These were some mighty hard men of their age.They even tried during the sack of Rome in 1527 to kill the Pope! If it had’nt been for the Papal Swiss Guard they might of done it too.
All in all some mighty tough and bad men to have running around in your neighborhood! Grumpy
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WW II full auto
A Deep Dive Into the Little-Known German Walther MPL, We Analyze Reliability, Ergonomics, and Historical Significance To See Why It’s a Great Submachine Gun!
The Walther MPL is a controllable and efficient close combat tool. Employed by West German police agencies, America’s fledgling Delta Force, and sundry international military and Law Enforcement users, the MPL never got the credit it deserved. (Photo by Will Dabbs)
On September 5, 1972, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September slipped into the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany. They were dressed in tracksuits and carried bulky duffle bags containing AKM rifles, Tokarev pistols, and Combloc hand grenades. German Neo-Nazis provided their logistical support.
In their initial assault, the Black September terrorists killed Israeli athletes Yossef Romano and Moshe Weinberg before seizing another nine of their countrymen.
In exchange for the safe return of these captured Israelis, the terrorists demanded the release of several hundred incarcerated terrorists as well as safe passage out of Germany. Faced with the prospect of a political disaster of Biblical proportions, West German police staged an immediate armed rescue.
The post-war German constitution prevented the use of the West German armed forces within the confines of the country during peacetime so responsibility for the rescue mission fell to the police.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, a group of 38 German police officers carrying distinctive Walther MP submachine guns moved into position. Unbeknownst to them their approach was captured by the news media and broadcast to the world as well as the terrorists inside the compound. Their cover blown, the German police officers retreated without firing a shot.
After protracted negotiations the terrorists moved by helicopter to a nearby NATO base to board a waiting Boeing 727.
Five German police sharpshooters were stationed around the area armed with standard-issue G3 service rifles that lacked sound suppressors or optical sights. Sixteen German police officers dressed as flight crew aboard the 727 precipitously decided to abandon their mission without consulting their superiors. This left five German snipers armed with infantry rifles to confront eight heavily armed terrorists holding nine hostages. The result was a bloodbath.
All nine Israeli hostages died in the exchange along with Anton Fliegerbauer, a German police officer positioned in the control tower. German police killed five of the terrorists.
On October 29, 1972, Palestinian terrorists seized Lufthansa Flight 615 and threatened to blow it up unless the remaining Black September operatives were released. The German government complied. Two of these three men were subsequently eliminated during a wide-ranging Israeli Mossad operation titled, appropriately enough, Operation Wrath of God.
The list of regrettable failures that folded into the Munich Olympic Massacre is long. With the notable exception of Israel, nobody really maintained dedicated counter-terrorist units back then.
The Munich operation was therefore a come-as-you-are affair. Within two months the West German government had organized GSG9, the superlative West German police counter-terrorist unit then commanded by Ulrich Wegener.
The Free World responded quickly to this new challenge, and the influence can be felt all the way up to the present day. Nowadays even small American police departments typically maintain some sort of tactical capability.
Despite the many failures manifest during those fateful days in 1972, one piece of critical gear used on that operation has long been under-appreciated. That is the superb Walther MP submachine gun.
An Unappreciated Jewel
Manufactured by Carl Walther from 1963 until 1985, the MP submachine gun represents the pinnacle of open-bolt submachine gun design.
Feeding from a superb double-column 32-round box magazine, this weapon comes in two variants. The MPL (Maschinenpistole Lang) is the longer version sporting a 10.2-inch barrel and weighing 6.6 pounds. The stubbier MPK (Maschinenpistole Kurz) features a chopped 6.8-inch tube and weighs some seven ounces less. Stemming from more than half a century of martial evolution, the MPL is a superb piece of kit.
The balance and ergonomics of the gun eclipse anything manufactured during World War II. The center of gravity rides where it should, and the weapon is finished in a robust dull Parkerizing. The overall chassis strikes a nice balance between modest weight, compact dimensions, and controllability.
Morphology
The gun is manufactured from steel pressings welded together in much the same manner as the M3 Grease Gun.
The upper receiver is a single flat folded around trunnions and welded at the bottom. The lower receiver is formed from two clamshells welded along the length of the seam. The upper and lower are secured via a spring-retained pushpin.
The grips are formed from unremarkable black plastic. The steel forearm is liberally perforated with cooling slots. The WWII-era MP44 assault rifle clearly influenced the gun’s manufacture.
The selector switch is in the same spot as that of an M4 and is replicated on both sides of the gun. However, two of its three positions are reversed from the Colt standard.
Straight back is safe, the first 90-degree notch is full auto, and the reversed 180-degree position is semiauto. The gun’s sedate rate of fire helps reduce profligate ammunition expenditure, so this is appropriate for a pistol-caliber submachine gun.
The magazine well is located just ahead of the trigger guard and is flared for fast magazine changes. The gun’s pressed steel box magazine enjoys a trapezoidal cross section as well as a stiffening rib down its back spine. These two features help maintain orientation in the dark. This same magazine, slightly modified, feeds the American M-10 9mm submachine gun manufactured by Military Armament Corporation, RPB, and others.
