Photo Of The Day and we take a closer look at a rainbow of empty shells of 9×19 mm Parabellum flying out of an old MP 40 submachine gun (short for Maschinenpistole 40). The MP40 was only made as fully automatic, and fires from an open-bolt, with blowback-operation.

The information on Wikipedia about civilian ownership of the MP40 in the United States is quite interesting, you can check it out here.

…a relatively small number of civilian-transferable MP 40 remain in circulation and are valued around $15,000…

I have only tried the .22LR clone made by GSG, a rather unimpressive experience.

A student assigned to the U. S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School who is in the Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Course fires a German MP40 (maschinenpistole) submachine gun during weapons training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina May 12, 2020. The Soldiers were trainined to employ, maintain and engage targets with select U.S. and foreign pistols, rifles, shotguns, submachine and machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars and in the utilization of observed fire procedures. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens)

Both photos were taken by U.S. Army, K. Kassens.