I think the ppsh41 as the best asian gun The thompson 'tommy' gun as the best north american The MP40 as the best european gun The owen smg as the best austrailan gun I am still thinking about the best afican and south american gun
H&K MP5 and FN P90 8) P-90 is very cool, I've seen a video of it being fired by 1 hand, it still looked very accurate.
No. The Australians did put the Sten into production as the Austen, but much preferred the Owen as it was far more reliable. The top-mounted magazine was particularly reliable, and it meant you could lie flat and still aim the gun without raising your head. I prefer the feel of SMGs from before they went all cheapo with stamped steel (even though in wartime they needed to be cheap!). The pre-WW2 Solothurn S1-100 was beautifully made, and the Hungarian Kiraly had a more sophisticated mechanism which turned it into more of an automatic carbine. Both weapons fired the 9x25 Mauser Export cartridge, significantly more powerful than the usual 9x19 Parabellum. Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
the thompson.. It was a beast and spoke with much authority.. I always liked the Russian gun with a drum too.. Hows about the B.A.R. ? Browning Automatic Rifle. Operation Air cooled, gas operated, magazine fed, shoulder type M1918A1 selective fire (fully and semi-automatic) M1918A2 fully automatic Caliber .30 (30-06) Muzzle velocity 853.4 mps (2800 fps) Capacity 20-round detachable box magazine (1) Bandoleer (BAR belt): 12 magazines (2) Magazine changeable in 2-4 seconds (but averaged 6-8 seconds in combat) Weight 8.33 kg (18.5 lbs) Overall length 119.4 cm (47 in.) Rate of fire 550 rounds per minute Effective range 550m (600 yds) Ammunition (1) Ball M2; 150 gr bullet, 50 gr charge (2) Tracer M25, M1: for designating targets and signalling (3) Armor piercing M2 (black tip); 165gr/53gr (4) Armor piercing incendiary: for lightly armored flammable targets I dunno, its not really a SMG It spoke with much authority also.
It's definitely not an SMG at all since it fires a full power rifle cartridge, SMGs fire pistol cartrdiges at fully automatic or selective fire rates, and as much as it had it's fans there were also a weakness in the design of the BAR: the magazine capacity of only 20 rounds. What do you mean by "Spoke with Authority" anyway? The Bren was probably a better (Although later) design or at least as good, with a better magazine capacity. A friend of mine who served in a TA infantry regiment in the 1980s spoke quite highly of the 7.62mm NATO version, the only criticisms he had were that the limited magazine capacity limited the potential for continuous fire, and that if anything it was "too accurate to be used as an LMG". Useful features were that apparently the SLR and Bren Magazines were interchangable, allowing the SLR users the benfit of a 30 round magazine if they could steal one of the Bren gunner, and allowing the Bren gunner to use the SLR's magzines if his own had ran out. SMG wise I always wondered about the placement of the Magazine on the Sterling and Sten, how much of a hinderance was that to left handed users? Or did it make no practical difference?
well "Spoke with athourity" means it could reach out and touch you..600 mtrs the generally 30-06 round is fairly potent (Garrand) the B.A.R.could be belt fed.. Bandoleer (BAR belt) You can buy 30-06 rounds in a 55 grain bullet which is excellent for coyote, varmints, and small game. The 110 grain to 160 grain range of bullets are perfect for most of the deer that populate the country. The 150 grain to 180 grain rounds were originally designed for combat and work as well today as they every have. The 180 grain to 220 grain bullets are fine for moose and bear, the large game. Loaded for Bear hmmm
Never heard that the BAR could use a belt before, the Bandoleer is simply something that a soldier can wear to carry his ammunition: You can get a bandoleer for an L85A1/A2, doesn't make it Belt fed though... In a nutshell a bandoleer is not belt-feed. The BAR could use 20 round magazines. I agree that the 30-06 is generally pretty potent, for a military weapon such as the BAR what is most usefull though is the specs for the military Ball round since this is what the soldiers would actually use. the .303 is pretty potent as is the 7.62mm NATO, I don't think there's a great deal in it. Certainly not enough to make you feel greatful that you were shot by one or the other! 'Tis still not an SMG. I would also doubt the Thompson's effectiveness at 600 metres, and I would say that whatever the armchair historian's view I would like to bet that a burst from any WWII SMG would have you on the floor wishing you'd not been hit.
Sorry, just realised that you were refering to the BAR being effective at 600m not the Thompson, my mistake...
Because WWII was the highpoint of the SMG, these days it's largely been eclipsed by the Assault Rifle.
Here's another take on the BAR "speaking" with authority. I went to the WWII Weekend at the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading PA today, and among the events was a small unit "action" between some German and American re-enactors set in a mock-up of a French village. As I walked toward the show, I could hear the various barks and rat-a-tat-tats of the gunfire. Unmistakable was the bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpp of an MG42, as well as the pops of Kar98s and M1s. However, there was one very noticeable fast and concussive pop-pop-pop dominating the other gunshots. When I got close enough to see who was shooting what, the pop-pop-popping was coming from a BAR. That was one helluva noisemaker (if the blanks being used sounded like a live-firing BAR). I'll say it made an impression on me and a number of other observers.
The Scorpion seems to get listed as a Machine Pistol a bit too, what about the VP-70? Of the "True" SMGs I think the MP5 family are probably still amongst the best of the modern SMGs.