The Norinco Type 80 / 80式衝鋒手槍 is a close-combat

machine pistol A machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire. The term can also be used to describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of ''Maschinenpistole'', the German word for submachine guns. Machine ...

that was used in China in the 1980s by the

People's Liberation Army of China The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

. It was developed by

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (North Industries Corporation), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese state-owned defense ...

in the 1970s, influenced by the design of the German M712 Schnellfeuer. The Type 80 can be used in either single-shot mode or

fully automatic fire An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharge ...

mode; however, the

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 staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

overheats after thirty rounds of sustained automatic fire.

History

The Type 80 was built in the late 1970s as a personal defense weapon for vehicle crews and other military personnel of the

. The Type 80's design was finalized in 1980.

Design

The Type 80 was created by refining and upgrading the design of the various Chinese copies of the imported German

selective-fire Selective fire is the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, fully automatic, and/or burst mode. The modes are chosen by means of a selector switch, which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective-fire we ...

M712 Schnellfeuer version of the

Mauser C96 The Mauser C96 (''Construktion 96'') is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 2 ...

"Broomhandle"

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...

that were produced and used in China in the 1930s. The internal design is derived from the basic

Mauser Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arme ...

action, with a slight

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

of the barrel enabling the locking piece under the lightweight bolt. This enables the bolt to drop out of engagement and borrows from the later Westinger (rather than the Nickl) selector mechanism. There is an obvious family resemblance outlined with the C96 having the magazine well in front of the trigger, slender barrel and exposed hammer. The pistol has a permanent unregulated

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the ...

set at a distance of 50 m (the maximum effective distance when firing in bursts). The rate of fire is believed to be around 850 rounds per minute. The pistol's fire selector switch is set to single or full auto, which is placed at the left side of the pistol. The detachable metallic shoulder stock can be pulled to use a hidden combat knife when required to fight in close quarters. Otherwise, it can use a wooden holster/shoulder stock. The pistol can be loaded with either 10 or 20 round magazines.

Disadvantages

The Type 80 was designed as a

for use in close combat situations. The pistol proved too unsuitable for sustained

fully automatic An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharge ...

fire. After cycling approximately thirty cartridges, the

would overheat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Type 80 (Pistol) 7.62×25mm Tokarev semi-automatic pistols Front-magazine pistols Semi-automatic pistols of the People's Republic of China Machine pistols

History

Design

Disadvantages

See also

References