According to my 7year old nephew, "a submachinegun shoots at submarines"

(My mom/his grandmother asked him that question when he was telling her about one of his combat video games)

wouldn't that be a submarine gun?

A machine gun fires in "full" auto, a rifle based cartridge or larger (think 308 and up.. 50bmg (browning MACHINE gun, or 7.62x54r)

a submachine gun shoots pistol rounds, at a high rate.. think schimisser, thompson, greasegun, uzi...

myself, I put the m16 into varmit rifle, ...

submachine was coined for the need of a smaller than a standard rifle slug chunker... which is funny, because the schimisser is heavier than an m98

if it shoots a rifle round, or larger, it's machinegun.. if you cna shoot it one hand, with pistol rounds, submachine gun..

223 ? varmit

jeffe

A machinegun loads/fires/unloads/loads/fires..... as long as the trigger is pulled(held back).
A submachinegun is a machinegun chambered for a subcaliber cartridge. Now you can argue as to what constitutes a "subcaliber". but remember the term came into use when the 30-06 was our military's smallest cartridge.

muck

Jeffe,is a gun that fires full auto the type that are used in drive by shootings??? Specifically when the car is full? Or does it refer to the car you are shooting at?

dang it Chic...
I don't get no slack, do I?

Jeffe

A submachinegun is a fully automatic firearm that uses pistol cartridges, like El Jeffe has said. A "machine gun" is a fully automatic firearm that uses "full power" cartridges, such as the aforementioned 7.62x51, 7.62x53R, .30'06 ect. The Browning is considered a "heavy machine gun" as is the Russian 14.7mm. Anything over that is considered a machine cannon.

An "assault rifle", is capable of both semi and fully automatic operation, firing an "intermediate" power cartridge such as the 7.63x39, .223 ect.

Oh...uhhhh...I knew the answer. I just thought some other folks would get a kick out of a 7year-old's perspective on it <grin>. I asked him the same question and gave him the correct answer.

BTW- I would KILL for the chance to bust a few caps with a Russian 14.5x114