Beretta SMG

[Krautman]

Well, i just read that ole "Greatest SMG of WWII" thread, and imho, the Beretta is the greatest, at least in CM! Puny firepower, but squads equipped with it have such a high ammo rating (-Italian Parachute SMG). How come? Could you use it in single-fire mode to save ammo?

[Renaud]

Yes, the Modello 38A and Modello 38/42 both had dual triggers. The forward trigger was for single shots, the rear trigger for auto fire. I can see no reason why either model would have much different firepower than the MP40. They both used 20 and 40-round box magazines. the 38A probably had better accuracy with a barrel 6" longer than the 38/42. Both were used extensively by the german and italian armies.

[securityguard]

Was it true the Modello was effective up to 275m or so? I heard this, probably a rumor. Someone prove me wrong or right.

[Renaud]

securitygaurd:

The Modello 38A has the longest barrel of any WWII SMG I know of. The MP40 barrell was 9.9" long, the 38A 12.4" long. It was originally manufactured as a single-shot carbine with high accuracy and later evolved into a full SMG. It comes equipped with 500 meter sights. It was manufactured to pre-war high-quality standards.

[Tero]

Originally posted by Renaud:

The Modello 38A has the longest barrel of any WWII SMG I know of. The MP40 barrell was 9.9" long, the 38A 12.4" long.

A side note: the Suomi SMG barrel is 314mm long which would make it 12,362 inches.

[David I]

Tero,

A submachine gun with a barrel 12,362" long might be accurate but it would be a little awkward to move around.

IMHO.

DavidI

[Cogust]

Another instance of the European (at least the non-native English speaking bit I think) decimal comma clashing with the American decimal point.

[Tero]

Actually, the correct form for the 12362" to read as thousands would be 12 362"

No wonder the US engineers could not get their reverse engineered MG-42 copy to work.

[Andrew H.]

Originally posted by Tero:

Actually, the correct form for the 12362" to read as thousands would be 12 362"

No wonder the US engineers could not get their reverse engineered MG-42 copy to work.

That was a problem with the "G" - US weapons have to start with an "M" followed by a hyphen or a number - it you follow the M with another letter, the weapon just won't work.