PP MDG

At the end of the 40s of the 20th century, Louis DeBouy, who worked for Etablissements Merlin Gerin, began work on a new submachine gun. He wanted to create a weapon of compact and portable design, which is characterized by low impact. To achieve these goals, the designer decided to develop a weapon of a very unusual form and principle of operation. He applied a half-free shutter . We used the design of an experimental unified machine gun presented by Victor Barnitzke, the designer of the Gustloff-Werke company, for the competition simultaneously with MG42 . The movement of the shutter by means of a gear rack and gear mechanism was transmitted to two flywheels, spinning in the opposite direction, neutralizing the recoil energy (the machine gun was not accepted due to the rapid wear of the rack and gears).

The MGD submachine gun used a similar system, but with one flywheel and no rack gear. In the years 1954-1955, about a thousand MDG were produced in several versions with different barrel lengths and types of stocks (fixed length or folding). An unusual design solution was also the ability to "fold" the PP like a clamshell, which reduced the dimensions of the weapon in non-combat situations and when carrying.

In 1956, the MDG license was sold to the German company Erma Werke, but only a few of these types of software (ERMA PM-9) were produced there, and Erma Werke decided to focus on the production of more classic, less expensive weapons.

The MDG submachine gun was not adopted by the military of any country.

• Caliber: 9 × 19 mm Luger / Parabellum
• Weight: 2.53 kg
• Length: (butt folded / open) 359/659 mm
• Barrel length: 213 mm
• Rate of fire: 750 rounds per minute
• Magazine capacity: 32 rounds
• Effective range: 100 meters

• KRISS Vector

• ARES FMG and PP-90 - "folding" submachine guns , in which the receiver and shoulder rest when folded form a kind of case for weapons.

• Submachine gun MGD / ERMA PM-9 (France)