the PSG-1 is the "silent bolt closing device", actually similar to the forward assist, found on M16 rifles. This is apparently to be used in situations where a complete silence must be maintained until the shot is fired. The devise is no more that a pushbutton, located just behind the ejection port, and linked to the bolt carrier by the ratchet-like device. The rifle is fed using standard 20-rounds G3 magazines or special 5-rounds magazines. There's no open (iron) sights on the PSG-1. Instead, it is fitted with the Hendsoldt 6X42 fixed power telescope sight with illuminated reticle. The scope has built-in range adjuster that works in ranges from 100 to 60 meters, so 600 meters is considered the maximum effective range. Most strangely, the PSG-1 had no integral bipod. Instead, it is often used with the separate rest, mounted on the compact tripod.

BAR M1918 (Browning Automatic Rifle)

"1st squad draw their fire to their left, second squad, give a full supressing fire on them"
Supressing fire is the word for use for a BAR MG.

Data for M1918A2
Caliber: 7.62x63mm (.30-06 M2)
Weight: 8.8 kg empty
Length: 1214 mm
Length of barrel: 610 mm
Feeding: detachable box magazine, 20 rounds
Rate of fire: 450 or 650 rounds/min, selectable

The Browning Automatic Rifle was designed by the famous American arms designer John Moses Browning late in the First World War, on the request from US Expeditionary corps in Europe. Initially it was just like that - the Automatic Rifle, a selective fire weapon, intended for use by infantry men to fire from the shoulder or from the hip when advancing onto the enemy positions, and to provide mobile firepower to every squad, since the standard machine guns were heavy and much less maneuverable. But the BAR M1918 was way too heavy for a shoulder fired weapon, being more that 2 times heavier than a bolt-action Springfield M1903 rifle and exactly 2 times heavier than a latter M1 Garand semiautomatic rifle. On the other hand, it was too light to be controllable in full automatic mode, especially when firing such a powerful round from a shouldered unsupported position. Anyway, the M1918, made by the Colt Firearms co. were issued to some US troops by the end of the war. After the war, the development of the BAR continued. In 1922, US Cavalry adopted the M1922 light machine gun, which featured a folding bipod under the partially ribbed barrel, a removable monopod ("third leg") under the butt, and a M1917 machine gun sights. The Colt company also produced a lightened semi-automatic version of the BAR, called a Colt model 75 "Monitor" rifle. This was intended mostly for police use, but also found its way into the hands of outlaws, too.

During the 1930s, next version of the BAR, designated as M1918A1, was briefly manufactured. This gun featured skid-footed folding bipods, attached to the gas block. The butt was fitted with hinged steel buttplate.

In 1939, the final American version of the BAR appeared, under the designation of M1918A2. This version, manufactured by Colt, Marlin-Rockwell, and Winchester, served in the Squad Automatic Weapon role with US troops during the 2nd World War and latter Korea War. Many of earlier M1918A1 guns were converted to the M1918A2 configuration, which featured skid-footed adjustable bipod under the flash hider, M1917 sights, smaller forend and metal heat shield between barrel and cylinder/spring, single shots replaced by two selectable full auto modes, with fast (~650 rpm) and slow (~450 rpm) rates of fire. The bipod, however, was somewhat awkward, uncomfortable and heavy, so many M1918A2 were used with bipod removed.

The BAR also found its way into many European armies, when Browning sold his design to the famous Belgian company Fabrique Nationale. In more or less modified form, BAR served with Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Baltic states and so on. The ultimate BAR version, however, appeared only after the 2nd World War, when FN introduced its BAR Type D light machine gun, with quick detachable barrel and return spring moved into the butt. This gun had seen not too much service, being adopted only by Belgian army prior to switch to the smaller 7.62mm NATO cartridge. There were numerous attempts in the USA to convert the BAR for this new ammunition, but the design was poorly suited to modern manufacturing, so with the adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO as a standard ammunition the US army was left without its Squad Automatic weapons until the 1982, when the M249 SAW (FN Minimi light machine gun) was introduced into service.

It must be noted that while being technically a very good design (typical for Browning's genius), BAR was not too successful in both Automatic Rifle and LMG role. For Automatic Rifle it was too heavy and too uncontrollable in full auto. For LMG, it lacked the magazine capacity and the quick replaceable barrel, being inferior in terms of sustained firepower to the pre-WW2 LMGs like British BREN, Soviet Degtyarov DP-27 and the like.

Technical description.
The BAR M1918 is a gas operated, magazine fed, air cooled weapon. It used the gas piston, located under the barrel, and the bolt with tilting locking lug, that was raised to lock into the roof of the receiver. This lug was linked to the operating rod via the swinging link, much like in the earlier Berthier system. The BAR always fired from the open bolt to avoid cook-offs. The return spring was located around the gas piston under the barrel, so it was prone to overheating and lost its temper during the prolonged fire sessions, resulting in jams and stoppages. This issue was somewhat cured in M1918A1 with introduction of the heat shield between the barrel and the spring, located inside the forend.

