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Uzi submachine gun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Uzi | |
|---|---|
 The Uzi SMG |
|
| Type | Submachine gun |
| Place of origin |  Israel |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Israel, other nations including Belgium (Under license), Iran, Colombia, Chile, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, South Africa, USA and many other police/military organisations. |
| Wars | Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, Sri Lankan Civil War, Portuguese Colonial War, South African Border War, Rhodesian Bush War, anti-guerrilla operations in Colombia and the Philippines |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Uziel Gal |
| Designed | 1948 |
| Manufacturer | Israel Military Industries, FN Herstal, Norinco, Lyttleton Engineering Works (Under Vektor Arms), RH-ALAN, Ka Pa Sa State Factories |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) |
| Length | 470 mm (18.5 in), 650 mm (25.6 in) with stock extended |
| Barrel length | 260 mm (10.24 in.) |
|
|
|
| Cartridge | 9 x 19 mm Parabellum, .22 LR, .45 ACP, .41 AE |
| Action | open-bolt, blowback |
| Rate of fire | 600 round/min |
| Muzzle velocity | ~400 m/s (~1,310 ft/s) |
| Feed system | 10 (.22 and .41 AE), 16 (.45 ACP) 20, 32, 40 and 50 round magazines |
| Sights | iron sight |
The Uzi (Hebrew: עוזי) is a family of guns that started with a compact, boxy, and lightweight submachine gun. Smaller and newer variants are considered machine pistols. The first Uzi submachine gun was designed by Uziel Gal in the late 1940s. It was manufactured by Israel Military Industries, FN Herstal, and others.
Contents |
The Uzi uses an open-bolt, blowback-operated design. It and the Czechoslovakian series 23 to 26 were the first weapons to use a "telescoping" ("overhung") bolt design, in which the bolt wraps around the breech end of the barrel (Hogg 1979:157-158). This allows the barrel to be moved far back into the receiver and the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip, allowing for a heavier, slower-firing bolt in a shorter, better-balanced weapon.
It is made mostly of stamped sheet metal and has relatively few parts, making it easy to strip for maintenance and making it less expensive per unit to manufacture than an equivalent design machined from forgings. The fact that the magazine is housed within the pistol grip allows for intuitive and easy reloading in dark or difficult conditions, as the operator simply brings their hands together. On the other hand, the high grip also makes the weapon awkward to fire when prone.
The weapon also features a grip safety, making it difficult to fire accidentally.
When the gun is decocked, the ejector port closes, preventing entry of dust and dirt. Though the Uzi's receiver is equipped with pressed reinforcing ridges to accept accumulated dirt and sand, the weapon may jam with heavy accumulations of sand in desert combat conditions when not cleaned regularly.
The Uzi is generally a highly effective weapon, and has been found especially useful for mechanized troops needing a compact weapon, as well as for infantry units clearing bunkers and other confined spaces.
The Uzi has been criticised as heavy for its size and design; "almost every comparable weapon did the same job more efficiently. It was just the marketing that made the weapon so popular..." (Crossfire, Andy McNab, pg 263) The other criticism of the weapon is the based on a blowback design. When a round is fired the slid remains to the rear, until the trigger is pulled again, leaving the working parts open to dust. This increases the risk of a stoppage. A rival weapon, the MP-5, solves this by using a roller system. This means that only the firing pin moves as the weapon is firing, reducing the amount of contamination. [1]
The most common variant fires the 9 mm Parabellum cartridge, though some fire .22 LR, .41 AE, or .45 ACP. Caliber conversions exist in .40 S&W and 10mm auto [2].
Available magazines include 20-, 25-, 32-, 40-, and 50-round magazines (9 mm Parabellum), 10-round magazines (.41 and .22 LR), and 16-round magazines (.45 ACP). All of the above are manufactured by IMI. Other high-capacity magazines exist (e.g. 50-round magazines and 100-round drums in 9 mm) which are manufactured by companies such as Vector Arms.
The grip-mounted magazine gives the Uzi a highly distinctive, instantly-recognizable profile, and it is often seen in TV shows, movies, and video games. In such portrayals, the weapon is often fired one-handed (especially the Mini- and Micro-Uzis) and in some cases even as a pair of weapons, one in each hand.
The weapon was designed by Major (Captain at the time) Uziel Gal of the Israel Defense Forces following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The design was loosely based on the Czechoslovakian series 23 to 26 submachine guns introduced in 1948 (Hogg 1979:157). The Uzi submachine gun was submitted to the Israeli army for evaluation and won out over more conventional designs due to its simplicity and economy of manufacture. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him, but his request was ignored.
The initial model was accepted in 1951 and was first used in battle in 1956 and gained huge success. It was soon developed into a number of better engineered variants.
The Uzi submachine gun was used as a personal defense weapon by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops and tankers, as well as a frontline weapon by elite light infantry assault forces. The Uzi's compact size and firepower proved instrumental in clearing Syrian bunkers and Jordanian defensive positions during the 1967 Six-Day War. Advanced and smaller Uzi variations were used by the Israeli special forces until recently, when in December 2003, the Israeli military announced that it was completely phasing the Uzi out of use by its forces but would continue to manufacture the weapon for both domestic use and export.
