Machine pistol
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAC : Machine pistol
A machine pistol combines several properties of the semi-automatic handgun and the submachine gun. Machine pistols are magazine-fed and self-cocking. These weapons are capable of automatic or burst fire, and being the size of a pistol are able to be held comfortably in one hand. The 1932 Mauser Model 712 'SchnellFeuer', a modification of Mauser's 1896 design, is notable as the first widely accepted and mass-produced machine pistol.
However, firing such pistols at a fully-automatic (machine-gun) burst has been notoriously difficult for the user to control, leading to the development of an "intermittent-fire" setting that fires a burst of 3-shots instead of full-automatic. This system has almost completely replaced the fully-automatic burst in contemporary machine-pistols. The first pistol developed with the 3-shot system might be the Heckler & Koch VP70.
The term "machine pistol" is a literal translation of Maschinenpistole, the German term for a submachine gun. While the term existed previously as a synonym for semi-automatic pistols, Western references to automatic machine pistols appear at least as early as 1935. Today several types of weapon are variously described as either machine pistols or submachine guns, such as the MAC-10, and the closely related Uzi series. Most modern machine pistols take the form of handguns with the 3-shot burst-fire setting, such as the Beretta 93R. Currently, only one machine pistol in the form of a handgun is capable of full-auto fire, the GLOCK 18.
The difference between machine pistols and submachine guns is ill-defined and often misunderstood. In addition, the popularity of submachine guns in recent years has led many weapons apparently correctly defined as machine pistols to be advertised and referred to as submachine guns. Perhaps the most obvious example is the B&T MP9 formerly known as the Steyr TMP.
Though many submachine guns possess a stock and are thus capable of being fired from the shoulder akin to a rifle, this is not a clearly defining feature as numerous submachine guns lack a stock, and several machine pistols possess them.
While there is no uniform set of defining characteristics of the type, being chambered for a pistol cartridge and being capable of firing more than one round per trigger pull are two of the features of a machine pistol. Many have a magazine contained within the grip, and several have select-fire capabilities.
Machine pistols are sometimes preferred by undercover operatives for their small size and high rate of fire. Specialist units such as SWAT also use machine pistols on occasion, mostly inside buildings and other cramped spaces.
See also
- Submachine guns, a similar, but distinct type of firearm.
- Some machine pistols
External links
- [Personal Defense Weapons: Machine Pistols]
- [Article on GLOCK 18, a fully automatic pistol]
- [Article on Stetckin APS Machine Pistol]
- [Article on KG-99]
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