Steyr aug & owen mk i

[bmgarcangel 0]

Sorry about the title of the topic, I ment to change it before I posted but I accidentally posted before i was able to stop the post from happening.

__

Now i'm preparing to build a Owen Mk I

Pictures of the Owen Mk I seem hard to come by.  I typed and typed stuff on the google site but I found but a few pictures.  Only picture I could find that was good and that showed at least some detail, is this one below...if anyone else can help me find some it would be appreiciated!

[ozanzac 0]

The owen is an Australian designed sub-machine gun.

As far as I know, it is in no way related to the Steyr.

Quote[/b] ]The Owen Gun -a major war-time innovation

A most notable invention occurred in this period which would have remained stillborn but for very substantial efforts of two Lysaght executives, who fought the initial disinterest and negative attitudes of the Army but finally saw the Owen Gun accepted as the standard sub-machine gun of the Australian Army, remaining in service until 1966.

The Owen gun, as a prototype 0.22 calibre sub-machine gun, was first submitted by the inventor, Mr. Evo Owen, to the Australian Army at Victoria Barracks, Sydney in July 1939, two months after the outbreak of war. He was told firmly that the Australian Army (and probably the British Army also) was not interested in a sub-machine gun and had no expectations of requiring one in the future. Owen subsequently joined the Army as a private.

The next knowledge of the gun, nearly two years later, was when Mr. V. A. Wardell, Manager of Lysaght at Port Kembla, found the gun outside his house and learned that it belonged to a local man, Owen, who was then on final leave from the Army. Wardell recognized the simplicity and possible effectiveness of such a gun and managed to have Owen transferred to the Army Invention Board through the intervention of Mr. Essington Lewis. While some members of the Board were enthusiastic about the gun, the Army maintained a negative attitude although the Government became interested. Lysaght agreed to produce a trial gun containing some additional innovations and altering it from the original drum type feed to a magazine feed using .32 calibre ammunition. This gun required further modifications to bring it to normal Army specifications, but the army seemed unable to decide on the type and bore of ammunition that may be required. As .45 ammunition was available in Australia, a new gun of this bore was built in just the 31 days of March 1941 on the initiative of Lysaght but it was to take a further five months to obtain release of ammunition and then only at the intervention of the Minister. When the ammunition was finally released it was an incorrect .455 Webley Scott cartridge and useless for trials.

Other hold-ups occurred; for example, an order was placed for the gun to be made for use with .38 rimmed ammunition as used in service revolvers, which was useless in a sub-machine gun because of its very low muzzle velocity. The Army by this time had been pressured by the Government into arranging trials and comparisons with imported sub-machine guns and a firm date September 19, 1941 had been set.

Only 23 days before these trials, the Wardell brothers, carrying out firing trials at Maribyrnong, found out that there were adequate supplies of 9 mm ammunition available and new guns using 9 mm bore were made urgently so that Lysaght entered the trials with three 9 mm, two .45 calibre and some .38 guns.

The Owen guns performed outstandingly better than the Thompson and the British Sten guns with which they were compared for performance after all guns had been immersed separately in water, in mud and showered with sand. The Owen gun was the only one that continued firing and passed each test, the Thompson gave good performance under clean conditions but not dirty and the Sten failed badly, broke down three times to become unserviceable. The good performance of the Owen resulted from the main invention, that cocking was by a rearward extension separated from the moving parts.

In spite of the good performance of the Owen, the final Army report indicated that the tests were inconclusive and undertook to redesign the gun, in the end suggesting changes that, in many cases, were technically wrong and even unworkable. All were unnecessary and served only to waste what proved to be valuable time. Again it required pressure from the Minister for the Army to have the design matters finally settled; they reverted to the original Lysaght/Owen designs only days before Japan entered the war. Even at this stage, the Ministry of Munitions had not been informed as to whether ammunition would be 9 mm or .45 calibre nor what type of propellant would be used.

