Q&A: All About Submachine Guns (May 2025)

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This month’s Q&A theme is submachine guns:

0:00:41 – Do different nationalities have culturally distinctive submachine guns or gun features?
0:04:25 – What was the first SMG? German or Italian?
0:06:11 – Magazine loadouts for submachine guns
0:08:08 – Why is the MP5 still viable and popular today?
0:11:09 – Do SMGs still have a role in light of short carbines and .300 Blackout?
0:14:55 – Would 10mm close the gap between SMG and rifle?
0:20:19 – Why no SMGs in .357 Mag or .44 Mag?
0:22:35 – Why is the Sten magazine bad, and what makes a good SMG mag?
0:27:01 – Does the US military still have any issued SMGs?
0:28:06 – Did the Sten really have problems running away?
0:30:16 – Why no British SMG before WW2?
0:32:21 – Difference between PCC and SMG
0:34:46 – Why re some 9mm mags straight and some curved?
0:36:18 – Why are people still making simple blowback SMGs today?
0:38:13 – Why so little development of open bolt SMGs today?
0:40:15 – Coupled magazines for the UD42
0:42:50 – Where would one go to learn to shoot submachine guns?
0:43:58 – Without Knob Creek, are there any more national SMG matches?
0:45:04 – The MP5 trigger is pretty bad – is that normal?
0:46:17 – What would SMG development have done if battle rifles stayed in vogue?
0:47:11 – Mass-production SMGs not in 9mm? (And also not in 7.62×25 or 45ACP)
0:48:53 – Most fun full-auto .22?
0:49:52 – Does the quality of first-gen SMG manufacture have a benefit?
0:51:12 – Is the PDW dead?
0:54:07 – The specialized Remington-Thompson .45 cartridge
0:55:43 – What SMG for time travel to medieval Europe?
0:57:00 – Why no US SMGs in .38 Super prior to WW2?
0:58:55 – Why not more bayonets on SMGs?
1:01:01 – Magnet-delayed or magnet-buffered designs
1:04:47 – Burst limiter utility in machine pistols