The Old and the Bold: Sten Gun

Alan Lee, formerly of the Parachute Regiment, discusses the merits of the Sten gun.
'The Old and the Bold' is just one of the community projects being run by the National Army Museum as part of its 'Building for the Future' redevelopment project.
Find out more at www.nam.ac.uk/microsites/future/tag/the-old-and-the-bold/

[@johnsmith9161]

Look at the way he handles the weapon it is like it never left his hands from all those years ago.

[@Jason-mg3fk]

I am now and forever convinced that the generation of men born 1895-1925 are some of the best the world has ever seen. They had courage, grit, and determination to see the job done. They saw the wars through and preserved democracy and liberalism in the process. I am an American and my great grandfather served in the army during the second world war, he served in North Africa, Italy, and the western European campaign in Belgium, France, and Germany. He and his brother left for the war in 1942 and only he came back, RIP to my great grandfather and so many more like him.

[@apropercuppa8612]

Hey, nice. With which unit was he serving? My Great-Uncle had a similar venture in the Royal Tank Regiment. Started in the TA (Reserves) then signed up with the RTR. Shipped to N. Africa for Crusader. Fought throughout N. Africa, Sicily, Italy and landed on Gold beach a couple days after D-Day. Fought around Hill-112 and then Falaise, later to take a round through the head from a Sniper in Belgium. The unit later linked up with the 101st at Eindhoven, for Market Garden. They should have been depicted in the miniseries Band of Brothers for the “Replacements” episode, but were not. He’s now buried in Belgium, not far from another relative killed in Belgium during the Great War. Both share the same Christian name, funnily enough.

[@Twirlyhead]

Priceless insider information such as chucking old Sten mags away rather than follow the official line of recycling them - great stuff.

[@firsteerr]

im sure some wokist justice "warrior" will be grinding their teeth and blaming him for climate change !!!

[@michaelcoatney2568]

I love these guys!! "They wanted us to hang on to them but we didn't." (referring to the magazines)....CLASSIC Tommy.

[@JCMcGee]

You just know that this Gentleman used his sten gun for the purpose intended....and yet, from these real heroes, they will never say.

[@frequentfiler]

+Jimmy McGee Speaking as an ex-infantryman, it's something you wish to forget but can't. You did that sort of thing to protect your family and loved ones, and talking about it doesn't protect them from it. So please don't think any less of them/us, but realize they are doing what they always intended - protecting the ones they/we love. I still don't tell my family what I did, I don't want them to think any less of me. Funny, isn't it? We put our lives on the line, but feel judged for what we did.

[@scruggs6633]

Don't let yourself feel judged mate, just remember anybody would have had to do what you did in any situation in order to make it out like you did. No shame in surviving.

[@thesupaspartan444]

It's a shame but people really don't care about veterans. And people don't think about their freedom and the high price. I was getting called baby killer before I even got a tour. But as soon as a war roles around then people love us again. Make sense? It doesn't to me

[@GI.Jared1984]

Thesupaspartan44 we don't have any freedom anymore in Britain the Labour Party took it a away from us in the 1990s

[@Zurgo-fl1kx]

@@GI.Jared1984 Ha! And my home of America is slowly becoming as fucked as the UK!

[@wayinfront1]

My friend Bob Halliday, who's now passed on, was with the 10th Yorkshire Batallion of the Parachute Regiment (despite him being from London). He was dropped into Normandy at 1 minute past midnight on D-Day. He hated the Sten Gun, said you never knew whether it would work or not, and was very poor quality make. He thought the Germans and Americans had much better quality arms and clothing.

[@charlieross-BRM]

When I was in the reserves our SMG was the Sterling but we got all the trivia/hearsay about the Sten. The only one that stuck with me was Canadians using them in Italy to clear a defended room: Put on a full magazine, pull back the bolt and through the whole Sten into the room, even through a window from the street. There must have been more to it than that, like wiring down the trigger. A sporting goods store owner showed me a milk crate in his basement full of what looked to me link junk metal things and he said there were the makings of three Stens in there if he ever got around to sorting them out. He wasn't allowed to be in possession of them anyway. Really nothing stands out to look at when they are broken down like that. There you go - some more hearsay - from me!

[@mikemcnut3204]

Fascinating. Thank you!

