The .30 Kiraly-Cristóbal Carbine, also known as the San Cristóbal or Cristóbal Automatic Rifle was manufactured by the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
’s Armería San Cristóbal Weapon Factory.
History and development
Although called a carbine, the gun may be termed a
submachine gun
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, 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 descri ...
since it is identical to the Hungarian
Danuvia 43M submachine gun. Both
weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...
s were designed by Hungarian engineer
Pál Király, who came to the Dominican Republic as an expatriate in 1948. The gun's name is a reference to the
San Cristóbal Province
San Cristóbal () is a Provinces of the Dominican Republic, province in the southern region of Dominican Republic, located west of the capital Santo Domingo. With approximately 642,000 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated province in the ...
, which is the birthplace of the late Dominican dictator, Generalissimo
Rafael Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( ; ; 24 October 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...
. The Dominican Republic's military was the main user of this weapon although it was also exported to
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
prior to the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
.
Description
The Cristóbal had a wooden stock, 30-round bottom-mounted box magazine, and tubular receiver with a fixed cocking handle on the right-hand side. It used
lever-delayed blowback for its operation. The original version was produced in
9×19mm Parabellum
The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm NATO or simply 9mm) is a Rim (firearms)#Rimless, rimless, Centerfire ammunition, centerfire, tapered cartridge (firearms), firearms cartridge.
Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer ...
. The most typical version of the Cristóbal was made in
.30 Carbine.
Over 200,000 Cristóbals were made by the Armeria San Cristóbal from 1950 to 1966. After Trujillo’s assassination on May 31, 1961, the Dominican government decided not to maintain a local military industry and production was slowly wound down. By 1990, the Cristóbal was no longer a standard Dominican firearm, but continues to be used for basic training in the Dominican Republic's military schools.
This carbine was used by
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
during the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
.
Users
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See also
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List of delayed-blowback firearms
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List of carbines
A carbine ( or ), from French ''carabine'', is a long gun, long arm firearm but with a shorter Gun barrel, barrel than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full-length rifles, shooting the same ammunition, while others fire lo ...
References
External links
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Image of a Cristóbal Carbine field stripped
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cristobal (Carbine)
.30 Carbine firearms
Assault rifles of the Dominican Republic
Carbines
Lever-delayed blowback firearms
Military history of the Dominican Republic
Hungarian inventions