The Owen gun's charging handle being located in a different isolated space negated the need for having any other holes in the bolt space which also coincidentaly prevented any dust to enter while the top loaded magazine with the open ejector at the bottom meant that any sand that entered eventually just got "sweeped" down there and out. Interesting.
My father was a Sargent in the Australian Army in the mid-50s and was involved in another series of tests of submachine guns. This time the Stirling and M3 were included. Again the Owen gun won the tests against all other guns.
this is the best, most amazing 'real deal' testing I have ever seen! It should be done with every armies firearms, not only to see the serious shortcoming of the weapon, but also how to unfuck it. Here's to Oz & the Owen!!!
LOL 4:18 The dude covered the magwell with his hand unlike all the others. To be fair, the owen is actually a great smg. Pretty overlooked nowadays, sucks you don't see it in video games either.
That's how the magazine was designed to be changed, acts as a guide for the next magazine in prone and low visibility, the advantage as a cover is an additional benefit. Each gun was operated as it would be in the field.
The first prototype of the Owen gun was developed by Evelyn Owen in 1931, who finalised the design in 1938. Owen submitted the design to the Australian military, but was rejected, as they were waiting for the British Sten to finish development. After all if it is built by the British it must be better than something an Australian can build ( attitude of our politicians of the day,) By May 1940, Owen had enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force, and was set to deploy to the Middle East, but after speaking about his design to the manager of a local plant of Lysaght, who had an interest in the design, Owen was transferred to the Central Inventions Board. ItIn June 1941, Owen was discharged from the army and began to manufacture the Owen gun. After conducting tests in September that year, the Owen was found to be more accurate and reliable than competing designs such as the Sten and Thompson. "As your excellent little Historical movie shows ." It always bewildered me why we did not arm our African and European troops with the Owen rather than the inferior Sten. Even General Douglas MacArthur was considering arming his troops with the Owen. and a lot of Australian solders felt that the Owen saved their lives in the Jungle , Including my father. It eared the nickname Diggers Darling. ("Digger". Nickname for Aus troops derived from ww1 (They felt they were always digging so started calling each other digger) The Owen was used by the Australian army till 1971 A testimony of how good a weapon design it was. Thank you for showing this movie Well done.
The advantages of the Owen’s top mounted mag are readily apparent. Gravity assists with feeding ammunition, making it harder for debris to enter. And if it does, then it will likely drop straight out. But the real advantage was housing the bolt in its own seperate chamber which really helps cut down blockages and then machining that chamber with a little extra space been the end of the bolt and the back of the chamber, so that if something does get in it won’t foul and jam. The 600 rounds per minutes rate of fire and double handgrips make it easier to control than many sub machines guns, the magazine carries 33 rounds of easily obtainable 9mm ammunition, and it came with select fire in a lightweight durable package. As the tests here demonstrate, for jungle and desert combat, it was the best LMG of the war.
I don't think they all had the same mud treatment, which then leads me to question how they were all lubricated for the sand test, maybe the Owen was running dry (or dry lubed) with the others oiled?
No cabe duda que este subfusil australiano fue muy bueno en todas las condiciones de combate en que fue usado. Estoy sorprendido de los resultados de los otros modelos y no me imagino los percances de los efectivos que sufrieron en el fragor de la batalla durante la segunda guerra mundial.
Thankyou for posting this film of the owen. Been wanting to see field test of the owen, fn good design and reliability. Be very happy to take the owen to war.
No, The spring and piston are in a chamber which is sealed at both ends which prevents the ingress of dust, mud and sand. There were major tests done on the Thompson, the Sten, the Owen and one other by the Canadian, US, British and Australian armies. The OMC won hands down against the rest, especially in terms of reliability, and maintenance.
Depends who got to shoot..I worked with a 9th division Sargent Major gold coast city council. Owen and Bren and 25 pounder. Blokes with shattered limbs went in to fight. I reckon a canvas cover might of solved the sand problem
The Owen was the most reliable and simplistic sub guns of WWII. Some say it was lacking in looks but, it wouldn't let you down, as opposed to the pretty, pretty ones.
It appears to me that we (Aussies) have, just like everyone else in the world, have come up with great ideas and fabulous engineering solutions to so many different problems. That eventually end up in the bin because some shiny arsed bean counters just "know" that an indigenous product is going to be inferior to a more expensive imported item for the same role. We used to have a quite vibrant manufacturing industry. Those days are long gone. Who cares about the local businesses and their workforce...if a similar item is 10c cheaper per unit from a foreign state lets use rhem The share holders and way over payed board members and CEOs don't care about the thousands of employees and other local suppliers providing parts and services. They dont care that their new suppliers/joint venture partner are embedded with their dictatorial government and its armed services. Who will flagrantly use and abuse their new partner for their own profit. Too many of these people do not care about the future.As long as they can live their chosen lifestyle until they die. And stuff everyone else.
