Standschütze Hellriegel Submachine Gun

The Austro-Hungarian Standschutze Hellriegel submachine gun was developed during 1915. The prototype blended pistol calibre ammunition with the firepower of a machine gun making it one of the first weapons which could be considered a submachine gun. The images above come from an Austrian archive where they are captioned with the title “Maschinengewehr des Standschützen Hellriegel.” They are dated 10.1915 (presumably October 1915) and show what appears to be a test firing of the weapon at a range. The archival entry indicates that the weapon was named after someone with the second name Hellriegel. While the Standschützen may refer to the designer being a member of the Austro-Hungarian reserve force, the Standschützen, which was raised to defend the Austrian states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The Standschutze Hellriegel may have been developed for this corps or by a member of it. With the images above I will try to offer some fresh thought on the Standschutze Hellriegel. 

There is little information about the Standschutze Hellriegel available and much of what is available is based on conjecture. It is often described as a belt-fed submachine gun, however, it in fact feeds from a large drum magazine which held approximately 160 rounds. Much like the German Trommel (snail) magazine the Standschutze Hellriegel drum appears to have a coil spring attached to a knee jointed follower arm. How the drum was loaded is unclear, however, it had a hinged cover and what looks to be a removeable lever to tension the spring. There does not appear to be any dummy rounds attached to the follower to aid feeding, it may have had another coil spring projecting from the follower to feed the last rounds through the drum’s flexible chute. The magazine itself was not fixed to the weapon’s receiver and instead was linked via a flexible chute, this may have caused feed reliability issues. In the photographs above the operator is seen firing from prone with the drum resting in a cradle (which can be seen at the top left of image #4). 

It also appears to have fed from box magazines (see image #3 & #4) which may have held an estimated 20 rounds. Image #4 indicates that there were at least two types of box magazines tested. 9mm Steyr was Austro-Hungary’s standard pistol ammunition and it is likely the weapon was also chambered in the 9×23mm Steyr round. How the Standschutze Hellriegel operated is uncertain, however, it probably used a blowback action while the two projections from the rear of the receiver may suggest it had dual recoil springs. The weapon was aimed using a folding ladder sight on top of the receiver. 

In image #3 the gunner is shown with an assistant gunner wearing an ammunition carrier with slots for five drums and two small draws. The gunner appears to be wearing a sort of over-shoulder brace harness with wide straps which may have interfaced with the weapon at the gunner’s waist where a metal fitting is just visible. This would be similar to the Browning Automatic Rifle’s later walking fire bracing belt cup. Another interesting feature of the Standschutze Hellriegel was its water-cooled barrel with the barrel jacket encased in leather. It has a pair of ports to fill and drain the jacket of water. Beneath the jacket a tube handgrip can be seen with the operator supporting the barrel’s weight with it in image #3. 

How the drum magazine’s flexible chute attachment would have been used in the field is unclear with it probably requiring support to feed properly. The use of box magazines may have been planned for walking fire while the drum was to be used for sustained fire. Unlike the Italian Villar-Perosa, which was designed initially as a support weapon, the Standschutze Hellriegel does not appear to have any provision for a bipod which would indicate it was envisioned as an offensive weapon which could be fired from the hip or shoulder during an advance.

The Standschutze Hellriegel does not appear to have progressed beyond the prototype stage and the reasons for this remains unclear. With refinement to the drum’s attachment to the firearm and perhaps the removal of the water jacket the weapon may have been very useful. Despite not being adopted the Standschutze Hellriegel, alongside the Villar-Perosa, is certainly one of the earliest submachine gun designs to be developed.

Sources:

Image Sources: 1 2 3 4 

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