{"id":107042,"date":"2020-02-20T11:00:04","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/20\/how-the-north-vietnamese-army-modified-a-ww2-submachine-gun-for-its-war-against-the-us\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:37:27","slug":"how-the-north-vietnamese-army-modified-a-ww2-submachine-gun-for-its-war-against-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/off-duty\/2020\/02\/20\/how-the-north-vietnamese-army-modified-a-ww2-submachine-gun-for-its-war-against-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"How the North Vietnamese army modified a WW2 submachine gun for its war against the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During its war with the French, the communist Viet Minh combined guerrilla warfare and improvisation with more conventional tactics made possible by smuggling large stocks of weaponry from the People\u2019s Republic of China. The latter\u2019s contribution included most of the artillery used in the 1954 siege of Dien Bien Phu and generous amounts of Type 50 submachine guns, Chinese copies of the simple but highly effective Soviet PPSh-41 of World War II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After having to settle for only the northern part of the territory they regarded as their own in the Western-brokered peace that followed the ouster of the French from Indochina, the North Vietnamese set about preparing for their next move, the overthrow of the United States-backed government in South Vietnam and its incorporation into a united, communist Vietnam. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/off-duty\/2020\/02\/13\/this-1970s-military-rifle-actually-came-with-a-built-in-bottle-opener-seriously\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2388680.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">This 1970s military rifle actually came with a built-in bottle opener (seriously!)<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">While it never achieved its original goal as the mainstay longarm of the IDF, the Galil and the many variants derived from it found their way into 25 other armies and numerous police forces throughout the world. A good many are still in use and still popular with its users.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the North Vietnamese did not have a full-fledged weapons industry, they did have the engineering capacity to create a submachine gun for the fight to come by combining elements of the Type 50 with those of the French MAT-49, large stocks of which they had also acquired in the course of their just-concluded conflict. The result was a distinctive looking weapon in its own right that, in classic Vietnamese style, involved more ingenuity than invention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The basis for the weapon was the Chinese Type 50, a blowback, open bolt submachine gun, but with its heat shield cut back three inches and faired into the barrel. The muzzle compensator, designed to reduce barrel climb while firing fully automatic, was removed and a new foresight tap welded to the muzzle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"478\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KM50_illustration.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99583\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KM50_illustration.jpg.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KM50_illustration.jpg.jpg?resize=300,143 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KM50_illustration.jpg.jpg?resize=768,367 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">NVA K-50M Submachine Gun\\rhttp:\/\/www.historynet.com\/nva-k-50m-submachine-gun.htm#prettyPhoto\\r\\r By Carl O. Schuster\\r11\/17\/2011 \u0095 Gear, Vietnam Arsenal, Vietnam War\\r\\rClick on weapon for expanded view. (Illustration by Gregory Proch)\\rClick on weapon for expanded view. (Illustration by Gregory Proch)\\r\\rPrior to receiving large-scale shipments of AK-47 and RPD machine guns, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was equipped with a variety of captured and supplied weaponry. Chinese-supplied variants of Soviet weapons was a main source, but the North Vietnamese didn\u0092t trust their socialist allies and worked to develop their own arms industry. The first of these indigenous weapon designs was the K-50M submachine gun. Essentially a variant of the Soviet PPSh-41, the K-50M drew upon Hanoi\u0092s experience with captured French weapons, especially the MAT-49 submachine gun. The K-50M fired the same 7.62x25mm round as its Sino-Soviet parents, but replaced the wooden stock with a sliding wire butt derived from the French gun. The Vietnamese also cut the cooling sleeve by nearly three inches, faired it in the barrel and removed the muzzle compensator that was intended to limit barrel climb during automatic fire. They tap welded a front sight on the barrel\u0092s end and added a wooden pistol grip. The resulting gun was four inches shorter and two pounds lighter than its Soviet and Chinese counterparts. Although designed to go with a curved 35-round magazine, it could also use the PPSh-41\u0092s 71-round drum.\\r\\rProduction ran from 1958 to 1964. The first models were captured in South Viet-nam in 1963. Like the designs on which it was based, the K-50M was a conventional blowback operated submachine gun that fired over an open bolt. A simple lever forward of the trigger enabled the soldier to shift from automatic to semi-automatic firing mode. It had an open-leaf sight that could be set for 100 or 200 yards. Most of the weapon\u0092s components were forged or stamped, and its manufacturing was simpl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The simple open leaf sight could be set for 100 to 200 meters. The wooden furniture and stock, which were vulnerable to rot in Indochina\u2019s operating conditions, were removed and replaced with a wooden hand grip behind the trigger and an adjustable wire butt as used on the MAT-49, welded to either side of the gun. Ammunition was generally carried in a curved 35-round magazine, but the SMG was capable of accommodating the original Type 50\u2019s circular 71-round drum if the wire butt stock was pulled fully back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firing the same 7.62x25mm round as the original PPSh-41, the M-50K, as the North Vietnamese SMG was designated, had a muzzle velocity of 1,600 feet per second, a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute and an effective range of 100-150 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/off-duty\/2020\/02\/06\/how-the-the-fn-fal-took-on-the-ak-47\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"223\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-3277986.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">How the the FN FAL took on the AK-47<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Variations on the FN appeared all over the world and were heavily engage in brushfire wars of the late 20th century from the Malayan Emergency to the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya to the Rhodesian war to India vs. Pakistan conflicts and numerous Middle Eastern conflicts, where sand proved to be a major Achilles\u2019 heel for the FN until measures were taken to protect its mechanism from jamming.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 22 1\/2 inches with the butt stock fully retracted, it was 4 inches shorter than the original Type 50 and at 8.8 pounds, two pounds lighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The K-50M was produced from 1958 to 1964 and although North Vietnam\u2019s industry was in a relative embryonic stage, its forged or stamped parts with minimum machining allowed it to be manufactured in substantial numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Needless to say, K-50Ms soon found their way into the hands of the South Vietnamese communist guerrillas, or Viet Cong, and the first captured examples were examined by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and their American allies in 1963. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some were lacking the PPSh\u2019s laminated felt or leather buffers behind the breechblock to absorb recoil and that, combined with the lack of compensators, adversely affected their accuracy. Since the Viet Cong usually engaged the enemy at 50-meter ranges in the heavily forested terrain on which they operated, they regarded the K-50M\u2019s rate of fire more of an advantage than its precision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Vietnamese, constantly invaded throughout their history by their northern Chinese neighbors, had developed a xenophobic streak that made them wary of even their nominal Soviet and Chinese allies. In the early years of what they called the \u201cAmerican War,\u201d the K-50M provided the North Vietnamese Army with an effective indigenous infantry weapon that it could produce regardless of whether help from either ally was forthcoming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As both countries began supplying them with large amounts of SKS carbines and AK-47 assault rifles, however, those weapons swiftly overtook and eclipsed the K-50M as the standard NVA and VC long arms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the North Vietnamese did not have a full-fledged weapons industry, they did have the engineering capacity to create a submachine gun for the fight to come by combining elements of the Type 50 with those of the French MAT-49, large stocks of which they had also acquired in the course of their just-concluded conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":99580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[90,16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3236],"class_list":["post-107042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gearscout","category-off-duty"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BCPXEKSLNNCULHEPYAXXKU3HJQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/gearscout\/irons\/2020\/02\/20\/how-the-north-vietnamese-army-modified-a-ww2-submachine-gun-for-its-war-against-the-us\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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