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  4. Hands-On with the Hotchkiss Universal 'Transformer Gun'

 

The rare yet very collectible Hotchkiss Model 010 or "Type Universal" submachine gun saw little use in the Cold War, and after using one, we think we know why. 

 

What is the Hotchkiss Universal?

 

The manufacturing firm established by American gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss in France in the 1860s saw nearly a century of success in making everything from revolving cannons (think 47mm Gatling guns) to light machine guns, automobiles, and even tanks. By the late 1940s, however, the firm was barely hanging on and developed at least four new submachine gun models with tubular receivers to court military and police sales. 

The weirdest of these was the Model 010, or "Type Universal." 

To make a gun as compact as possible, almost every component of the Universal was designed to fold, collapse, or telescope. The sheet metal buttstock folds completely under the gun. To make the folded weapon as svelte as could be, both the magazine well and the hollow pistol grip pivot forward. The 10.79-inch rifled barrel slides back a few inches into the receiver through a long trunnion to further abbreviate the firearm.

 

Hotchkiss Universal
With all this done and the stock folded, the Universal is only 17.3 inches long. Compared to its contemporaries – the American M3 Grease Gun and the Soviet PPS-43, which were both 23 inches long with their stocks collapsed – the Universal saves a few inches. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Hotchkiss Universal
When the stock unfolds and the barrel is telescoped forward, the sub gun's overall length is 30.67 inches, the same length as a STEN gun. It weighs 7.5 pounds and loads with a box magazine full of 32 rounds of 9mm. It is selective fire for single shots or a zippy 650 rounds per minute full-auto cyclic rate. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Hotchkiss Universal
However, the gun proved unpopular, and besides some local use in Indochina with French colonial forces and some limited sales overseas (to Venezuela, for example), it faded into history. 
French paratroopers M1 carbines
It seemed French airmobile and parachute troops, a demographic that would seem an ideal user of the folding Hotchkiss, preferred GI-surplus .30 caliber M1A1 Carbines, which weighed about 6 pounds and would compact to 25 inches when folded but were much simpler to use. (Photos: French military archives) 

 

Our Hotchkiss experience

 

While in town for SHOT Show earlier this year, we had a chance to swing by and visit our old friends at Battlefield Vegas. They gratefully allowed us a chance to tour their vault and pick a few guns to profile and shoot. 

 

Battlefield Vegas
Choices, choices... (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Battlefield Vegas
You know us, we like the rare ones. 
 
Hotchkiss Universal
We got a chance to lay hands on the Hotchkiss, and, no joke, it has a learning curve, particularly when it comes to breaking it down into its stored position. 
Hotchkiss Universal
Further, once deployed, the ergonomics aren't great. If anything, it feels like a zip gun without the zip.

 

It shot OK, but, after spending some time with it, we could easily tell why the Universal did not have a universal appeal. 

In all, we had a lot of fun getting to handle and shoot the Universal, and we thank Battlefield Vegas for allowing us to come in and "sample the goods."

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