Atlas Trail
Pistol Cartridges, Automatic Fire: Submachine Guns from the Lanchester to the FGC-9
Eight guns that fire pistol cartridges show how the submachine gun changed over eighty years. The path opens with four wartime designs built in 1941 and 1942 for speed and low cost, then moves to three compact peacetime weapons from the 1980s to around 2000, and ends with a 3D-printed carbine from 2020.
Stop 1 of 8.
Weapons Systems
The Lanchester was a 9x19mm submachine gun that George Lanchester evolved from the German MP28/II. Sterling, W. W. Greener and Boss & Co built it from 1941 to 1945 in three versions, and it went mainly to the Royal Navy, staying in British service until 1960.
Stop 2 of 8.
Weapons Systems
Eugene Reising patented this .45 caliber gun in 1940, and Harrington and Richardson made it. It cost less than the Thompson and was lighter. United States Marines used it at Guadalcanal in August 1942, but reliability problems pulled it from frontline Marine units by late 1943.
Stop 3 of 8.
Weapons Systems
Alexei Sudayev designed the PPS in 7.62x25mm Tokarev as a cheap weapon for reconnaissance troops, vehicle crews and support personnel. Stamped sheet steel kept costs down, and it matched the PPSh-41 for accuracy while firing more slowly. The Red Army used it heavily, and Warsaw Pact states used it later.
Stop 4 of 8.
Weapons Systems
George Hyde of General Motors designed the M3, which the United States Army adopted in December 1942 as a cheaper, simpler replacement for the Thompson. Its look gave it the nickname grease gun. Builders made 655,363 across the M3 and M3A1, and vehicle crews still carried it in the 1991 Gulf War.
Stop 5 of 8.
Weapons Systems
Roberto Teppa and Claudio Gritti designed the Spectre M4 in the mid-1980s for instant firepower in close-quarters combat. SITES in Turin built it in four models with top-folding stocks until the firm closed in 1997, and Greco Sport in Switzerland made small numbers until 2001.
Stop 6 of 8.
Weapons Systems
KBP in Tula developed the PP-90 as a 9mm folding submachine gun for special units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Folded, it measures about 270 by 90 by 32 millimeters with no protruding parts, so it is easy to conceal, and its safeties block firing while folded.
Stop 7 of 8.
Weapons Systems
Development of the KGP-9 ran from 1986 to 1997, started when Hungarian military leaders wanted a 9mm Parabellum alternative to the 9x18mm Makarov weapons then in use. FEG built it, and it entered service around 2000 with about 1,000 military examples plus use by the prison service.
Stop 8 of 8.
Weapons Systems
Jacob Duygu, using the name JStark1809, released the FGC-9 in March 2020 as a largely 3D-printed 9x19mm carbine that takes Glock-pattern magazines. It was meant to get around restrictive European firearms laws, open build documents spread it worldwide, and a Mark II followed in April 2021.
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