Automatic MP-40: specifications

In the films about the Great Patriotic War, many factual inaccuracies and gross mistakes are often allowed, and this is characteristic not only of contemporary films, but also of works shot during the times of the USSR. And the machine MP-40 should be attributed to the most striking "kinolapami."

In the movies, the Nazis are cheerfully pacing, holding the submachine gun hanging from the hip ... Almost every game set belonging to the WWII theme has a MP-40 toy automaton . And few remember that the saturation of the German troops with this weapon was weak, since the infantry was mostly armed with Mauser's carbines. Because of this, Hitler's infantrymen did not disdain the captured PPSh and PPS, converted to a 9-mm parabellum cartridge.

Hugo or not Hugo?

Very often the weapon is called "Schmeisser". The MP-40 automatic is, rather, the "Volmer", since Hugo Schmeisser himself had nothing to do with his creation. Well, apart from borrowing from his inventions the design of the store. The well-known gunsmith created MP-18, MP-28 and, subsequently, MP-41. By the way, the first two models were not used by the German army at the time. Generals (like their Soviet counterparts, by the way) considered submachine guns to be "toys", which can only be used by the police.

But the coming to power of Hitler, who, contrary to popular belief, was never a layman, allowed the gunsmiths to turn to full. Already in 1938 they received a state order for the creation of a submachine gun, which could be armed with troops, armored vehicles, servicemen of guns, doctors and other persons who did not need a full-size rifle or carbine. In the end, the order went to Erma.

Old developments and new design

This was not accidental, since the engineers of the firm had already had a reserve in the form of the Erma 36 submachine gun they had created. Heinrich Vollmer was the main developer of this weapon. Its outstanding innovation is the use of cold stamping from rolled sheets. At that time, no one else did.

It was on the basis of the "Erma" that he created the MP-38, from which the MP-40 machine also grew up. Details of wood were not, which greatly facilitated production, food was produced from a sectoral detachable store for 32 cartridges. Soon it turned out that the progressive punching technique allows to obtain only details of not too high quality, and therefore manufacturers had to return to complex and expensive milling.

By the way, the Germans could not bring the technology of cold stamping to perfection for the whole war. At first they did not have this tough need, and after that there was no time and resources left. Tried to rectify the situation Hugo Schmeisser: the machine MP-40, the technical characteristics of which we describe, he took as a basis, creating his MP-41. But it was already late.

The advent of MR-40

All this has reduced the rate of production so much that by the beginning of WWII there were less than nine thousand of these submachine guns in the arsenal of the Nazis. Because of this in mid-1940, the company received an order to upgrade weapons, which would allow it to raise its manufacturability to acceptable. Vollmer coped with the task. First, the technology of cold stamping of the receiver was still worked out and the details of the scarce aluminum were replaced by steel ones.

This is how the MP-40 machine appeared, which was immediately put into mass production. How strange, but even in times of war, the MP-40 and its ancestor, MR-38, were produced. It is believed that between 1940 and 1945, about one and a half million units were produced (most likely, not more than 1.3 million). So one can forget about the total arming of the German infantry with this weapon: almost one in ten armed with guns was armed.

The cartridge is a standard 9x19 "Parabellum", which today has become a de facto standard for both pistols and machine guns around the world. Let's notice, that specially for automatic devices in nazi Germany let out special cartridges with the increased hoard of gunpowder and a bullet possessing the best punched and forbidden action. To use them in pistols was strongly discouraged, as a result of which the weapon quickly deteriorated.

Principle of operation

The automation of the German PP was rather primitive, working on the principle of a free shutter. The latter was very massive, a powerful spring was responsible for its movement. Since the weapon was characterized by a massive shutter and a powerful return damper, its rate of fire (six rounds per second) and did not stand close to that of the PPSh, which was very good for the accuracy ... of single shots. The reverse side of the medal was the practical impossibility of "covering" a single target with a queue. When shooting tracers it was seen how the target was often accurate in the gap between the bullets.

Recall that the Soviet PPS "spit" at speeds of up to 11 shots per second, and the famous PPSh, which many soldiers called the "Eater of Shpagin's Cartridges" and did fire as an "adult" machine gun. His rate of fire reached 17-18 (!) Shots per second. So the MP-40 machine, the characteristics of which we are considering, was very "slow-moving" in this respect.

