CODE – 02-108-976

NAME – Kommando 9mm

NAME (NATIVE) – Kommando LDP

COMMON NAMES – Rhuzi (Rhodesian Uzi)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – South Africa

DATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1976

CALIBER – 9x19mm

OVERALL LENGTH – 42.5 cm (16.73 in) Stock folded, 60 cm (23.62 in)

BARREL LENGTH – 20.1 cm (7.91 in)

RIFLING (TYPE & TWIST) – 5-Groove, 1 turn in 25.4 cm (10 in)

BULLET DIAMETER – 9.02 mm (0.355 in)

BULLET WEIGHT – 7.45 g (115 grains)

MUZZLE VELOCITY – 376 m/s (1234 fps)

MUZZLE ENERGY – 527 j (389 ft/lb)

WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 2.70 kg (5 lb 15.2 oz)

WEIGHT (LOADED) – 3.31 kg (7 lb 4.8 oz) with 32 round magazine

SIGHTS – Fixed non-adjustable, Front sight post, Rear sight peep

EFFECTIVE RANGE – 150 m (164 yards)

OPERATION – Blowback, fires from open bolt

TYPE OF FIRE – Semiautomatic only

RATE OF FIRE – 40 rpm

FEED DEVICE – 20, 25, and 32-round box magazines, double column, double feed

FEED DEVICE WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 20-round 0.16 kg (5.6 oz), 25-round 0.20 kg (7 oz), 32-round 0.22 kg (7.8 oz)

FEED DEVICE WEIGHT (LOADED) – 20-round 0.41 kg (14.5 oz), 25-round 0.51 kg (1 lb 2 oz), 32-round 0.61 kg (1 lb 5.5 oz)

BASIC AMMUNITION LOAD – Six 32-round magazines (192 rounds)

LOAD WEIGHT – 3.60 kg (8 lb 1 oz)

MANUFACTURER – Kommando Arms Manufacturing Corporation, South Africa

STATUS – Out of production

SERVICE – Commercial sales

     Southern Africa was undergoing very difficult times in the 1970s and into the 1980s due in no small part to the world’s embargo of several African countries that held the policy of Apartheid. Rhodesia was undergoing a guerrilla war at the time and many farmers and outlying rangers needed a quick, effective, form of defense. The LDP semiautomatic carbine was developed to give the ranches and farmers a firearm with the handling characteristics of a submachine gun but incapable of full automatic fire. LaCoste Engineering, Pvt. LTD developed a local design in 1976 and were able to put the weapon into production after developing literally all of the components and manufacturing techniques in-house.

  In 1978, the 5^th version of the design, capable of semiautomatic fire only, went into production. Referred to by some as the “Rhuzi” for Rhodesian Uzi, the weapon was a very simple blowback design utilizing Uzi magazines feeding through a central pistol grip and having a telescoping bolt to minimize overall length. The lower receiver of the weapon as well as the pistol grip, is made from plastic. There is a manual safety on the left side of the weapon as well as a grip safety that has to be pulled to allow the trigger to move. The grip safety is simple to remove and is missing on a number of specimens. The action is considered rough at best and the weapon commonly fires two and three round bursts rather than semiautomatic fire. These difficulties were not noted from the weapon produced by the original manufacturer in Rhodesia.

     Initially the name of the weapon was LDP, which some considered to stand for “Land Defense Pistol” it actually stood for the name of the manufacturer, LaCoste Engineering, the designer Alex DuPless, and the financier of the project, Hubert Ponter.  When the war ended in Rhodesia and the country became Zimbabwe, manufacture of the weapon moved to South Africa. Here, the weapon was renamed commercially as the Kommando. It was not a commercial success and relatively few were made.