Was the Owen Gun Ahead of its Time?

An unsung burp gun masterpiece from Down Under, the now highly collectible Owen gun served Australia (and its friends) faithfully for generations.

What was the Owen?

Officially termed the Owen Machine Carbine, this handy top-fed 9mm was made in Australia during WWII and remained in service for three decades.

While Britain had the ubiquitous Lanchester (itself an unlicensed copy of the German MP18/28), used lend-leased Tommy guns, and coughed up both the STEN and Sterling, the Australians were a long way from Britain’s supply lines and faced a very real threat from the Empire of Japan during WWII.

This sparked a 24-year-old Pvt. Evelyn Ernest Owen, with the 2/17 Battalion of the Australian Army, from Wollongong, New South Wales, to submit a gun he made to the Army for testing.

His initial sub gun used a gramophone spring, was chambered in .22 rimfire, and was rejected. He kept submitting experimental but evolutionary designs in .45 ACP (as well as .38-200, the standard rimmed British revolver round) .32 ACP, and 9mm until it was adopted.

The Owen had a lengthy evolutionary process. (Photos: Australian War Memorial)

The simple blowback bullet hose was put into production at the Lysaght corrugated steel works and rushed to Australian troops fighting across the Pacific.

Owens in use — Over 40,000 Owens were produced for $30 a pop, and they went on to serve not only the Australians in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, but also with such elite units as the Dutch Korps Speciale Troepen in their fighting in Indonesia and New Guinea from 1945-49, and with the Rhodesian SAS in the Malaysia Emergency in the 1950s. (Photos: Australian War Memorial/Netherlands Institute of Military History)

Our Owen Experience

While in town for SHOT Show earlier this year, we had a chance to swing by and visit our old friends at Battlefield Vegas. They gratefully allowed us a chance to tour their vault and pick a few guns to profile and shoot.

Then we saw this baby, sandwiched between a Rattler and a UZI-SD.

This beautiful Mk. 1 Owen may look a little funky because it is a little funky, but we just had to check it out.

Keep in mind these were built for an all-up per-unit cost of about $30, so the furniture isn't nice on this simple "toob" gun. In many respects, it was a forerunner of such simple modern SMGs as the Sterling and Beretta PMX. Note the charging handle is to the rear of the gun and comes super close to the face while reciprocating.

Top fed with a 33-round 9mm magazine, it has a very peculiar feel to it.

One of the more curious aspects of the Owen is that the front sight post is off-center, canted to the right, as the top sight line is ruined by the magazine.

We had a lot of fun getting to handle and shoot the Owen, and we thank Battlefield Vegas for allowing us to come in and "sample the goods."

What was the Owen?

Our Owen Experience

Read More On:

Loading