The Austen (from "Australian Sten") was a 9×19mm Australian

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

derived from the British

Sten gun The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost ...

developed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In total 19,914 Austens were produced during the war by Diecasters Ltd of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and W. T. Carmichael Ltd of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Design and development

With the war in Europe demanding most of the available materiel for the British, Australia was not in a position to purchase weapons from the United Kingdom or the United States, and so they had to develop their own submachine guns. The British

Sten submachine gun The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost ...

was taken as the basis for the Austen.McNab 2001, p. 86. The barrel, body ( receiver) and trigger mechanism of the Mark II Sten were copied, while the folding stock and bolt, with separate firing pin and telescopic cover over the return spring, were copied from the German

MP40 The MP 40 (''Maschinenpistole 40'') is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by the Axis powers during World War II. Designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer with in ...

. The folding stock also included a

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and a cleaning rod which both unscrewed from the tubes of the stock. The weapon also featured twin pistol-style grips; the latter containing a small spare parts container inside. The weapon had a selective-fire feature permitting the firer to fire single shots or fully automatic at 500 rounds per minute. An interesting production feature of the Austen was that some parts were manufactured by the diecasting process. These parts were the magazine housing, part of the mechanism for the stock and the forward half of the magazine. The magazine loader was also diecast. The two firms manufacturing the Austen were specialist diecasting companies. There was a suppressed version made for use by

Z Special Force Z Special Unit () was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that i ...

. An improved version, the Mark II Austen, was introduced but was not ready until 1946, after the end of the Second World War. This model made even more extensive use of diecasting; the large grip assemblies at both the front and back of the gun were produced in this way. 200 examples were built, and these were both adopted and declared obsolete in August 1946. The Austen never achieved the level of popularity that the Owen gun achieved. This was largely because the Owen was a very reliable weapon and although the Austen was an improvement on the basic Sten, it was never able to achieve the Owen's reliability. Regarded as obsolete by 1945, the Austen was rarely used in subsequent decades. In contrast, the Owen was widely used by the Australian Army until the 1960s.McNab 2001, p. 87.

Notes

References

* Skennerton, Ian. (1994). ''Small Arms Identification: 9mm Austen MkI and 9mm Owen MkI Sub-Machine Guns - Parts Identification and Lists, S.M.G.Series Notes, Exploded Parts Drawings, Descriptions, Accessories and Fittings''. Published by Ian D Skennerton. * McNab, Chris. (2001). ''Twentieth-Century Small Arms''. Grange Books. .

External links

Special Operations Australia
Australian SMGs

Special Purpose SMGs

Jungle camo spray-painted Austen
{{WW2 Brit Comm Infantry Guns 9mm Parabellum submachine guns World War II infantry weapons of Australia World War II submachine guns