Submachine Guns

Introduction

by the BattleTechnology Staff

If laser pistols represent the cutting edge of modern weapons technology, submachine guns remain the most common of readily available personal sidearms which combine lightweight portability with deadly and hard-hitting firepower. It has been suggested that laser pistols are the most sought-after of all personal weapons, but the decline of the high-tech industrial capabilities of each of the Successor State houses has resulted in laser hand weaponry becoming relatively rare. Laser pistols require an extensive hightech industrial base both for their manufacture and for their repair, and their reliance on complex internal electronics for power feed and focus control results in malfunctions and outright breakdowns which require high-tech servicing facilities for repair.

Submachine guns, on the other hand, have been around since the early 20th century. They operate on well-understood and purely mechanical principles and can be manufactured, repaired, or rebuilt at any facility stocking simple and relatively common tools and parts. Their ammunition, too, in any of several standard calibers, is widelyavailable. Many soldiers save their spent brass and reload their own rounds, and most Techs possess the molds and benchtop presses necessary for reloading by hand when in the field.

The continued popularity of submachine guns can probably be explained by their ability to deliver a high volume of fire, and by the fact that they are so much fun to shoot full-auto. Liabilities common to all SMGs, however, are their high rate of ammo usage and their high rate of recoil-induced muzzle climb. Trained warriors and elite special forces personnel are taught to use single-shot or burst fire only with these weapons, to avoid these handicaps.

Our listing of several common submachine guns is drawn from the New Avalon Edition of the Galactic Consumer's Report, Volume 27, number 5, for determinations of reliability and for testing reports. BattleTechnology cannot assume responsibility for the technical accuracy of these reports, or forthe safety of the weapons described in this column.

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© Copyright 1987 by Pacific Rim Publishing.
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