Specifications

A distinctive feature of the machines of the MR-38/40 family is a pronounced tide under the trunk. He had a dual role: on the one hand, he reduced the "bouncing" of the barrel when firing. On the other hand, it allowed clinging to embrasures in tanks and armored vehicles, increasing the accuracy of firing on the move.

The impact mechanism is the simplest, shock type. Like the PPS / PPS, the requirements for simplification of production forced the Germans to abandon the interpreter of shooting regimes, but at such a low rate of fire, more or less trained gunners could fire single ones (or with two or three cartridges). The fuse on German weapons was not in principle. His role was performed by the cut-out, into which the handle of the bolt frame was refueled. Not surprisingly, such a primitive mechanism has repeatedly led to accidents. So the machine MP-40, the technical characteristics of which we describe, was not particularly complicated.

Store Features

The store is sector, capacity - 32 cartridges. Appearance - straight, from stamped rolled products. To confuse it with sector stores from PPP or PPSH is impossible, since it is direct, while domestic PPs used curved models (due to the characteristics of the cartridge 7.62x25). Incidentally, the shops from the MR-40 did not enjoy the special love of the infantrymen, since it was very difficult to manually equip them, we had to resort to the help of a special device.

He was inserted into the straight, out-of-the-way mouth of the receiver, fixed by means of a button clamp. In practice, it soon turned out that the neck should be protected from contamination in every possible way, since it was very difficult to clean it in combat conditions. The standard ammunition for a Wehrmacht soldier in those days was about 190 rounds.

Range and effectiveness of firing

The sight is the most common, rack mount. When shooting, it was possible to use two of its "modes": permanent and folding, designed to fire at a distance of 200 meters or more. But all this mattered only on paper.

Germans themselves noted that it really did not allow the German MP-40 machine to actually get into the running man at a distance of 100-150 meters, unless the fire was fired from several barrels simultaneously. In addition, the massive bolt so slowed down the initial velocity of the bullet, that at a distance of 150-200 meters, we had to make an amendment of half a meter (!) Above the target. Considering that in the battle many soldiers forgot about this, most of the cartridges were burned safely without any benefit.

Other problems

In addition, the big problem was the retention of PP in combat. The fact is that it was not recommended to grab the store: its holding mechanism was so flimsy that it quickly became blurred. Often there were cases when in a very "life-battered" MR-38/40 store could just drop out right during the fight. So it was necessary to hold directly for a trunk ... Which did not have a casing. To the soldier did not fry his palms, he had an asbestos gauntlet according to the staff.

Strangely enough, but neither the heavy bolt, nor the powerful return spring, did not protect the submachine gun from excessive propensity to wedge at the slightest contamination. Despite this, the machine MP-40 in the initial periods of the war fully met all requirements for such weapons requirements. Only with the loss of Hitler's strategic initiative, they had to develop the world's first assault rifle, StG-44.

Modern use

Yes, yes, there was such. However, PPSh-41 continued to be produced in the PRC until the beginning of 2000, and in some places it is being done so far, so there is nothing surprising in this. And the MP-40 remained in service with the Norwegian police forces as far back as the 60s of the last century. In addition, it was actively used by both Israelis and Arabs during countless conflicts in the Gaza Strip. So the MP-40 is a machine with a rich history.

By the way, the famous MR-5, which is in service with many police and military formations around the world, has nothing to do with the PP we are discussing. First, it operates as a semi-free shutter. Secondly, in fact, is a smaller copy of the G-3 rifle.

Finally, pneumatic automatic machines MP-40, which are demilitarized barrels (as in the situation with PPSh-41) are also on sale. However, such copies are still rare, and their cost is high. Usually it's about rough mock-ups.

The first episodes of combat use

The precursor of the MP-40 was first used in Poland, during the events of 1939. CSKA immediately began to send complaints about the poor work of the mechanism of filing cartridges. But the main criticism was the propensity for spontaneous shots during the fall (however, all PP with a free shutter sin the same). Soldiers, in order to avoid accidents, even began to tie the bolt handle with a belt. After that, the aforementioned clipping appeared on the bolt frame.

disadvantages

The invasion of the USSR revealed other shortcomings. It turned out, in particular, that a low rate of fire with an excessively heavy shutter is a bad idea, since in the cold and even with slight contamination, the automation stopped working. The "Steyr" plant partially got out of position, starting to install a stronger spring, but as a result, the rate of fire increased and the reliability of mechanics not calculated for such loads fell.

So the MP-40 is a machine that the Germans did not manage to "bring to mind" at that time.