I noticed that too. Guess the Canadians favored adoption of the Owen. Certainly not fair to all participants. I didn't like the way the Owen was treated in other tests. Mud test for example, the tester appeared to take care to avoid debris in the bolt cuts while other SMG's got dunked well into mud. Hmmmm.
The owen smg is not an ugly gun, it's simplicity and cheap cost to manufacture make it a masterpiece of mechanical engineering artwork
My late father fought in New Guinea in WW2 and swore by his Owen SMG, and said it saved his life on many occasions.
The Owen gun's charging handle being located in a different isolated space negated the need for having any other holes in the bolt space which also coincidentaly prevented any dust to enter while the top loaded magazine with the open ejector at the bottom meant that any sand that entered eventually just got "sweeped" down there and out. Interesting.
My father was a Sargent in the Australian Army in the mid-50s and was involved in another series of tests of submachine guns. This time the Stirling and M3 were included. Again the Owen gun won the tests against all other guns.
this is the best, most amazing 'real deal' testing I have ever seen! It should be done with every armies firearms, not only to see the serious shortcoming of the weapon, but also how to unfuck it. Here's to Oz & the Owen!!!
Owen & the bren were great weapons!!!!
LOL 4:18 The dude covered the magwell with his hand unlike all the others. To be fair, the owen is actually a great smg. Pretty overlooked nowadays, sucks you don't see it in video games either.
Unless I was seeing things wrong the mag jammed just as bad as the other weapons.
That's how the magazine was designed to be changed, acts as a guide for the next magazine in prone and low visibility, the advantage as a cover is an additional benefit. Each gun was operated as it would be in the field.
Sorry dude, the operator tried to shield the magazine port on all the sub guns being tested there. No favours for that Owen prototype.
he covered the mag well of all the guns
The Owen was the best allied smg of the war tbh
The first prototype of the Owen gun was developed by Evelyn Owen in 1931, who finalised the design in 1938. Owen submitted the design to the Australian military, but was rejected, as they were waiting for the British Sten to finish development. After all if it is built by the British it must be better than something an Australian can build ( attitude of our politicians of the day,) By May 1940, Owen had enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force, and was set to deploy to the Middle East, but after speaking about his design to the manager of a local plant of Lysaght, who had an interest in the design, Owen was transferred to the Central Inventions Board. ItIn June 1941, Owen was discharged from the army and began to manufacture the Owen gun. After conducting tests in September that year, the Owen was found to be more accurate and reliable than competing designs such as the Sten and Thompson. "As your excellent little Historical movie shows ." It always bewildered me why we did not arm our African and European troops with the Owen rather than the inferior Sten. Even General Douglas MacArthur was considering arming his troops with the Owen. and a lot of Australian solders
felt that the Owen saved their lives in the Jungle , Including my father. It eared the nickname Diggers Darling. ("Digger". Nickname for Aus troops derived from ww1 (They felt they were always digging so started calling each other digger) The Owen was used by the Australian army till 1971 A testimony of how good a weapon design it was. Thank you for showing this movie Well done.
I thought that they were called diggers because a lot were former miners...??
@@jayytee8062 Actually it became a term of endearment from the early days of gold mining. even if you werent a miner
Gold mining or Gallipoli trenches,
Diggers and Proud
The advantages of the Owen’s top mounted mag are readily apparent. Gravity assists with feeding ammunition, making it harder for debris to enter. And if it does, then it will likely drop straight out.
But the real advantage was housing the bolt in its own seperate chamber which really helps cut down blockages and then machining that chamber with a little extra space been the end of the bolt and the back of the chamber, so that if something does get in it won’t foul and jam.
The 600 rounds per minutes rate of fire and double handgrips make it easier to control than many sub machines guns, the magazine carries 33 rounds of easily obtainable 9mm ammunition, and it came with select fire in a lightweight durable package.
As the tests here demonstrate, for jungle and desert combat, it was the best LMG of the war.
I don't think they all had the same mud treatment, which then leads me to question how they were all lubricated for the sand test, maybe the Owen was running dry (or dry lubed) with the others oiled?