These were only some of the frustrations that had to be overcome by the very few people who believed that the Owen gun was the preferred gun and that troops in the north were urgently needing a weapon of this type. There were months of hold-up obtaining approval for machine tools required for the mass production of the gun but, essentially from March 1942 to February 1943, Lysaght produced 28,000 weapons. Incredible as it may sound, when ammunition for the Owen gun was finally put into production in Australia, it was made to dimensions different from the ammunition for which it was designed. At this time there were some 10,000 guns in the field which the new ammunition did not fit properly.

Even at this stage the Army ordered a change to be made from use of the Owen gun to the Austen, a local modification of the Sten being produced in England. A number of Austen guns had been produced in Australia but all had the design faults that caused the Sten to fail in mud tests. This decision was ultimately reversed by the Prime Minister and Cabinet, who acknowledged that the Owen gun would be the standard sub-machine gun for the Australian Army which it remained, with service up to 1966.

This project required a great deal of time liaising between various bodies in wartime and in overcoming a number of forces in the country that were, apparently, endeavouring to actually impede, if not stop, the progress of the weapon. It represents a good example of a fine innovation that would not have been implemented had there not been a 'Champion' to push the project to a satisfactory conclusion.

from http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/862.html

I beleive this is a Mk1. The image you've displayed is probably a prototype.

Australian War Memorial Owen Mk1 Picture

Another

Some owens had wooden butts. Like the one this soldier from the koerean war is holding here, but it is highly likely that Owens with metal butts were also used during the conflict.

A mini-documentary about the owen gun is occasionally used as a time filler on the history channel (in Australia).

Hope this helps.

[cozza 24]

i just have to the Owen was very weird looking woth a bayonet.

[Gollum1 0]

Why would it be related to the AUG rifle? Where did you get that information?

[MSpencer 0]

Owen = British

AUG = Austrian

Probably just a coincidence. The AK47 looks like the StgW44 and I can assure you that Kalashnikov didn't copy. He denies it firmly to this very day.

There's also about a 50 year difference. Don't see how they could be related unless the Owen evolved with the times from the '40s until modern times.

[dm 9]

Owen = British

Actually, the Owen is Australian, not British

And it was still in service in the late 60's, so you never know, the Austrian Steyr designers may have drawn inspiration from the design.

[ozanzac 0]

Owen = British

lol...You wish!

[MSpencer 0]

Owen sounds British.

Ehhhhh who said I'll look things up when I just make a random post on the forums?

[ozanzac 0]

Not doing yourself any favours.

[RTR_Commander 0]

The Owen Mk 1 is an Aussie weapon as this website below points out:

Aussie Guns

Here is a pic:

Pic 64-3 + 64-4 are Owen Mk I's:

[MSpencer 0]

Who the hell's Orwell?

[bmgarcangel 0]

FIrst off, I said at the top of the POST that I ACCIDENTALLY GOT THE TITLE WRONG!

Second off, well, at least I got a few more pictures of the Owen MkI. Now i do believe the AUG actually had some design features that were present in the MkI.

Anyhow, this should be enough pictures to make a bassic Owen MkI, wouldn't you all agree?

[KTM_Calle 0]

Probably just a coincidence. The AK47 looks like the StgW44 and I can assure you that Kalashnikov didn't copy. He denies it firmly to this very day.

I can assure you he did.

Quote[/b] ]"The Soviet Army's AK-47 was derived from the STG-44 shortly after the Second World War, boosted by material and personnel that fell into Soviet hands when the Red Army overran German research and engineering facilities"

The source

[bmgarcangel 0]

LOL

I seriously believe you. You know, where did the m16 come from? Extensive research into the german weapons of world war two eventually lead to the development of the weapon.

Ok now, I got a question. Can anyone get their filthy hands on blue prints for the Owen Mk I?

[bmgarcangel 0]

Is it possible to get the blueprints without paying shit? Cause like i've been looking for them and all i've found is order blue prints and all that crap..

[lpdotcom 0]

Who the hell's Orwell?

George Orwell

Big Brother

1984

Went to eton then lived on the streets

That Orwell