Personal defense weapons

A personal defense weapon (often abbreviated PDW) is a compact semi-automatic or fully-automatic firearm similar in most respects to a submachine gun, but firing an (often proprietary) armor-piercing round, giving a PDW better range, accuracy and armor-penetrating capability than submachine guns, which fire pistol-caliber cartridges. The class of weapon as it exists today evolved as a hybrid between a submachine gun and a carbine, retaining the compact size and ammunition capacity of the former while adding the ammunition power, accuracy and penetration of the latter. Typical PDWs use small-caliber, high-velocity pistol bullets similar to miniaturized rifle rounds, which are capable of penetrating soft body armor up to Level IIIA. PDWs are otherwise similar to submachine guns in most respects, and are often classified as such. Both types of guns tend to have a very high rate of fire combined with the lower recoil.

Modern personal defense weapons:

PDW Ammunition
Colt MARS 5.56x30mm MARS
FN P90 5.7x28mm
Heckler & Koch MP7 4.6x30mm
Knights Armament Company PDW 6x35mm KAC
Magpul PDR 5.56x45mm NATO
PP-2000 9x19mm 7N21 +P+, 9x19mm7N31 +P+
QCW-05 5,8x21mm
Saab Bofors Dynamics CBJ-MS 6.5x25 CBJ-MS
ST Kinetics CPW 4.6x30mm, 5.7x28mm, 9x19mm
VBR-Belgium PDW 7.92x24mm
INSAS MSMC 5.56x30 MINSAS