Throwing around the idea of picking up a WWII sub machine gun.

Reising - very affordable but not very iconic. It does have a nice looking wood stock

M1 Thompson - a bucket list MG for a lot of folks, but a bit out of my price range, and I’ve heard it’s not all that fun to shoot, heavy and .45 ACP is expensive

Sten - affordable, and ammo is cheap, but honestly can’t get past how crude it looks. Terrible sights, awful trigger, metal stock, etc…

Sterling - cheap ammo, kind of indifferent on looks but hear it’s reliable

Lanchester - cheap ammo, aesthetically pretty cool. I like the wood stock, bayonet lug and barrel shroud.

MP40 - don’t know much about this one, I’ve heard it shoots smooth.

PPSh41 - the ammo is expensive and it has a high rate of fire, but seems like a neat smg in general

What’s everyone’s favorite WWII SMG and why?

Did I miss any?

FWIW my max price is probably $15-20k

Tommy gun.

If you're dropping thousands on a gun, who cares if ammo is expensive?

M3 Grease gun

Nice list

yes

Guide Lamp, Division General Motors M3 and M3A1
and
M55 Paramarine Reising folder without muzzle compensator

in which the Manual deliberately lies as they hoped to replace the Thompson's stepped down from 1921 speeds...
M50/M55 claims 450-550 rpm in writing, is 750-850 rpm. They issued the maddening 12 round single stack park'd mag versus blued double stack 20's

It’s still worth considering, especially if you will be shooting thousands of rounds per year, it’s starts to add up quick.

Grease Gun had suppressor designed/issued. Barrel nut was replaced by the sound device with its own barrel nut



M55

very few survived

yeah I missed the M3 grease gun on my list. Looks like a fun gun but machine gun price guide shows them pushing $25-30k so probably out of my price range.

The reising looks like they can be had for less than $10k

Ok, so I actually have a question.

Had a classmate that had a .45 SMG, but not a Tommy.  What others were there? Is it the Reising?

MP40

NVM.

Beretta M-1938 for the win!

If you are spending transferable machine gun money and are actually going to shoot in volume, a reloading setup makes a lot of sense. .45 is not so bad if you reload. It’ll never be as cheap as 9mm, but I won’t lie, shooting .45 gives me more warm and fuzzies even though my head tells me 9mm is the better round for most tasks.

Could be an M3 grease gun, MAC M10, Ingram M6, Spitfire, Stemple, or if you were super lucky, an M2 Hyde-Inland. Probably others I can’t think of off the top of my head.

I would love to have a PPsH-41.

Shot a thompson, m3, and an mp40.

MP40 is my fav; chugaluga.

Shot a Thomson and MP40 back to back. MP40 gets my vote. Smooth and I’d say more fun to shoot

My vote is for the Beretta or MP-40.

I've shot them all and I've owned a Lanchester, they were fun but unless you have the Austen mag loader, the mags are a pain to load.




Sadly, I had to sell it when my ex wife was in school. Promised to get an MP-40 but right after she got out of med school, she divorced me.

Yes, the Reising is .45ACP.

The UZI can ge gotten in .45ACP, also.

I actually like it in .45 a bit better than 9mm. I'm kind of odd...

The Sterling is a really nice smooth gun, a bit pricey. High teens, to low 20's.
I shot one at "The Creek" years ago.

If you've never shot a Thompson, shoot one before you buy one.
It's got a different feel, and is pretty heavy. Even West Hurley guns are near $20,000, GI are hitting $30,000+.

I've owned an M50 Reising since '94.
It's very light, a bit on the fast side, but fun to shoot. I can only pull triples, I just can't get it to do doubles.
Parts can be an issue, but they are out there, for now.

The M55, Reising, as mentioned above will be Thompson money, as they are pretty rare.

M3 Grease Gun, I love it.
Rude, & crude, but not STEN crude.
Very slow, 400-450, you can pull singles all day long.
They are barrel sensitive as far as accuracy. Buy a few barrels, & find one or 2 that hit where you aim, then sell off the rest.
Prices are $25,000+

Just my $0.02

This and my top two choices for pistol calibers!!

Sten gets my vote. Its hilariously simple, and like you said - ammo is cheep.  As for the sights, well you don't really aim it anyway so...

Thomson would be cool, just for looks and the swag.

Attached File

I had a similar list an picked the Sterling. Ammo is plentiful enough to buy cheap and stack deep. 32 round magazines are one of the easiest to load and the cyclic rate is music to the ears.

Swedish K is very smooth but I guess not technically a WWII SMG?

I've shot everything on your list.  The Sterling is very smooth and you can retrofit them for modern optics and suppressors if desired.  Probably the best 9mm SMG magazine ever made w/ the rollers also very easy to load.
I just can't get past the side loaded mag myself.

