The American-180 is a
submachine gun
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
developed in the 1960s which fires
.22 LR
The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...
cartridges from a
pan magazine
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges withi ...
. The concept began with the
Casull Model 290 that used a flat pan magazine similar to designs widely used prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Only 80 Casull M290s were built as the weapon was expensive to produce. The American-180 is an improved version. A semi-automatic only variant called the American SAR 180/275 is still produced on a custom basis by E&L Manufacturing of
Riddle, Oregon.
Operation
The weapon operates through a conventional blowback mechanism. It uses an
open bolt
A firearm is said to fire from an open bolt if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear of the receiver, with no round in the chamber. When the trigger is actuated, the bolt travels forward, feeds a cartridge from t ...
with a flat pan magazine. It fires at a relatively high rate of fire of around 1,200
RPM. The American-180 was purchased mostly by private parties prior to the American
ban
Ban, or BAN, may refer to:
Law
* Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item
** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...
on production of machine guns for the US civilian market. The A180 was adopted by the
Utah Department of Corrections
The Utah Department of Corrections (UDC) is a government agency dedicated to the management and supervision of convicted felons in the U.S. state of Utah. It is currently led by the Executive Director Brian Nielson. It has its headquarters in ...
to arm
correctional officers.
Despite the low power of the .22 LR round, testing demonstrated that automatic fire could penetrate even concrete and
bulletproof vests from cumulative damage. However, the target would have to remain still for some amount of time to allow the cumulative damage to amass in the same area to achieve this.
Users
* :
Rhodesian SAS.
* :
4th Reconnaissance Regiment
* : Various law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities.
* : 2 were used respectively by the
GIPN of Marseille and the
Research and Intervention Brigade
A Research and Intervention Brigade (french: Brigade de recherche et d'intervention (BRI) (), Investigation and Intervention Brigade or Anti-Gang Brigade) is a unit of the French National Police. The first units were formed in 1964 and carried ...
of Paris in the 1980s.
[Report no. 85 of the French Senate, 1982. https://www.senat.fr/rap/r82-085/r82-0851.pdf]
See also
*
MGV-176
References
External links
User ManualAmerican-180 submachine gunat Modern Firearms
* {{youtube, J50N5lQoAFw, A Swarm of Angry Bees: The American 180 .22LR Submachine Gun—History and shooting
.22 LR submachine guns
Submachine guns of the United States