Sten Mk5: The Cadillac of the Sten Family (Ad-free)
Added 2024-06-17 12:00:02 +0000 UTCThe Sten Mk5 (sometimes written Sten MkV) was really the Cadillac of the Sten series. It was designed in 1943, and featured a full wooden buttstock patterned after the No4 Enfield rifle, as well as a front sight abductor bayonet lugs for the Enfield. It has a wooden pistol grip as well (and early production examples also had a wooden vertical front grip). It was mechanically the same as the earlier Stens, simply with the fire control group moved forward to fit the pistol grip. The Mk5 was not quite as insanely cheap and fast to make as the MkII and MkIII, but by the time it went into production British arms supply had largely caught up to demand, and they could afford to be a bit less economical.
The Mk5 was really much better handling than earlier models, and was well liked, seeing combat as early as the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. In total, 527,428 of them were produced and they remained in service until the adoption of the L2 Sterling submachine gun in 1957 (and they were not completely phased out until at least the late 1960s).
Many thanks to the Royal Armouries for allowing me to film and disassemble this submachine guns!
The NFC collection there - perhaps the best military small arms collection in Western Europe - is available by appointment to researchers: https://royalarmouries.org/research/national-firearms-centre/
You can browse the various Armouries collections online here: https://royalarmouries.org/collection/
Comments
what was the primary difference between this and the AuSten?
WayneWiiki
2024-06-17 23:55:03 +0000 UTCNice report. Excellent series on such a famous weapon. I have been noticing them more now, in all the D-Day movies and similar. So many actors holding them by the clip>
Robert Beattie
2024-06-17 21:21:00 +0000 UTCWas surprised to hear your praise for its reliability. I thought the Sten's weak point in that regard was its magazine. Did the overall better manufacturing quality improve that, too, or were the mags generally still good enough to not render the gun less than reliable?
Mr. Metzger
2024-06-17 17:29:58 +0000 UTCMakes sense why the front grip was short lived
Mrgunsngear
2024-06-17 16:16:12 +0000 UTC'Cadillac' might be a tad strong. Morris Minor might be more precise.
Oliver Gilkes
2024-06-17 13:32:23 +0000 UTCkooks better but not like the "normal" sten anymore. that vg is faaar out there. wonder how that feels.
Guido Schriewer
2024-06-17 12:27:04 +0000 UTC
