List of Italian submachine guns
Encyclopedia
The Villar Perosa is often technically regarded as the first submachine gun. The Villar Perosa was somewhat odd, and had sort of a heavy double automatic pistol configuration, with two 25-round box magazines feeding each barrel and a rate of fire in excess of 1000 rounds per minute. It was originally intended as an auxiliary aircraft weapon but was removed from airplanes to be replaced by light machine guns using rifle rounds. It saw wide use with ground forces mainly for defensive use when fitted with a protective armored plate. A large quantity was seized by Austrian troops during the battle of Caporetto. it also aided development of the next Italian submachine guns, the OVP 1918 and the Beretta 1918. It is always claimed that the Beretta beat the Bergman MP18
by a couple of months or a couple of weeks in the field but there is absolutely no trace of its use by the Arditi units who were supposed to have fielded unlike the Bergmann MP 18.1 that appears on many pictures and is cited in both German or Allied reports.
The Beretta's rate of fire was estimated to be in the 1000 to 1300 rounds per minute range.
The small quantity of Beretta 1918 available after World War I was converted as semi auto carbine for the Forestry Service.
Since the rate of fire of a SMG can be estimated↑ by its bolt mass and the ratio with the weight of the projectile being fired, the examination of semi auto carbine and 1918/30 samples confirms the rate of fire and explains the reputation of unreliability of these first Beretta submachine guns.
†unless using a system that delays rearward move or forward move: locking rollers, Blish lock, buffer or cyclic rate reducer.
The Beretta 1935 was inspired by the French STA studies led by Section Technique de l'Armée from 1918 to 1938. Many technical details are close to the STA 1922 that was adopted as MAS 1924 and used in post World War I limited colonial conflicts.
Starting with the 1938 A, the Beretta SMG gained a well-deserved reputation of accuracy and reliability. They used the Italian 9 mm model 38, a round much more powerful than the German made 9 mm Parabellum.
Machine pistols:
MP18
The MP18.1 manufactured by Theodor Bergmann Waffenbau Abteilung was the first practical submachine gun used in combat. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the Stosstruppen, assault groups specialized in trench combat...
by a couple of months or a couple of weeks in the field but there is absolutely no trace of its use by the Arditi units who were supposed to have fielded unlike the Bergmann MP 18.1 that appears on many pictures and is cited in both German or Allied reports.
The Beretta's rate of fire was estimated to be in the 1000 to 1300 rounds per minute range.
The small quantity of Beretta 1918 available after World War I was converted as semi auto carbine for the Forestry Service.
Since the rate of fire of a SMG can be estimated↑ by its bolt mass and the ratio with the weight of the projectile being fired, the examination of semi auto carbine and 1918/30 samples confirms the rate of fire and explains the reputation of unreliability of these first Beretta submachine guns.
†unless using a system that delays rearward move or forward move: locking rollers, Blish lock, buffer or cyclic rate reducer.
The Beretta 1935 was inspired by the French STA studies led by Section Technique de l'Armée from 1918 to 1938. Many technical details are close to the STA 1922 that was adopted as MAS 1924 and used in post World War I limited colonial conflicts.
Starting with the 1938 A, the Beretta SMG gained a well-deserved reputation of accuracy and reliability. They used the Italian 9 mm model 38, a round much more powerful than the German made 9 mm Parabellum.
- Villar Perosa (1915)
- OVPOVP (firearm)The OVP was a light submachine gun developed in Italy.- Development :The Italians were the first army ever to adopt a submachine gun, or more correctly, a light automatic gun firing a pistol cartridge. This was the Villar Perosa that ceased to be a service weapon in 1918...
(1920s, developed from Villar Perosa) - Beretta Model 1918Beretta Model 1918The Beretta Model 1918 was a submachine gun that entered service in 1918 with the Italian armed forces and came with an overhead inserted magazine. Another variant was the Model 1918/30 with the magazine inserted underneath and came with a bayonet...
(1918) - Beretta Model 1938A (1938, based on earlier 1935 model)
- Beretta Model 38/42Beretta Model 38/42The Model 38 and its variants were the official submachine guns of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The MAB 38A , or Modello 38A, was introduced in 1938...
(1940s, formed basis for model 3) - TZ-45TZ-45The TZ-45 was an Italian made submachine gun produced in small numbers between 1944 and 1945, with an estimated 6,000 made.- History :The TZ-45 submachine guns was designed by two Italian brothers, Tonon and Zorzoli Giandoso, and was produced by their own small company. All the TZ 45's were issued...
(1940s, later produced as BA-52 for the Burmese Army) - FNAB 43 (1943)
- Variara submachine gunVariara submachine gunThe Variara submachine gun is an insurgency weapon clandestinely designed and made by the Italian Resistance, which might have originated from a difficulty in getting automatic weapons by whatever means, including theft or Allied airdrops in the Piedmont area sometime in 1944.The real...
(1944), entirely engineered and produced by Italian partisansItalian resistance movementThe Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II... - Franchi LF57Franchi LF57The Franchi LF57 is an Italian made pressed-metal submachine gun. A small number were made for the Italian Navy in the 1960s, but few others ordered it. The LF57 uses a recessed bolt head similar to the Beretta Model 12's as a method of reducing the weapon's length, although on the LF57 the bolt's...
(1957) (original production ended in the 1980s) - Beretta Model 3Beretta Model 3The Beretta Model 3 was an Italian submachine gun produced from 1956 to 1959. It was essentially the World War II-era Beretta 38/42 redesigned for more efficient production. The wooden stock of the 38/42 was replaced with a steel folding stock...
(1950s) - Beretta M12 (1960s), Beretta Model 12S (1983)
- Spectre M4Spectre M4The Spectre is an Italian submachine gun that was produced by the SITES factory in Turin. It was designed by Roberto Teppa and Claudio Gritti in the mid-1980s. Production in Italy ceased in the year 1997, with the closure of SITES, but proceeded in very small numbers in Switzerland through Greco...
(1980s) - Socimi Type 821Socimi Type 821The Socimi Type 821-SMG was a submachine gun manufactured in the 1980s by the firm of SOCIMI, Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano, SpA located in Milan, Italy.-Development:...
(1980s, later produced as LF821 by Franchi)
Machine pistols:
- Beretta M1951RBeretta M1951The M 1951 is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, developed during the late 1940s and early 1950s by Pietro Beretta S.p.A. of Italy. The pistol was produced strictly for military use and was introduced into service with the Italian Army and security forces as the Modello 1951 , replacing the 9 mm...
(1950s) - Beretta 93RBeretta 93RThe Beretta Model 93R is a selective-fire machine pistol, designed and manufactured by the Italian Beretta company in the 1970s for police and military use, that is derived from their semi-automatic Model 92...
(1970s)
Other Italian automatic firearms
- Breda 30Breda 30The Fucile Mitragliatore Breda modello 30 was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.The Breda 30 was rather unique for a light machine gun. It is magazine fed from the right side and the magazine was attached to the gun and was loaded using brass or steel 20...
(6.5mm) - Mitragliatrice Breda MOD.37
- Beretta MOD.34 Automatic Pistol