The receiver was a machined piece of steel, and the un was fed from the detachable 20 rounds box magazines. Barrel was fitted with flash hiders of different types, and, since the M1818A1, the wooden buttstock was also fitted with the hinged buttplate. The latter production models of M1918A2 were also fitted with carrying handle.

The buttstocks and forends were mostly made from wood, but on late production M1918A2's sometimes were also made from plastics.

Ak-47

Russian counterpart for the M4 Carbine.

Caliber 7.62x39 mm Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt with 2 lugs Overall length: 870 mm Barrel length: 415 mm Weight, with empty magazine: AK 4,3 kg; AKM 3,14 kg Magazine capacity 30 rounds (40 rounds box magazines and 75 rounds drums from RPK also may be used) Cyclic rate of fire 600 rounds per minute Maximum effective range: about 400 meters

Thompson Sub Machine gun

Some say you can't defeat a German during WWII because he is holding a MP40! To match the MP40 and MP38, the US is sending out Tommy for a spin. that's right Thompson SMG AKA Tommy Gun!

	M1921	M1928	M1
Caliber	.45ACP	.45ACP	.45ACP
Weight, empty	4.69 kg	4.9 kg	4.78 kg
Length	830 mm	852 mm	811 mm
Barrel length	267 mm	267 mm	267 mm
Rate of fire	~ 1000 rpm	~ 700 rpm	~ 700 rpm
Magazine capacity	20 or 30 rounds box ("stick") magazines and 50 or 100 rounds drums	same as M1921	20 or 30 rounds box
Effective range	100-150 meters	100-150 meters	100-150 meters

John T. Thompson founded the Auto Ordnance Corp. in 1916, and began his developments in submachine guns with purchase of John Blish patent (1915), that described a delayed blowback automatic firearm. This patent described delayed blowback breech system in which a sloping metal wedge interlocked the breech block with the gun body. Under high pressure, as when the cartridge fired, the angle of the slope was such that the mating faces jammed solid. As the pressure dropped, the faces were able to slip across each other, the wedge moved up due to the slope, and the breech unlocked. This idea was used in all Thompson submachine guns except for M1 and M1A1 (those were simply blowback operated).

The first Thompson experimental submachine gun appeared in 1919, and first production model appeared in 1921; it was manufactured under contract by Colt Firearms Manufacturing Co, as well as later M1928 models. Production of M1928A1 and M1 submachine guns was carried out by Auto-Ordnance and Savage, and some licensed copies were manufactured by B.S.A. in Great Britain.
There also were some submachine guns that never reached full-scale production, such as "Military model" M1923, which was developed with intent to extend the effective range out to 600 yards (approx 550 meters). To achieve this goal, M1923 was chambered for a special .45 Remington-Thompson ammunition, which fired heavier 250-grain (16,2 gram) bullet (as opposed to standard 230-grain .45ACP bullet) at higher muzzle velocities of about 1450 fps (440m/s). This weapon also had longer barrel, and optional bipod and bayonet mount. It was tested but never produced in any significant numbers. The other rare version was the original Model 1927, which was a semi-automatic only version of Model 1921.

The first Thompson gun to see some military use was Model 1928, used by US navy during its expedition in Nicaragua. The so-called "Navy" model 1928 was distinguished by a horizontal forearm that replaced the front grip, and by added sling swivels. With the start of World war 2, US Army procured a large number of Model 1928 submachine guns in "Navy" configuration, marked as US Model 1928A1. These weapons were rather expensive to make, and in 1942 Army adopted a simplified version of M1928A1, known as M1. A little later, an M1A1 version was adopted, which further simplified the design by adoption of a fixed firing pi; otherwise M1A1 were similar to M1 submachine guns. Thomson submachine guns served in US Army well into the Vietnam era, although in limited numbers. American police used Thompson guns until 1970s or 1980s, and few still could be found in some police armories in USA and several other countries of the world.
Thompson submachine guns were widely exported commercially prior to and after WW2; Many guns were supplied to Britain and USSR through Lend-lease program during WW2. It must be noted that Soviet troops generally not liked Tommy guns, because of excessive weight and lack of bullet penetration, compared to 7,62mm submachine guns such as PPSh-41 or PPS-43.

Thompson M1921 and M1928 submachine guns were delayed blowback operated, selective fired weapons, based on Blish principle. Blish patent described a delayed blowback breech system in which a sloping metal wedge interlocked the breech block with the gun body. Under high pressure, as when the cartridge fired, the angle of the slope was such that the mating faces jammed solid. As the pressure dropped, the faces were able to slip across each other, the wedge moved up due to the slope, and the breech unlocked. The wartime M1 and M1A1 submachine guns used simple blowback action. All Thompson submachine guns fired from open bolt. The cocking handle was located on the top of receiver on Models of 1921 and 1928, ad on the right side of the receiver on models M1 and M1A1. Separate manual safety and fire mode selector levers were located on the left side of receiver, above the trigger. Barrel was usually partially finned, and on model 1928, fitted with so-called Cutts compensator (not present on M1 and M1A1). Feed was from double-row box magazines containing 20 or 30 rounds, or drum magazines holding 50 or 100 rounds. Box magazines were inserted into the magazine slot from below; drum magazines were inserted into the same slot from the side. Drum magazines were not available for M1 and M1A1 submachine guns.
Furniture included pistol grip, detachable wooden shoulder stock and either a detachable forward grip or a horizontal forearm. Sights on pre-war models included front blade and protected rear, which combined a fixed open-notch blade and raising diopter, which was adjustable for both windage and range (up to 500 yards). Wartime models (M1928A1, M1 and M1A1) used a simple fixed aperture (diopter) rear sight, with or without protecting side "ears".