[@MKBlackcollar]

It wasn't a good quality weapon, but quantity has a quality of its own. Britain needed weapons quickly and cheaply and the sten matched those requirements. After the war, it got replaced with the Sterling submachine gun - which the E-11 blaster rifle used by stormtroopers in Star Wars was based on.

[@CantGetWorseOnline]

I'd love to see more videos of these veterans discussing their weapons, like Stan Scott with the F-S knife

[@JS97278]

Without men like that fighting for us back in ww2 the world as we know it would be so much different

[@shanebairstow5926]

at last guys who really went through it and are really honest at how things were, utube is so full of pretenders , these old guys are the real thing.

[@peelreg]

I have a Brit Mk3 and a Canadian (Longbranch). Both are 100 reliable and surprisingly accurate. A 5 shot burst is very easy to do and the burst will stay on target at 20 yards. In single shot mode, a 20 yard group is the size of my hand. Rate of fire is much slower than the PPSh41.

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

For an Infantry /Para/ Cdo the rate of fire is important....why ? Because they're the poor buggers carrying all the ammo. I've been there, and none of us wanted to waste ammo believe me.

[@AndrexT]

A few years ago the Long Branch Arsenal had an open day and I toured the facility. People brought in and displayed their Long Branch weapons. They are turning it into a multi-use public workshop area.

[@ronpeel1878]

I'm guessing that your name is Reg Peel - My name is Ron Peel and I too have fired the Sten and Stirling. I was in the Territorial Army now called the Army Reserves.

[@peelreg]

@@ronpeel1878 Peelreg is not my name. I am a Canadian collector/shooter. I have a number of smgs. The sterling works very well. I was surprised to find that my first stem, a Longbranch, worked as well as the Sterling. My”Sterling” is the longbranch version made for Can. Army. I also bought a C2 from Longbranch. That is the heavy full auto FAL. The smg cost $200. C2 was $200.

[@peelreg]

Correction: SMG cost $100

[@7dave2ful]

Interesting tale, for someone who saw active service all those years ago. Watching as a kid B&W classic diet of British War Films , the Sten in the hands of former soldiers come actors like Richard Todd. It was a piece of living history, if only acting in a movie. Action packed, scenes of daring do. Charging the enemy pil box, guns blazing. Flames spitting out.

[@Goalie002]

Not just a soldier who served, Richard Todd actually played his CO at Pegasus Bridge in The Longest Day. I had the pleasure of meeting him at Ranville Cemetery at the 60th anniversary of D-Day and he was an absolute gentleman. I'm not sure who was happier to see him, me as a young boy who idolised the men who fought in the war or my father as a former member of the Maroon Machine himself!

[@7dave2ful]

Cheers, to the late, great actor gentleman. Sir. Richard Todd. Freedom, to become the screen idol that he truly was. Kinda, dr. Who. Odd proformance, but a lasting one to see as a kid in the early 1980s.

[@johnturner8383]

I'm happy you mentioned Richard Todd, he was a real hero. I'm sorry I never met or even seen him. One tough guy...

[@davidevans6758]

@@johnturner8383 From time to time, I find an old Richard Todd Movie uploaded on KZbin that was never shown during the 1980s on British television back then. Great one last year. 1960, b&w movie. Starring Peter Sellers as the villain, 'Never Give In' so as it was Sellers playing a villainous part, then it was not the Image he wanted to be remembered by, so probably was shelved for better more lovable roles. Richard Todd playing the salesman whose car is stolen, by sellers gangmember. Is truly a strong role in this film. So under rated, yet, seeing this film last summer for the first time was worth spending the time watching his performance. Twist in the Sand, also a good KZbin find.

[@gwine9087]

I remember the first time I stripped one. It had like 2 moving parts and a trigger!

[@simonnormand2813]

It was also called the plumbers nightmare, it’s most unreliable component was the mags. The Sterling was a major improvement, well made, accurate to 70 metres, and reliable. They were still using stens in The Malaya emergency.

[@RobertLeather]

1:00 I love how he interprets "reliable" as "effective at killing people" rather than, "did it operate correctly over time".

[@paullytle1904]

When you were first trained on a bolt action having to work the bolt because of a failure once and a while is no biggie

[@JohnnyWolfblood]

It's a shame that people treat these pieces of history like they're rats that need to be disposed of.

[@JCMcGee]

Johnny Wolfblood what?

