The Sanna-77 (from South Africa) is the end of a line of
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 ...
s which can trace their existence and lineage to the days of
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
and their
Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.
History
The small landlocked Rhodesian state faced international sanctions and an arms-
embargo from 1965 as well as
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
from 1966 and so began producing their own arms. Having been supplied a quantity of the now ubiquitous
Uzi submachine gun, Rhodesia set up facilities to produce a similar sub-gun based on the
CZ-25 which incidentally was also the inspiration for the
Uzi.
The first attempt was the LDP, which was taken from the initials of the manufacturing firm (Lacoste Engineering) and the engineer/designer (Alex DuPlessis), although many Rhodesians felt that it stood for "
Land Defence Pistol". The LDP was strikingly based upon the CZ or Vz-25 series of sub-guns, which was the first to have a
telescoping bolt and a magazine situated inside the pistol grip of the weapon.
It is not exactly clear when the production moved south of Rhodesia to South Africa but it appears that some production began in the early 1970s. The name changed to the Kommando-LDP, the Kommando making extensive use of plastics in the frame. The Kommando was tested as a potential submachine gun for use with "Counter-Terror Forces" as well as having a semi-auto version for civilian use with a three-round burst facility. However the Kommando, which used an Uzi magazine, proved somewhat unreliable as the selector would sometimes trip between semi-, burst- or full-auto mode. It essentially failed as both a civilian product as well as a military one, the
South African Defence Force using either the Israeli Uzi or the locally South African produced
Milkor BXP submachine gun.
Dogged by unreliability, legislative restrictions on licences and being no more than a heavy semi-auto pistol, the Sanna-77 was a commercial failure. The Sanna-77 has long since ceased to be produced and is no longer commercially available.
Description
The Sanna-77 was of all metal construction, unlike the plastic framed Kommando LDP, and has the magazine in the grip and a folding metal stock. The front sight was hooded and the cocking handle located high on the left side of the receiver. The Sanna-77 is not really a submachine gun, being made for civilian use only and therefore, due to legal restrictions, only available in the
semi-auto mode of fire. It is therefore better termed a pistol-caliber carbine rather than a submachine gun.
See also
*
Cobra Carbine
References
* Ian Hogg, ''Jane's Guns Recognition Guide''(2002), {{ISBN, 0-00-712760-X ''(Infobox Info)''
* Ian V. Hogg and John S. Weeks, ''Military Small Arms of the 20th Century'', 7th Edition (2000).
Sanna 77
9mm Parabellum submachine guns
Cold War firearms of South Africa
Military equipment introduced in the 1970s
Weapons of Rhodesia
Rhodesia–South Africa relations