A C&R Thompson (any form), MP40, sterling, or PPSh41 is probably out of your price range, some significantly so.

You might be able to snap up a tube gun MP40 or a West Hurley Thompson for the north end of your price range.

Reisings themselves are relatively inexpensive, but mags and some spare parts can be pricey.  

You can get a C&R sten for under your price range,  but it sounds like you aren't crazy about them.

You might be able to find a Lanchester within your budget, but some spare parts are tough to find for them.

Thompsons get everyone excited when you bring them out, but in my opinion, they are just OK from a shooter's perspective.

I don't think sterlings are WW2 subguns, but a tube gun can be had in your price range.  The mags are nice and spares are available.  I owned a MK5 at one time and it was fun to shoot.

MP40 spare parts and mags are pricey.

I agree with the other posters that said you should consider a Beretta 38 series.   They are very pleasant to shoot and spare parts/mags are avaliable.   They tend to go for a little above your budget, but recently I've seen a couple go for surprisingly cheap (relatively speaking).  

From a shooter's perspective, I personally find the MP40, Beretta 38a, and grease gun to be the most enjoyable.  Then again, that's just my opinion.

I hope this helps.

ETA: A real Erma EMP can also be had in your price range, but 9x19 mags are tough to come by and spare parts are nonexistent, particularly bolts or barrels.

I’d go for a grease gun.

Easy to shoot and surprisingly comfortable. The slow rate of fire makes it super easy to keep it under control.

There is one on Sturm. I wanna say asking price is about $35k.

I've never really read of a good way to suppress the Sterling without having to make permanent changes to parts. Is there a better way than boring out the end cap and extending the barrel? I've always been interested in the Sterling, but my perception that it is difficult to suppress has kept me away from it.

FPNI

Or a Suomi but the Italian gun is more better,  The Suomi I see is quite heavy.   For a range gun no big neal but in combat it would suck hauling it around.

OP

What about a transferable 1919? One was for sale locally for 17k.  Maybe that would interest you?

Checks the boxes, but ammo is going to be top dollar of all these suggestions.

Well it looked vaguely like a Tommy.  I'd guess it was a M6 or Spitfire but seems both are rare.

Thanks for the suggestions.

ive shot most of your list quite a bit. the tommy gun is heavy and mag dumping one with a 100rnd drum really changes how it feels as you empty the mag. the ppsh is fast and fun, so fast you will be out of ammo before your golden (brass) shower starts but the mags really suck to load

I’ve been strongly considering adding a Thompson so that would have to be my suggestion, although they do seem largely impractical.

Having shot a few of them over the years I have some favs.


MP40 - easy shooter and single rounds and small bursts are easy

Lancaster - It's got the coolness factor for sure and shoots well

M3 - Fun , but not as fun as the above.

I still have fun shooting my Thompson.  If you want to use drums you need a 1928 (or pre WW2 1921). The M1 and M1A1 got simplified and lost the drum ability.

A beltfed is a system.  A subgun you just throw in a case and bring some mags to the range and shoot, no different than a rifle.

Thompson drums have been modified for M1/M1A1 use by sacrificing a stick mag to use as a feed tower.  When I had an M1A1 I bought the drum setup.  Worked great, and wasn't particularly expensive, but it got to where I wasn't excited about the cost of a drum dump.  Then when I sold the M1A1, I also sold the drum with the gun as part of a package deal.

In any case, when I think of WWII subguns, Thompsons (all models saw action in WWII), M3/M3A1, MP38/40, Sten, and Sterling immediately come to mind.  Were I a rich man, I'd have them all.

MHO, YMMV, etc.

Mp40 would be my choice. Unfortunately they're probably outside your budget.

The Sterling was in prototype form in the 2nd WW as the Pratchett.  It didn't start replacing the STEN until 1953, so likely didn't even make it to Korea.

Good to know.  Thanks for the clarification.
Unfortunately, I doubt that I'll ever get enough discretionary spending money together to purchase a Sterling, or any other machinegun, for that matter.

I should probably get a muzzle loader at the rate my discretionary spending is trending.  

Not going to get much with 20K

with that said you can get a few transferables but " inexpensive" went out the window circa 2010

Paid 2500 for my M10 then.
Look around and see what the base stock guns go for now.

Lage upped the game with them. And that upped the price tag.

Saw a collectable cased sterling sell for 22k just last month.
Grease gun was realized @Morphys @ 50k
a M-11/9 for 17k

Riesing is junk have a buddy with one 12 rnd mags and jam o matic. Higher round count mags are out there @ 150.00 and up.

Stens are out there under 20k but most are problem guns at that price.

Probably not even going to touch a west hurly tommy for 20k today.

Can get into some one trick ponies for 20k like a UZI AC556 or common clapped out transferables  along with Mac series OEM base models.
Possibly a MK760 but not a true S&W 76 tool room gun.