[@JohnnyWolfblood]

Jimmy McGee The guns mate, lefties treat guns like they're pests. Come on, pay attention.

[@JCMcGee]

Johnny Wolfblood : lefties? like southpaws? I think you can fire the stengun if you're left handed?

[@JohnnyWolfblood]

Jimmy McGee Lefty means a person with left wing political views. Fucks sake, you're slow.

[@bluesrocker91]

I couldn't agree more... These men fought and died for our freedom. The amount of people who don't even know the most basic facts about the two World Wars astonishes me.

[@DannnnnyW]

Thanks Alan Lee

[@TaZ101SAGA]

Love these vids.

[@1joshjosh1]

Every year goes by there's less and less of these gentlemen.

[@georgebuller1914]

I watched the WWI veterans fade away and now I'm doing the same with those from WWII - so sad...

[@Yurishch]

WWII Veterans... Real heroes who fought in the bloodiest war in the history of humankind. Just a few of them left -- maybe just a few thousands -- in the US, UK, Canada and the former USSR.

[@appalachianwarcriminal]

I love how he said instrument instead of weapon.

[@VintageMovieChannel]

I love these old timers

[@CrossOfBayonne]

The Sten was created to replace Thompson M1928A1s British troops received from US lend lease early in WW2 as a cheaper alternative since Tommy Guns were pricey to make in factories.

[@davidsaunders1125]

The cost, at the time was around £1.5 to £2.00! It was designed by two employees at the Royal Small Arms Factory, at Ordmnance Road, Enfield Lock, Enfield Middlesex. North Esst London. The two men designed it in their spare time! The ST, is their initials and the EN DOES stand for Enfield, not England, despite what the Royal Armoury say. The same for the Bren, although this was built on licence, from a Czech design. The England version was foisted on them later! The Lee England, nevet existed! I speak with some authority having lived within a few hundreds of yards from the factory from 1947 and still have contacts with the Apprentice Association, although the factory is loong gone. Later , the production was expanded by using toy manufacturers, who were experinced in working with pressed metal. I believe it was used by the army, in N Ireland, during the "troubles"

[@firsteerr]

dont forget the "man "hours (we have to do the man in comas these days ) to produce the complicated Thompson was also a factor as well as shipping them across the north Atlantic and all that entailed simple tube and some simple welding that literally anyone could do after a few hours training enabled unskilled staff to produce these in large quantities with a frailly good level of reliability

[@BitStClair]

I would say a Thompson you need mills and drill presses. The sten I'm sure if you had some pipe, bar stock and a file you would be right as rain!

[@alnbaba]

I've fired a sten and it was a pleasure to shoot pretty accurate at 30 feet. It had a light recoil and the rate of fire was low so not much muzzle climb. The one I was shooting the sear was worn and kept firing another 5+ rounds after you released the trigger. The only downside was the mag weight on the left which if you weren't careful would cause you to shoot to the left. At close quarters you get a lung shot instead of heart shot if you didn't keep the gun level.

[@superskiier50]

alnbaba you wouldn't expect much recoil and muzzle climb when using a 9mm round in a rifle.

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

The trick is to support the Magazine with your left arm underneath, hand gripping the perforated barrel cover, holding the Mag while firing is movie BS.

[@georgebuller1914]

@@ardshielcomplex8917 AND keep your 'Pinkie' away from the ejection port! :-)

[@marko1314]

Good on ya` mate B-)

[@luke8857]

Shotgun pump action always better for house raiding but a sten also would be excellent

[@misno9743]

Bagus banget senjata nya

[@seriouscoder1727]

Lovely weapon

[@Delogros]

Good old Sten guns, take them over an M3 anytime ;) (the smg not the tank :) )

[@globaleye8]

This old chap couldn't be more unlike many of our youth today who thanks to their "education" are self obsessed and burst into tears on social media... or even worse the loss of their phone..

[@cryhavoc9748]

Had the pleasure of firing one at Fort Bragg. If someone were to put a modern day laser sight on one of these, it would be lovely.

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

The later Sterling Patchet SMG with Ballistic suppressor was /is the ultimate successor; and still used by Commonwealth SF units.

[@grahamthebaronhesketh.]

I had a really nice Mk3.

[@BelloBudo007]

A lovely man. I'm wondering what was the Stens effective range. 10-20 yards maybe?

