Sterling submachine gun

Sterling submachine gun
Various views of a Sterling Mk. 4/L2A3 (Right side with folded/unfolded stock, left side with unfolded stock)
Type	Submachine gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1944–present
Used by	See Users
Wars	World War II (Limited) Malayan Emergency[1] Korean War[2] Mau Mau Uprising[3] Suez Crisis[4] Bizerte crisis[5] Aden Emergency[6] Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation[7] Portuguese Colonial War[citation needed] Vietnam War[8] Laotian Civil War[citation needed] Bangladesh Liberation War[9] Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts[10] Nigerian Civil War[11] Second Malayan Emergency[12] The Troubles[13] Angolan Civil War[citation needed] Iran–Iraq War Falklands War[8] Lebanese Civil War[citation needed] Sri Lankan Civil War[10] Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir[10] Gulf War[14] Nepalese Civil War[15] Iraq War[16] Libyan Civil War[17]
Production history
Designer	George William Patchett
Designed	1944
Manufacturer	Sterling Armaments Company
Produced	1953–1988
No. built	400,000+
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	2.7 kilograms (6.0 lb)
Length	686 millimetres (27.0 in) Folded stock: 481 millimetres (18.9 in)
Barrel length	196 millimetres (7.7 in)
Cartridge	9×19mm Parabellum 7.62×51mm NATO (Prototype only)
Action	Straight blowback
Rate of fire	550 rounds/min
Effective firing range	200 metres (220 yd) Suppressed: 50–100 metres (55–109 yd)
Feed system	34-round box magazine or 32- or 50-round box magazine from the Sten and Lanchester
Sights	Iron sights

The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested by the British Army in 1944–1945, but did not start to replace the Sten until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained standard issue in the British Army until 1994,^[18] when it began to be replaced by the L85A1, a bullpup assault rifle.