The STEN was a basic war economy design for a sub-machine gun (SMG) when there was an urgent need for such a simple home produced weapon.
STEN is an acronym, formed from the names of the weapon's main designers, Major Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and EN for the Enfield factory. Three million STENs were made from 1941 onwards in various Marks. They were manufactured not only by Enfield but also British Small Arms (BSA), Royal Ordnance and also the Long Branch Arsenal Canada.
The large opening on the side of the body for the cocking handle allowed in dust and debris, and this combined with crude workmanship of the basic design, often resulted in jams in the earlier marks.
Lacking an effective safety catch, the STEN was also often as dangerous to friendly forces as the enemy as it had a tendency to go off if knocked or dropped and earned the nickname “Tin Tommy Gun” as it was considered inferior to the US made Thompson SMG.
The design was refined over time with the introduction of a lock on the cocking handle and with the Mark V having a removable wooden stock and a wooden foregrip (although this was later removed) as opposed to the earlier simple metal designs of stock the earlier versions. The Mark V also incorporated the foresight of the Lee Enfield No 4 rifle and a bayonet mount. The Mark V became the standard SMG of Airborne Forces from 1944 onwards.
Despite its drawbacks the STEN proved an effective weapon, particularly in the close quarter fighting in Arnhem, and in house to house fighting in particular, where it allowed for rapid fire to clear rooms. The STEN remained in service post war until replaced, from 1953 onwards, by the Sterling SMG
Statistics
| Weight | 3.2kg (7.1lbs) |
| Length | 760mm (29.9 in) |
| Calibre | 9mm |
| Rate of fire | 550 round/min |
| Effective range | 60 metres |
| Action | Blowback-operated, Open bolt |
| Muzzle velocity | 365 m/s (1,198 ft/s) |
| Feed system | 32 rd box magaziine |
There were more accidents with this gun than any other in the British Army. I would never put the magazine in it until I wanted to fire it. If you had the magazine in the gun and you dropped it, it would fire the whole magazine. If you jumped off the back of a lorry with it at the high point then the damn thing would go off. There was no safety catch on it and the return spring would allow the bolt to drop back an inch or so and pick up a bullet from the mag and it is was away. The other thing that made it a pain was loading the magazine, as you needed a brass lever to force the rounds down into the mag. To say the least it was a cheap and nasty weapon which was not very accurate. The only thing you could do was to pull the trigger and hose the area down with bullets!
The original Sten gun was unreliable, it jammed when hot and all the criticism applied by Bryan are true, but the mark 5 was a great improvement. It did jam whilst fighting in Italy however!
The early version of the Sterling - the Patchett - was issued to several units for battle evaluation during Op Market Garden.
There is no known figure, but research has the figure at approximately 96. The South Staffs was one such Regiment. The Patchett could take the straight magazine of the STEN.