The Heckler & Koch UMP (''Universale Maschinenpistole'', German for "Universal Machine Pistol") is a

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, 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 descri ...

developed and manufactured by

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK or H&K; ) is a German firearms manufacturer that produces handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg and also has subsidiaries in the United ...

. Heckler & Koch developed the UMP as a lighter and cheaper successor to the MP5, though both remain in production. The UMP has been adopted for use by various countries, including Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Some of the weapons saw limited service in the early years of the

Iraqi insurgency Iraqi insurgency may refer to: * Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011), part of the Iraq War ** Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006), 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency ** Iraqi civil war (2006–2008), multi-sided civil war in Iraq * Iraqi insurgency (20 ...

, making them one of the more popular submachine guns being deployed by the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

personnel in recent conflicts around the world. The UMP can be converted from 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP by changing the barrel, bolt, and magazine. The UMP was previously available in multiple calibres, however with a decline in global use of .40 S&W and .45 ACP, only the 9mm Parabellum variant is in production. Parts are still available for the .40 S&W and .45 ACP calibre variants.

History

The UMP was designed in the 1990s by Heckler & Koch (HK), as a cheaper, lighter alternative to the MP5, which made heavy use of polymers. The UMP first entered production in 2000. It was designed primarily for use by American military and law enforcement units, as the MP5 was not available in .45 ACP, a round which was popular in the United States, but not in Europe. Despite the UMP's improvements and reduced cost, it did not replace the MP5, which ended up outselling the UMP.

Recall

In 2000, H&K recalled certain UMP and USC serial numbers due to faulty operating handles. The faulty handles, made of polymer, could break off, making the weapons inoperable.

Design details

The UMP is a

blowback-operated 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 ...

, magazine-fed submachine gun that fires from a

closed bolt A semi or full-automatic firearm which is said to fire from a closed bolt or closed breech is one where, when ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the bolt and working parts are forward ''in battery''. When the trigger is pulled, the ...

. The closed bolt design increases the accuracy, which is particularly desirable in a law enforcement context. However, the simple blowback design of the UMP makes it less controllable than the MP5. The UMP was originally designed for larger cartridges such as the .40 S&W and

.45 ACP The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol), also known as .45 Auto, .45 Automatic, or 11.43×23mm is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After su ...

, to provide more

stopping power Stopping power is the supposed ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a ...

against unarmoured targets, with slightly lower effectiveness at longer ranges. A larger cartridge produces more recoil and makes it harder to control in

fully automatic An automatic firearm or fully automatic firearm (to avoid confusion with semi-automatic firearms) is a self-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firear ...

fire. To mitigate the excessive recoil, Heckler & Koch designed the UMP to have a

cyclic rate Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...

of around 600 rounds per minute, though the rate of fire increases up to 700 rounds per minute if (+ P) ammunition is used. The UMP9 (the 9×19mm variant of the UMP) is almost lighter than the MP5. It has a cyclic rate of around 600–750 rounds per minute. Its predominantly

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

construction reduces both its weight and the number of parts susceptible to corrosion. The UMP is available in four trigger group configurations, featuring different combinations of semi-automatic, 2-round burst, fully automatic, and

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

settings. It features a side-folding

buttstock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock, or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attac ...

to reduce its length during transport. When the last round of the UMP is fired, the bolt locks open, and can be released via a catch on the left side. The iron sights consist of an

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

rear sight and a front ring with a vertical post. It can mount four

Picatinny rail The 1913 rail (MIL-STD-1913 rail) is an American rail integration system designed by Richard Swan that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It forms part of the NATO standard STANAG 2324 rail. It was originally used for mount ...

s (one on top of the receiver, and one on the right, left, and bottom of the

handguard A barrel shroud is an external covering that envelops (either partially or full-length) the barrel of a firearm to prevent unwanted direct contact with the barrel (e.g. accidental collision with surrounding objects or the user accidentally touch ...

) for mounting accessories such as optical sights,

tactical light A tactical light or weapon light is a flashlight used in conjunction with a firearm to aid low-light target identification, allowing the user to simultaneously aim a weapon and illuminate the target. Tactical lights can be handheld or mounted to ...

s, or

laser sights Many scientific, military, medical and commercial laser applications have been developed since the invention of the laser in 1958. The coherency, high monochromaticity, and ability to reach extremely high powers are all properties which allow f ...

. Vertical foregrips can be attached to the bottom rail for better control during burst and automatic fire.

Variants

The UMP is interchangeable between three different calibres: The UMP9, chambered in

9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm NATO or simply 9mm) is a Rim (firearms)#Rimless, rimless, Centerfire ammunition, centerfire, tapered cartridge (firearms), firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer ...

The UMP40, chambered in .40 S&W The UMP45, chambered in

Apart from the different chambering, all versions feature the same design model, the exterior differences being the curved magazine used on the UMP9, while both the UMP40 and UMP45 each use a straight magazine. All three versions of the weapon can be cross-converted to any of the round chamberings by replacing the bolt,

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

, and magazine. The USC or Universal Self-loading Carbine is a semi-automatic-only variant of the UMP designed for civilian use. It was created following the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 in the United States and was introduced in 2000. Changes from the original UMP include a "thumbhole" type stock/grip instead of the pistol grip of the UMP, a longer barrel without the flash suppressor, a magazine limited to 10 rounds, and a semi-automatic-only

trigger group A trigger is a mechanism that actuates the function of a ranged weapon such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow, or speargun. The word may also be used to describe a switch that initiates the operation of other non-shooting devices such as a tra ...

and action. Originally available in grey, as of 2008 the USC came only in an all-black finish. Production of the USC was halted in 2013. In 2018, H&K announced a limited production run of new USC rifles.

Clones

* Omega Gideon Shadow – American clone of the UMP released in 2017. * Tommy Built Tactical TMP/KSM – American clone of the UMP. * DefGunz DEF9– American clone of the UMP receiver.

Users

References

External links

2008 Heckler & Koch Military and LE brochureNazarian's Gun Recognition Guide – H&K UMP Demonstration
( MOV)
Modern Firearms: Heckler & Koch UMP
{{HK firearms

UMP UMP may refer to: Science * Ultra metal-poor star, refers to a type of star with extremely low levels of heavier elements * Uniformly most powerful test, in statistical hypothesis testing * Uridine monophosphate, a nucleotide * Utility maximizat ...

Post–Cold War weapons of Germany Submachine guns of Germany .45 ACP submachine guns .40 S&W submachine guns 9mm Parabellum submachine guns Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2000