No cabe duda que este subfusil australiano fue muy bueno en todas las condiciones de combate en que fue usado. Estoy sorprendido de los resultados de los otros modelos y no me imagino los percances de los efectivos que sufrieron en el fragor de la batalla durante la segunda guerra mundial.
The Owen SM served well and in the terrible terrain of New Guinea proved its worth.
Some piece of kit the Owen 👍
Owen so stable.
Thankyou for posting this film of the owen. Been wanting to see field test of the owen, fn good design and reliability. Be very happy to take the owen to war.
Who cares what it looks like as long as it is reliable under battlefield conditions.
What if they fired the Berman upside down and the Sten side ways mag up. I think it will work as good.
No, The spring and piston are in a chamber which is sealed at both ends which prevents the ingress of dust, mud and sand.
There were major tests done on the Thompson, the Sten, the Owen and one other by the Canadian, US, British and Australian armies. The OMC won hands down against the rest, especially in terms of reliability, and maintenance.
@@ianlowery6014 Don't forget that the Owen was also lighter, more accurate and more controllable than most existing weapons
It's Bergmann not Berman
@@calcutt4 Actually it was fairly heavy, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Balance and controllability are more important in action.
07:56 "Bugger" 😂
Depends who got to shoot..I worked with a 9th division Sargent Major gold coast city council. Owen and Bren and 25 pounder. Blokes with shattered limbs went in to fight. I reckon a canvas cover might of solved the sand problem
The Owen was the most reliable and simplistic sub guns of WWII. Some say it was lacking in looks but, it wouldn't let you down, as opposed to the pretty, pretty ones.
What, the Sten gun was pretty?? LOL
Thats pretty impressive
The Sten was set to "5-round bursts"
The Diggers Darling Australian and the best
at 11:01 they show an original Sten Mark 1.It would be as rare as it is ugly these days.
Why was it replaced with the F1 ?
they were worn out
Like all great designs, some jerk thought he could improve it I guess!
Also the advent of the AR15 made SMGs largely obsolete.
Great footage!!!! interesting about the MP40 jamming....could also be the ammo...a sensitive weapon when it comes to ammo ballistics.
I notice the owens detractors are all absent from here
He put his hand over the mag well when reloading! How is that fair?
@@andymaciver1760 when reloading youre going to do that anyway
@@andymaciver1760 he did that for some of the other ones too
@@discount8508 no way dude. Totally not fair
It appears to me that we (Aussies) have, just like everyone else in the world, have come up with great ideas and fabulous engineering solutions to so many different problems. That eventually end up in the bin because some shiny arsed bean counters just "know" that an indigenous product is going to be inferior to a more expensive imported item for the same role. We used to have a quite vibrant manufacturing industry. Those days are long gone. Who cares about the local businesses and their workforce...if a similar item is 10c cheaper per unit from a foreign state lets use rhem The share holders and way over payed board members and CEOs don't care about the thousands of employees and other local suppliers providing parts and services.
They dont care that their new suppliers/joint venture partner are embedded with their dictatorial government and its armed services. Who will flagrantly use and abuse their new partner for their own profit. Too many of these people do not care about the future.As long as they can live their chosen lifestyle until they die. And stuff everyone else.
As an Army small arms instructor in the 1950's we taught users to only load 28 rounds in the OMC 32 round mag to prevent possible jamming.👍
owen wins 🎉🎉🎉
He kept his hand over the open mag well on the Owen when reloading but not the others.
I noticed that too. Guess the Canadians favored adoption of the Owen. Certainly not fair to all participants. I didn't like the way the Owen was treated in other tests. Mud test for example, the tester appeared to take care to avoid debris in the bolt cuts while other SMG's got dunked well into mud. Hmmmm.
You cower behind a cowardly fake name while commenting on real soldiers! Funny old world.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray moronic.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray yet you don't refute what he actually said, because it's true. Totally biased testing.
@@kmcgovern2012 I despise cowardice in any form.
One cannot trust anything that cowards utter, in fact: the reverse!
saving,
reliable western guns...:)
Cause unknown?? 😂 You're blowing sand all over him and across the gun
very cool!
i dont live in a desert or a jungle so id still have the thompson :P
7.55 bugger
Don't describe your hobbies.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray Don't indulge in yours! 🙂
Didn't the Canadians sit most the war in the UK?
Best you read up on Italy and NW Europe young fella
I love the Owen Gun...it's so BAD!!! ---------------------‐-----------------------🔫 😎
not very scientific was it?
Too bad they didn't have a Russian machine gun.
Good old Owens Gun
Owen rules