The FAMAE PAF submachine gun (Pistola Ametralladora FAMAE) was designed and manufactured by the Chilean state-owned company Fábricas y Maestranzas del Ejército de Chile. It was introduced into service during the early 1970’s. The advent of the coup d’etat led by Pinochet in 1973 resulted in embargoes on the sale of arms from other countries. This situation forced Chile to look further into manufacturing it’s own arms and the FAMAE PAF is the result.
This weapon was used by the Chilean military and by law enforcement until the 1990’s, when it was replaced by the more modern FAMAE SAF submachine gun. It is hard not to notice that the PAF submachine gun bears more than a passing resemblance to the British Sterling Mk.4. However, the lack of a barrel shroud and flimsy telescoping buttstock resulted in less than optimal ergonomics for the FAMAE copy.
Technical Description:
The PAF is a simple blowback operated weapon. It fires from an open bolt, in semi-automatic or fully automatic modes. The safety / fire mode selector lever is located on the left side of the grip. Double stack, double feed box magazines are inserted horizontally from the left. Empty cases are ejected to the right. This gun is fitted with a telescoping shoulder stock and flip-up rear sight, with settings for 100 and 200 meters.
Specification | Value |
---|---|
Full text name | FAMAE PAF |
Caliber cartridge | 9mm Luger - 9x19 Luger / Parabellum |
Action type | select-fire |
Trigger type | sa |
Overall length, mm | 620 |
Length, folded, mm | 440 |
Barrel length, mm | 175 |
Weight empty, kg | 2.44 |
Magazine capacity, rounds | 34 |
Cyclic rate of fire, rounds/min | 870 |