...sucks monkey balls...

Obviously, some short sighted people that don't know shit about weapons don't know that this is actually an SMG. It shoots pistol cartridges full auto, so it is. It was actually revolutionary for the time, low cost , bakelite parts, vollmer system protecting the recoil spring, with the added safety on the bolt catch it was safe if managed correctly. Downsides were the wieght, and the single column magazine which jammed quite a lot. A good weapon, but not over the top.

Obviously, some short sighted Americans do not understand that this is NOT a SMG. It had no single fire, but its rate of fire was not that high that is was a problem. The Sturmgewehr 44 had single fire and usefull iron sights. Of course, it came to late to make Germans win battles like Stalingrad (best weapon in town for any purpose). But it changed something. Without it, we would probably have neither M-16 nor AK-47.

a far better weapon that say a heavy thomson!

Ah, the MP-40 Schmeisser! If you believe Hollywood, every man woman and child in the German Army was hefting one of these. Actually MP40s were typically only issued to platoon and squadleaders. The Germans made over one million of them so there must have been a lot of them around. I remember the television series Combat. The Germans always seemed to have a couple of these weapons. I read an account of the filming of Combat, and the production crew actually acquired a couple of MP-40s and used them as props in the show. Where Eagles Dare with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood is another flick where the whole world is armed with MP-40s. It shot the 9MM pistol round and was effective out to about 100 yards.

I can't believe that tboneya missed this one. Anyway, the MP-40 is sort of the classic weapon used by mean-looking Nazis in the movies. It was a really innovative weapon for its time, using a lot of stampings, had a telescoping bolt, and a high rate of fire. A classic SMG.