Strange Guns: Sten Gun MK II

The STEN Mk.II submachine gun was the most widely made gun in the entire STEN series. The STEN name came out of the first letter of the family names of the designers (R. V. Shepard and H. J. Turpin) and from the factory where they worked (Enfield arsenal). It was one of the most crude and ugly yet effective submachine guns of the Second World War. Almost 4 million of STEN guns of different versions were made between 1941 and 1945. STEN guns were made not only in Royal Small Arms factory in Enfield; other makers included famous British gun-making company of the time BSA Ltd, as well as Royal Ordnance Arsenal in Fazakerly, England, and Long Branch Arsenal in Canada.

About 2 million of STEN Mk.II's were made during the war. It was slightly smaller and lighter than the Mk.I. Basic design was the same as Mark 1, without the wooden parts of Mk.I and a shorter barrel jacket, which made the Mk.II lighter than the Mk.I.

Magazine housing could be rotated for about 90 degrees down to close feed and ejection apertures during transportation and off-battle carry (this feature caused much troubles as the rotary unit was not very durable and magazine could be misaligned during combat, what led to the well-known feed malfunctions and jams). Another source of problems was the magazine spring, so magazines were routinely loaded with 28-30 rounds instead of "full capacity" 32 rounds to reduce strain on the magazine spring.

Some Mk.II STEN guns were made with integral silencers for undercover operations and were marked as Mk.II(S). These guns had shortened barrels enclosed into integral silencer. The silencer was effective so most audible sound when firing Mk.IIS was the clattering of the bolt moving back and forth in the receiver. Contemporary manuals advised that Mk.IIS submachine gun was to be fired in semi-automatic mode because the full-automatic fire was reserved for emergency situations, as it decreased the service life of the silencer mostly.

The Sten gun MK II was known to misfire frequently. This weapon came at a time when Britain faced invasion and many numbers of weapons were needed. The Sten was quick and easy to put together, and it was better than nothing.

Sources: http://www.nazarian.no/wepc.asp?countryid=69&groupid=4&lang=0
kevinthekrintanx.blogspot.ru/2013/03/sten-submachine-guns-great-britain.html
http://www.nazarian.no/wep.asp?countryid=69&groupid=4&id=705

Follow me as @darthnava: "Smile...you are reading my post."