ERMA EMP-35

EMP
An EMP (below) displayed in Warsaw Uprising Museum
Type	Submachine gun
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
Used by	See Users
Wars	Spanish Civil War World War II
Specifications
Weight	4 kg (8 lb 13 oz)
Length	95 centimetres (3 ft 1 in)
Barrel length	32 centimetres (13 in)
Cartridge	9×19mm Parabellum, 9×23mm Largo,7.63×25mm Mauser
Caliber	9 mm
Action	Blowback
Rate of fire	550 rpm
Muzzle velocity	380 m/s (1,200 ft/s)
Effective firing range	150 m (490 ft)
Maximum firing range	250 m (820 ft)
Feed system	32-round magazine
Sights	Iron

The German sub-machine gun EMP (Erma Maschinenpistole) also known as MPE (Maschinenpistole Erma) was produced by the Erma factory, and was based on designs acquired from Heinrich Vollmer. The gun was produced from 1931 to 1938 in roughly 10,000 exemplars (in three main variants) and exported to Spain, Mexico, China and Yugoslavia, but also used domestically by the SS. It was produced under license in Spain by the arsenal of A Coruña under the designation M41/44.

In the early 1920s, Vollmer started to develop his own sub-machineguns. His early models, named VPG, VPGa, VPF and VMP1925 were fairly similar to the MP18. The VMP1925 had a wooden handgrip and was fed by a small 25-round drum magazine, connected directly to the gun. The VMP1925 was secretly tested by the Reichswehr, along with competing designs from Schmeisser and Rheinmetall. (The Reichswehr was prohibited by the Versailles Treaty from having sub-machine guns in service, although the German police was allowed to carry a small number.) Secret funding was given to Vollmer to continue development, and this resulted in the VMP1926, which mostly differed from its predecessor by the removal of the cooling jacket. A subsequent development was the VMP1928, which introduced a 32-round box magazine sticking from the left side. The final development of this series was the VMP1930. (It can also be seen at the WTS.) This model introduced a substantive innovation—a telescoping main spring assembly, which made the gun more reliable and easier to assemble and disassemble in the field. Vollemer applied for a patent for his innovation in 1930 and it was granted in 1933 as DRP# 580620. His company, Vollmer Werke, produced however only about 400 of these, and most were sold to Bulgaria. In late 1930, the Reichswehr stopped supporting Vollmer financially; consequently he sold the rights to all his designs to the company known as Erma Werke (which is an abbreviation for Erfurter Maschinenfabrik, Berthold Geipel GmbH).

The submachine guns that Erma started to sell in 1932 under the names EMP (Erma Maschinenpistole) or MPE (Maschinenpistole Erma) was basically just the VMP1930 with the cooling jacket restored. Although there were several variants with varying barrel lengths and sights made to customers' specifications, roughly three main variants were produced: one with a 30 cm barrel, tangent rear sight and bayonet lug was apparently sold to Bulgaria or Yugoslavia. The second model, sometimes called the MP34, or the "standard model", had a 25 cm barrel and no provision for a bayonet; the rear sight on these varies—some had a tangent sight, others a simplified flip-up "L" sight. A third variant was basically similar in the metallic parts, but replaced the foregrip with a MP18-style stock with finger-grooves. Overall, at least 10,000 of these Vollmer-based designs were made by Erma. They were adopted by the SS in 1936, but also sold to South-American countries and to Spain, where it was subsequently manufactured locally under the designation M41/44.