7.92×33mm Kurz
Encyclopedia
8x33mm Kurz is a rifle
cartridge
developed in Nazi Germany
prior to and during World War II
. The ammunition is also referred to as 7.9mm Kurz ( meaning short), 7.9 Kurz, or 7.9mmK, or 8x33 Polte. It was specifically intended for development of a automatic carbine
(assault rifle
). The round was developed as a compromise between the longer 8x57mm IS rifle and 9x19mm Parabellum pistol rounds, and is known as an intermediate cartridge
.
was often deemed unimportant; the name was emphasized. The 8mm kurz was referred to as the (pistol cartridge model 1943), (pistol ammunition model 1943); after the inception of the Sturmgewehr 44
, it was called the "short cartridge model 1943" .
rifle, the Karabiner 98k
, as well as its machine gun
s. The German armed forces had issued a 8x57mm IS automatic rifle, the FG 42
, in limited numbers, but the heavy recoil of the round made it difficult to use efficiently in this role.
What was needed was a cartridge that could be used in a lighter, more maneuverable rifle to bridge the gap between submachine guns and rifles.
Two compeating ammunition designers went to the task, Polte, who created a version of the 8x57 IS rifle round by shortening the case length by 24mm; and Genschow, who created two cartridges 8x39.5 and 7.62x39.5.
While the GeCo round was discarded in favour of the less powerful 8x33 Polte round, Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov
developed it into the successful 7.62x39mm M43 cartridge.
With a case length of only 33 mm, the Kurz round was substantially shorter and delivered less recoil than full-length 8x57mm IS, but was still as effective when engaging targets at typical combat ranges of 300 m (328 yd). This meant it could be fired effectively from a weapon that weighed less than a machine gun, yet still had much greater range, velocity, and stopping power than the 9mm Parabellum which was standard in German submachine gun
s.
The shortage of brass in the later stages of World War II led to the use of steel cases for this new cartridge. The Kurz cartridge incorporated more taper than the parent case because steel is less elastic than brass and more difficult to extract. This led to the distinctive curved magazine for weapons that used this cartridge. The steel cases were typically lacquer
-coated to prevent corrosion.
. The battle rifle
(a bolt-action
rifle in most armies of the time) was the standard small arm, usually incorporating good accuracy and stopping power, but with a very limited rate of fire
. The submachine gun was a newer piece of equipment, which offered a very high rate of fire, and a compact size, but was of very limited range and stopping power due to the pistol round (usually 9mm) it fired. While the Kurz round did not match the range and accuracy of a full power round fired by a traditional bolt-action rifle, it could still engage individual targets out to 300 m (328 yd). As an effective, intermediate-sized cartridge, the Kurz round was a key evolution in the development of the assault rifle by providing a combination of a high volume of fire and acceptable accuracy at ranges most likely to see infantry combat, and the stopping power to be deadly.
Only a few weapons used this round, among them being the Sturmgewehr 44
, Sturmgewehr 45, HIW VSK
, Volkssturmgewehr 1-5
, Wimmersperg Spz-kr
; and a number of German prototype weapons made during World War II
and a small number of prototype weapons made in other countries after the war. An unknown number of late-war K43 rifles were chambered for 7.9mm kurz and modified to accept MP 44 magazines. Variants of the VK 98 (Volks-Karabiner), a so-called last-ditch bolt-action rifle intended for the Volkssturm
Home Guard, were also chambered in 8x33mm, with unknown quantities produced by Mauser and Steyr.
After World War II, the cartridge was tested and used in prototype rifles in Argentina
and Belgium
, amongst other nations, during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The first FN FAL
prototype was designed to fire the 7.9mm Kurz, when NATO was organized. After the war the 7.9 Kurz cartridge was manufactured by East Germany (the GDR
), Czechoslovakia
(ČSSR
), and Egypt
.
Spain continued development of the 8x33 round after the war, creating a few variants of the cartridge, such as tracer rounds, boat-tailed rounds and slightly shorter bullets that have a lead core. These developments were encouraged by Calzada Bayo, a Spanish lieutenant colonel. However, they were canceled and Spanish CETME
rifles were chambered for a variant of the 7.62×51 NATO round.
