On 9 February 2017, in Israel at the city of Petah Tikva, a Palestinian identified as Sadeq Nasser Abu Mazen, attempted a terror attack. The attack was not very successful. One man was shot in the leg, and a couple of others were hit by bullet fragments or shards of material fragmented by bullets. The weapon that failed in this attack was a small shop produced submachine gun.
The Israeli term for improvised submachine guns is a "Carlo". The term derives from the similarity to the Carl Gustav M/45 9mm submachine gun. The guns run about from about $900 to $5,500 on the black market, with ammunition running at $20 per 9mm cartridge. The gun jammed several times. From timesofisrael.com:
Just before 5:00 p.m., the gunman, opened fire at a bus near the Petah Tikva market on Baron Hirsch Street. One a man in his 50s was shot in the leg, while two women — one in her 50s, the other in her 30s — were hit by shrapnel, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.As much as this black market Carlo failed, the Israelis are lucky he did not use a simple slam fire 12 gauge shotgun. They are much easier to make, and are simple to use. Loaded with improvised buckshot, the 12 gauge could have been more deadly. It is likely more shots would have been fired. Perhaps 12 gauge shells are harder to obtain than 9mm on the black market in Israel.
He was identified by Palestinian media as Sadeq Nasser Abu Mazen, 18, from Beita al-Foka, a village south of Nablus.
The Palestinian teenager used a Carlo-style submachine gun, a comparatively cheap improvised firearm, which is prevalent in the West Bank. Carlos, which are often cobbled together from water pipes and spare parts, are notoriously unreliable, and the weapon used in the attack apparently jammed multiple times.
What is normally an automatic weapon was only able to fire a shot every few seconds, according to videos from the scene. An eyewitness told Walla news that the gunmen also entered a shop and tried to open fire, but his gun wouldn’t work at all.
Six people were wounded, one stabbed by the terrorist with a screw driver. Three are in moderate condition in the hospital. It appears the worst gunshot wound was a shot to the leg.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
"$20 per 9mm cartridge" ?
ReplyDeleteAre your sure this is not a typo?
If true, someone somewhere is making money (Nicholas Cage "Lord Of War") ...
That was the reported black market price from an Israeli publication.
ReplyDeleteWhen you ban something, the price in the black market goes up.
A 9mm cartridge generally weighs less than half an ounce; The value smuggled in would be $640 a lb. Maybe the demand is not great enough to support a good smuggling ring?
Gee that makes my supply of 9mm worth over ten thousand dollars, maybe I should start loading more. several thousand rounds of empty brass and about 300 pounds of casting lead. I think I'm going to need more bullet lube and gas checks. My six cavity mold is going to get very hot. My .355 seizer die just might get worn out.
ReplyDelete9mm has such good penetrating power. a Vietnam era flack vest will stop a 12 gauge slug but a 9mm passes through like it is not there. it is just as effective as an arrow fired from a 50 pound pull bow. some really interesting ballistic characteristics. a Vietnam era flack vest will stop a .44 mag but they are useless when an AK 47 or 9mm are fired at them. I saw a guy that had been stitched with an AK 47 up the side when we took his flack vest off his chest came with it. If I had my choice for close combat I would prefer a 9mm semi auto with an extended mag over an AK. AKs are just to heavy and bulky. the difference in weight allows you to carry more mags.
A 9mm automatic pistol with a screw on barrel extension would be great for close combat, 50 to 100 yards. smaller weapons are just so much more versatile. at that distance who needs sights on man sized targets?
I like semi auto because that ammo is heavy the more you can carry and the less you use the longer it lasts. My trigger finger has never been to tired to work.