My suggestion is buy a Mac gun and Lage it out starting with the 556 upper.

Good luck with your quest OP MG scene is pretty much a pay to play hobby now.

I've had 3 in my life and now down to one M10 with 7 uppers.

I've seen a good number of S&W 76s lately that were below $20k. Most tube-gun Stens are way below $20k.

My two favorite WWII subguns are the M3A1 Grease gun and any Thompson. Both are very reliable and fun to shoot. Mags, parts and accessories are reasonably priced and relatively easy to find, compared to many other smgs.

Thompsons are robust pieces of wood and steel. Folks often comment that they are heavy. Well, ok, but it does not weigh all that much more than the Lanchester (or MP40 really) and balances better.

I appreciate the very utilitarian design and appearance of the M3 series. I like the slow rate of fire and can shoot it fairly accurately. The integrally suppressed bbl makes it really quiet. A 9mm conversion kit would be nice.

I owned and sold a Reising and an MP40. They were both good examples, I just did not care nearly as much for them.

I'd say it depends on what you are looking for in your "WWII" SMG.  Are you looking for a shooter, a collectors item, or something that is a little of both?

I've shot a Thompson.  It is fun to shoot, I'm not sure I have shot a full-auto that isn't fun, but to me it wasn't $30k plus fun.  That said, at best I have shooter money, not collector money.  I would absolutely buy a M1A1 WWII vintage Thompson as my first gun in a WWII SMG collection.  That is because it has character, build quality, and is pure American.  However, it is far from the best shooting or "best" in general SMG from the war.  It is, in my opinion, the most iconic.  

I owned a STEN for a couple of years.  It was a fun gun to shoot, but it was a rattletrap (always reliable, but felt like it was about to fall apart) and it was really a one-trick pony.  The sights are bad, the mags mostly work, but they are pretty bad compared to other SMG mags, the shooting position is awkward, etc. My STEN was a tube gun, not an original WWII made gun.  If it had been original I probably would have kept it.  

I sold the STEN and put the money from that isn't a BRP-Stemple gun in Suomi configuration.  The Suomi is one of the best SMGs of the era for sure.  It has drum mags that are reliable and available, stick mags (post-war developed) that are even cheaper and more available while also being high quality, and it looks the part.  The BRP guns are made with the Stemple tube and mostly original Suomi parts.  I have never shot an actual Suomi.  However, as I understand it the experience is basically exactly the same, it is that close of a copy.

The BRP gun has the advantage of being able to be converted into a lot of different configurations.  I got mine with a U45 .45 ACP conversion that uses Grease Gun mags but otherwise doesn't even remotely resemble any WWII SMG.  There is, however, a Thompson kit that does a pretty good job of looking and shooting like a Thompson.

My BRP is still in NFA jail.  Luckily my dealer has a range and I have gotten to shoot it.  I am not sorry I sold the STEN to fund this purchase.  It is extremely flexible and a great shooter.  It just isn't a collector gun.  So, what you want to get from the gun matters.  The BRP guns are just under $16k right now, so they fall into your price range.  An option to consider.

Here is my BRP-Stemple in Suomi configuration:

Attached File


Attached File


Attached File

I recently sold some of my WW2-ish collection: 1928 Thompson, MP40, Sten Mk V, M2 Carbine, and Reising M50.  Why?  Original parts are getting scarcer and more expensive, good gunsmiths that actually do quality work are getting harder to find and their backlogs are getting longer, and, most importantly, they sit in the safe while I shoot the more modern MGs more frequently.  I feel like I only take them out during special events/MG shoots (like July 4th, shoot a mag or sometimes just on the table for show, clean, put them away).  I also have a BRP Stemple, so that gives me a tube gun with setups in 9mm and .45 if I want to scratch that itch.

I'm glad I had them (well, still do pending the transfers).  Just figure out what makes you happy and go for it.

I already have a M16 and M11. I agree that most are unfortunately out of my price range, actually I paid less for the M16 and M11 combined than my max budget for this sub gun.

If money were not a concern I would be buying something epic like a beltfed M240B or M60E6. But unlike our government I can’t just print money so I’m stuck working within my means.

Funny you say that. I waffle back and forth between an M16 and something like a Thompson or Sterling as my next MG. On paper, I want an M16 since it is arguably the best weapon system out there while most transferable MGs are obsolete or at least extremely dated, but the reality is I shoot pistols and SMGs way more than my ARs, so I don’t know how much I’d really use an M16 in its rifle form. Folks are always coming out with better ways to make the M16 an SMG, but sort of feels like a compromise at best.

Do parts break that often that it’s actually an issue? Everything in my collection is fairly modern so I’m not familiar with reliability of firearms from that era of history.