Editing Machine pistol (section)

{{Short description|Fully automatic handgun}}
{{distinguish|Semi-automatic pistol}}
[[File:27th Independent Sevastopol Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (181-4).jpg|300px|thumb|upright=1.35|Soviet [[Stechkin APS]] and suppressed APB select-fire machine pistols, introduced into Soviet service in 1951]]

A '''machine pistol''' is a [[handgun]] that is capable of [[automatic firearm|fully automatic fire]], including [[shoulder stock|stock]]less [[handgun]]-style [[submachine gun]]s.<ref>James Smyth Wallace. ''Chemical Analysis of Firearms, Ammunition, and Gunshot Residue''. CRC Press. 2008. p. xxiii</ref>

The Austrians introduced the world's first machine pistol, the [[Steyr M1912 pistol#Maschinenpistole M.12 Patrone 16|''Steyr Repetierpistole'' M1912/P16]], during World War I. The Germans also experimented with machine pistols, by converting various types of semi-automatic pistols to full-auto, leading to the development of the first practical submachine guns. During [[World War II]], machine pistol development was widely disregarded in favor of submachine gun mass-production. After the war, machine pistol development was limited and only a handful of manufacturers would develop new designs, with varying degrees of success. This concept would eventually lead to the development of the [[personal defense weapon]] or PDW.

Today, machine pistols are considered special-purpose weapons with limited utility, with their original niche being filled with either the [[personal defense weapon|PDW]], [[carbines]], or simply more modern [[semi-automatic firearm|semi-automatic]] sidearms. Contributing to their already-fringe use, without a shoulder stock and training, machine pistols can be difficult to control for all but the best shooters.