Do you want to go down in the history of small arms? It couldn't be easier! Come up with something completely new and … bring it to metal. And then, through the media, tell the public about it, who is greedy for everything new. The real value of what you do does not matter today. Why? Yes, simply because today there are a lot of people, and you will always find those who will like your creation.
Have you come up with the shortest large bore revolver? Why not? Useful for private security guards! Lithium bullets? Fine! Let them be shot by disguised detectives on planes! A paper gun? Weapons for spies and nationalist-colored "color revolutions" in countries where civilians are not allowed to carry weapons. And so on. There are a lot of examples here.
American-180 submachine gun
However, you must first of all look at which cartridge you will use to create your miracle of technology, because the cartridge is the head of everything. You can do it differently and create a cartridge yourself. But it is difficult. It's easier to take a ready-made one.
And, by the way, this is exactly what the creator of the most unusual American-180 submachine gun Richard Casull did. As for his story, it began as early as 1887, when Joshua Stevens of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, owner of the D. Stevens & Co ", created the world's most famous" small "rifle cartridge.22 Long Rifle" long rifle "(5, 6 × 15, 6 mm R) - a small-bore unitary rimfire cartridge of 22 caliber (5, 6 mm) and released a number of rifles and pistols for target shooting under it. Probably everyone knows this cartridge and held it in their hands. Because in Soviet times, ALL schoolchildren in our country learned to shoot from "small cars", and even girls, and in them, including the Margolinsky pistol, these very cartridges were loaded. Without exaggeration, this is the most massive and well-known patron in the world. And, we add, the cheapest!
It was for him, in the early 60s of the last century, that Richard Casull created his exotic small-caliber self-loading carbine Casull Model 290. It was released in a very small series: only about 80 pieces, and it was quite expensive. But its main feature was not the price or even the caliber, but the disk magazine with a capacity of 290 rounds. This has certainly never happened before!
And then, already in the 70s, on the basis of the Kasull carbine design, a submachine gun was also designed for the same cartridge, intended for the police, and not just the police, but for the forceful suppression of it by the forces of mass riots. The submachine gun was given the designation American-180 and immediately began to be produced, first in Austria, and then even imported into the United States - this "most armed country in the world", which was done by Christopher & Associates. Then American-180 was produced by American Arms International, and then by Illinois Arms Company, Inc. (ILARCO) was established directly in the USA.
And then the most interesting thing happened: a large number of American-180 submachine guns were bought by representatives of the US police units (which everyone seems to know that they are committed to large calibers!), As well as by the security units of federal and local American prisons. The fact is that a number of specific requirements were put forward for their weapons and it was decided that such a submachine gun would be the most suitable for them. True, it soon became clear the opposite, namely that, with all the low power of small-caliber cartridges, a long line of American-180s can literally "gnaw through" their service bulletproof vests, although it was originally assumed that such bulletproof vests would help protect police officers and prisoners in those cases where American-180 somehow falls into the hands of criminals.
Cartridge.22 Long Rifle "long rifle" (5, 6 × 15, 6 mm R).
In fact, it was these features of the American-180 that made it a fairly effective weapon for the police. The fact is that low-power 5.56-mm cartridges have a small lethal range and are not prone to ricochets. "Armor-piercing", that is, the ability to pierce the walls of houses and doors, the bullets of these cartridges are also extremely low. The noise level that they create when firing is also small. Their price is also important, which for small-bore cartridges is much lower than the cost of any conventional cartridges. The minimum recoil easily allows you to control the weapon chambered for these cartridges when firing bursts, that is, if necessary, you can conduct fairly accurate aimed fire from it and not be afraid of ricochets. It is interesting that in order to further increase the efficiency of the protection of stationary objects (mainly high security prisons), the Americans even invented such fantastic firepower "devices" as paired, or even quadruple (!) Installations from such submachine guns, within a short distance, capable of releasing literally a barrage of lead that will stop any crowd. American-180 can even be equipped with a special laser sight, which turns it into an exclusively "lethal weapon" of the XXI century.
