A Brief History of the MP40

The German MP40 submachine gun was a weapon our Allied Forces feared in World War II.

This weapon shot from a standard 32-round box magazine and the caliber was the standard 9x19mm Parabellum. Manufactured in Germany from 1940-1945, there were roughly 1.1 million of them manufactured.

Weighing just under 9 pounds, this submachine gun was not light. With a cyclic rate of 500-550 rounds per minute, this heavy, quick-firing gun held on target well when fired in fully automatic bursts.

This photograph from the WWII era shows a German soldier in full combat gear and brandishing his MP40.

Here a reenactor portraying a WWII German soldier carries one.

The MP40 has been a popular gun in Hollywood. Here the villain in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is using one.

Built using German engineering, this tough gun was expensive to manufacture.

The MP40 is quite a piece of history that lives on through museum pieces and the few privately owned, federally registered submachine guns.

NEXT: HOLY SHRAPNEL! MAN COMES INCHES FROM LOSING HIS HEAD WHILE BLOWING UP A TRUCK

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