Sa 23 submachine gun series

Just after World War II, Czech arms designer Vaclav Holek developed an indigenous submachine gun patterned after the various blowback conventional designs of the time (the MP40, the Sten, etc.) but with some innovative updates. The Sa.23 was the first Submachine gun in full production to have the magazine well in the pistol grip and a wrap around bolt, despite the fact that the British MCEM was the first prototype to adopt these features. The Sa.23 was the 9mm full stock version, the Sa.24 was the folding stock 9mm version. But eventually the Soviet Union pressured Czechoslovakia to adopt an 'approved' Warsaw Pact caliber, so the submachine gun was modified to fire the 7.65x25mm Tokarev round. The later 7.65x25mm versions were named the Sa.25 (full stock) and Sa.26 (folding stock). The later 7.65x25mm TT versions are identifiable due to the obvious forward slant of the pistol grip and magazine to accommodate the shape of the new ammunition. The older 9mm versions (and some of the surplus 7.65x25mm ones as well) were sold world wide, with most of the 9mm guns ending up in the hands of countries like Chile, Lebanon and South Africa. Most of the 7.62x25mm versions went to Soviet client states like Cuba, Cambodia, and Libya. South Africa tried to market a semi auto only version of the Sa.24 (9mm Folding stock) called the Sanna-77, but it was a commercial failure (and the chances of it appearing in a film is slim to none).

The SA-23 series of submachine gun can be seen in:

Film

• Various Mercenaries in The Wild Geese (Sa.23 9mm Full stock version)
• Never Say Never Again