#mat49

Gevarm D-4

The D-4 was developed by French ammunition manufacturer Gévelot’s subsidiary, Gévarm in the mid-1950s. The weapon is a simple 9x19mm, select fire, blowback submachine gun.  

Developed for potential police and military sales the D-4 had a collapsing wire stock, a 32-round magazine and weighed just over 7lbs (3.2kg). The weapon’s bolt was extremely simple with not extractor and the ejector built into the right side of the receiver. The receiver endcap had an integral guide rod for the recoil spring. Early models had a grip safety protruding from the front of the pistol grip while later D-4s simply relied on the safety-selector on the left side of the weapon. 

A disassembled D-4, with grip safety (source)

Unlike contemporaries like the Hotchkiss Universel and the Merlin Gerin PM9 the D-4 was relatively simple and cheap to manufacture. According to Jean Huon, the D-4 was tested by the French military in February 1957, at the Versailles-Satory Proving Ground. A D-4 and a D-3, with a wooden stock, were tested. They were found to be decent weapons, despite some issues with them becoming jammed after drop tests and the semi-auto setting not reliably delivering single shots. Despite being decent, cheaper, weapons the French military was well into the process of rolling out the MAT-49 and had little interest in the D-4. 

It is estimated that between just 3,000 and 4,000 D-4s were produced with some sales to French police and customs officers made. The D-4 certainly wasn’t a revolutionary design, especially when compared to some of its contemporaries but it did achieve the cheap, simplicity the company aimed for. Gévarm would have much more success with their .22 rifles.

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Image Source

Machine Pistols Gevarm, Small Arms Review, J. Huon (source)