The Sanna-77 (from South Africa) is the end of a line of
submachine guns which can trace their existence and lineage to the days of
Rhodesia and their
Unilateral Declaration of Independence
A unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) is a formal process leading to the establishment of a new state by a subnational entity which declares itself independent and sovereign without a formal agreement with the state which it is secedin ...
in 1965.
History
The small landlocked Rhodesian state faced international sanctions and an arms-
embargo
Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...
from 1965 as well as
guerrilla warfare from 1966 and so began producing their own arms. Having been supplied a quantity of the now ubiquitous
Uzi
The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...
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 Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...
.
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
A telescoping bolt (also known as an overhung bolt) is a firearm bolt which telescopes over, that is, wraps around and past, the breech end of the barrel. This feature reduces the required length of a weapon such as a submachine gun significant ...
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
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...
using either the Israeli Uzi or the locally South African produced
Milkor BXP
The BXP (which was also marketed later as the "Phoenix" in the USA) is a 9×19mm submachine gun developed by Andries Piek, with the fully automatic version finalised in 1978, and the semi-automatic version for civilians coming later in 1984. D ...
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