Standard Issue Weapons
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 Ancillaries 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 system 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 misuse 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 fore grip; 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 Fore grip)
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
Predominately issued to Officers, NCO's and Medics.
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 a lot 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 variant. 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.
Short Magazine Lee Enfield No 4 Mk I (T)
The No 4 Mk I (T) was introduced as the sniper version and was fitted with Telescopic Sights. It remained in service with NATO until the 1970's when it was re-barrelled to take the 7.62 calibre round.
There have been few rifles that have surpassed the No4 in accuracy and range and it is still, to this day, considered the best service rifle ever produced.
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