The Arsenal M23 submachine gun ( et, Arsenali püstolkuulipilduja, also known as Arsenal Tallinn) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

n submachine gun from 1926 through 1935. These submachine guns were designed and produced in the Estonian military equipment factory "Arsenal" in

Karjamaa, Tallinn Karjamaa ( Estonian for ''"Pasture"'', literally ''"Grazing Land"'') is a subdistrict ( et, asum) in the district of Põhja-Tallinn, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It's located northwest of Kalamaja and east of Sitsi, main part is between Kopl ...

, but production was not more than 600 units. The weapon was chambered for the 9x20 mm semi-rimmed Browning cartridge to be compatible with ammunition for the Browning

FN M1903 The FN Model 1903 (M1903, FN Mle 1903), or Browning No.2 is a self-loading semi-automatic pistol engineered by John Browning and made by Belgian arms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN). It was introduced in 1903 and fired the 9×20mmSR Browni ...

pistol which had been adopted by the

Estonian Army The Estonian Land Forces ( et, Maavägi), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army, is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. It is currently the largest ...

. It operated on the blowback system and was essentially similar to the MP18.1; having a wooden stock, slotted barrel jacket, and horizontal left side magazine feed. A uniquely slender 40 round single column box magazine led to frequent cartridge feeding problems; and cooling fins which were machined lengthwise along the barrel to promote cooling air flow when firing (similar to the Lewis machine gun), unnecessarily complicated production. It was used by the combat support units of the

Border Guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

, the

Estonian Defence League The Estonian Defence League ( et, Eesti Kaitseliit) is the name of the unified paramilitary armed forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Defence League is a paramilitary defence organization whose aim is to guarantee the preservation of the indep ...

and the Estonian Defence Forces. The Arsenal submachine gun was replaced in Estonian service by the Finnish

Suomi KP/-31 The Suomi KP/-31 ( or "Finland-submachine gun mod. 1931") is a submachine gun (SMG) of Finnish design that was mainly used during World War II. It is a descendant of the M-22 prototype and the KP/-26 production model, which was revealed to the p ...

submachine gun in 1938. The Estonian Army sold a few samples to

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and all of the remainder found their way to Republican forces during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

in Spain.

Used by

* * *

Spanish Republic

References

{{Reflist Weapons of Estonia Submachine guns Military equipment of Estonia