We found out why the Hotchkiss Universal did not have universal appeal
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.
Our Hotchkiss experience at Battlefield Vegas had a learning curve. To be more to the point, it was needlessly complicated and had terrible ergonomics.
It shot OK, but, after spending some time with it, we could easily tell why the Universal did not have a universal appeal.
More, including the transformation and shooting footage, in my column at Guns.com.