The Uzi is a family of Israeli submachine guns and machine pistols that were first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel. The Uzi submachine gun is a compact automatic weapon that is used throughout the world as a police and special-forces firearm. The Uzi was used as a personal defense weapon by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops, and tankers, as well as a frontline weapon by elite light infantry assault forces. The Uzis compact size and firepower proved instrumental in clearing Syrian bunkers and Jordanian defensive positions during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Uzi is a blowback-operated submachine gun that fires from an open bolt. The standard Uzi is 650 mm (25.6 inches) long with its folding metal butt fully extended. The barrel is only 260 mm (10 inches) long. When loaded with a 25- or 32-round magazine of 9-mm pistol ammunition, the gun weighs about 4 kg (9 pounds) . The Uzi has also been made in miniature versions that are as short as 460 mm (18 inches) . The Uzi pistol is a semi-automatic, closed bolt, and blowback-operated pistol variant. Its muzzle velocity is 345 m/s. It is a Micro Uzi with no shoulder stock or full-automatic firing capability.
The Uzi submachine gun is beloved by special forces because of its excellent center of balance in the grip hand and fast reloading through an intuitive “hand-finds-hand” principle. The Uzi cut its teeth in the IDF’s wars of the 1950s and 60s, where it proved ideal for urban and close-quarters combat. The Uzi evolved over time, replacing its original wooden stock with folding metal varieties, developing even smaller Mini and Micro variants, and adopting various rails and accessories. The Mini Uzi was introduced in 1980 and was a smaller version of the standard weapon. The Micro Uzi was introduced in 1986 and is even smaller than the Mini Uzi. Finally, the Uzi Pro is an updated and modernized version of the Micro Uzi.
