Greetings to all members with this, my first post in this great forum. I am trying to find out if there really was a project for the development of a curved pistol that would enable you to shoot from around a corner and any details on whatever happened to this contraption...¿did it work?...¿was it ever tried in action?...Thanks for all your help.
'Shooting around corners' was a post-war nickname granted by US forces who were evaluating the the German efforts to produce a modified MP43/44. They are known as 'Krummer Lauf' or more correctly, 'Gebogene Lauf' ( 'curved barrel' ). Two experimental types were produced, 'Vorsatz-J' a 30-degree version for infantry use, and 'Vorsatz-P', a 90-degree version for use with a ball-mount in armmoured vehicles. The idea was first considered for aircraft-mounted heavy weapons. Rheinmetall-Borsig was instructed in late 1943 to develop the theory for combat use. Various weapons were tried and the earliest experiments featured the MG34 machine gun - which jammed continually. Attention switched to the new MP43 with its lower-powered ammunition. Numerous problems were experienced, including high barrel wear and fragmentation of bullets - and a completely new ( and very cumbersome ) prismatic sighting system had to be developed. By June 1944, both 30- and 90-degree types were considered satisfactory for procurement - but they never made it into full production and experimental variations continued to be worked on until the end of the war. I have never seen it proved that the weapon ever saw actual combat use. Rumours persist that an experimental MP40 with cuved barrel was produced, but I have never seen a photo or documentation in support of this. Captured experimental weapons were subjected to extensive trials post-war by US and British ordnance teams who basically decided that further development was not viable. Peter R Senich's book, 'The German Assault Rifle 1935-1945' contains much information and pages of photos.
A Russian version; http://domania.us/FramerT/misc./11240977670000.image.jpg sorry if it turns out poorly
