Austen submachine gun

Lore & Background

The Austen (short for "Australian Sten") was a 9×19mm submachine gun developed in Australia during the Second World War. It was based on the British Sten gun, with 19,914 units produced by Diecasters Ltd of Melbourne and W. T. Carmichael Ltd of Sydney.

Australia had to create its own submachine guns because wartime demand in Europe meant Britain could not spare weapons for purchase, and neither could the United States. The design copied the barrel, receiver, and trigger mechanism from the Sten Mark II, while the folding stock and bolt—which had a separate firing pin and a telescopic cover over the return spring—were taken from the German MP40. The folding stock also contained a screwdriver and a cleaning rod that unscrewed from its tubes. The gun had twin pistol-style grips, with the rear grip housing a small compartment for spare parts. It offered selective fire, allowing the operator to choose single shots or fully automatic fire at 500 rounds per minute.

A notable manufacturing feature was the use of diecasting for some parts: the magazine housing, part of the stock mechanism, the forward half of the magazine, and the magazine loader. Both companies that made the Austen specialized in diecasting. A suppressed version, the Austen (S) Mark I, was produced and may have been used by Z Special Unit.

A second variant, the Mark II, was developed in 1942, with 200 built by year’s end for trials. By January 1943, these guns had passed routine testing, and on 8 February 1943 an order for 200 XP Mark II guns at £5 each was placed for operational testing and user feedback. This model used diecasting even more extensively, including for the large front and rear grip assemblies. According to Ian McCollum, the Mark II was not ready until 1946, after the war ended. Two hundred were built, and they were both adopted and declared obsolete in August 1946.

The Austen never became as popular as the Owen gun. The Owen was very reliable, and while the Austen improved on the basic Sten, it could not match the Owen’s reliability. By 1945, the Austen was considered obsolete and saw little use in later decades. The Owen, by contrast, remained in widespread service with the Australian Army until the 1960s.

Reader's Guide

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. The Austen's users included Australia, the Dutch East Indies, and Rhodesia. Its legacy is that of a wartime expedient that, despite innovative diecasting production methods and a selective-fire capability, could not match the reliability of its contemporary, the Owen gun, and thus saw limited post-war service.

Did You Know?

• The Austen's folding stock included a screwdriver and a cleaning rod that unscrewed from the tubes of the stock.
• The weapon had twin pistol-style grips, with the rear grip containing a small spare parts container.
• A suppressed version, the Austen (S) Mark I, was possibly used by the Z Special Unit.
• The Mark II Austen made extensive use of diecasting for its large front and rear grip assemblies.