The Jatimatic was a Finnish submachine gun intended for bodyguards and private security forces. It was designed in the 1980s, and never achieved much success despite having some interesting and clever features. The bolt is designed like and Uzi or CZ-23/24 bolt, wrapping around the barrel to allow a heavy enough bolt for direct blowback operation while maintaining a short overall length of the gun. The bolt also travels along an axis not quite parallel to the barrel, which helps reduce muzzle climb.
However, the Jatimatic did not have any provision for using a shoulder stock, relying instead of firing from the hip or with a carry sling. This significantly hampered its practical utility. In addition, the sling attachment on the rear of the gun is also the takedown catch, so putting tension on the sling in the wrong way can result in the gun disassembling (not a good design feature).
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Turned up in two movies I can think of. In “Red Dawn” it was the personal weapon of the Spetznaz commander, and it was used with a laser sight by Stallone’s character in “Cobra”.
Yeah. They used it as a stand-in for the PM-63 machine pistol which was unavailable due to the Cold War.
its 23 years ago i watched the movie cobra but i remember it like it was yesterday.
stallone assembling this jatimatic in the hotel room,really funny how one can remember such stuff after 23 years.
Many years ago, somewhere I recall looking at one and very briefly handling one (and to be fair) not firing one. The one thing that impressed not only me in the handling but also the owner/posessor was a considerable amount of derision in that the weapon “did not shoot where it looked.” Way, way high as I recall. Being designed for single-handed or hip-firing, launching your rounds somewhere else than where you’re aiming made it the poster-boy for the “fatal-flaw” concept.
Jati-matic (JaTimatic) GG95PWD:
Tampereen Asepaja Oy, Finland
9 mm Para 20 or 40 rounds
Barrel 230 mm
Lenght 400 mm
Weight 1,65 kg
I ended up with one of two laser sites used on the Jati in Stalone’s Cobra movie. Got docs, etc. A company in California made the sites for Cannon Studios and at last check the company was still making lasers.
In the 1980s I was approached by people with a license to manufacture this weapon here in the US. I was maintaining the local sheriff’s department’s weapons due to experience in the marines. They brought three if these Jatis to my range and we invited several police departments to come review them. Out of over 3,000 rounds there was not a single miss-fire or other malfunction during the test firings. I found them to be reliable, accurate and above else, controllable in both single and full automatic modes. I was able to reproduce the accuracy of my Clark Combat firing unsupported off-hand. It exhibited some measure of “torquing” but no “climb” at all in single-fire or automatic. I found it to be equal to the AK-47 or the old “Burp” gun but not as well made as the Thompson or the German machine pistols. They were fully up yo the task they were designed for and I have wished for all these years that I owned one. I may still have the brochures this team brought but have now seen them in decades.
Dear Sir,
Can you contact me.
Kari Kurki
Legal Counsel
Kaarina
Finland
+358-(0)400-523 213
My father Tom told me of this and I have the documents you are looking for, contact me for info.
I think accidental unlatching is a bit of over-thinking. However, I like the idea of the cocking handle on the bottom, less stuff could get into the mechanism. One thing I wonder is, once the the handle is in firing position, is it safe to carry around?
There were actually two versions of the second variety Jati-matics (the type with the straight inclined receiver top), both of which were tested by the US Army in 1990. Both did come with a detachable stock but one had a rotating lever-type selector similar to an M16 in addition to the foregrip safety. According to the Army report, the manufacturer stated the change was to: “…to improve user confidence in the weapon. Initial feedback to the manufacturer showed that some less experienced users did not feel comfortable with the 2-stage pressure sensitive trigger. Thus, a weapon was developed to manually switch between the two modes of fire.”
All in all the Army found the Jati-matic was reasonably easy to control, either one or two handed, light, and probably cheap/easy to make. On the down side they found the sights lacking and the stock difficult to affix and detach, and when attached bulky.
AD B150821 – Technical Report ARCCD-TR-90005, “Evaluation of the ‘JATI-MATIC’ 9 mm SMG,” Dec 1990, Gregg L. Gibson, U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Close Combat Armaments Center, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey