Haenel MP 41
Schmeisser MP 41
Overview
Haenel MP 41
Left side view of a Haenel MP 41 without its magazine.
Source: Gerd 72 -
© Public domain
Hugo Schmeisser
Romania
Description
Introduction
The MP 41 is a World War 2 era sub machine gun of German origin. It was developed by Hugo Schmeisser for the Haenel company. The design is a mixture of MP 40 and MP 28 design elements. The MP 41 is known for the lawsuit of copyright infringement by Erma that ended in cessation of MP 41 production.
Design
The MP 41 is heavily inspired the the MP 38 and MP 40 design, but is not a direct copy as various sources state. The MP 41 uses various design elements from the MP 28 that was designed earlier by Schmeisser. These features include the fixed wooden stock and introduction of a fire selector. This allows for semi-automatic fire whereas the MP 40 does not.
Firepower
The MP 41 fires the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge from a 32 round double stack single feed magazine. Rate of fire is rather low at 500 rpm. Combined with the weight and fixed wooden stock this makes fully automatic fire rather controllable for an open bolt sub machine gun. Practical range is 100 meters, although it can reach out to 200 meters.
Users
The MP 41 was sold to various organizations in Nazi Germany looking for weapons while most of the production went to the regular military. These include the SS, the SD and police organizations. Reportedly 26.700 MP 41 were produced. There are serial number known that are higher. But is is also not exactly known where serial number ranges started. These weapons were used throughout World War 2. The Soviets and Eastern Bloc nations sold many former German weapons to nations in Africa and Asia, including the MP 41.
Details
Related articles
MP 40
The Haenel MP 41 was a near direct copy of the MP 40. Erma sued Haenel for copyright infringement and production of the MP 41 was ceased.