{"id":12935,"date":"2016-03-09T15:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T21:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hcstx.org\/?p=12935"},"modified":"2016-03-09T15:00:12","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T21:00:12","slug":"military-weapons-from-the-past-the-hotchkiss-type-universal-was-a-tiny-submachine-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/09\/military-weapons-from-the-past-the-hotchkiss-type-universal-was-a-tiny-submachine-gun\/","title":{"rendered":"Military Weapons from the Past: The &#8216;Hotchkiss Type Universal&#8217; was a TINY Submachine Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hotchkiss Universal SMG\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pRrFWQXl-RE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The odd-looking Hotchkiss <em>Type Universal<\/em> represented an extraordinary attempt at creating an <em>extremely<\/em> compact submachine gun.<\/p>\n<p>The need was obvious. In World War II, soldiers found themselves getting in and out of vehicles, jumping from planes and fighting in close quarters. They needed a weapon that wouldn\u2019t get in the way.<\/p>\n<p>Submachine guns had become an essential weapon during the war owing to their small size and high rate of fire. By 1949 France was seeking to replace its lend-lease STEN guns and aging MAS-38s \u2014 the latter a pre-war design \u2014 with a more compact submachine gun.<\/p>\n<p>Chambered in nine-millimeter Parabellum with the standard 32-round magazine, the <em>Universal<\/em> was originally designed as a solely semi-automatic compact carbine for police use. But when the French army announced its requirement for a new submachine gune, Hotchkiss redesigned the <em>Universal<\/em>, adding fully-automatic capability. The new design featured select-fire and cycled at approximately 650 rounds per minute.<\/p>\n<p>Designers went to extraordinary lengths to minimize the size of the<em>Universal<\/em>. Not only did the stock fold beneath the barrel, but the magazine housing and magazine also rotated forward to sit beneath the barrel, with the magazine fitting between a U-shape cutout in the butt stock.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-1 hentry post-12691 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail category-france category-history category-weapons tag-hotchkiss tag-submachine-gun\">\n<div class=\"post\">\n<p>The weapon\u2019s pistol grip was also hollow and the grip could fold forward to cover the trigger. But the most interesting folding component was the telescopic barrel, which could retract several inches. These features brought the <em>Universal<\/em>\u2019s length down from 30.60 inches with the stock extended to a diminutive 17.25 inches in its most compact configuration. But the weapon could not fire with its stock collapsed.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=waisbo-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1849087598\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>The <em>Universal<\/em>\u2019s extreme compactness was its best feature and also its worst feature. The complexity of its folding mechanisms made it difficult and expensive to manufacture. The weapon\u2019s ergonomics were poor, with its narrow buttplate, an uncomfortable pistol grip and narrow sights that were less than ideal for quick target-acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>The French military eventually chose the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/warisboring.com\/articles\/the-mat-49-was-the-subgun-of-the-first-vietnam-war\/\">MAT-49<\/a>, which also had a folding magazine housing that made it almost as compact as the\u00a0<em>Universal<\/em> \u2014 but without the <em>Universal<\/em>\u2018s complexity.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, Hotchkiss produced the <em>Universal<\/em> for just three years between 1949 and 1952. There were only two customers \u2014 the French police and the Venezuelan military. The Universal would be one of the last firearms the Hotchkiss ever made. The company retooled in early 1950s in order to focus on automobile manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.historicalfirearms.info\/post\/69018253402\/pistolet-mitrailleur-hotchkiss-type-universal\">This story originally appeared at Historical Firearms.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read the Article as it Appears Here at <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/warisboring.com\/articles\/the-type-universal-was-a-tiny-tiny-submachine-gun\/?mc_cid=7e9b83b724&amp;mc_eid=1149a36069\">War is Boring<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sharebtns aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"tt-wrappercd0b310\" class=\"tt-wrapper inread \"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The odd-looking Hotchkiss Type Universal represented an extraordinary attempt at creating an extremely compact submachine gun. The need was obvious. In World War II, soldiers found themselves getting in and out of vehicles, jumping from planes and fighting in close quarters. They needed a weapon that wouldn\u2019t get in the way. Submachine guns had become&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1286,4827,24,1899],"tags":[5346,360,5347,5348,5349,5350,5351,5352,3913,5353,5354],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}