Total sales of the weapon to date (end 2001) has netted IMI over $2 billion (US), with over ninety countries using the weapons either for their soldiers or in law enforcement.
The German Bundeswehr used the Uzi since 1959 under the name MP2 (especially for tank crews) and is now changing to the MP7.
The Irish Gardaí Emergency Response Unit (ERU) are replacing the Uzi with the HK MP7.
The Uzi was produced under license in Rhodesia in the late 1970s, from Israeli-supplied and later, domestically manufactured components. Commonly called the "Rhuzi" (although the title was also applied to some indigenous submachine gun designs).
Sri Lanka ordered a few thousand Mini Uzi and Uzi Carbines in 1990s. Currently those are deployed with Sri Lanka Army special forces regiment and Sri Lanka Police Special Task Force as their primary weapon when providing security for VIPs.
The United States Secret Service, the agency that guards the President of the United States, used the UZI to provide covering fire while agents evacuated the President out of the area. When President Ronald Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981 outside of the Washington Hilton Hotel by John Hinckley Jr., Secret Service Special Agent Bob Wanko pulled an Uzi out of a briefcase and covered the rear of the presidential limousine as it sped to safety with the wounded president inside.
There are several smaller variants of the Uzi SMG:
- Mini Uzi, Basically a scaled-down version of the Uzi, it was first introduced in 1980. The Mini Uzi is 600 mm (23.62 inches) long or just 360 mm (14.17 inches) long with the stock folded. Its barrel length is 197 mm and its muzzle velocity is 375 m/sec. The Mini Uzi is blowback operated and can be fired from a closed bolt or an open bolt. Its rate of fire is 950 rounds per minute (~16 rounds per second). The weapon fires the 9mm Parabellum round in either semi or fully automatic firing modes. It weighs 2.65 kg without a magazine and 3.15 kg with a fully loaded 25-round magazine.
- Micro Uzi, At only 250 mm (9.84 inches) in length, it is slightly larger than a standard pistol and is about as small as the original Uzi design could be made. It fires from a closed bolt position and has a side-folding stock similar to the one on the Mini Uzi. The forward handgrip is completely eliminated. First introduced in 1986, the Micro Uzi weighs 2.2 kilograms less than the Uzi when unloaded and fires at a rate of 1250 rpm, which can unload the 20 round magazine in 0.96 seconds.
- Para Micro Uzi, designed especially for counter terror units. It was recently developed by the IMI and is in use by the Shabak and the Israeli counter-terror units such as the YAMAM. It has a side-mounted charging handle, a provision which makes room for top and bottom-mounted Picatinny rails. It has an angled pistol-grip to accommodate a 33-round Glock 18 magazine.
- Uzi Pistol, a semi-automatic version of the Micro Uzi developed for sale in countries where the civilian ownership of automatic weapons is restricted, such as in the U.S. Externally, it is distinguished by not having a stock or a recoil compensator, as well as a different trigger guard and a slightly different grip design.
- Uzi Carbine, a semi-automatic version of the full sized Uzi SMG, with a longer 400 mm (16 inch) barrel. Was also generally available for sale to civilians in the United States prior to both semi-auto models being banned from import in 1994. New Uzi Carbines are still available from several American manufacturers as of March, 2006.
- Uzi Mini Carbine, a semi-automatic version of the compact Mini-Uzi SMG, with a longer 450mm (18 inch) barrel to meet minimum legal rifle overall length requirements for civilian sales in the United States when the stock is folded.
Those variants are still in use by many special forces and law enforcement agencies in the world - including in Israel, United States and Sri Lanka[3].
Bangladesh - Used by RAB
Belgium - Under license by Fabrique Nationale
Colombia
Chile - Used by Carabineros de Chile (Chilean Police Forces)
El Salvador - Was used by military police during the El Salvador Civil War.
Estonia
France
Germany - Being phased out to adopt Heckler & Koch MP7
Haiti
India
Indonesia - Used by Kopassus and Tontaipur
Ireland - Used by the Garda Síochána ERU and Special Branch. To be replaced by the Heckler & Koch MP7.
Israel - Production ceased; still produces parts
Mexico- Used by police in protection against drug dealers and drug transporters
Burma - Under license by Ka Pa Sa factories as the BA-94
Paraguay
Portugal - Portuguese Army, formely used by Polícia de Segurança Pública during Portuguese Colonial War
Philippines
Poland - Few SMGs used in Polish Police
Rhodesia
South Africa - Being phased out from regular Army, except for special forces
Sri Lanka
Taiwan - With ROCMC Special Service Company units
Thailand
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
The Uzi and its variants are some of the most popular submachine guns in the world. Along with the MP5 and MAC-10, they have appeared in many films, TV series, and video games.
Hogg, Ian V. (1979). Guns and How They Work. New York: Everest House, pp. 157-158. ISBN 0-89696-023-4.
