Projects: SMG 15 and SMG 25 bullpup pistols
The Italian mechanical design company Tecnostudio Engineering has released some preview CAD drawings of a prospective, future, small-sized sub-machine gun: the first bullpup pistol
Tecnostudio Engineering is a small R&D company headquartered in the Val Trompia valley, the heartland of Italy's gun industry, engaged in precision engineering and rapid prototyping. Their core business is industrial technologies – and in that field they enjoy an official supplier status for a prominent global player in the defence industry such as Leonardo Defence Systems – but they're also active in the design and engineering of innovative firearm prototypes.
Recently, some of Tecnostudio's CADs and designs were released to the general public - as the futuristic Tecnostudio's trigger-less pistol - immediately catching the eye of the shooters community in Europe as well as in the United States and elsewhere.
What you see here are the CAD images of one of the latest projects from Tecnostudio Engineering – a bullpup pistol, notice how all controls are located on the rear portion – and they're also all that's currently available: nothing else has been disclosed to the public eye so far. Definitely, as far as we can see from these pictures, the project appears to have some serious potential.
To describe the project for this bullpup pistol, nothing's better than the words of Francesco Ghitti, head designer for Tecnostudio Engineering:
"It is a large-size semi-automatic pistol for civilian sales and private security personnel, which has been designed to also available as a select-fire sub-machine gun for military and law enforcement uses.
The firearm, dubbed the SMG 15 in its semi-automatic version and the SMG 25 in its select-fire iteration, has the size of a standard Full-Size semi-automatic pistol for convenient carry.
The magazine is located on top of the gun, parallel to the bore axis, and holds fifteen rounds in the semi-automatic version and twenty-five rounds in the full-automatic version. The barrel is an innovative 7,5 inch long design, and the firearm itself is gas-operated to offer a soft recoil.
With the magazine moved from the standard position, the grip itself contains the necessary electronics to operate a high-visibility shot counter, with two displays located on both grip panels. In short words, it is the firstbullpup pistol in the world."
The only truly comparable firearm would be the Hill 15 prototype, engineered in the United States in the early 1960s: basically the same weapon, but more crude and definitely far ahead of its times.
But times have changed, and so are the challenges that law enforcement personnel must face on a daily basis, in Europe and north America alike.
It's not a case if a company such as the Swiss-based B&T AG, whose main target market is law enforcement, recently launched a firearm such as the USW-A1 Universal Service Weapon – a design aimed at providing Police personnel in normal patrol duties with the capability to engage targets at longer ranges and with more accuracy than with a standard handgun.
In terms of civilian sales, and should compatibility with high-capacity magazines be assured, the SMG 15 could be a true market sensation among shooters and private security personnel alike. Only time will tell!