The stock is formed from heavy wire with a plastic coating. This device is common to both the MPK and MPL and folds to the right when not in use. Oddly, the stock partially occludes the ejection port when closed and adversely affects reliability as a result.
The bolt design is quite clever in that the modest bit that manages the rounds is quite small. However, this piece is welded to a much larger component that reciprocates within the upper tubular portion of the upper receiver. This substantial mass is what keeps the rate of fire slow and contributes to the gun’s remarkable controllability.
Pertinent Particulars
The non-reciprocating charging handle is spring-loaded and located at the left front akin to that of the HK MP5, the MPL’s primary competition. This makes it imminently accessible by the weak hand when firing right-handed. As near as I can tell, left-handed people seem not to have been invented until the mid-1980s…
The sling swivels are located on the left side as they should be. Unlike the MP5, the barrels are easily exchanged via a knurled muzzle nut retained by a spring-loaded catch. Swapping out barrels or adding a sound suppressor is easily managed at the user level.
The sights on the MPL are quite curious. Both front and rear are heavily fenced against rough handling. There is an open groove both front and rear for rapid engagements.
After a little practice, they are easily acquired. However, there is a second sighting system built underneath the first. This rig consists of a simple front post combined with a rear peep. For precise semi-auto work in the days before widespread optical sights this would have been fairly revolutionary.
Practical Tactical
While the shorter MPK is purportedly a bit of a handful, the longer, front-heavy MPL is a serene and comfortable gun to run. With a cyclic rate of around 550 rounds per minute, the MPL is imminently controllable and fun on the range. Doubles are fairly easy for an experienced trigger finger, and three- to four-round bursts flow forth naturally. Out to fifty meters, or more, such bursts will typically disperse to about the area of a standard tactical target.
Magazine changes are fast if perhaps a bit more cumbersome than those of your favorite M4. Once the gun runs dry the bolt remains forward. Lock the bolt to the rear manually and release the charging handle to slide forward of its own accord.
Drop the empty magazine and insert a fresh one, point the gun, and squeeze. The magazine release is located behind the magazine for easy access with either thumb. The ample mag well just ahead of the trigger guard is easy to find, even in the dark.
If the MPL has a dark side it is its perforated forearm. After two magazines burned rapidly the forearm gets uncomfortably hot. The solution is simply to move the support hand back to the magazine well, but the gun would benefit from a polymer handguard of some sort.
The MPL is not terribly concealable, but concealability is not its mission. This gun is intended to fulfill the role of the wartime MP40, and it remains a superb general-purpose submachine gun. Rugged, accurate, and versatile, the MPL is what all open-bolt subguns aspire to be.
Regarding rate of fire, the MPL runs much more slowly than many competing designs. The gun’s 550 round per minute rate puts it into the same family as the Sten, MP40, and American M3 Grease Gun.
By contrast, a modern M4 or MP5 typically cycles at around 750-850 rounds per minute. For a general purpose subgun to be used in protracted combat, such as that experienced in Europe during World War II, the MPL is a superb tool. For the counter-terror mission in the hands of well-trained operators, a faster-firing weapon might be preferable.
Denouement
The Portuguese used the Walther MPL through their sundry colonial wars as well as during the Carnation Revolution in April of 1974, the largest peaceful civilian evacuation in human history.
This gun saw service in the Congo as well as during the Lebanese Civil War and the various brushfire conflicts in Colombia. The West German police obviously used the gun extensively as well. The most famous users of the Walther MP, however, were also some of the most secretive.
The U.S. Army’s Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta was the brainchild of a Special Forces Colonel named Charlie Beckwith in the late 1970s.
After training with the British SAS, Beckwith returned to America convinced of the need to establish a dedicated counter-terrorist capability within the United States Army. Early Delta operators used American M3 Grease Guns before transitioning to the Walther MP.
Delta used these weapons during the ill-fated attempted rescue of American hostages in Iran. However, soon thereafter HK MP5s and stubby rifle-caliber assault rifles like the CAR-15 filled this role. Ultimately, the HK 416 undertook this mission.
The world’s counter-terrorist units began shifting toward rifle-caliber weapons in the 1980s. Meanwhile, the HK MP5 was selling as fast as Oberndorf could produce them. As a result, the Walther MP submachine guns died a natural death. However, the argument can be made that the Walther MPL was actually the most effective general-purpose submachine gun ever produced.
Walther MPL Technical Specifications
- Caliber: 9mm Parabellum
- Operation: Blowback open-bolt
- Weight: 6.6 lbs.
- Length: 29.4 in. stock open, 18.2 in. closed
- Barrel Length: 10.2 in.
- Sights: Dual-Function
- Cyclic Rate: 550 rpm
- Feed System: 32-round box magazine
- Manufacturer: Walther
- Status: Out of service
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280 Ross Sporting rifle 1910
I can see this happening here too! Grumpy
This whole advertised and promoted ‘Gun free zone’ thing is virtue signalling at it’s worst – and it’s most dangerous.
Too many times we’ve seen in the past that that is exactly where a scumbag with a death wish is going to attack, knowing in advance there’s no one there who can stop them.
The truth is proven out when, just two weeks ago, a civilian with a legal sidearm stopped a mass murder from killing innocent children in a school.