The Vigneron is a simple blowback design and was made out of stamped sheet metal and a plastic grip frame. It uses the standard 9x19mm NATO round out of a 32-shot box single column magazine. Army doctrine recommends to shortload the magazine to 28 rounds to prevent failures. A loading tool is used to assist loading the magazine.
The gun was designed with a long barrel (305mm) which featured a compensator and cooling fins. Empty casings are ejected out of the ejection port on the right which has a hinged dust cover. This cover opens automatically when cocking the gun.
The bolt handle is on the left side and is non-reciprocating.
The stock is heavy steel wire and it telescopes along the receiver; one end is slotted for swabs and the other is threaded for a cleaning brush.
The sights are fixed and set for a range of 50m. The M2 has a simple notch rear sight and a hood cover that protects the front sight.
The pistol grip contains a grip safety which must be held before the weapon can be cocked or fired.
There are three selector positions: safe, semi-automatic and full automatic fire. When set to full-auto; it is still possible to squeeze off single rounds with good trigger control.
Influence by some popular WW-II-era designs is apparent. The barrel compensator and cooling rings are reminiscent of the Thompson submachine gun, the wire stock looks like the M3 submachine gun, the bolt design is nearly identical to the Sten and the magazine is almost the same as the one designed for the MP40; German magazines are usable in the Vigneron, but not the other way around.
| Vigneron | |
|---|---|
| Type | Submachine gun |
| Place of origin | Belgium |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1950s-1980s |
| Used by | Belgium |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Georges Vigneron |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 3kg (empty); 3.68kg (loaded) |
| | |
| Cartridge | 9x19mm |
| Action | Blowback |
| Rate of fire | 620 rpm |
| Effective range | 100m effective |
| Feed system | 32 round MP40 magazine |
| Sights | Fixed |
