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.

[The mad Camel]

Cool thread. I'm not much of a writer so I'll cut and past, from http://mosinnagant.net/



Mosin Nagant Model 1938 Carbine



"In accord with it's western counterparts, the Soviet Union followed the pattern of the United States, Britain, and Germany in discontinuing the production of a long infantry rifle in favor of a shortened all purpose weapon of an intermediate barrel length, usually a barrel length of 24 to 30 inches. The Russians also issued short carbines based on this intermediate length rifle to mounted troops, crew served weapons teams and general support troops. An exhaustive series of trials and field tests lasting almost eight years (1922-1930) were conducted concerning the adoption of a modernized infantry rifle based upon the basic design of the day- the m/91 Dragoon which was nothing more than a shortened m/1891. The Dragoon rifle did have some advantages over the earlier m/1891 design though. Chief amongst these were that the rifle utilized a simplified set of barrel bands and a new handguard. The simple fact remained though that the standard infantry rifle of the Red Army needed to be brought up to date with the current military standards. A modernized version of the rifle was finally adopted on April 28th 1930 and adopted as the m/1891-30 rifle. (4) In short the rifle is referred to as simply the m/91-30. This new rifle was produced with a new tangent rear sight graduated in meters and a fully protected front sight to replace the earlier Dragoons unprotected blade. The new m/91-30 also saw simplified barrel bands and band springs as well as a newly designed handguard. These updates further simplified production and reduced the cost of each rifle. The adoption of the new m/91-30 found the Red Army placed in the awkward position though of having a modernized infantry rifle adopted for service but an antiquated carbine fulfilling the auxiliary and crew served weapons role. The carbine model of 1907 was the standard weapon adopted to fulfill this role for the infantry and support troops of the Red Army. This mismatch in equipment created some problems because the 1907 carbine was not based on the same modernized and updated design of the new infantry rifle and further more had been out of production for some 15 years. As the serviceable condition of the m/1907 carbines deteriorated, it was decided that an updated carbine based upon the modernized designs and upgrades of the m/91-30 was also needed to replace the m/1907 and to complement the new rifle of 1930. (1)"


To read the rest of this article please visit http://mosinnagant.net/USSR/Model-1938-Carbine.asp



A pic of my M38 (not a very good one though)





This post has been edited by The mad Camel: 02/16/07 6:14pm