Sterling submachine gun

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; Korean War; Mau Mau Uprising; Suez Crisis; 1958 Lebanon crisis; Bizerte crisis; Aden Emergency; Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation; Rhodesian Bush War; Portuguese Colonial War; Vietnam War; Laotian Civil War; Bangladesh Liberation War; Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts; Nigerian Civil War; Second Malayan Emergency; The Troubles; Angolan Civil War; Iran–Iraq War; Falklands War; Lebanese Civil War; Sri Lankan Civil War; Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir; Gulf War; Nepalese Civil War; Iraq War; Libyan Civil War;
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); .30 Carbine; .357 (proposal); .40 S&W; .45 ACP(PAWS ZX)
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, when it began to be replaced by the L85A1, a bullpup assault rifle.