Owen

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 17:47 Written by Administrator Friday, 03 July 2009 00:08

The Owen Gun is an Australian submachine designed during the Second World War. It was the only weapon designed indigenously by Australia during the war and was the main submachine gun of the Australian armed forces.

During the Second World War, Australia felt increasingly threatened by Japan. Its attempts to obtain suitable weapons from Britain were not successful as Britain was facing material shortages itself. Thus the Owen Gun was designed. Though very peculiar in appearance, the Owen worked very well in the field and thus was kept in service until mid 1960s.

The Owen Gun was chambered for 9mm Parabellum and used a 33-round magazine that was fed from the top. It was fairly accurate up to 70 meters and could fire at a rate of 700 rounds per minute.

After the Second World War, the Owen Gun also saw action during the Malayan Emergency, Korean War and in Vietnam. Approximately 50,000 units of the Owen Gun were manufactured in total.