STERLING SUB MACHINE GUN

n 1944 the British General Staff issued a specification for a new submachine gun. It stated that the weapon should not weigh more than sixpounds (2.7 kg), should fire 9x19mm Parabellum calibre ammunition, have a rate of fire of no more than 500 rounds per minute and be sufficiently accurate to allow five single shots to be fired into a one foot square target at 100 yards (91.44 meters).

To meet the new requirement, George William Patchett, the chief designer at the Sterling Armaments Company of Dagenham submitted a sample weapon of new design in early 1944. The army quickly recognised its potential and ordered 120 examples for trials. Towards the end of the Second World War, some of these trial samples were used in combat by airborne troops at Arnhem and elsewhere, where it was known as the Patchett submachine gun. Given that the Patchett/Sterling can use straight Sten submachine gun magazines as well as the curved Sterling design, there were no interoperability problems.

The desired specificationsEdit

• should weigh no more than 6 lb (2.75 kg)

• Have a rate of fire not exceed 500 rounds per minute

• Be accurate at a range of 100 yd (92 m)

• Be chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge like the Sten and so many German weapons were chambered for. G. W. Patchett, the chief designer at Sterling Armaments Company, met the challenge with the Sterling, which the army ordered 120 models. The Sterling saw some action in the end of World War II, but not a lot because they were then experimental guns.

That's how the Sterling remained, since the British army had a large quantity of Stens still in storage, but in 1947 the Sterling design went head-to-head with other designs of submachine gun from Enfield and Brimingham Small Arms Company, among others. The Sterling won, and was put into the army in 1951 as the L2A1 Submachine gun.