Demand for the ammunition still exists, as the StG 44 is still in use by some within the Lebanese Forces
militia, as well as irregular forces in some countries in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, where captured German arms were distributed as military aid by Eastern Bloc
countries as well as Yugoslavia
. 7.9 Kurz ammunition is currently manufactured by the Prvi Partizan
factory in Užice
, Serbia
.
.
As per 8x57 JS, no reference could be found where the nominal calibre "7.92mm" common in American literature came from. German mentions of 8mm calibres as "7.92mm" normally are translated from US literature.
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
cartridge
Cartridge (firearms)
A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
developed in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
prior to and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The ammunition is also referred to as 7.9mm Kurz ( meaning short), 7.9 Kurz, or 7.9mmK, or 8x33 Polte. It was specifically intended for development of a automatic carbine
Carbine
A carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....
(assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
). The round was developed as a compromise between the longer 8x57mm IS rifle and 9x19mm Parabellum pistol rounds, and is known as an intermediate cartridge
Intermediate cartridges
An intermediate cartridge is a military assault rifle cartridge that is less powerful than typical full power battle rifle cartridges such as the 7.92mm Mauser or US .30-06, but still significantly more powerful than pistol cartridges...
.
Military designation
In German military instructions, the caliberCaliber
In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
was often deemed unimportant; the name was emphasized. The 8mm kurz was referred to as the (pistol cartridge model 1943), (pistol ammunition model 1943); after the inception of the Sturmgewehr 44
Sturmgewehr 44
The StG 44 was an assault rifle developed in Nazi Germany during World War II and was the first of its kind to see major deployment, considered by many historians to be the first modern assault rifle...
, it was called the "short cartridge model 1943" .
Background
The 7.9mm Kurz was the same caliber as the 8x57mm IS, which was employed by the standard German Army infantryInfantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
rifle, the Karabiner 98k
Karabiner 98k
The Karabiner 98 Kurz was a bolt action rifle chambered for the 8x57mm IS/7.92×57mm IS cartridge that was adopted as the standard service rifle in 1935 by the German Wehrmacht. It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles...
, as well as its machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s. The German armed forces had issued a 8x57mm IS automatic rifle, the FG 42
FG 42
The FG 42 was a selective fire battle rifle produced in Nazi Germany during World War II...
, in limited numbers, but the heavy recoil of the round made it difficult to use efficiently in this role.
What was needed was a cartridge that could be used in a lighter, more maneuverable rifle to bridge the gap between submachine guns and rifles.
Two compeating ammunition designers went to the task, Polte, who created a version of the 8x57 IS rifle round by shortening the case length by 24mm; and Genschow, who created two cartridges 8x39.5 and 7.62x39.5.
While the GeCo round was discarded in favour of the less powerful 8x33 Polte round, Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov
Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov
Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov was a Soviet weapons designer; he is one of the fathers of the modern assault rifle....
developed it into the successful 7.62x39mm M43 cartridge.
With a case length of only 33 mm, the Kurz round was substantially shorter and delivered less recoil than full-length 8x57mm IS, but was still as effective when engaging targets at typical combat ranges of 300 m (328 yd). This meant it could be fired effectively from a weapon that weighed less than a machine gun, yet still had much greater range, velocity, and stopping power than the 9mm Parabellum which was standard in German submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
s.
The shortage of brass in the later stages of World War II led to the use of steel cases for this new cartridge. The Kurz cartridge incorporated more taper than the parent case because steel is less elastic than brass and more difficult to extract. This led to the distinctive curved magazine for weapons that used this cartridge. The steel cases were typically lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
-coated to prevent corrosion.
Firearms for the 7.9mm kurz
Prior to the development of the Kurz round and its associated weapons, two basic small arms existed to equip the regular infantry riflemanRifleman
Although ultimately originating with the 16th century handgunners and the 17th century musketeers and streltsy, the term rifleman originated from the 18th century. It would later become the term for the archetypal common soldier.-History:...
. The battle rifle
Battle rifle
A battle rifle is a military service rifle that fires a full power rifle cartridge, such as 7.62x51mm NATO. While the designation of battle rifle is usually given to post-World War II select fire infantry rifles such as the H&K G3, the FN FAL or the M14, this term can also apply to older military...
