British Sterling Machine Gun: Apparently, How NOT to hold the Famed Weapon of World War 2!

Firing the 9mm Sterling Automatic Machine Gun first produced in Great Britain during WW2 (1943-1944)
In 1944 the British General Staff issued a specification which any new submachine gun should conform to. It stated that the weapon should not weigh more than six pounds, should fire 9x19mm Parabellum calibre ammunition, have a rate of fire of no more than 500 rounds per minute and be sufficiently accurate to allow five single shots to be fired into a one foot square target at 100 yards.
To meet the new requirement, Mr G. W. Patchett, the chief designer at the Sterling Armament Company of Dagenham submitted a sample weapon of new design in early 1944. The army quickly recognised its potential and ordered 120 examples for trials. Towards the end of the Second World War, some of these trial samples were used in combat by airborne troops at Arnhem and elsewhere, where it was known as the Patchett submachine gun. Given that the Patchett/Sterling can use straight Sten submachine gun magazines as well as the normal curved design, there were no interoperability problems.
After the war, with large numbers of Sten guns in the inventory there was little interest in replacing them with a superior design. However in 1947 a competitive trial between the Patchett, an Enfield design, a new BSA design and an experimental Australian design with the Sten for comparison was held. The trial was inconclusive but was followed by further development and more trials. Eventually the Patchett design won and the decision was made in 1951 for the British Army to adopt it. It started to replace the Sten in 1953 as the Sub-Machine Gun L2A1.
The weapon is constructed entirely of steel and plastic and has a folding butt which folds up underneath. Although of conventional blowback design, there are some unusual features: for example the bolt has sharp grooves around it which cut away dirt in the receiver and help to keep it clean. The magazine follower, which pushes the cartridges into the feed port is equipped with rollers to reduce friction and the firing pin is arranged so that it does not line up with the percussion cap on the cartridge until the cartridge has entered the chamber.
There is a variation of the Sterling submachine gun that is silenced, where the only sound during its firing was from the reloading mechanism and the barely-audible explosive discharge, while the bullet becomes subsonic so that it would not make a sonic boom.[1]
External images
Sterling submachine gun
Full view
Trigger mechanism

Sterlings have a reputation for excellent reliability under adverse conditions and, allowing for the fact that a blowback action is used, good accuracy. The main complaint was that if dropped the weapon could inadvertently fire. The magazines were easily damaged and had to be well cared for to prevent damage to the feed lips.
The Sterling can be difficult for left-handed users to operate, due to the inherent asymmetry of the design. In particular, the weapon is designed to be used resting on the right side of the body. However, contrary to popular film and other contemporary depictions, the weapon should never be used with the left hand holding the magazine, rather the barrel jacket should be gripped. Spent shell ejection to the right constitutes an additional hazard for left-handed use.
[edit]Users

A total of over 400,000 were manufactured. Sterling built them for the British armed forces and for overseas sales, whilst the Royal Ordnance Factories plant at Fazakerley, near Liverpool, constructed them exclusively for the British military. A Canadian version was also manufactured under licence, called the Submachine Gun 9 mm C1 made by Canadian Arsenals Limited. It replaced the later versions of the Sten submachine gun from 1953 onwards. A similar weapon, the Sub-Machine Gun Carbine 9 mm 1A1 is manufactured under license by the Indian Ordnance Factory at Kanpur, along with a Sub-Machine Gun Carbine 9 mm 2A1 which is a copy of the L34A1 integrally-silenced version. At the beginning of the 21st century, these two weapons were being manufactured by OFB and used by the Indian Armed Forces.
The Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps uses Sterlings as their parade weapon.
About 90 countries purchased various quantities of the gun, including Argentina (Navy), Ghana, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tunisia and some Persian Gulf states.

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[AcAAvengersClan]

never shoot a legendary British weapon without holding your pinky up....DUH, as i am British i know how to shoot in style =)

[mpdoughboy153]

@AcAAvengersClan by far sir, that is the best comment I have seen in reply to this video!!! A++++ Two thumbs up (and a pink too)!

[SvenTviking]

Nobody has pointed out its most famous role.

This is an Imperial stormtroopers blaster rifle from Star Wars!

[chanman819]

The original design dates back to early 1944, and Wikipedia (I know, I know) claims that some samples saw testing during Operation Market Garden. It didn't enter service until the 50's though.

[piercamden]

sterling was not WW2 , duh, it was 1950s onwards, faught in the falklands, WW2 was the sten!!!

[MuhammadsStillASissy]

@vietpong American Marine?

[MuhammadsStillASissy]

@j2112c WHAT???????????????????? NO WAY. This is a first generation blowback SMG (perhaps the best, cetainly the BEST mag ever made for SMG). ou just can not fire &.62 NATO in unlocked breach.

[vietpong]

He served as a marine in Normandy so it was likely, yes, but that generation never told of their war service.

[imachavel]

@vietpong so you are you trying to say your grandaddy killed people? hmm?

[imachavel]

what is up with the gay music?

[vietpong]

My Grandaddy used a Sterling in Normandy; no doubt it saved his,er, posterior, on more than one occasion.

[Saxonsoldiers]

@IloveDior99 I thought the patchett was a derivative of the Sten, not the sterling?

[Saxonsoldiers]

The sterling SMG was after WWII. The sten (looks similar but only cosmetically) was the smg of WWII paras.