Hello bajtársak and fellow forumdwellers,
First of all, I apologise for the long title. I had to pack a lot into this suggestion because most of these are related. Please allow me to quickly explain MP40 production changes as it will get relevant soon.
Germany went to war with the MP38, however the MP38 required a lot of milling and rare materials to produce, to increase production the MP40 was adopted which was produced by sheet metal stamping steel therefore heavily reducing the need for special materials and labour time.
Only the barrel, the bolt, the locking nut, and a few small components that couldn’t be made otherwise, were exempt from being replaced with sheet metal.
This gun is NOT the MP40 in the game, the only notable difference between this early MP40 the MP38 are a sturdier ejector, a stronger extractor and the elimination of the hole in the magazine catch which only served to reduce the weight of the MP38, however the MP40 was already lighter.
So far the MP40 looks like this, except for the magazine. I’m sorry but I just could not find one picture in reasonable quality that got every single detail right.
This is the magazine it should have: (notice the smooth surface)
The MP40 gradually replaced the MP38 production and MP38 was fully terminated in 1941.
This variation of the MP40 continued to be produced until 1942, it’s hard to track the exact date and numbers produced because changes were introduced gradually and not at the same time with all manufacturers.
In mid 1941 the smooth magazine catch was replaced with a sturdier and textured magazine catch which increased reliability and gave the soldiers a better grip on the weapon.
In early 1942 the smooth magazine was replaced with a ribbed one, with guiding rails added inside that massively increased reliability. Earlier smooth magazines were recalled by 1943.
The wolfteeth cocking handle which was prone to accidents was replaced with a safer cocking handle. Guns with wolfteeth handles were recalled multiple times but roughly 20% of MP40 guns with wolfteeth escaped this.
A new safer muzzle protector made from rubber was designed and the new muzzle nut had a smooth line in its middle to accept the new muzzle protector.
The aluminium barrel protector was also replaced with a bakelite (in the middle) then steel protector later in the war, this part is often lost or replaced on MP40s.
top: MP38 with early muzzle nut and aluminium barrel protector.
middle: MP40 with new pattern muzzle nut and bakelite barrel protector.
bottom: MP40 with new pattern muzzle nut and steel barrel protector.
A new cheaper version of the telescope spring made of rolled sheet steel was introduced.
Now finally arrived to the MP40 we have in game.
The in-game model is marked as BNZ 41 so it was produced at Steyr (Austria) in late 1941, it also features a refitted ribbed magazine which was only introduced in March 1942, the MP38 in-game has the same magazine.
There are 3 in-game issues here:
- The MP38 having less damage
- The MP40 description is plain bad
- Both in game MP38 and MP40 are from March 1942 at earliest
I have gone over all changes between the MP38 and the MP40 we have in the game, and yet I could not find one thing to justify the damage difference.
I also don´t see any balancing concern against increasing MP38 damage.
The MP38 is too strong to be moved to BR1 and there is also no reason to nerf it down to BR1 because MP3008 is already available on BR1 anyway so we can rule out BR changes.
- Yes
- No
Yep, that 0.1 kg difference is really noteworthy and the fire rate difference is not necessarily true in reality, it’s clear that the description is trying to justify the MP40 being better but it’s too lazy to be believable.
I wrote a new description which is more realistic and is more convincing that the MP40 is better:
MP40 was a German 9mm submachine gun produced by sheet metal stamping, its simple appearance is a prominent reflection of utilitarian style.
MP40 guns produced from 1942 feature war time improvements such as new telescope spring, improved safety, better magazines and a sturdier magazine catch with better grip.
- Yes
- No
This is not really an official game issue since time traveling is now the accepted norm.
For the devs this is more of an opportunity to add an early production MP40, just please add it with a smooth magazine and add MP38 with smooth magazine to the editor as well for modders.
In-game the early MP40 would be nearly identical to the MP38 so adding it to Axis would be absolutely pointless, even as an event.
I originally did consider it as a potential Japanese event reward since Japan did purchase German panzers with all necessary equipment which included MP40 submachine guns (standard issue with all German armoured vehicles) however that purchase was in May 1943 thus we can completely rule out that Japan ever came into possession of early MP40 submachine guns.
The most realistic option is giving the early MP40 to the Soviet faction due to the staggering amounts they have captured.
During my time of research I found countless pictures of Soviets with captured early pattern MP40 submachine guns.
- Axis is sitting on 3 variants of the Ppsh41 and the PPS-43.
- MP38 like gun would be a very interesting but weaker alternative to Soviets than their PPS SMGs and the Axis MP40, thus incentivising the usage of their own SMGs but still presenting a 9mm gun to special roles like medic or APC driver.
pictures of trophy early pattern MP40s
Soviet officers inspecting 2 MP38 and 1 MP40 SMGs, Im not 100% if its early MP40 though.
Closed. It was a dumb idea even from me.
- Yes to Soviets
- Yes, but NOT to Soviets
- No
- MP40 (early)
- Schmeisser MP40 (as it was often called by soldiers that captured them)
Sources
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30029268
MP40 | Die Maschinenpistole MP38, MP40, MP41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdQhO8FtY7c&t=1s
Thank you for your time and attention!
Looks to me like they just did a quick google search on the MP40 and wrote the first thing they saw. 
