Northwood R - 76 The Northwood R - 76 was a submachine gun of Rhodesian origin . It was intended as a ' Land Defence Pistol ' during the Rhodesian Bush War era . Its layout is somewhat much like a Vz . 61 Skorpion and the TEC - 9 . It was available with a spike bayonet , retractable wire stock and removable bipod which predates this use on submachine guns like the CBJ - MS . Another variant , the R - 77 came with a longer barrel and stock enabling the weapon to be used as a carbine . The R - 76 submachine gun was manufactured by Northwood Development Pvt - Ltd out of Salisbury , Rhodesia ( now Harare , Zimbabwe ) . The weapon was designed by Roger Mansfield , a former Royal Air Force engineer who emigrated from the UK to Rhodesia , and developed keeping mind to the needs of Rhodesian farmers , ranchers and citizens living in outlying areas where ZIPRA & ZANLA forces were especially active . " Home grown " in Rhodesia with the majority of parts produced from local materials , ease of manufacture and minimal machining requirements were key factors ; as such , the R - 76 was largely manufactured out of metal sheet stampings , with grip cheeks made either in wood , stamped aluminium or plastic ( generally mid - quality or low - end molds ) . The R - 76 submachine gun was a selective - fire ( semi - automatic / full - automatic ) weapon with an average rate of fire ranging about 500 rounds per minute . It was chambered for the 9mm " Parabellum " ( 9x19mm ) caliber , and fed by 13 - round Browning Hi - Power pistol magazines , or by locally - produced 20 or 30 round magazines . It was operated by simple blowback , with a bolt running on two recoil springs like in the US made M3 " Grease Gun " , and was provided with either a 6 or 8 inch , 24 - groove " Microgroove " - rifled barrel . Early versions could be found with a rear aperture sight as opposed to latter simple V - notch rear sights . The collapsing wire - stock could be removed and re - installed in a reverse position so that the metal stock butt could serve as a front pistol grip to fire the weapon from the hip . The bolt retraction handle was located on the left side of the receiver , was spring - loaded and remained forward after the first round was fired A machine - carbine version , called the R - 77 , was also available ; the R - 77 was available with a fixed wooden stock , and with a 9 or 10 - inch barrel with bipod , flash hider and bayonet lug options available . The R - 76 submachine gun was deployed with some Rhodesian Army units like the " Selous Scouts " , and sold to civilians . After the change of political regime in Rhodesia , the production of the R - 76 submachine gun and the R - 77 machine - carbine did not reprise in the Republic of South Africa , unlike other Rhodesian - grown gun projects like the " Rhuzi " ( produced in South Africa as the " Kommando LDP " ) , the Rhogun the Mamba ( engineered in Rhodesia but never manufactured there , produced for a short time in South Africa and then by Navy Arms Inc . of Ridgefield , NJ , USA , before going out of production ) or the ADP pistol ( engineered by a Rhodesian police officer , Alex DuPlessis , produced in South Africa , in Italy , then currently in the United States , where DuPlessis currently resides and works as an engineer for Wilson Combat , LLC . ) . The R - 76 submachine guns manufactured during the short production run in the 1970s remained around in Zimbabwe and South Africa for a while , exported by expats , and were mostly destroyed during the years . However some can be found in good conditions , although non - firing , on the deactivated guns market in the United Kingdom . Several R - 76 submachine guns are also known to have made their way in Australia .