(a bolt-action
Bolt-action
Bolt action is a type of firearm action in which the weapon's bolt is operated manually by the opening and closing of the breech with a small handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon...
rifle in most armies of the time) was the standard small arm, usually incorporating good accuracy and stopping power, but with a very limited rate of fire
Rate of fire
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. It is usually measured in rounds per minute , or per second .-Overview:...
. The submachine gun was a newer piece of equipment, which offered a very high rate of fire, and a compact size, but was of very limited range and stopping power due to the pistol round (usually 9mm) it fired. While the Kurz round did not match the range and accuracy of a full power round fired by a traditional bolt-action rifle, it could still engage individual targets out to 300 m (328 yd). As an effective, intermediate-sized cartridge, the Kurz round was a key evolution in the development of the assault rifle by providing a combination of a high volume of fire and acceptable accuracy at ranges most likely to see infantry combat, and the stopping power to be deadly.
Only a few weapons used this round, among them being the Sturmgewehr 44
Sturmgewehr 44
The StG 44 was an assault rifle developed in Nazi Germany during World War II and was the first of its kind to see major deployment, considered by many historians to be the first modern assault rifle...
, Sturmgewehr 45, HIW VSK
HIW VSK
The HIW VSK was a carbine of German origin developed by Hessische Industrie Werke. It was intended as a Volkssturm weapon and used blow forward operation.-References:******...
, Volkssturmgewehr 1-5
Volkssturmgewehr 1-5
The Volkssturmgewehr 1-5 is a set of 5 rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II...
, Wimmersperg Spz-kr
Wimmersperg Spz-kr
The Spz-kr was an assault rifle that was invented during the latter days of the Third Reich. It was one of the "last ditch" weapons alongside the VG 1-5, StG 45, and MP 3008.-Overview:...
; and a number of German prototype weapons made during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and a small number of prototype weapons made in other countries after the war. An unknown number of late-war K43 rifles were chambered for 7.9mm kurz and modified to accept MP 44 magazines. Variants of the VK 98 (Volks-Karabiner), a so-called last-ditch bolt-action rifle intended for the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
Home Guard, were also chambered in 8x33mm, with unknown quantities produced by Mauser and Steyr.
After World War II, the cartridge was tested and used in prototype rifles in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, amongst other nations, during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The first FN FAL
FN FAL
The Fusil Automatique Léger or FAL is a self-loading, selective fire battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal . During the Cold War it was adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, with the notable exception of the United States...
prototype was designed to fire the 7.9mm Kurz, when NATO was organized. After the war the 7.9 Kurz cartridge was manufactured by East Germany (the GDR
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
), Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
(ČSSR
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
), and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Spain continued development of the 8x33 round after the war, creating a few variants of the cartridge, such as tracer rounds, boat-tailed rounds and slightly shorter bullets that have a lead core. These developments were encouraged by Calzada Bayo, a Spanish lieutenant colonel. However, they were canceled and Spanish CETME
CETME
CETME is an acronym for Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales , a Spanish government design and development establishment. While being involved in many projects CETME was mostly known for its small arms research and development...
rifles were chambered for a variant of the 7.62×51 NATO round.
Demand for the ammunition still exists, as the StG 44 is still in use by some within the Lebanese Forces
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese political party. Founded as a militia by Bachir Gemayel during the Lebanese Civil War, the movement fought as the main militia within the Christian-dominated Lebanese Front...
militia, as well as irregular forces in some countries in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, where captured German arms were distributed as military aid by Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries as well as Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. 7.9 Kurz ammunition is currently manufactured by the Prvi Partizan
Prvi Partizan
Prvi Partizan is an ammunition manufacturer, located in Užice, Serbia. Founded in 1928 as FOMU - Fabrika Oružje Municija Užice. The company produces ammunition for civilian and military consumers in a variety of calibers in various loadings. Their products are available worldwide...
factory in Užice
Užice
Užice is a city and municipality in western Serbia, located at the banks of the Đetinja river. It is the administrative center of the Zlatibor District...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
7.9mm, 8mm or 7.92mm
As per the 8x57mm IS cartridge, the cartridge was known either by its nominal calibre as 8x33 kurz (or 8x33 Polte), or as 7.9mm , 7.9 being the calibre of the fields in the barrelBarrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...
.
As per 8x57 JS, no reference could be found where the nominal calibre "7.92mm" common in American literature came from. German mentions of 8mm calibres as "7.92mm" normally are translated from US literature.