Original German Pre-WWII MP34(ö) Steyr Solothurn Display SMG with Magazine Original Items

Original Item: Only One available. Just purchased from a private collection, this is a very nice Inert Display Sub Machine Gun, built using original parts on an original BATF approved aluminum dummy receiver. The lower receiver rear of the top cover hinge has been entirely replaced with the non-functional portion, which has a groove on the bottom that a solid aluminum dummy bolt travels along. The trigger still pulls, the selector still works, and the dummy bolt can even be moved. Also, the original barrel is still completely intact, with a really nice bore!

This example has the correct overlapping SSW marking on the top cover, for Steyr-Solothurn Waffen AG, the trading company in Zurich that handled the contracts to obscure the origin of the submachine gun. The left side of the butt stock is marked with serial number 7454 and shortened number 454 is stamped on the spring housing for the top cover latch. Aside from these and the markings on the safety switch, there are no other markings on the machine pistol.

Wonderfully constructed with prewar quality at Steyr in Austria, ventilated barrel jacket with built in magazine loader in the magazine housing complete with wood butt stock assembly. It comes complete with an original magazine (where permitted).

These were long gone from IMA more than 20 years ago after the original release from Portugal in the early 1990’s. This won’t last long because you can’t find them anywhere else!

History of the MP34

The MP34 was based on a design for the MP18 by the Rheinmetall company based in Düsseldorf. The weapon is similar in design to the MP18 Bergmann, which itself saw service towards the end of World War I.

Restrictions on the manufacture of certain armaments within the 1919 Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany from manufacturing certain types of weapons, such as light automatic firearms (designated as SMGs with barrels in excess of four inches (102 mm) and magazines holding more than eight rounds). To circumvent the treaty, Rheinmetall acquired the Swiss company Waffenfabrik Solothurn in 1929 and began secret production of a prototype. What was to become the MP34 was originally designated “S1-100” using the company’s standard naming convention.

Due to the Solothurn Company being unsuited for mass production, Rheinmetall took a controlling interest in Waffenfabrik Steyr, an established arms manufacturer in Austria. Weapons manufactured by Steyr were sold via the Zurich-based trade company Steyr-Solothurn Waffen AG to both the commercial and military markets.

The MP34 was manufactured from the very best materials available and finished to the highest possible standard. It was so well manufactured that it has often been nicknamed the “Rolls Royce of submachine guns”. However, its production costs were extremely high as a consequence.