MANUFACTURER – Royal Ordnance Factory, Fazakerley, Liverpool, England. Royal Ordnance Factory, Theale, England.
STATUS – Obsolete
SERVICE – British Military and Airborne units
The Mark V Sten was the last of the series to be designed and included major modifications to the weapon. First tested in December, 1943, the new design went into full production by February, 1944. Over half a million of the weapons were produced before production ended in May, 1945. It remained in front line use by British forces from 1944 to 1953 seeing action in the Korean War and some use during the invasion of Egypt in 1956. It was finally declared obsolescent in 1956, ending the first line service of the Sten gun in the British military.
One noticeable change on the Mk V is the moving of the trigger mechanism forward about 3.8 cm (1.5 in) from where it was located on earlier marks. This change allowed a wooden pistol grip to be fitted to the receiver without increasing the overall length of the action. The new Mark 3 wooden stock was fitted to the rear of the receiver, dismounting in the same manner as the earlier metal stocks. The Mk 3 stock had a metal butt plate made in the same pattern as the Enfield rifles. It also has a butt trap to hold cleaning supplies in the butt plate.
On many of the earlier Mark V Stens was a vertical front grip. This grip is visible in many of the photographs of the weapon at the time, but it didn’t manage to stand up to the rigors of combat. It turned out that the grip could place extreme strain on the barrel nut, possibly even loosening it from its mounting. That was sufficient to have the front grip declared obsolete by Jun, 1945 and they were to be removed.
One of the very distinctive features of the Mk V was the front sight and barrel muzzle. The front sight and stub of barrel extending out from it are duplicated from that of the No 4 Lee Enfield. The machining on the muzzle of the Mk V allowed it to accept and secure the No. 4 spike bayonet from the rifle.
The new Sten was made to a higher quality that the earlier marks. Welding was tight and well finished with none of the irregularities found on the earlier weapons. A new finish was developed for the Mk V in that the weapon was cleaned down to polished steel and given a chemical phosphate coating for rustproofing. The grey phosphate color was coated with a deep black spray paint. The resulting finish was very durable and was used on a number of other small arms. The Mk V Sten was first issued in numbers to the British paratroopers of the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions. It very quickly secured its place as the “Paratroopers’ Sten.”
