Most used PDW

The Mp40 jammed easily. I would go for the PPSH.

 

Can you support this please?
To my knowledge most SMGs jammed easily,
Unless a gun like the Thompson which had to be kept in a very clean condition would generally be very reliable, unless using a drum magazine

 

A video I watched called "Infantry Firepower" which said about the Mp40 jamming.

 

Was this by any chance on the discovery channel?
please if you want to make a claim like this, read several books on the subject rather than a just a quote from a most likely inaccurate tv show.
As for the books I have read most of my books the MP40 was generally liked except for the complaint on the length of magazines and the capacity compared to that of the PPSH 41

 

To me, a personal defense weapon would be something like a kinfe, bayonet, or pistol, not a shoulder arm. My choice would be the .45 Colt M1911A1 for such a weapon. I firmly believe in superior firepower, and in not bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Also, IIRC, the Thompson submachine gun started production in 1928, not 1938 as was said in an earlier post.

 

No it wasn't Discovery Channel, it was the Scorched Earth series.

 

all semi and full auto arms can jam if even a little bit dirty or over heated .revolvers and bolt actions are almost jam proof but they have their faults as well , all designs are a compremise and weapons are no exception .

 

True enough. Nothing made by humans is going to be perfect.

 

Very true.

 

Then lets settle with the .45 and the Walther .38?

 

Yeah.

 

I'll go with the .45 M1911A1 then.

 

Well they aren't the "most used PDW"
As we have mentioned Pistols are rarely used in combat except as a last resort, the most likely result woud either be an SMG or the M1 Carbine

 

Or the Tokarev TT33? Or Browning GP-35?

Except that as dave's commented pistols aren't PDWs by any real stretch of the definition and this really fouls the whole issue since the concept of a PDW didn't really exist in WW2.

Neither do SMGs fit into this category since they were often intended as assault weapons for FIBUA situations where the power of rifles and carbines was overkill rather than Personal Defence Weapons,

There were weapons used for personal defence in WW2, of which by far the most common was the bayonet but as for which was the most common PDW of WW2 the answer is pretty simple.

It was:













That one.

PDWs didn't exist in WW2. It's like asking what was the best Assault rifle of the American War of Independence, they didn't have them so the question has no answer.

This seems a pretty good definition:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.c ... nce+weapon

Find me a WW2 weapon that fits that description and you have your answer.

 

i think the m1 carbine was intended to replace the 45 as a weapon for officers and transport ,signals ,qm ect troops ,they didnt call it a pdw but i think that was the intent .its light weight and low recoil made it popular with line troops as well .as for telling rear echelon troops to use their bayonettes as pdw if they should encouter enemy infantry ,i would think they would be unhappy with such advice and would prefer krag jorgansens or springfeild percusion arms to that .

 

Sturmgewehr 45?

 

Not by a long shot the most produced an in any case by most accepted definitions is classed as an assault rifle not a PDW.

Woody the M1 carbine at first glance falls down on the issue of not being shorter than a carbine in length, it's not a PDW.

I mentioned bayonet's since practically everyone who was given a rifle of any description would have seen or most likely been issued a bayonet, if we're going to go by a loose definition of PDW i.e a weapon that can be used for personal defence, there can be little to eclipse the bayonet in terms of numbers at least, possibly an entrenching tool although I doubt the records exist to prove one way or another which was the most common. My money would still be on the bayonet since in times of extreme hardship armies tend to give their soldiers weapons first, everything else comes second.

If you want to go for a stricter definition (such as the one I've provided ) no WWII small arm that I'm aware of fits the requirements.

 

The Commando knife would have been my favorite PDW.