Two million produced in three years was impressive for the time...

The Sten actually stands for Shepherd, Turpin, and Enfield- the two designers and the manufacturer. It was originally designated under Military Carbine N.O.T. 40/1. The German versions were Great Potsdam and MP-3008 of which about 50,000 were manufactured...

Another weapon that looked as bad as it performed.

The Australian Owen is far uglier and just as crude, but Tim Mullin, the world's so-called authority on the SMG, named it best overall in combat history!!! I was, like. WTF??? Germany alone has fielded the first true SMG- the Bergmann MP-18 and then MP-28, moving on in WW 2 with the Erma MP-40 and postwar with the Walther MP-K and L models, off to the fantastic HK MP-5 and new revolutionary PDW MP-7! Then there are the historical best: the Thompson, Sterling, Uzi, PPSh-41 and PPS-43, and Suomi. This just proves that experts pick their faves too and are partial. And Mullin I don't trust anyway. Kevin Dockery as Secret Service armorer is a more impartial judge and he goes with the MP-5 series with 40+ variants, serving for decades with SFs, HRUs, Police, Spies, VIP personnel, and so on... the Beretta M93R Btw, was the customized Robocop gun for the first series and on recommendation by firearms authorities that preferred that tactical machine pistol to more heavier and longer SMGs. VIP guards love it too. The Owen? F-that POS!

Thousands of the Mark II were cut up for scrap and shipped to the US in the early 1990's where they were rebuilt by clandestine gun shops and basement garages into illegal SMG's. One fellow told me years ago he thought there were over 500 hidden Sten Guns in Kansas City. Still, a drop in the bucket compared to AK-47 variants and the increasingly popular AR-15/M4 types.