Heckler & Koch UMP

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Heckler & Koch UMP
The Heckler & Koch UMP45
Type	Submachine gun
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
Used by	Germany
Production history
Designed	1990s
Manufacturer	Heckler & Koch
Produced	1999-present
Specifications
Weight	2.3 kg (5 lb) without magazine (UMP45) 2.1 kg (4.6 lb) without magazine (UMP40, UMP9)
Length	450 mm (17.7 in), stock folded 690 mm (27.2 in), stock extended
Barrel length	200 mm (8 in)

Cartridge	.45 ACP (UMP45) .40 S&W (UMP40) 9x19mm Parabellum (UMP9)
Action	Blowback, closed bolt
Rate of fire	650 rounds/min (600 rounds/min for UMP45)
Effective range	100 m
Feed system	25-round detachable box magazine (UMP45), 30-round detachable box magazine (UMP40, UMP9)

The UMP (Universale Maschinenpistole, German for "Universal Submachine Gun") is a submachine gun developed and manufactured by Heckler & Koch.

1 Design details
2 Variants
3 Gallery
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Design details

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers carrying UMP SMGs.

The UMP is a blowback-operated, magazine-fed submachine gun firing from a closed bolt.^[1] As originally designed, the UMP is chambered for larger cartridges than other submachine guns like the MP5, to provide more stopping power against unarmored targets (with a slightly lower effective range) than the 9x19mm MP5 provides. A larger cartridge produces more recoil, and makes control more difficult in fully automatic firing. To mitigate this, the cyclic rate of fire was reduced to 650 rounds per minute (600 for UMP45), which makes it one of the slower firing submachine guns on the market. Such a slow rate of fire makes a burst-fire setting superfluous; yet many users regard a 2- or 3-round burst setting to be a desirable feature in a submachine gun.

Despite these shortcomings, the UMP is regarded as a reliable and useful submachine gun. Moreover, the UMP9 (the 9x19mm version of the UMP) is almost 0.45 kg (almost 1 lb) lighter than its MP5 counterpart. Its predominantly polymer construction reduces both its weight and the number of parts susceptible to corrosion. These polymers stand up well to wear and tear in the field.

The UMP is available in four trigger group configurations, featuring different combinations of semi-automatic, 2-round burst, fully automatic, and safe settings. It features a side-folding buttstock to reduce its length during transport. The standard viewing sights comprise an aperture rear sight and a front ring with a vertical post. It can mount four Picatinny rails (one on top of the receiver, and one on the right, left, and the bottom of the handguard) for the attachment of accessories such as optical sights, flashlights, or laser sights. Vertical foregrips can be attached to the bottom rail for increased controllability during burst and automatic fire.

The UMP was intended as a lighter and less expensive replacement for the Heckler & Koch MP5, designed to look, feel, and operate so much like an MP5 as to require little if any MP5 operator retraining. While the UMP has proven largely successful in the field, it has not replaced the MP5 as intended, but rather acts as a complement.

[edit] Variants

There are three versions of the UMP: the UMP45, firing a .45 ACP cartridge; the UMP40, firing a .40 S&W cartridge; and the UMP9, firing a 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge. Apart from the different chambering, all versions feature the same basic design, the most noticeable difference being the curved magazine used on the UMP9. All three versions of the weapon can be converted to any of the available chamberings via replacement of the bolt, barrel, and magazine.

The USC or Universal Self loading Carbine is a semi-automatic version of the UMP that could be owned by private citizens for sporting purposes. It was designed following the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 and conforms to those standards.^[2] Changes from the original UMP include a "thumbhole" type stock and grip (versus the pistol grip of the UMP), longer barrel, limited 10-round magazine, and semi-automatic only trigger group and action. Originally available in gray, beginning in early 2007 the USC comes only in an all-black finish.