At the present time, Kahr Arms makes a variety of "Tommy-guns" under Auto Ordnance trade mark. These weapons are limited to semi-automatic fire only and usually have longer barrel to conform to US laws.

MP5

This is the World's Fully Automatic Sub-Machine gun... Effiencient, powerful and more variants.

	MP-5A2	MP-5A3
Caliber	9x19mm Parabellum (also .40S&W and 10mm Auto)
Weight, empty	2.54 kg	2.88 kg
Length	680 mm	490 / 660 mm
Barrel length	225 mm
Rate of fire	800 rounds per minute
Magazines	15 and 30 rounds

The Heckler und Koch submachine gun, MP-5, is one of the most famous and wide-spread firearms of its class, developed since the Second World War. Its development began circa 1964 under the company designation HK MP-54, or simply HK 54. In the 1966, German police and Border Guard adopted the HK 54 as the MP-5, and it was originally available in two forms - MP-5 with fixed buttstock and MP-5A1 with retractable buttstock. Some years later HK slightly upgraded the design of MP-5, replacing the sights (from flip-up open notch rear and blade front to drum-type diopter rear and hooded post front) and the muzzle (replacing the two-slot muzzle compensator to the tree-lugs QD silencer mount without compensator). Other improvements made over the time concerned the magazines (early type magazines were of straight box type, latter - of curved box type for improved reliability). The trigger units also were upgraded - from original stamped steel with plastic grip to the all-plastic units, integral with grip, and with various fire modes and marking. Over the years MP-5 were adopted by the huge numbers of police, security and military forces around the world, including the German police and border guard, British police and elite Army SAS units, American police, FBI, Navy and Marine Corps, and many, many others. MP-5 is still manufactured in Germany by the HK itself, and also licensed to Greece, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico. The only real rival to the MP-5 in the terms of proliferation across the world is the famous Israeli UZI submachine gun. Most interestingly, the German Army (Bundeswehr) did not adopted the MP-5, most probably due to the economical reasons, and turned instead to the... UZI submachine guns, made under license in Belgium.
The success of the MP-5 is outstanding. It is based on the high quality and reliability of the gun, great single-shot accuracy (thanks to its closed bolt action), great flexibility and, of cause, good marketing. It seems that no other modern SMG at this time can rival the MP-5 in popularity (UZI is not manufactured anymore).

The MP-5, basically, is no more than the scaled-down version of the Heckler-Koch G3 battle rifle. It shares the same basic design with stamped steel receiver and the same roller-delayed blowback action, derived from the post-war CETME rifles. The trigger units are hinged to the receiver and are now available with various fire mode options, including 2 (Safe, Semi-auto), 3 (Safe, Semi, Full Auto) or 4 (Safe, Semi, Limited burst of 2 or 3 rounds, Full auto) position levers, ambidextrous or not, and marked with letters, digits or icons. The MP-5 is always fired from closed bolt for improved accuracy, but this limits the amount of sustained fire due to the barrel overheating and resulting cook-off problems. To avoid this, MP-5 cocking handle could be locked in the rear position in the special slot, leaving the bolt in the open position, with no cartridge in the chamber. To commence the fire one must simply release the cocking handle from its notch and then pull the trigger. Modern MP-5 submachine guns are equipped with three-lug quick detachable silencer mounts on the barrel. Sights are similar to other HK models, and consists of the front hooded post sight and the adjustable for windage and elevation drum-type diopter rear sight. Special quick-detachable clamp mounts allows for installation of night, optical and red-dot sights if required. Standard magazine capacity is 30 rounds, but shorter 15 rounds magazines are available. Special versions were developed and manufactured in limited numbers during 1980s-90s for the US Law Enforcement market, chambered for more powerful 10mm Auto (10x25mm) and .40S&W (10x22mm) ammunition. These guns can be easily distinguished from more common 9mm models by straight box 30 rounds magazines, made from plastic.

While all of MP-5 can be fitted with silencers, there also a dedicated silenced version of MP-5, called MP5SD2 or SD3 (depending on the stock type). This version is equipped with non detachable integral silencer, and the vented barrel, to reduce the bullet muzzle velocity down below the speed of sound. The MP-5SD is intended to fire standard 9mm ammunition, not the special subsonic one.

Semi-automatic only versions of the MP-5 were once made for civilian market under the designation of HK-94, some with longer, 16 inch (406 mm) barrels, to conform with US laws. There also is an US company, called Special Weapons LLC, that is manufacturing semi-automatic, civilian MP-5 clones in various pistol calibers, including the .45ACP.