en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sten_gun
the Sten was a typical, almost stereotypical submachine gun while the term carbine is used to refer to short, light rifles. The "Carbine, Machine" element of the designation was due to the British term for a submachine gun being a "Machine Carbine" in the earlier parts of the Second World War.
United States of America, but this did not begin to meet demand. The American entry into the war at the end of 1941 placed an even bigger demand on the facilities making Thompsons.
The Sten required a minimum amount of machining and manufacturing effort by using simple pressed metal components and minor welding. Much of the production could be performed by small workshops and the firearms assembled at the Enfield site. Over the period of manufacture the Sten design was further simplified: the most basic model, the Mark III, could be produced from five man-hours work. Some of the cheapest versions were made from only 47 different parts. It was distinctive for its bare appearance (just a pipe with a metal loop for a stock), and its horizontal magazine. The Mark I was a more finely finished weapon with a wooden foregrip and handle; Anecdotal evidence suggests British soldiers did not like the unreliable and inaccurate Sten gun, swapping it for a captured German MP40 whenever possible;
The tubular receiver and the barrel sleeve were made from rolled steel. It was fed from a box magazine attached to the housing on the left side of the gun. Various stocks were used with different models, all steel skeleton and tubular stocks to wooden stocks and pistol grips.
The magazine had two columns of tapered 9 mm cartridges arranged side-by-side in a zig-zag manner. To allow the magazine box to be straight, the front of the magazine was tapered to complement the taper of the cartridges. While other staggered magazines fed from both the left and right positions, the Sten magazine required the cartridges to gradually merge at the top of the magazine to form a single column. Any dirt or foreign matter in this taper area could cause feed malfunctions. Additionally, the walls of the magazine lip had to endure the full stresses of the rounds being pushed in by the spring. This could result in deformation of the magazine lips, resulting in misfeeds. To facilitate easier loading to the great resistance when attempting to push the cartridges down to insert the next one, a magazine filler tool was developed and formed part of the weapon's kit.
Sterling SMG, are curved and feed both sides to avoid this problem. A well-maintained Sten gun is a devastating close-range weapon. If a Sten does jam with the bolt forward, standard practice to clear it is as follows: tilt the Sten to the right to allow gravity to pull jammed rounds out through the cartridge ejection port, whilst recocking the weapon. The slot on the side of the body where the cocking knob ran was a target of criticism, as the long opening could allow foreign objects to enter.
The Sten underwent various design improvements over the course of the war. For example, the Mark 4 cocking handle and corresponding hole drilled in the receiver were created in order to prevent an accidental discharge issue. However, most changes to the production process were more subtle, designed to give greater ease of manufacture and increased reliability. Sten guns of late 1942 and beyond were highly effective weapons.
edit Variants Sten guns were produced in several basic marks, (though the MKI saw limited service, and the MKIV was never issued) and nearly half of the total produced were of the Mark II. Approximately 45 million Stens were produced during the war.
It had a wooden foregrip and forward handle (sometimes this was made of steel), as well for a section of the stock. The stock was a small tube outline, rather like the Mark II Canadian. One unique feature was that the front pistol grip could be rotated forward to make the firearm easier to stow. The barrel sleeve extended all the way to the end, where it had conical flash hider. Along the top of the tube surrounding the barrel was a line of small holes and its sights were configured somewhat differently. About 100,000 were made before production switched to the Mark II.
edit Mark II The Mark II was the most prolific, at two million units produced. It was a much rougher weapon than the Mk I The flash eliminator and hand guard (grip) of the Mk I were eliminated. Other changes included a removable barrel which projects 3 inches beyond the barrel sleeve and the magazine housing rotates to form cover for ejection opening.
Winston Churchill with a Sten Mk II in Shoeburyness on June 13th 1941. The man in a pin-striped suit on Churchill's left is Walter Thompson, Churchill's bodyguard.
The barrel sleeve was shorter and rather than have small holes on the top, it had three sets of three holes equally spaced on the shroud. Sten Mk II's in German possession were designated MP749.
Female worker posing with a Sten Mk II in a factory in Long Branch, Ontario on May 26th 1942. Female worker posing with a Sten Mk II in a factory in Long Branch, Ontario on May 26th 1942.
The biggest difference from the Mark II was the unification of the receiver, ejection port, and barrel shroud that now extended farther up the barrel. The barrel was fixed and the body was welded shut along the centre of the top.
Mark IV was a smaller version which did not progress beyond the prototype stage. It was near pistol-sized and it had a different configuration with a conical flash hider, a rear pistol grip, a very light stock and a much shorter barrel.
ft/s) and was also the heaviest regular version due to the added weight of the specially designed silencer, as well as using a wooden pistol grip and wooden stock. Sten Mk IIS's in German possession were designated MP751.
Due to the simplicity of design, local production of Polish variants of Sten was started in at least 23 underground workshops in Poland. Some of them produced copies of Mark IIs, while others produced the so-called Polski Sten.
Ryszard Bial/ostocki were built from a number of legal elements made in official factories or acquired through other means. The main body of the machine pistol was made from hydraulic cylinders produced for hospital equipment. All the pistols were marked in English to disguise their origin and the production facilities.
Germany started manufacturing a series of copies of British Mk II Sten for diversion and sabotage purposes. The series was nicknamed the Gert Potsdam and approximately 28,000 weapons were made.
Neumnster Device The Neumnster Device was manufactured prior to the MP3008 under great secrecy by Mauser Waffenfabrik. The Neumnster device was an almost perfect copy of the British Sten, even down to its British proof marks. The reason for manufacturing the Neumnster Device is unknown but they were manufactured at great expense. Each Neumnster Device cost eight times as much as a Mauser Model 98K rifle.
machine gun as something that fired multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. The Sputter Gun had no trigger, but fired continuously after loading and the pulling back of its bolt, firing until it ran out of ammunition.
citation needed It gained nicknames such as "Plumber's Nightmare", "Plumber's Abortion", "Stench Gun" or "Woolworth's Gun". The Sten's attractions were ease of manufacture and availability in the massive numbers required during a major conflict.
Staged photograph: American Army Lieutenant and partisan armed with Sten Mk II smg, France, 1944. Staged photograph: American Army Lieutenant and partisan armed with Sten Mk II smg, France, 1944.
Canadian infantry battalions in North-West Europe held spare Sten guns for special missions and the Canadian Army reported a surplus of the weapons in 1944. The Sten was not used in Italy due to constraints on the shipping of ammunition;
Colonel Shepherd discussing how it was named when he received an Award from the Board of the Royal Commission Awards to Inventors. Colonel Shepard: "It was called the Sten by the then Director General of Artillery. The S' was from my name, the T from Mr Turpin who was my draughtsman and who did a very large amount of the design and the...
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