STEN Mk 2

Calibre : 9mm

Length : 30 inches

Velocity : 1250 Ft per Second

Rate of Fire : 550 Rounds per Minute

Magazine : 32 Round Box Detachable

Ammunition : 9mm Parabellum

In 1941 the Royal Small Arms Factory produced a prototype of a new light weight weapon based upon the Lanchester Design and captured German MP40's.  Utilising the 9mm German round and making use of the easy stamping design brought about a swift and extensive manufacture of the new sub machine gun.  This new weapon was light, compact and had a 'life time' of 5000 rounds.  The latter was very much proved wrong.

Sling and Ancilleries for the Sten

Taking it's name from the two chief designers.  Major R.V. Shepherd and Mr. H.J Turpin and also the town of manufacture namely Enfield.  The weapon became known as the STEN.

The Mk I had numerous elaborate features such as a folding forehand grip, conical flash eliminator and some wooden furniture. The blowback sytem used a heavy bolt and strong return spring and this combination gave the STEN a very gratifying rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute.  This simple combination also ensured the STEN was resistant against grit, dirt, snow and general mis-use and was to set the president for over 3 million to be manufactured.

                                        Mk II Loading Tool                                             Mk V Loading Tool

The fine tuning of the design continued and the 'fancy' features were dropped resulting in the STEN Mk II.  The main stay and without doubt the most famous of the STEN designs.

The Mk II utilised a single tubular stock with a flat plate butt and the barrel was held in by a screw jacket.  The magazine housing could be rotated round in line with the trigger mechanism and a spring stud held on the stock.  The fanciness of the Mk I was dispensed with and the result was a 'skeleton' design of simple manufacture.

Design of the STEN continued which resulted in the short appearance of the Mk III however; the major development of design brought about the sleek yet functional design of the Mk V in 1944.  With it's characteristic wooden stock and foregrip; it quite possibly could have become, without doubt, the best sub machine gun of the war .... but despite recommendations the magazine housing was not changed and it was this oversight that prevented the STEN from attaining this prize.

STEN Mk V

(Minus Wood Foregrip)

Calibre : 9mm

Unloaded Weight : 8.5 Pounds

Length : 30 Inches

Muzzle Velocity : 1250 ft Per Second

Magazine : 32 Round Box Detachable

Rate of Fire : 550 Rounds per Minute

Enfield  No 2 Mk I

Calibre : .38

Range : 30 Yards

Weight : .780 Kgs

Length : 4.75 inches

The .38 Enfield saw active service from 1936 until 1957.  It held six cartridges in the cylinder with a double action trigger mechanism and had an effective range of 30 yards.

The trigger action itself was stiff and the Enfield was generally considered as inaccurate.

Browning Automatic High Power

Calibre : 9mm

Weight : 32 Ounces

Length : 8 inches

The Browning Automatic High Power was of Belgian design but was mass produced in Canada and saw wide spread use with the Allies  during the world War Two.

It had a 13 round magazine which was housed inside the hand grip and was considered an effective side arm alternative to the .38 Enfield.

It was officially designated as a service side arm in 1957 and is still in military service today.

Short Magazine Lee Enfield No 4 Mk I

Calibre : .303

Ammunition : .303 SSA Ball Mk VII

Unloaded Weight : 9.19 Pounds

Length : 44 inches

Magazine : 10 Round Box

Operation : Bolt

Muzzle Velocity : 2440 Feet per Second

The SMLE served the British and Commonwealth forces throughout the First World War and the early part of the Second World War.  It enabled the B.E.F. (British Expeditionary Force) to instigate the 'mad minute'  which resulted in the Germans firmly believing that the British had more machine guns than they original thought, due to the rate of fire being laid down.

The SMLE used a .303 calibre rimmed round, which occasionally caused problems in loading, and although a rimless round was available; stocks of the rimmed were so high that it was not formally replaced until 1959.  The SMLE had rear open type sights that required alot of training in it's use, where as the above number 4 used a simplified aperture rear sight instead.

In the 1920's the design of the SMLE was modified resulting in the Number 4 Lee Enfield Rifle becoming it's successor in 1939.

The Number 4 had major changes made to it's earlier SMLE varient.  The first was the aperture rear sight and the second was the removal of the nose cap.  This resulted in about three inches of barrel being exposed giving  it the now famous 'look'.

Towards the latter stages of the war a spike bayonet was brought into service but it proved extremely un-popular with the troops, as it was useless as a knife, general tool, or even a tin opener.

BREN

Light Machine Gun

Calibre : .303

Ammunition : .303 SSA Ball Mk VII

Unloaded Weight 22.3 Pounds

Length : 42.25 Inches

Magazine : 30 Round Box

Operation : Gas Recoil

Muzzle Velocity : 2400 Feet per Second

Since the First World War; the Lewis Gun had been the mainstay of the British Army that was until the early 1930's when an enthusiastic military attache in Prague reported the discovery of a new light machine, produced by the State Armament Works in Brno, was being used by the Czech's.

Surprisingly the War Office sat up and took note.  Dispatching a commission to review this new weapon.  Following two years of exhaustive tests which required the calibre being changed from a 7.92 to a .303 enabling use of the .303 rimmed cartridge, alteration to the butt, removal of the cooling fins and a change to the gas block; a manufacturing license was agreed between the two nations and in 1937 the first prototype rolled off the production line at the Enfield Small Arms Factory and by July 1938, production was in full flow with 300 a month rolling out of the factory.  This was increased to 400 a month upon outbreak of war and remained at this level for the duration.

Entering military service as the BREN Mk I in August 1938 it immediately was hailed a great success resulting in the Mk II being introduced in 1941.  The Mk II was produced as a more simple design with the telescopic bi-pod legs of the Mk I being changed to a rigid design, the drum rear sight was changed to a ladder type.  The butt strap and lower pistol grip were also discarded.  This considerably reduced the BRENS unloaded weight, with the weight being further reduced in 1943/44 with the reduction in length of the barrel.

The name BREN was derived from a combination of the two armament's factory's at Brno and Enfield.  Enfield was the only factory tooled for production of the BREN until 1943 when Inglis in Canada commenced it's manufacture.  This was fortuitous for one successful bombing raid in 1940/41 could have been potentially disastrous.