A wildly inaccurate machine pistol, its job is to spray an area with bullets like most machine guns do, however it was extremely reliable due to its few moving parts. It has been the weapon of choice for many American gangs in the 80’s, mainly because of its size and availability, much like the Thompsom machine gun in the 1930’s.
Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal created the UZI series of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols in the late 1940s, soon after the State of Israel was founded. The emerging state of Israel was under attack from its neighbouring Arab countries, all they had was left over from WW2 German, Russian and American guns, they were successful however at pushing there neighbours back and the Israels realised the need for a standard gun, enter the Uzi. The Uzi was designed from the best features of those WW2 weapons just like the Russians with their AK47.
In 1950, the Uzi prototype was completed. In 1954, it was first given to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) special forces, and two years later it was made available to everyone. IDF provided Uzis to officers, artillery personnel, tank crews, rear-echelon soldiers, and elite light infantry assault groups as a front-line weapon. However it wasn’t ideal for the dessert warfare as it had a range of only 200 metres and it jammed in the dessert it was however ideal in suburban theatres and close warfare.
Over 90 nations have imported the Uzi.
It has been produced by FN Herstal, Israel Military Industries, and other companies over the course of its operational life. More Uzi submachine guns were produced from the 1960s to the 1980s.The open bolt design exposes the breech end of the barrel, and improves cooling during periods of continuous fire. However, it means that since the bolt is held to the rear when cocked, the receiver is more susceptible to contamination from sand and dirt.The weapon is constructed primarily from stamped sheet metal, making it less expensive per unit to manufacture than an equivalent design machined from forgings. With relatively few moving parts, the Uzi is easy to strip for maintenance or repair. The magazine is housed within the pistol grip, allowing for intuitive and easy reloading in dark or difficult conditions, under the principle of “hand finds hand”. The pistol grip is fitted with a grip safety, making it difficult to fire accidentally. However, the protruding vertical magazine makes the gun awkward to fire when prone. In the 1960’s it was phased out as it was no match for the AK47 and was replaced by the Galil and the M16.the attributes of the Uzi was: low cost to produce, 9 mm rounds very abundant , and a high rate of fire. The maker and designer Galil Uzi was honored and the gun named after him. He moved to America and produced the MP9 which was a upgraded version but never was mass produced however it is a collectors item. There were many variants of this weapon produced over the years making it ultra light and small. It became in high demand all over the world and it became a very famous gun. American police had to establish swat teams because of this gun and the AK47. It was banned in America in the 1960’s and it is now a collectors item, however there are Chinese and Albanian copies.
