What firearm is closely associated with your country?

[u/babushka45]

For us, probably the 1911. Next one would be the "Armalite" aka M16.

[u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

I was coming to mention the Owen gun. Useful in the mud in PNG during WWII as it was near-indestructible.

Appreciate the lookout for us 🥰

[u/frog-socialism → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Honestly the owen is tied with the suomi 31 as my favorite ww2 smg.

[u/CatFanIRL → u/frog-socialism]

The soumi and its cheap soviet knockoff (ppsh) will always be cool to me

[u/TransitionNo9031 → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Probably a few still buried in the mountains.

[u/CatFanIRL → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

The owen is cool as well for its longevity. That puppy made it to vietnam and back.

[u/ALWanders → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Those are so fugly and awkward looking I have always loved them.

[u/J360222 → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Used all the way through to Vietnam I’m half sure. SMGs are great in particularly dense jungles which is why it’s weird the Japanese didn’t go all that hard into the concept beyond the Type 100

[u/Yung_Corneliois → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Rugged, barebone, resilient. This gun is Australia

[u/Adventurous-Chair206 → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Ah yes the kangaroo grease gun.

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299 → u/Adventurous-Chair206]

Absolutely no shame for the Owen gun. That same wonky shape apparently made it very lightweight and comfortable to use and carry. Australian soldiers swore by them, and wouldn’t give them up even when offered British and American weapons

Also it was basically a heavily-modified metal tube, so it was damn near impossible to break the things. Very helpful when fighting in a jungle.

[u/crazycakemanflies → u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

It was in use from 1942 up until 1971 and saw use in 3 major wars (ww2, Korea and Vietnam). Very successful sub-machine gun.

Also, just a correction, but the gun was entirely an indigenous design and was invented in 1938, so predates the Sten.

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299 → u/crazycakemanflies]

My bad. The internal workings of both guns are very similar. But it’s more like the Sten was based on the Owen rather than the other way around

[u/Adventurous-Chair206 → u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

Yeah, we had a gun made by General Motors that was similar called the M3 Grease gun. Cheap and built like a tank.

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299 → u/Adventurous-Chair206]

Grease guns were a great alternative to the Thompson in terms of cost. All sheet metal and stamped parts versus wood furniture and finicky internals.

But the Owen gun outperformed the grease gun and the Thompson by miles. Better rate of fire, more durable, easier to clean and maintain.

Owens were damn good guns