A 7.62x51mm FAL and a 9x19mm Uru submachine gun as originally manufactured by Mekanika Indústria e Comércio in Rio de Janeiro during the early 1980s. The simplicity of the SMG’s design has made it frequently imitated in DIY illegal counterparts.

See what I mean? While keeping the general Uru configuration, this specimen captured last March, 2018, shows a shorter magazine housing, a reshaped pistol grip, and different fire selector (on the right side, instead) and ventilated barrel shroud. Note the two magazines taped together in an up-down position.

This other view of the same gun better shows the barrel sleeve and that a sort of conical compensator is fitted to the muzzle. The cocking handle is canted to the left side (right side, in the Uru), a bolt-open safety notch being present in the tubular receiver.

A variation on the same theme, this example sports a crude pistol grip, unusually large trigger and trigger guard, and no front sight fitted. After all, who needs that for a possible spray and pray close-in situation?

Two 9x19mm Argentine-made FMK-3 submachine guns (one with a sound suppressor) in the foreground, and (right to left) a similarly-chambered Halcón ML63 of the same origin, a 5.56x45mm Czech SA Vz.58 Compact, and a Ruger Mini-14 with foldable stock. The pistols? Who cares?

Reported as being chambered to 9x19mm, this vintage-looking submachine gun was a very recent (mid-June, 2018) capture in Rio Grande do Sul. My initial impression was that I was looking at a Bergmann MP18 or MP28, but then noticed that it did not have a side-mounted magazine housing, the handguard was longer, etc. Oh yes, the gun was given a modern touch: a Picattiny-mounted holographic sight! What do you say, TFB readers?

In addition to a single FAL, this captured arsenal included 14 AR and AK platforms, 21 pistols, thousands of ammunition rounds, and a lot of high-capacity drum magazines. All this was in the home possession of a man in the city of Santa Cruz do Sul.

Like everywhere, improguns of all types – and quality standards — are also made in Rio Grande do Sul state, more often than not falling into police hands.

Following the actual submission and scheduling of this article, this last-moment (July 8) police capture near the state capital, Porto Alegre, immediately caught my attention: a 7.62x25mm PPS-43 subgun, a type never before found here! The same cache included, a pump action 12ga shotgun (ID not clear to me), a .30 M1 carbine (heavily patched with electric tape), and three AR platforms (one is a Canadian-made NEA), plus assorted magazines. I could not confirm whether the Russian gun was in the original chambering (rare here) or converted to 9x19mm for practicability reasons.

STOP PRESS: This small photo of the SMG’s receiver markings reached me a few hours ago. The “12” in a circle and the “1951” as a possible manufacturing date may indicate other-than-Russian origin . Any hints?