POTD: M/45BE Swedish Police Submachine Gun
Photo Of The Day – Today we have some TFB exclusive pictures of the Swedish M/45BE submachine gun. “E” stands for “Enkelskott” in Swedish, or single shot (semi-automatic) in English, which is quite appropriate for a Law Enforcement firearm. The M/45BE was the reinforcement support weapon of the Swedish Police before the Heckler & Koch MP5 was adopted, and there are not many left in existence.
The version called M/45BET (not shown here) had only one purpose, which was to shoot tear-gas grenades. The BET has a “cup” at the end of the barrel and a high sight to compensate for the rather poor ballistics of a tear gas grenade. T stands for Tear gas.
Earlier this year the Swedish Police announced that they were buying the B&T GL06 for Tear Gas Grenades.
The M/45BE for the Police has an all-black finish. The military version of the M/45 has a slate grey phosphate and enamel green color (centuries before FDE entered the scene).
Thanks to an anonymous contributor.
If you want to see another odd M/45 check out the competition-ready Carl Gustaf M/45 with Kurbits Decorations and a Peace Sign.
Ex-Arctic Ranger. Competitive practical shooter and hunter with a European focus. Always ready to increase my collection of modern semi-automatics, optics, thermals and suppressors. TCCC Certified. Occasionaly seen in a 6x6 Bug Out Vehicle, always with a big smile.
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There's also an even rarer version of this gun designed for SWAT teams.
It has a special stock so you can use it while wearing a helmet with a ballistic face shield. I think only like 200 of those were ever made.
One those guns was in the news in Sweden a couple years ago when the Swedish police included it in a picture of guns "unlicensed firearms handed over to the police for destruction" presumably they were trying to pad out their meager haul of illegal firearms, but it was blatantly obvious to anyone who had a clue about guns that they had just grabbed some old relics from the police armory for the photo shoot.
That same haul of guns also included an extremely rare Swedish-made 7.5mm Hamilton trials pistol which appeared to be in decent condition. It was presumably destroyed afterwards.
I flew as a crew chief/gunner aboard a Huey gunship during the VN war. The "Swedish K" was a highly desirable personal defense weapon by aircrew. There were many in country courtesy of the CIA. A couple years later, I was a police officer and my department bought two S&W M76 submachine guns and they appeared to me to be almost identical copies of the Swedish K https://modernfirearms.net/...