Jump to content

Uzi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.83.190.198 (talk) at 21:00, 12 April 2007 (→Films and Animation). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Uzi
The Uzi SMG
Typesubmachine gun
Place of originIsrael
Service history
Used byIsrael, other nations including Belgium (Under license), Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Netherlands, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa, United States of America and many other police/military organisations.
WarsSix-Day War, Yom Kippur War, Sri Lankan Civil War, South African Border War, Rhodesian Bush War, anti-guerilla operations in Colombia and the Philippines
Production history
DesignerUziel Gal
Designed1948
ManufacturerIsrael Military Industries, FN Herstal, Norinco, Lyttleton Engineering Works (Under Vektor Arms), RH-ALAN
Specifications
Mass3.5 kg (7.7 lb)
Length470 mm (18.5 in), 650 mm (25.6 in) with stock extended
Cartridge9 mm Parabellum, .22 LR, .45ACP, .41AE
Actionopen-bolt, blowback
Rate of fire600 round/min
Muzzle velocity~400 m/s (~1,310 ft/s)
Feed system10 (.22 and .41AE), 16 (.45ACP) 20, 32, 40 and 50 round magazines
Sightsiron sight

The Uzi (Template:Lang-he) is a family of guns that started with a compact boxy lightweight submachine gun. Smaller and newer variants are considered machine pistols. The first Uzi submachine gun was designed by Uziel Gal in the late 1940s. It was manufactured by Israel Military Industries, FN Herstal, and others.

Design

Overview

The Uzi uses an open-bolt, blowback-operated design. It and the Czechoslovakian series 23 to 26 were the first weapons to use a "telescoping" ("overhung") bolt design, in which the bolt wraps around the breech end of the barrel (Hogg 1979:157-158). This allows the barrel to be moved far back into the receiver and the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip, yielding a heavier, slower-firing bolt in a shorter, better-balanced weapon.

It is made mostly of stamped sheet metal and has relatively few parts, making it easy to strip for maintenance and making it less expensive per unit to manufacture than an equivalent design machined from forgings. The fact that the magazine is housed within the pistol grip allows for intuitive and easy reloading in dark or difficult conditions ("hand finds hand"). On the other hand, the high grip also makes the weapon awkward to fire when prone.

The weapon also features a grip safety, making it difficult to fire accidentally. Despite the grip safety, the Uzi is notorious for slam-firing when dropped or exposed to sudden shocks.

When the gun is decocked, the ejector port closes, preventing entry of dust and dirt. Though the Uzi's receiver is equipped with pressed reinforcing ridges to accept accumulated dirt and sand, the weapon may jam with heavy accumulations of sand in desert combat conditions when not cleaned regularly.

The Uzi is generally a highly effective weapon, and has been found especially useful for mechanized troops needing a compact weapon, as well as for infantry units clearing bunkers and other confined spaces.

Cartridge and magazine options

The most common variant fires the 9 mm Parabellum cartridge, though some fire .22 LR, .41AE, or .45ACP. Caliber conversions exist in .40 S&W and 10mm auto [1].

Available magazines include 20-, 32-, 40-, and 50-round magazines (9 mm Parabellum), 10-round magazines (.41 and .22LR), and 16-round magazines (.45ACP). All of the above are manufactured by IMI. Other high-capacity magazines exist (e.g. 50-round magazines and 100-round drums in 9 mm) which are manufactured by companies such as Vector Arms.

The grip-mounted magazine gives the Uzi a highly distinctive, instantly-recognizable profile, and it is often seen in TV shows, movies, and video games. In such portrayals, the weapon is often fired one-handed (especially the Mini- and Micro-Uzis) and in some cases even as a pair of weapons, one in each hand.

History

The weapon was designed by Major Uziel Gal of the Israel Defense Forces following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The design was loosely based on the Czechoslovakian series 23 to 26 submachine guns introduced in 1948 (Hogg 1979:157). The Uzi submachine gun was submitted to the Israeli army for evaluation and won out over more conventional designs due to its simplicity and economy of manufacture. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him, but his request was ignored.

The initial model was accepted in 1951 and was first used in battle in 1956 and gained huge success. It was soon developed into a number of better engineered variants.

Israeli defense doctrine includes the practice of loading a magazine so that tracer rounds alternate with regular rounds. In operation, the personnel aim by walking the tracers onto the target.

