Steyr-Solothurn S-100 / MP-34 Examples | European Collection

Here is a world-class selection of Steyr-Solothurn S-100 and MP-34s from a European collector that provides an illustration of the differences between the two models. The S-100 is the earlier version that eventually became the better-known MP-34.

Often considered the “Rolls-Royce” of Submachineguns, the MP-34 was a beautifully-manufactured 1st-generation submachinegun originally designed towards the end of the 1920s by Louis Stange of the German arms firm Rheinmetall. To work around the Treaty of Versailles which restricted German arms development and production, Rheinmetall acquired the small Swiss company Solothurn to serve as a technically legal vehicle to finalize prototyping of the S-100. Solothurn, in turn, was not equipped for large-scale manufacturing and also faced some Swiss domestic regulatory hurdles so production was outsourced to Waffenfabrik Steyr of Austria.

The S-100 versions can be distinguished from the MP-34s by examining the receiver covers. S-100s have a notch in the back right side of the receiver cover while MP-34s do not. Most of the MP-34s also have a bayonet lug on the right side of the barrel shroud though there is one MP-34 in this photo that does not have this feature, indicating it is probably a police contract firearm.
Another version of this design, the MP-30, is not shown here.