MP 40 submachinegun

What this entry covers

The entry reads in full "German, MP 40 submachineguns, cal. 9mm, mfd. from 1940-1945 for the German military forces."¹ It sets three limits: the model (MP 40), a manufacturing window of 1940 to 1945, and a recipient, the German military forces¹. It names no maker and no serial range¹. The line sits in Section IV, which ATF heads "NFA firearms classified as curios or relics" that remain subject to the National Firearms Act².

Two neighbouring lines cover the related German guns. The MP 38 has its own entry: "German, MP 38 submachinegun, cal. 9mm Parabellum, mfd. by B. Geipel (Erma) prior to 1941."¹ So does the MP 41, described as made by C.G. Haenel in Suhl "during WWII", with the words "Original WWII German production only."¹ Whether a particular firearm fits this entry depends on the ATF wording above.

Identifying it

In the museum records consulted, the receiver carries a three-letter code rather than a company name, and most records name the maker alongside the code. The Australian War Memorial describes a Haenel gun of about 1942 whose receiver top is stamped "MP40 fxo" with the serial number³. A 1942 Steyr-Daimler-Puch example in the same collection is marked "bnz" on the forward part of the action and "MP40, bnz and 42" on the receiver top⁴. Royal Museums Greenwich records a Steyr gun, serial 4244, stamped "bnz 42" with an eagle over a swastika⁵. On the Memorial's Steyr gun the stamped "42" matches its recorded date of manufacture, 1942⁴; the entry's own test is the 1940–1945 window¹.

Mixed parts are worth checking. One Memorial example carries "MP40" and "fxo" on the receiver top but "bnz" on the forward action⁶. The museum records describe a blowback, open-bolt gun that fires only in full automatic, with a folding stock, a plastic handguard and a 32-round box magazine^3,5.

Common confusions

• MP 38 or MP 40. The Memorial presents the MP 40 as a simplified MP 38, redesigned around stamped components that dispersed subcontractors could build^3,4. The two models are separate ATF entries with different wording¹.
• MP 40/I. A small number of double-magazine guns were converted from existing MP 40s around mid-1943, apparently by Erma, though the source marks the maker as uncertain⁸. Whether such a conversion fits this entry depends on the ATF wording¹.
• Guns made outside 1940–1945, or not for the German forces. The entry's own dates and recipient are its limits¹.

History

Forgotten Weapons traces the design to German trials of the mid-1930s. It attributes the external form to Erma's EMP36 and the internal mechanism to Schmeisser's MK-36,II, combined first in the MP 38 and carried into the MP 40⁷. The museum examples cited here are attributed to Haenel in Suhl and to Steyr-Daimler-Puch; the Memorial dates its guns to about 1941 and 1942^3,4,6, and Greenwich gives 1939–1945⁵. We did not find a museum record or specialist source for a production total, so none is given here.

Further reading

• The Australian War Memorial records^3,4,6 give receiver markings, maker codes and mechanical descriptions for dated examples.
• Royal Museums Greenwich⁵ adds a fully described Steyr example with its serial number.
• Forgotten Weapons^7,8 covers the design's origins and the MP 40/I conversion.