The Belgian Vigneron Submachine gun: Reaper of the Congo
Sure, it looks like a M3 Grease Gun mated with a German MP40 while a Tommy gun watched, but it is a totally different gun. It’s the nearly forgotten Belgian Vigneron and it’s a bargain subgun if there ever was one.
The Belgian army of the 1950s was rebuilding. Suffering a five-year-long occupation during World War 2, the military of that country had to be rebuilt from the ground-up. Before the Germans came in, Belgium had a large and healthy arms industry centered on Fabrique Nationale (FN/Browning) in Herstal. Inheriting a collection of captured German weapons and donated US surplus guns, the Belgian Army wanted something new.
By 1954 they had adopted the Browning Hi-Power as their standard handgun and the new (Belgian designed) FN-FAL as their standard rifle, but they still needed a submachine gun to equip those who needed some compact spray gun action such as artillerymen, paratroopers, truck drivers and the like. For this need, a local Colonel by the name of Vigneron threw a design into the ring.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
