SUBMACHINEGUN

Submachine gun

A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I . The zenith of its use was World War II when millions of weapons of this type were manufactured. In military use, the submachine gun has been supplanted in general issue by carbine-length assault rifles firing intermediate cartridges due to their superior range and power; submachine guns have poor accuracy past 50m and are generally unable to penetrate the improved ballistic helmets and body armor increasingly becoming standard-issue for modern infantrymen.

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submachine gun

Noun

  1. A type of short range machine gun that is carried as a personal weapon and uses pistol ammunition.
    Bare-chested children and their parents gathered in doorways, on roofs and in windows as he passed, watched warily by Brazilian troops carrying submachine guns. - New York Times, 09/03/2007 1


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: submachine gun
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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