As a result, the previous caliber was kept and the round shortened. These reasons for developing this weapon resulted in a very successful weapon, starting with the prototype Maschinenkarabiner.
In 1942, C. G. Haenel Waffen und Fahrradfabrik started development of a new rifle. As a result they came up with the Maschinenkarabiner (machine carbine) 1942, MKb 42 for short, to fire the new Kurz cartridge. This rifle was intended to replace submachine guns and bolt action rifles and have a range of around 600 meters. The head of this project was a weapons engineer by the name of Hugo Schmeisser. In mid 1942 Schmeisser submitted prototype weapons for field-testing which showed very promising results. After these tests, the Heereswaffenamt, the German Armament Department, asked for some changes to the design, most notably asking for a more convenient closed bolt-firing system to replace the characteristic open bolt system of the submachine gun. This would increase single shot accuracy. Within the next year Schmeisser developed the gun according to these wishes and in the year 1943, he submitted the new and improved rifle to the Heereswaffenamt.
However, it proved to be too late. By this time Hitler had ordered that only existing firearms were to be produced; and the Maschinenkarabiner was not on the approved list of weapons. To get around this nuisance, the German developers decided to simply change the name to Machinen pistole (Submachine Gun) or MP because this gun was on the approved list of weapons to be produced. This meant that the new gun was given the designation MP43 and sent into limited production for field trials. .
During the first year the weapon underwent very minor modifications resulting in the designations of MP-43/1 and MP-43/2; but these differed only in aspects such as the front sight and different mounts for attachments. Later, in April of 1944, the rifle's designation was changed to MP44 with no actual changes to the design.
