Sten
Family of submachine guns / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The STEN (or Sten gun) is a British submachine gun chambered in 9×19mm which was used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and during the Korean War. The Sten paired a simple design with a low production cost, facilitating mass production to meet the demand for submachine guns.
Sten submachine gun | |
---|---|
Type | Submachine gun |
Place of origin | United Kingdom |
Service history | |
In service | 1941–1960s (United Kingdom) 1941–present (Other countries) |
Used by | See Users |
Wars | World War II Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese Civil War Indonesian National Revolution[1] First Indochina War Indo-Pakistan Wars 1948 Arab–Israeli War Malayan Emergency Korean War Mau Mau Uprising[2] Algerian War[3] Suez Crisis Sino-Indian War Vietnam War Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation[4] Laotian Civil War Greek Civil War[5] Bangladesh Liberation War[6] Lebanese Civil War Angolan Civil War Rhodesian Bush War Turkish invasion of Cyprus IRA Border Campaign The Troubles Punjab insurgency Maluku sectarian conflict[7] Iraq War[8] Syrian Civil War[9] |
Production history | |
Designer | Major Reginald V. Shepherd Harold J. Turpin |
Designed | 1940 |
Manufacturer | Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield BSA ROF Fazakerley ROF Maltby ROF Theale Berkshire Lines Brothers Ltd Long Branch Arsenal, Canada[lower-alpha 1] Various underground resistance group factories |
Unit cost | £2 6s in 1942 |
Produced | 1941– (version dependent) |
No. built | 3.7–4.6 million (all variants, depending on source) |
Variants | Mk. I, II, IIS, III, IV, V, VI |
Specifications | |
Mass | 3.2 kg (7.1 lb) (Mk. II) |
Length | 762 mm (30.0 in) |
Barrel length | 196 mm (7.7 in) |
Cartridge | 9×19mm Parabellum |
Action | Blowback-operated, open bolt |
Rate of fire | version dependent; ~500–600 round/min |
Muzzle velocity | 365 m/s (1,198 ft/s) 305 m/s (1,001 ft/s) (suppressed models) |
Effective firing range | 100 m |
Feed system | 32-round detachable box magazine |
Sights | fixed peep rear, post front |
As well as equipping regular units, the Sten was distributed to resistance groups within occupied Europe. Its simple design made it an effective insurgency weapon for resistance groups.
The Sten is a select fire, blowback-operated weapon with a side-mounted magazine. Sten is an acronym, derived from the names of the weapon's chief designers: Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold J. Turpin, and "En" for the Enfield factory.[10][lower-alpha 2] Around four million Stens in various versions were made in the 1940s, making it the second most produced submachine gun of the Second World War, after the Soviet PPSh-41. The Sten served as the basis for the Sterling submachine gun, which replaced the Sten in British service from the 1950s.