In the wake of the growing interest in small arms, more and more people begin to delve into the subtleties and differences of its various types and patterns. And now, to describe automatic weapons, it is no longer enough just to “call” them automatic. This article will focus on such a type of automatic weapon as a submachine gun (PP). What is PP, what is the history of the creation and scope of this weapon? We will try to answer these questions briefly, but if possible, in an accessible way.
PP Description
What is a submachine gun ? This is an automatic weapon that uses a pistol cartridge for firing. The low power of this cartridge allows you to make weapons compact and light, while maintaining great firepower at short distances. The small effective range of the pistol cartridge determines the scope of the PP. This is close combat: in trenches, buildings, field fortifications. Here, along with the high density of fire, another positive quality of PP appears: its bullets (having weak energy) do not ricochet from walls and arrows. So, firing indoors, the shooter does not risk getting his own bullet back.
History of the creation and application of software
What is PP, you now know. How effective is machine gun fire? Humanity learned about this during the First World War. The military immediately had a desire to get weapons with the capabilities of a machine gun, but not so heavy and dimensional that a separate soldier could use it. And such a weapon was created, however, the ideas of that time about the range of fire fighting (distance of rifle fire) did not allow the first samples of submachine guns Villar-Perosa M1915 (Italy) and Bergmann-Schmeisser MP.18 (Germany) to gain recognition.
Until the outbreak of World War II, the army did not recognize the merits of the PP. When the tank wedges learned to easily tear apart any defense, and the distance of fire contact was reduced to two hundred meters, the submachine gun became a real mass weapon of the army. Sweeping firepower, simplicity of production and low cost, unpretentious handling made such standard submachine guns such as PPSh, PPS, MP, Thompson and STEN legendary. With the advent and spread of the intermediate cartridge, the PPs lost their place in the army to assault rifles (machine guns).
Modern submachine guns
Having left the line units of the armies of the world, the PP continues to serve in the police and all kinds of special forces. There, his qualities are still in demand, and the use is often more expedient than more powerful machines. In addition, the use of modern materials and technologies in the design of the PP significantly increased the combat capabilities of these weapons. So, it was possible to eliminate the seemingly “generic” drawback of PP - the inability to penetrate light protection (body armor or car body).
New cartridges, such as using a domestic PP2000 submachine gun, easily pierce an 8 mm steel plate at a distance of ten meters or more. In this case, the bullet (as befits the PP pool) does not ricochet and has a sufficient stopping effect. The use of plastics allowed an order of magnitude improvement in the weight and size characteristics of modern PPs and made them insensitive to corrosion. There are even alterations of machine guns for a pistol cartridge, for example, PP1901 Vityaz. In general, this type of automatic weapon has firmly occupied the niche of the fighter against crime and terror in the modern world. Wherever and by whomever it is used, PP everywhere demonstrates what is high mobility and overwhelming firepower.