German, Russian, American Weapons Of WWII, LoL I got bored and decided to teach a history leason. Options

[Spartan]

STG 44 ( Sturmgeweher 44 )

The German Army determine that most firefights took place at short ranges, around 400 meters. This conclusion resulted from a detail analysis of engagements during the years of 1939 and 1940. The primary German weapon of the time, the bolt-action Kar98K rifle, was ill-suited for the mission. It was designed for longer-range precision fire between the ranges of 800 -1000 meters. On the other side, the existing sub-machine guns like the MP40 lacked the range or stopping power with the 9mm ammunition. The solution: first design compact ammunition, ideal for a new automatic weapon, with the proper balance between range and power. The cartridge designed was the 7.92x33 Kurtz cartridge, which provided an excellent balance between hitting power and control.

Next came the rifle design. Carbine submachine gun specifications were issued to the firms of Haenel and Walther in 1942. Limited numbers of trail weapons were produced and tested on the Eastern Front. The Maschinkarabiner 42 (H) or MKb42(H) came from Haenel while the Walther weapon designation was Maschinkarabiner 42 (W) or MKb42(W). Trials for both proved quite successful. Troops embraced these first ever assault guns. Yet Hitler decided that these development programs should be stopped. Haenel did not comply with the order and resorted to subterfuge to be able to continue development. The Haenel weapon was renamed to hide its true identity, now the carbine designation changed to a sub-machine gun, the Maschinenpistole 43 or sub-machine gun 43, or MP43. With further modification and improvement, came the first production version, the Maschinenpistole 44 or MP44. Limited numbers reached the troops. His generals raved about its capabilities and boldly demanded more. Hitler decided to support the weapon, giving it the new designation, the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44) or Storm Assault Rifle 44



MP40 ( Schmeisser 40 )
They referred to it as the 'Schmeisser', even though the company of weapons designer Hugo Schmeisser, famous for the Bergmann MP-18 submachine gun from WW I, had nothing to do with the MP38 or the MP40.
The MP-40 was a blowback operated, full auto submachine gun that fires open bolt. The charging handle on the left side of the receiver is also used as a safety, locking the bolt in its forward or rearward position when placed into slots in the receiver. The rate of fire was controlled to 400-500 rounds per minute of the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, a good rate for control by the operator. The metal "bump" on the underside, near the end of the barrel was designed to help steady the weapon when firing from the port of an armored vehicle.

More than a million MP-40s were produced by Germany during the war. Its folding metal stock made it compact and easy to carry. (The MP-38 had wodden stocks.) The foregrip was made of high-pressure molded phenolin resin, reinforced with paper pulp. This innovative material also insulated the operator from the heat of the barrel and other metal parts. The 25 or 32 round single column magazine was considered troublesome, a weakness of the design.




Ok the rest I'll leave to find for those who are interested in learning more.

[Spartan]

PPSH 41
an urgent demand for a light and simple weapon capable of a high volume of fire, and the answer to this was the PPSh-41, designed by Georgii Shpagin. It was much cheaper and quicker to make than the preceeding models and was finished roughly; the barrel was still chromed, however, and there was never any doubt about the weapon's effectiveness. Stripping was simplicity itself, as the receiver hinged open to reveal the bolt and spring. There was no selector lever on some of the late models, when the gun was capable of only automatic fire, and the magazine was the proved and tried 71 round Suomi drum. The rate of fire was high, but a rudimentary compensator helped to steady the climb of the muzzle. About 5 million PPSh guns had been made by 1945, and the Soviets adapted their infantry tactics to take full advantage of such huge numbers: often complete units were armed with nothing else. In Russia, the PPSh went out of service in the late 1950s, but it has been supplied in enormous quantities to the satellite and pre-Communist countries, so that it will still be seen for many years. It has been made in various Communist countries, and in Iran, there are a multitude of variants. At one time, the German Army converted a few captured guns to 9mm by changing the barrel and magazine housing.



Kar98
The Mauser Karabiner 98k was the German army's standard rifle during World War II. Although officially
designated as a carbine (karabiner), the 98k was only slightly shorter than the Gewehr 98 and Karabiner 98b, the World War I era rifles that it replaced. The "k" in 98k stood for kurz, the German word for "short."

The bolt-action 98k was based on a Mauser Standard Model and went into production in 1935. The 98k was considered an accurate and reliable weapon, and approximately 14 million of them were produced before the end of the war.

The 98k probably would have been replaced by the Sturmgewehr 44 had World War II lasted longer.




FG42
The FG42 was designed by Rheinmettal-Borsig for the Luftwaffe and introduced a number of features which were later copied on other firearms (most notably the U.S. M60 machinegun). By firing from a closed bolt in semiautomatic mode and an open bolt in full automatic mode, it combined the best of both a rifle and a light machinegun. Although it was made to fire the full-sized 7.92mm Mauser cartridge, felt recoil was reduced by the provision of an in-line stock, a muzzle brake, and an integral (albeit somewhat flimsy) bipod. The bayonet was also built in and could be stored beneath the bipod, it's weight effectively helping to reduce muzzle climb. Later models had wooden furniture and a more traditional pistol grip, as well as an improved muzzle brake. The rifle was also designed to accept the ZF4 (Zielfernrohr 4-fach) and ZF42 telescopic sights. These sights were nearly identical, both 4x, and were graduated from 100 to 800 meters in 50 meter increments, with a reticle consisting of a centre post with side bars.



MG34
MG-34 is a recoil-operated, selective fire weapon. It uses short recoiling barrel with muzzle recoil booster which also serves as a flash hider. Barrel locking is achieved by the rotating bolt head, with interrupted threads locking lugs, that lock into the barrel extension. Bolt head has a set of rollers, located just behind the lugs. These rollers are used to rotate bolt heads to lock and unlock, when riding inside the curved grooves, cut on the inner walls of the receiver. Rollers also act as a bolt accelerator, when bolt unlocks, due to interoperation with the barrel extension. Tubular receiver is linked to the tubular barrel sleeve by the swinging stud, set at the right side of the receiver, so receiver can be turned up and to the right relatively tho the barrel sleeve, thus exposing the barrel rear end. When receiver is opened, barrel can be simply withdrawn from its sleeve to the back, but when barrel is hot, this requires some sort of the heat protection, so MG-34 operator had to use asbestos glove which was a standard acessory to the gun. MG-34 usually was issued with belt feed, which was operated by the stud on the top of the bolt body. Belt feed could be easily set up to take the belt from the left or from the right side of the gun. With special replacement feed cover, a double-drum, saddle-type 75 rounds magazines can be used. MG-34 was a selective fire weapon, with mode of fire being controlled by dual trigger. A pull on the upper part of the trigger produced single shots, while a pull on the lower part produced full auto bursts.