MANUFACTURER – North Industries Corporation (NORINCO)
STATUS – Out of production
SERVICE – Chinese Military and Police forces, Commercial sales
This is one of the very few submachine guns that are gas operated. The action is very much like a reduced-size AK-47, scaled to the 7.62x25mm round. The gas system operates on a piston, pushing a bolt carrier. Moving to the rear, the carrier cams the rotating bolt, opening it to continue the firing cycle. The safety/selector lever on the right side of the weapon goes up for Safe, blocking movement of the bolt as well as blocking the trigger. Pressing the lever down to the first detent releases the bolt and sets the firing mechanism on full automatic (marked with the number “2”). Pressing the lever all the way down to the last detent (marked with the number “1”) places the weapon on semiautomatic fire. The magazine is tilted forward at the base to give a good alignment for the round feeding into the chamber. The magazine release is a knurled button on the right side of the receiver, just above and behind the magazine well. The particularly long magazine well allows it to act as a forward handgrip without interfering with the magazine feeding the weapon. The folding stock folds up and over the top of the weapon. The rotating bolt, locked breech system gives the Type 79 very good first round accuracy for a submachine gun. This is part of the reason the weapon has proved popular with the Chinese police. Constant improvements of the weapon have been ongoing, particularly for the addition of aiming and illumination systems.
