Name : The Owen Machine Carbine
A.K.A. : The Owen Gun, The Diggers Darling
Caliber : 9x19mm Parabellum
Capacity : 32 Rounds
Weight : 9.4lbs or 4.2kg
Length : 32in or 813mm
Action : Open Bolt, blowback, Semi and full automatic sub-machinegun
Origin : Australia
Evelyn Owen from an early age was fascinated by firearms, he enjoyed shooting, modifying and even attempting to produce his own designs. Evelyn had first started designing his sub-machinegun when he was 16 in 1931 and had his final prototype finished in 1938. Evelyn tirelessly worked on making the weapon reliable, and it showed, but unfortunately at the time the Australian Ordnance department viewed the weapon as having very little merit. With the outbreak of World War Two Evelyn signed up for the Second Australian Imperial Force, but shortly before shipping out to Egypt, he had left his prototype sub-machinegun in a bag against some stairs at the back of his parents house. A neighbor from across the road happened to discover what was lying in the bag, as fortune would have it Vincent Wardell the neighbor was the brother of Gerard Wardell an executive at Lysaghts. Evelyn explained the background and testing he had done with his sub-machinegun and the unsuccessful attempts he had made to get it tested by the Australian Ordnance department. Gerard contacted Sir Percy Spender then Minister of the Army, who took heed of Gerard's request and had Evelyn transferred to the Army Inventions Board to continue working on the sub-machinegun.
Considerable effort was made to test the now named "Owen Machine Carbine" against its most notable rivals, the American Thompson, the British STEN and the German Bergmann Sub-machinegun. Overall testing concluded that the Owen was by far more reliable in all extreme condition tests and also compared very favorably on both control during automatic fire and accuracy. The latter is often attributed to the construction of the barrel, unusually for a sub-machinegun the barrel has seven groves in the barrel, thus stabilizing the bullet very well. The Owen entered active service in November of 1941 and continued to be widely used and thoroughly praised by troops until it was replaced by the F1 Sub-machinegun in the mid 1960's.
The first noticeable characteristic of the Owen is it's vertically mounted magazine, one of the characteristics that made the weapon very reliable. With gravity aiding the spring to push rounds down into the mechanism. with spent casing being ejected straight down through the bottom of the receiver. Though apart from some initial concern by soldiers over having off-set sights as a result of this design choice, it was quickly accepted, much the same as the BREN light machinegun. Unusually for a weapon of its type the Owen also had a quick barrel removal facility, the user simply needs to lift a catch in-front of the magazine well and pull the barrel forward, though some have speculated that this was a barrel 'change' facility rather than just for cleaning, but it would be unlikely.
Internally the Owen is very well thought through, it was widely considered un-jamable with good ammunition. Use of a small bulkhead inside the receiver isolated the bolt from other working components like the cocking handle. The slots cut for the movement of the cocking handle are a common way for dirt and other foreign materials to build up and seize an action. Unique to the Owen is the ejector being built into the magazine, this aids removing the bolt for cleaning.
INTERESTING FACT : The Owen was the first indigenous Australian Sub-machinegun.
PRO's : Accurate, Extreme reliability, easy to clean, very controllable
CON's : Heavy,
A.K.A. : The Owen Gun, The Diggers Darling
Caliber : 9x19mm Parabellum
Capacity : 32 Rounds
Weight : 9.4lbs or 4.2kg
Length : 32in or 813mm
Action : Open Bolt, blowback, Semi and full automatic sub-machinegun
Origin : Australia
Evelyn Owen from an early age was fascinated by firearms, he enjoyed shooting, modifying and even attempting to produce his own designs. Evelyn had first started designing his sub-machinegun when he was 16 in 1931 and had his final prototype finished in 1938. Evelyn tirelessly worked on making the weapon reliable, and it showed, but unfortunately at the time the Australian Ordnance department viewed the weapon as having very little merit. With the outbreak of World War Two Evelyn signed up for the Second Australian Imperial Force, but shortly before shipping out to Egypt, he had left his prototype sub-machinegun in a bag against some stairs at the back of his parents house. A neighbor from across the road happened to discover what was lying in the bag, as fortune would have it Vincent Wardell the neighbor was the brother of Gerard Wardell an executive at Lysaghts. Evelyn explained the background and testing he had done with his sub-machinegun and the unsuccessful attempts he had made to get it tested by the Australian Ordnance department. Gerard contacted Sir Percy Spender then Minister of the Army, who took heed of Gerard's request and had Evelyn transferred to the Army Inventions Board to continue working on the sub-machinegun.
Considerable effort was made to test the now named "Owen Machine Carbine" against its most notable rivals, the American Thompson, the British STEN and the German Bergmann Sub-machinegun. Overall testing concluded that the Owen was by far more reliable in all extreme condition tests and also compared very favorably on both control during automatic fire and accuracy. The latter is often attributed to the construction of the barrel, unusually for a sub-machinegun the barrel has seven groves in the barrel, thus stabilizing the bullet very well. The Owen entered active service in November of 1941 and continued to be widely used and thoroughly praised by troops until it was replaced by the F1 Sub-machinegun in the mid 1960's.
The first noticeable characteristic of the Owen is it's vertically mounted magazine, one of the characteristics that made the weapon very reliable. With gravity aiding the spring to push rounds down into the mechanism. with spent casing being ejected straight down through the bottom of the receiver. Though apart from some initial concern by soldiers over having off-set sights as a result of this design choice, it was quickly accepted, much the same as the BREN light machinegun. Unusually for a weapon of its type the Owen also had a quick barrel removal facility, the user simply needs to lift a catch in-front of the magazine well and pull the barrel forward, though some have speculated that this was a barrel 'change' facility rather than just for cleaning, but it would be unlikely.
Internally the Owen is very well thought through, it was widely considered un-jamable with good ammunition. Use of a small bulkhead inside the receiver isolated the bolt from other working components like the cocking handle. The slots cut for the movement of the cocking handle are a common way for dirt and other foreign materials to build up and seize an action. Unique to the Owen is the ejector being built into the magazine, this aids removing the bolt for cleaning.
INTERESTING FACT : The Owen was the first indigenous Australian Sub-machinegun.
PRO's : Accurate, Extreme reliability, easy to clean, very controllable
CON's : Heavy,
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