The Uzi submachine gun was used as a personal defense weapon by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops and tankers, as well as a frontline weapon by elite light infantry assault forces. The Uzi's compact size and firepower proved instrumental in clearing Syrian bunkers and Jordanian defensive positions during the 1967 Six-Day War. Advanced and smaller Uzi variations were used by the Israeli special forces until recently, when in December 2003, the Israeli military announced that it was completely phasing the Uzi out of use by its forces but would continue to manufacture the weapon for both domestic use and export.

Total sales of the weapon to date (end 2001) has netted IMI over $2 billion (US), with over ninety countries using the weapons either for their soldiers or in law enforcement.

The German Bundeswehr used the Uzi since 1959 under the name MP2 (especially for tank crews) and is now changing to the MP7.

The Irish Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) are replacing the Uzi with the MP7.

The Uzi was produced under license in Rhodesia in the late 1970s, from Israeli-supplied and later, domestically manufactured components. Commonly called the "Rhuzi" (although the title was also applied to some indigineous submachine gun designs).

Sri Lanka ordered a few thousand Mini Uzi and Uzi Carbines in 1990s. Currently those are deployed with Sri Lanka Army special forces regiment and Sri Lanka Police Special Task Force as their primary weapon when providing security for VIPs.

Variants

Uzi Pistol

There are several smaller variants of the Uzi SMG:

  • Mini Uzi, 360 mm (14.17 inches) long and basically a scaled-down version of the Uzi. First introduced in 1980, It comes with a side-folding stock and retains a small forward handgrip. The Mini Uzi weighs about a kilogram less than the Uzi when unloaded. The Mini Uzi has a rate of fire of 950 rpm, or about 16 rounds a second.
  • Micro Uzi, At only 250 mm (9.84 inches) in length, it is slightly larger than a standard pistol and is about as small as the original Uzi design could be made. It fires from a closed bolt position and has a side-folding stock similar to the one on the Mini Uzi. The forward handgrip is completely eliminated. First introduced in 1986, the Micro Uzi weighs 2.2 kilograms less than the Uzi when unloaded and fires at a rate of 1250 rpm, which can unload the 20 round magazine in 0.96 seconds.
The Uzi Carbine.
  • Para Micro Uzi, designed specially for counter terror units. It was recently developed by the IMI and is in use by the Shabak and the Israeli counter-terror units such as the YAMAM. It has a side-mounted charging handle, a provision which makes room for top and bottom-mounted Picatinny rails. It has an angled pistol-grip to accommodate a 33-round Glock 18 magazine.
  • Uzi Pistol, a semi-automatic version of the Micro Uzi developed for sale in countries where the civilian ownership of automatic weapons is restricted, such as many states in the U.S. Externally, it is distinguished by not having a stock or a recoil compensator, as well as a different trigger guard and a slightly different grip design.
  • Uzi Carbine, a semi-automatic version of the full sized Uzi SMG, with a longer 400 mm (16 inch) barrel. Was also generally available for sale to civilians in the United States prior to both semi-auto models being banned from import in 1994. New Uzi Carbines are still available from several American manufacturers as of March, 2006.

Those variants are still in use by many special forces and law enforcement agencies in the world - including in Israel, United States and the Sri Lanka[2].

The Uzi and its variants are some of the most popular submachine guns in the world. Along with the MP5 and MAC-10, they have appeared in very many films, TV series, and video games.

The Uzi was designed to be able to be fired with one hand if its user lost the use of a hand in battle. As a side-effect, many fictional characters are shown with two Uzis, firing one with each hand.

Here are some of the Uzi's film and videogame appearances:

Films and Animation

TV

Games

Other appearances

Most notably, the Uzi submachine gun is the favored gun of G.I.-Joe Commando Snake Eyes. It has also been included with several G.I.-Joe action figures.

An Uzi is pictured on the cover of the Chick tract Sin Busters.

Rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, and Eazy-E make references to Uzis.

Similar weapon

The unrelated Ingram MAC-10 is often dubbed the "American Uzi" or even mistaken for an actual Uzi because of its similar style of use.

Users

 Belgium - Under license by Fabrique Nationale
 Colombia
 France
 Germany - Being phased out to adopt Heckler & Koch MP7
 Haiti
 Indonesia - Used by Kopassus and Tontaipur
 Israel - Production ceased; still produces parts
 Philippines
 Rhodesia
 South Africa - Being phased out from regular Army, except for special forces
 Sri Lanka
 Thailand
 United States
 Uruguay
 Venezuela

References

Hogg, Ian V. (1979). Guns and How They Work. New York: Everest House. pp. pp. 157-158. ISBN 0-89696-023-4. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uzi.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uzi&oldid=122319464"