As noted, these submachine guns were supplied to police departments as riot-fighting weapons. They were also popular among amateur shooters who used it for recreational shooting ("plinking"). But all this was before the ban on the production and sale of civilian automatic weapons in 1986. The fact is that studies of the damaging properties of such weapons, carried out at the American Picatinny Arsenal, have revealed one, very unexpected, possible area of its application - to combat lightly armored targets at close ranges. It turned out that with such a rate of fire (about 20 shots per second), firing at the same place multiplies the armor penetration of small-caliber bullets. This is due to the fact that the material of light armor does not have time to recover between the bursts of bullets occurring at such a frequency and is destroyed. That is, quantity in this case turns into quality! So this small-caliber submachine gun unexpectedly turned out to be potentially dangerous for people protected by body armor - that is, first of all, police officers, and even armored vehicles and light armored vehicles. So now you won't be able to buy it just like that even in the USA!
Well, the very design of the American-180 submachine gun is extremely simple. Actually, this is an automation, arranged according to the principle of a free shutter, which actuated both the legendary MR-18, and the equally legendary PPSh-41 and MR-38. Fire from it is conducted from an open bolt, and there is a translator of the mode of fire for firing single shots or bursts.
The main thing that distinguishes this weapon from its predecessors is its extremely high rate of fire. Even the Italian Revelli didn’t fire more than 1100 rounds per minute, but here the rate of fire for.22LR cartridges is 1,200 rounds per minute. The American-180 variant, chambered for the more powerful.22ILARCO cartridges (.22 Short Magnum rimfire based on the shortened.22WMR cartridge), has an even higher rate of fire - 1,500 rounds per minute. Naturally, with such a rate of fire, he needs a lot of cartridges.
Well, the constructor took care of that too. The cartridges were fed from removable disk magazines, the cartridges in which were located horizontally in several layers, stacked with bullets to the center of the disk. Initially, the magazine was steel and held 177 rounds, stacked in three layers. Then there were magazines made of transparent plastic like Lexan, which held 165, 220 or even 275 rounds, which were inside in three, four or five layers. By the way, this submachine gun got its name American-180 because of one store, which included just 180 rounds! A magazine of 180 rounds is fired in a continuous burst in 7 seconds. 275-round in eleven seconds. Like the magazine of the Lewis machine gun, the magazine of this submachine gun rotates when firing: it makes one rotation of 360 degrees for shooting one level of ammunition. But there is also a difference. It still has a spring-loaded pusher, which was not on the Lewis. The magazine is manually charged and is rather slow: it takes ten to fifteen minutes. There is also a special loading tray that is attached to the store and speeds up this process. With its help, an experienced person can load a 177-cartridge magazine in three minutes.
It was noted that the very appearance of this weapon made a strong impression on … the revolting prisoners. In particular, the mere sight of the "laser dot" on the "problem maker" had a calming effect on them. The second factor was, for some reason, the "fat store" located on top.
American -180 submachine gun diagram.
Interestingly, this store was based on the design of the store for the Lewis machine gun during the First World War. That is, we have before us another illustrative example of the fact that everything new is well forgotten old!
It is noted that with a rate of fire of 1,500 rounds per minute, this submachine gun looks more like a chainsaw than a machine gun. And do not think that this weapon is not effective because of its "toy cartridge". Twenty 5.56-mm lead bullets that hit a person will put him out of action with much greater efficiency than one 9-mm bullet or more. The fact is that due to the almost complete lack of recoil, this submachine gun is very easy to operate. Efficiency up to 100 yards, which is quite enough for this caliber.
It is also interesting that this submachine gun is produced not only with chrome plating, but also painted green and red, and even coated with 24-carat gold costing … $ 16,000!
The American-180 is available in nine, fourteen and sixteen inch barrels. Barrels are easily replaced without the use of tools. For covert operations, the American-180 can be placed in a special "secret portfolio". It looks like an expensive business briefcase, but inside it has a short-barreled American-80 with a laser sight. And he shoots from a closed portfolio. The "secret briefcase" has a combination lock, and two invisible switches in the form of "buttons" are hidden in its handle. The first switch turns on the laser and releases the fuse. The second serves as a trigger. Promotional videos show that this "device" works very effectively at close range. So the place of the American 180 in the history of firearms is guaranteed. There is nothing like this anymore.
