Villar Perosa M1915

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Villar-Perosa Mod 15 for reference - 9 mm Glisenti (it should be noted that straight magazines also existed for this SMG, as depicted in the movie).

Villar-Perosa M1915, fitted with wooden stock for off-hand use - 9 mm Glisenti

Villar-Perosa M1915 is a twin-barreled submachine gun of Italian manufacturer Officine Villar Perosa (OVP in short) . It was originally designed in 1914 by famous Italian small arms designer Bethel Abiel Revelli as an aircraft weapon. It failed in this capacity, as it was designed to fire low-powered 9mm Glisenti ammunition, which was weaker than dimensionally similar 9x19 Luger ammunition. In 1915 the Villar-Perosa M195 was converted for ground applications, with introduction of variety of mountings, including light tripods/carrying trays (which were carried on shoulder straps or put on the ground for more stable position and less exposure to enemy fire) and light tripods. Later, a wooden rifle-type stock was designed for Villar-Perosa, so it could be fired more or less comfortable from the shoulder, thus creating the first practical submachine gun in the world. After the war, some of the original Villar-Perosa weapons (assembled from two similar guns) were disassembled into halves, and put into rifle type stocks, adding the rifle-type triggers. Such conversions were known as Villar Perosa OVP M1918 (as done by Villar Perosa). A slightly improved version of the same design was also produced by Beretta company, and it was known as Beretta M1918. Those, Villar-Perosa is not only, practically, the first submachine gun in the world, but also a beginner of Beretta's submachine gun traditions. As the original Villar-Perosa SMG's are rare and can hardly be seen outside of museums, those you will see in the movies are usually mock-ups from Beretta submachine guns or something like that.

Villar-Perosa M1915 SMG and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

Specifications

(1914–1918)

• Type: Submachine gun

• Calibers: 9x19mm Glisenti

• Weight: 6.5 kg (less mount)

• Length: ? in (? cm)

• Barrel length: 279 mm

• Capacity: 2 x 25 rounds (9x19mm Glisenti)

• Fire Modes: ?

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Film

Title	Actor	Character	Notation	Date
Sicilian, The		An outlaw	A mock-up made of: two visually modified inverted Beretta M38A, Bren front grip and a trigger group from an MG42.	1987

See Also

• Officine Villar Perosa - a list of all firearms manufactured by Sterlin Arms Corp.