[@Reactordrone]

The sights on a Mk II were set for 200 yards but the bullets will also cross that aim point on the way up at about 20-30 yards.

[@sergeantbigmac]

I mean its a 9mm out of what, like a 10-12 inch barrel? More along the lines of a couple hundred yards. Even if it was smoothbore and not rifled it would be far more than 10-20 yards.

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

@@Reactordrone Capable of single round shots, in the right well trained hands could hit the centre scene mass (average body) out to 40 metres. With 3 to 5 round bursts ( how any SMG should be operated) out to 25-30 metres max.

[@ljpage19]

Is he welsh?

[@bozothedog9024]

Lloyd Pagett Sounds Irish to me, 2 Para was full of Irish in WW2.

[@JohnMahon]

Lloyd Pagett He has a welsh accent, I live in Wales can confirm

[@rugbylane2000]

+Lloyd Pagett Yup. As an Irishman I can confirm he's definitely Welsh.

[@sergeantbigmac]

Reminds me of Anthony Hopkins voice.

[@transnistria4237]

Barry or Cardiff 100%

[@nopretribrapture2318]

Barrel screws off,the gun breaks down into four pieces, its not very loud,its accurate,9mm uses same bullets as the mauser Lugar 1914😁 i like the sten mk2

[@transnistria4237]

Sounds like he's from Cardiff or Barry :D.

[@thedondaithi1304]

I made one of them 😂😂 the state of them 😂 love this guy though, serious dude! 💪

[@faisalahmad5283]

🎄🤛🤝🤜🎄

[@bl4ckdr4gontv93]

This gun looks like something you can repair your car with XD

[@yetanother9127]

Heh. Tell that to the M3 submachine gun, which was literally called the Grease Gun because of how much it looked like the mechanic's tool.

[@yetanother9127]

JCBAirmaster73 Yes, exactly. The German MP40 submachine gun was much the same, being a simplified version of an earlier gun to make it better suited for mass production.

[@Benm981]

Bl4ckDr4gonTV p

[@k_vn8397]

2018 anyone?

[@Finn.Muller]

2021?

[@patrickprynn5747]

Don't think it was the most reliable weapon ,remember in Cyprus when we were out on patrol the lad who was carrying it stumbled on a tree branch and whether he had the safety catch on or he had it off there were bullets flying around our feet like buzzing bees.Perhaps I shouldn't blame the weapon but the person handling it.

[@jamesgravel7755]

That old man seen some things. But on another note. They must have made 10 million sten mags. Because nowadays they are everywhere. But we are not disposing them like spent stripper clips. Lol

[@ayazmardan]

"when we were clearing villages" a very inhuman remark

[@silverbladeTE]

he did NOT mean massacring civilians, but the villages used by the enemy as billets/strong points! alas the ugly truth is men couldn't take chances and accidents occurred so civilians did get slaughtered, the RAF area bombed French towns FLAT around D-Day period heavy bomber force was utterly inhuman and not effective, one of the many criminally stupid acts of Churchill and the British Establishment, if instead we'd invested in ground attack aircraft, dive bombers, and many other things before the war began, the Germans might have been stopped in France in 1940 War is the very definition of "inhumane" :(

[@johnf8877]

It's not like he blew up the World Trade Center.....

[@Mr_Makina]

Oh get a grip, that man's seen bits of body parts, loosing friends in war and god knows what else and you're worded about a phrase... the entitlement is laughable

[@ardshielcomplex8917]

Feel free to crawl back under your Islamic rock....

[@davidsaunders1125]

@@silverbladeTE Easy to be wise after the event!

[@BROOKS39]

The Owen gun was based on the Sten but 100% more reliable

[@peterk2455]

Wrong on both, E. Owen built his prototype in 1939. The UK was to make Lanchesters, but the N.O.T. 40/1 developed by Maj. R. V. Shepherd & Mr. H. J. Turpin in Jan 1941 was better . Production started Jun 1941 and it was renamed the Sten Mk1.

[@admonisher2]

still i hate english

[@davidgray3321]

Why?

[@noalarms4618]

Bravo! In a four word statement, you have managed four grammatical errors, an exceptional effort.

[@Finn.Muller]

Why english people are literally funniest + nicest people ever

[@chaimafaghet7343]

@@noalarms4618 Well he demonstrably does hate English.