MP5 submachine guns, "Yati-Matik" and "Spectrum".
They became a further development of the line of this type of small arms and the answer to the next challenges of their time.
Better late than never
Although polls of military personnel regarding what weapons they would like to fight with were conducted at the end of World War II, the requirements for submachine guns of the new era were realized only in the early 60s of the twentieth century. Moreover, as already noted in the previous article, a trend has arisen to create rather specialized systems of this type of weapon. Nevertheless, initially both "Uzi" and many other images of submachine guns of the post-war period were born as … a kind of "universal weapon", that is, the main idea in their development was the same as in the 20s and 30s - those. the designers sought to create a kind of sample "for all occasions." And then the same "Uzi" began to "shrink", "Scorpion" appeared, then "Ingram", while other designers were concerned about either increasing the armor penetration and increased ammunition of their submachine guns, or their convenience and accuracy of shooting, or tried to solve this problem in a complex …
MP5: technically challenging, but reliable
Among the latter were engineers (Thilo Müller, Manfred Guchring, Georg Seidl, and Helmut Baureter) of the German company Heckler & Koch, which in 1963 took part in the tender of the Ministry of the Interior of Germany for the creation of a special submachine gun for arming the special units of the German police, which were still just being created. The weapon required high accuracy of fire, high rate of fire and small size. Already in 1964, the company created prototypes of a new submachine gun, which first received the NK54 index, where the number "5" denoted the type of weapon, and the number "4" - the ammunition used.
In 1966, the new submachine gun was successfully tested in parts of the border service and police of the Federal Republic of Germany, received its current name and was put into service. The weapon has been constantly improved and continues to be improved at the present time, and is also actively sold around the world to everyone.
However, the demand for it would hardly have been so significant if it had not been for the experience of practical use in a number of military clashes, which demonstrated its high efficiency. So, in 1972, MP 5 was used against terrorists who seized a hotel with Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics. In 1977, a special forces detachment of the Federal Republic of Germany, armed with MR 5, was engaged in the release of the captured Boeing 737 aircraft of the Lufthansa company. In 1980, the British Special Forces used this submachine gun again after the liberation of the Iranian embassy in London. In addition, MP 5 has been actively used all this time by various US special services, and in 1990-2000 it was used by the army and police of Pakistan in the fight against the Taliban, both on its territory and in neighboring Afghanistan. All these examples of the combat use of the MP 5 were analyzed, its high combat characteristics were noted, which caused a high demand for it. Today, this submachine gun is on sale in more than 100 variants, which certainly speaks of its high efficiency and commercial popularity.
It must be said right away that the submachine gun really turned out to be successful for its creators. Although he fires 9 × 19 mm Parabellum ammunition, standard for most western PPs, the muzzle energy of his shot is 650 J, which is 20-30% higher than a number of his competitors. And this is not just interest. First of all, these are higher indicators of enemy destruction. Due to the use of new polymeric materials, the structure turned out to be quite lightweight, but durable. And being manufactured with quality equipment, all of its parts together work very well. The compactness of the MP5 is noted, although purely visually it does not seem so small, rather the opposite. But this is the opinion of the special forces fighters, who have to fight with this submachine gun in city quarters and residential premises, and here its size becomes a very important factor. If he were unnecessarily cumbersome, no one would sing praises to him!
MP5A3 SD - variant with integrated silencer. With its help, it is possible to drown out the sound of a shot so that it is practically inaudible at a distance of already 30 m.
The multifunctionality of additional equipment, which can be hung on the MP5, is noted. This is a large set of tactical flashlights, silencers, collimator and optical sights, expanding in the most serious way the possibilities of using the PP MP5. Its advantages include phosphating of its metal surfaces, which makes it possible to use it in a variety of climatic conditions.
Expensive, yes cute, cheap, but rotten
The high cost is perhaps the most important drawback of this submachine gun, which is a consequence of all the above advantages. The fact is that the designers used a semi-free shutter with a roller deceleration in it, which is already complicated in itself, and … is expensive. Like the bolt of the HK G3 automatic rifle, it consists of two parts, with two cylindrical rollers in the front, which move apart from the rear of the bolt as it moves forward. That is, the shooting is carried out with the shutter closed, and the trigger type on the MP5 is of the trigger type, and all this is done on it in order to increase the accuracy of shooting, especially if it is fired with single shots. But all the same, such a design not only complicates the mechanism of this PP, but also significantly, at times, increases the cost of the weapon itself! Compared to the old models of submachine guns, its cost is several orders of magnitude higher at once. Moreover, the reason lies not only in the high cost of modern construction materials needed for production, but also in the high cost of labor in Germany, and, accordingly, expensive spare parts and consumables that are needed for its normal operation. Therefore, army units, as a rule, are not equipped with these PPs. It would be very expensive for the military budget.
