This is a tool for soldiers.
It can fire many shots fast. It is smaller than a big gun. Soldiers used it long ago. It helped them in wars.
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This is a tool for soldiers.
It fires shots very fast. It is smaller than a big gun. It uses small bullets.
A man named John Thompson helped make them. Many were made for big wars. Some were used by police too. These tools helped in close fights.
They are very famous tools.
A submachine gun is a tool used by soldiers.
It is an automatic weapon. This means it can fire many shots very fast. It uses small bullets made for handguns. Because the bullets are small, the gun is lighter than a big rifle.
John T. Thompson helped name this kind of tool. He called it a "submachine gun." The word "sub" means it has less power than a large machine gun. These tools became very important during World War I. Soldiers used them for close fights in trenches.
The MP 18 was the first practical submachine gun. It was used by German troops in the last year of World War I. Later, the Thompson gun became very famous. In the United States, people called it the "Tommy Gun."
During World War II, many new designs appeared. The German MP 40 was made in very large numbers. It was easy to make and used plastic parts.
Other countries made their own tools too. The Italian Beretta Model 38 was very successful. It was strong and worked well for many troops.
A submachine gun is a special kind of automatic tool.
It is designed to fire handgun cartridges, which are smaller bullets. This makes the tool lighter than a standard machine gun. A machine gun must fire rifle cartridges to keep that name. John T. Thompson helped name this design. He used the word "sub" to show it has less power than a machine gun.
This distinction helps people understand how it works in combat.
These tools work by using a magazine to hold bullets.
The magazine feeds the bullets into the gun one by one. Many models can fire in full-automatic mode. This means the gun fires many shots very quickly. Some versions can also fire in single shots. This choice allows the user to control how they use the tool. Some designs even use a folding stock to make them smaller.
A stock is a part that rests against a person's shoulder.
History shows that these tools changed a lot over time. In 1918, the MP 18 became the first practical submachine gun. It was used by German stormtroopers during World War I. Later, the Thompson entered production as the M1921 in the United States. It was quite expensive at $200 back in 1921. In the 1920s, many new versions of the MP 18 appeared. These included the MP 28, which used a simple box magazine.
Designers were always looking for better ways to build them.
World War II saw a huge increase in how these were made.
The German MP 40 was a very famous model. About one million of these were made during the war. It was lighter than the older MP 38 model. It used stamped parts to make it faster and cheaper to build. The Italian Beretta Model 38 was also very successful. It was a strong tool used by many different troops.
It even had two triggers for different firing modes.
Today, we can see how these tools link to modern items.
Some newer tools, like the FN P90, are called personal defense weapons. They are a special group within the submachine gun family. You might also see tools that look like handguns but fire automatically. These are sometimes called machine pistols. This category includes the Glock 18 and the Beretta 93R. Even though the designs change, the basic idea remains the same. They are built for quick use in close spaces.
A submachine gun, often called an SMG, is a magazine-fed automatic carbine. It is specifically designed to fire handgun cartridges rather than larger rifle ammunition.
This distinction is important for its classification. Because a true machine gun must fire rifle cartridges, the submachine gun is considered a separate category of firearm. The term "submachine gun" was actually created by John T. Thompson. He was the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun. He used the prefix "sub-" to indicate that the weapon had notably less firepower than a standard machine gun.
The mechanism of an SMG relies on a magazine to feed ammunition into the chamber. These weapons are designed for automatic fire, meaning they can discharge many rounds in quick succession. Some models also feature selective fire. This allows the user to switch between single shots and fully automatic bursts. To make the weapon more portable, many designs include a stock. A stock is a part that rests against the shoulder to help the user manage the weapon. Some modern designs even use a folding stock to reduce the overall size of the tool.
Submachine guns have several different names depending on the source or region. British Commonwealth sources often call them "machine carbines." Other experts use the term "machine pistol" for weapons like the MP 40 or MP5. This is because they fire pistol-caliber ammunition. However, "machine pistol" can also describe a handgun that is capable of automatic or burst fire, such as the Glock 18. Additionally, a specific subset of these weapons is known as personal defense weapons, which includes the FN P90.
The history of the SMG began during the early 20th century. In 1895, Hiram Maxim produced a "miniature Maxim" that used pistol caliber rounds. By 1914, Italian officer Abiel Bethel Revelli patented a twin-barreled automatic gun. While many believe these were made for aircraft, Revelli designed them with ground use in mind. During World War I, the Austro-Hungarian M.12/P16 became the first machine pistol adopted by a military. However, the first truly practical submachine gun was the German MP 18. Developed by Bergmann Waffenfabrik, it was used extensively by German stormtroopers in 1918.
The interwar period saw the rise of the famous Thompson submachine gun in the United States. It entered production as the M1921 and was nicknamed the "Tommy Gun" or "Chicago Typewriter." In 1921, the weapon cost approximately $200. While it was used by various groups, including the Mafia, it was also used by the FBI and the U.S. Marine Corps. During this same era, many other designs appeared. The German MP 28 improved upon the MP 18 by using a reliable box magazine. Other notable models included the high-quality MP 34 and the widely exported MP 35.
World War II changed how these weapons were manufactured. Designers moved away from complex, expensive models toward weapons built for mass production. The German MP 40 is a primary example of this shift. It was lighter than the earlier MP 38 and used stamped parts to make it cheaper and faster to build. About one million MP 40s were produced during the war.
Another highly successful design was the Italian Beretta Model 38. It was extremely robust and used by both Axis and Allied troops. The MAB 38 featured two triggers: one for semi-automatic fire and one for full-automatic fire.
Submachine guns have played a significant role in military doctrine for over a century. They were originally developed for close-quarter offensive tasks, such as trench raiding during World War I. During World War II, millions were produced for assault troops who used suppressive fire in close combat. While their use on the front lines decreased during the 1980s and 1990s, they remained important for special forces and commandos. Today, the evolution of the SMG continues through specialized categories like personal defense weapons, which balance compact size with effective firepower.
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