AUSTEN GUN
AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION IMPROVEMENTS MADE Quantity production of the Austen gun, an adaptation of the British Sten sub-machine gun, has begun in a factory in New South Wales. Army experts are extremely pleased with the performance of the new gun which weighs 8-llb, fires automatically 500 rounds a minute, and is deadly accurate up to 200 yards. Novel manufacturing methods have been introduced, with the result that production costs are extraordinarily low, and while final estimates are not available, the “target” price is £4
10/-y The Austen was designed by Mr R. A. Newton, managing director of a Victorian engineering firm, which has made several important contributions to Australian war-time engineering practice.
Given a Sten gun, a Thompson and two German tommy-guns —the Bergmann and the Schmeisser —he was asked to invent a composite gun embodying certain features of each that would make for ease in firing, reliability, speed of production and cheapness. And he did it.
The finished gun is' claimed to be more reliable-, durable and accurate than the Sten. It has a particularly high muzzle velocity. The bullet ploughs clean through 14-gauge steel at 300 yards.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HPGAZ19430524.2.11
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Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3267, 24 May 1943, Page 3
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190AUSTEN GUN Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3267, 24 May 1943, Page 3
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