The FNAB-43 is an Italian designed and developed submachine gun manufactured from 1943 to 1945. The first prototype was built in 1942 and the ~1,000 built by the FNA-B according to Ian McCollum of

Forgotten Weapons Forgotten Weapons is a website and channel appearing on YouTube, Utreon, Full30 and Floatplane, created and presented by Ian McCollum. Forgotten Weapons covers the history of antique, obscure, and historically important firearms. Videos Forgo ...

(''Fabbrica Nazionale d'Armi di Brescia'', "

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

National Arms Factory", hence the name) were issued to German and Italian RSI ( Repubblica Sociale Italiana) units fighting in

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

. The FNAB-43 was an expensive weapon to manufacture as it used extensive milling and

precision engineering Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, software engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have except ...

in its manufacture.

Description

The FNAB-43 uses a

lever-delayed blowback Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge. Several blowback systems exist wit ...

system, firing from the closed bolt position. The bolt is a two-piece unit with a pivoted lever interposed between bolt head and body. Upon firing, the bolt head retracts, and begins to rotate the lever; the base of which is against a lug in the body. This lever is pivoted to delay the opening movement in order to allow the bullet to leave the barrel. The breech pressure then drops before the lever has completed its rotation. The movement of the lever then presses the free end against the bolt body and accelerates the bolt's movement to the rear. The base of the lever then pulls clear of the lug, and the whole bolt unit continues to recoil as one piece. Upon returning, the lever again engages the lug and pivots forward; in doing so, removing a coupling which allows the firing pin to move only when the bolt is fully forward (in battery). Despite claims of this allowing for a slow firing cyclic rate of 400 rounds per minute, when tested, provides a cyclic rate of 837 rounds per minute. This live firing example was provided with modern 9x19 parabellum ammunition, so it is most likely that the cyclic rate that was see in World War II is slightly lower. The FNAB-43 also utilizes a muzzle brake and compensator built into the barrel shroud. The magazine well is hinged so that the magazine can lie beneath the barrel similarly to the French

MAT-49 The MAT-49 is a submachine gun which was developed by the French arms factory Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Tulle (MAT) for use by the French Army. It was first produced in 1949 and remained in French service until it was phased out following ...

. The single metal bar stock can be folded upwards, rendering the weapon more compact.

Notes

References

* Hogg, Ian (1978). ''The Encyclopedia of Infantry Weapons of World War II''. London: Arms & Armour Press. . * Hogg, Ian; Weeks, John S. (2000). ''Military Small Arms of the 20th Century''. 7th edition. Iola, WI: Krause Publishing. .

External links

Secundeguerre.net
(French)

(Italian)

FNAB 43

The Italian FNAB-43 submachine gun – LAI Publications
9mm Parabellum submachine guns Lever-delayed blowback firearms Submachine guns of Italy World War II infantry weapons of Italy World War II submachine guns Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1944 {{Submachinegun-stub