But there are still comments …
Purely operational remarks to the MP5 are as follows: when fired, the barrel throws up quite strongly, which reduces the accuracy of shooting. Any weapon with a roller shutter - and the MP5 is no exception "does not like" contamination and requires regular cleaning and lubrication with "branded" oils. It's not easy to reload this submachine gun either. To do this, you must first pull the bolt back, and insert the reloading handle into the slot of the bolt delay, and only then remove the empty magazine and insert the full one. But that's not all: now you should remove the shutter from the delay by pressing on its handle. That is, all together it is about 35-45 seconds. Moreover, all these "features" are characteristic not only of the MP5, but also of all types of weapons based on the G3 rifle. Nevertheless, professionals put up with all these shortcomings and … choose MP5 to counter terrorists.
Such a strange Finnish pattern
Well, now let us note that there were quite a few attempts to create a submachine gun, "modern" for that time, with high firing accuracy. On April 7, 2014, there was already material on the VO on the Finnish Yati-Matik submachine gun, created by the Finnish designer Yali Timari in 1978, and it described in detail how, in order to achieve this goal, he changed the entire layout of his weapon: put a bolt on it, sliding inside the bolt carrier at a slight angle, and a pistol grip raised to the level of the barrel. But despite all these tricks, he did not manage to achieve special advantages over other PPs.
Submachine gun "Yati-Matik", since 1995 - GG-95 (manufactured by "Golden Gun") with a magazine for 40 rounds. By the way, the weapon is put on a combat platoon when the front handle is opened, which is another of its original features. First it should be folded forward and then pulled back. So from habit, not knowing this "trick" from this submachine gun, and you will not shoot! In addition, with such a magazine, it is very inconvenient to shoot from it while lying down.
"Spectrum": for the needs of the police and the army
Perhaps the most worthy competitor among the counter-terrorist PPs for the MP5 was the Italian “Spectrum” M4 of the “CITES” company in Turin (there was an article about it on VO back on December 24, 2011), and it, perhaps, may well be considered a very successful model " universal submachine gun "for all occasions, and not just for the fight against terrorists.
Its creator, Roberto Teppa, pondered the results of studies of military clashes between law enforcement and terrorists in the 70s of the twentieth century and evaluated their results. It turned out that the terrorists have an advantage, since the security forces have to remove their weapons from the safety, then erect and only then shoot. Meanwhile, all this time, the "bad guys" are already firing. Realizing this, he decided to create a submachine gun capable of shooting in the same way as revolvers - that is, by simply pulling the trigger, and in addition - to have a capacious but compact magazine.
And we managed to solve this problem. And their submachine gun turned out to be even cheaper than the MP5! And its manufacturability is high: the receiver is stamped, the handles for holding are plastic. The stock is designed so that it folds up. At the same time, whatever the protrusions with which he can catch on clothes are absent on him. And it is small in size, and therefore convenient for hidden wearing. The breech is free, but the fire is fired with the breech closed, that is, the trigger mechanism is of the hammer type. Moreover, it is arranged in the same way as in revolvers with a double action trigger. This allows you to carry this SMG with a cartridge in the chamber, but in the event of a sudden attack, the shooter does not need to spend time sending the cartridge and cocking the bolt of the weapon.
The sights are very simple and consist of a folding sight, 50 and 100 m with an entirely U-shape and a front sight in the form of a simple rod.
Another feature of the "Spectrum" was the forced cooling of its barrel. The shutter on it is designed so that when moving back and forth, it drives air through the barrel casing, which allows intense fire without fear of overheating. Its magazine is also unusual: it is four-row and is designed for 50 rounds. At the same time, it is the same in length as the 30-round one in the MP5! By the way, its reloading handle is made in the form of two small gripping keys on both sides of the upper part of the receiver, that is, it can be used both on the left and on the right.
"Spectrum" turned out to be quite light (2, 8 kg without cartridges), with a high rate of fire (850 rds / min) and easy to use. To attract foreign customers, in addition to the standard model chambered for the Parabellum cartridge, modifications are also offered for the Smith and Wesson cartridges 10, 16-mm and 11, 43-mm ACP.
That is, in the 70s and 80s of the last century, it was the submachine gun that became the main weapon for the fight against terrorists, primarily in rather cramped conditions. Nevertheless, a number of samples of this type of weapon still bore the features characteristic of a "universal" weapon, with a general increase in the features characteristic of special-purpose weapons!
