Pleter 91 submachine gun

The Pleter submachine gun is a submachine gun created in 1991, when the Breakup of Yugoslavia left Croatia with few weapons to arm their yet to be formed military in the midst of the Croatian War of Independence. The embargo prevented the newly formed state from legally buying equipment abroad, so they chose to try to design and produce some new weapons locally, mostly based on second generation of submachine guns (like the British Sten gun or German MP40).

The Pleter (named after the Slavonian town of Pleternica) was produced in the local factory OROPLET, heavily copied Sten Gun characteristics, despite having a vertical rather than a horizontal magazine. These include the removable barrel assembly, the bolt and recoil spring, and the open bolt firing mechanism. Prototype models had handle and trigger pack covers made from wood, but in the serial production it was decided to use ones made from plastic. Barrel assembly was simplified compared to the Sten gun, it was fixed by an inbus screw, and to further simplify the construction, the safety and fire selector was omitted. It was equipped with only a simple sear/trigger/spring combination, making it open-bolt full auto only, but due to the relatively low rate of fire, a skilled operator could fire single shots by quickly pulling and releasing the trigger.

Like the Sten, the Pleter could also be fitted with a silencer, and there was a special model made with a permanently fixed silencer attached (called "Pleter 91 Prigušen", Prigušen = suppressed).

Fixed front and back sights that could not be adjusted produced some criticism from the users. The magazine well was designed to accept a direct copy of the Uzi magazine.