Argentine SMGs
Called the “Falcon” family, these little-publicized subguns are still on duty with local polices forces
by Ronaldo Olive; photos by Ronaldo and Felipe Olive
Countless nations around the world have, of course, submachine guns in the inventories of their respective military and police forces. But not that many can boast possessing weapons of really indigenous design and manufacture. Among the lesser known of this group is the South American country of Argentina.
It is a sure bet that the mention of Argentina may prompt the average reader to think of fine beef or the charming tango dance, as opposed to guns in general, and even less submachine guns. Still, for the last half century or so the Argentines have not only been designing but actually producing subguns for their own use.
Author shooting a Halcon ML63
The whole thing kicked off in 1930, when Juan Lehnar put together the very first SMG to be devised in that part of the world. It was a selective-fire weapon employing 9mm Parabellum ammunition fed by a curved magazine on the left side of the receiver (the magazine well could be turned upwards to make the gun flatter, for transport). The metal stock could be swung forward, thus reducing the gun’s length from 700mm/27.5″ to 290mm/11.75″, and the wood foregrip could be moved to lie flat under the forward end of the receiver. A single prototype was built.
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Sure - when Argentina becomes a playable nation…
I mean… we have a costa rican gun in game, and that ain’t gonna be playable.
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Italian gun, used by Costa Rica.
Yeah… Meaning that the Italians didn’t use it…
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Whenever we move to coldwar era sure why not its good looking gun
The Halcón ML-63 submachine gun (Halcón machine gun, Light Model 1963) was developed in 1963 by the Argentine arms company Halcón
I might be wrong but then why name the gun ML63 it seems odd you know
i am going by the prototype not production, and the blurb on the photo says its a 30’s prototype
Lehnar prototype M1943 M1946 M1949 ML57/60 ML63
Caliber 9mm Para .45 ACP .45 ACP 9mm Para 9mm Para 9mm Para
Magazine Capacity 30(?) 17 or 30 17 or 30 36 40 42(?)
Barrel Length 292mm
11in 152mm
5.75in 292mm
11in 225mm
8.85in 170mm
6.7in
OAL (stock extended) 700mm
27.6in 790mm
31.1in 780mm
30.7in 690mm
27.2in
OAL (stock folded) 290mm
11.4in 520mm
20.5in 535mm
21.0in 500mm
19.7in
Weight (empty) 4.75kg
10.5lb 4.0kg
9.0lb 3.25kg
7.25lb 3.7kg
8.25lb
Trigger type Single Single Single Single Single (ML57)
Double (ML60) Double
Firing position Open bolt Open bolt Open bolt Open bolt Open bolt Closed bolt
guess i used the wrong name
lehnar protoype m1943
Now thats right also there is 4 variant of model 1943 but expect the first one all other seems to be made in 1946
The Halcón ML-63 submachine gun (Halcón machine gun, Light Model 1963) was developed in 1963 by the Argentine arms company Halcón
Now thats right also there is 4 variant of model 1943 but expect the first one all other seems to be made in 1946
so a number in a name is not always the year it was made in,hmmm
Well they are variants that have name The smaller variant is called Modelo Aeronautica or Modelo 1946 which was made 1946
the 9 mm one(curved mag )with wooden stock is Modelo 49 which you can guess where 49 comes from the year it was made 1949
The one with wire stock in M.L57 and you can get the idea where the number comes from in reality the variants have name and in fact numbers in the names most of the time indicate year of production but not always you can have something like M14 rifle the 14 in name doesn’t mean any year and its just a designation
but you can have STG 77 AKA styer AUG which 77 in the name means it was made in 1977
I mean it doesn’t matter man at of all the Halcon SMGs only m1943 and Lahr prototype would be suitable for the game right now others can wait until we move to cold war era so keep them somewhere and when we go to cold war era suggest them BTW i like your work so keep doing them
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no problem i have had a case of smarty pants once or twice, i love all intelligent interactions even if not always favorable, as long as there is no hostility all comments can lead to a moment of reflection, and to be fair even if i did have the right gun i did have the wrong name which make me at least half wrong, of course it is getting harder and harder to find anything new for enlisted.
so thanks for responding szep
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So what? Still an Italian gun.
I mean we have T-34/100 that was built by the USSR and also never used by them, and every other experimental/prototype weapon built by anybody - and fielded by the nation that built it.
