I remember having a seeing a briefing of this kind of stuff. The Royal Anglians (ta) had a armourer who apart from being a ex reme armourer was also in the TV and film business when he left. He had a huge collection of improvised weapons particularly from NI including some slam fire shotguns that looked like car jack's.
Thanks for watching guys, check out the accompanying blog here - armourersbench.com/2021/07/18/northern-ireland-sterling-clone/. I just want to note that this video has no intention to comment on the conflict itself, merely examine a weapon produced during the period. As always if you found the video interesting please consider supporting us via Patreon - www.patreon.com/thearmourersbench. Thanks again! - Matt
Excellent stuff. My missus Dad worked in H&W All his life, she told me that all sorts of stuff was made for the various organisations, they even had a still hidden away that they made their own Alcohol with. This stuff was sold in The drinking dens and a cut of the takings went to whichever organisation ran that part of Belfast
That was good! I had to back-click, and wait through a tedious loading process (old PC), but I liked (still do), and subscribed to you're channel. Honestly, you're channel is one of the BETTER, but it just needs more recognition! Take care
There was a farm in a place called ballynahinch outside of Belfast raided in the 80s by the RUC. They found 30 complete homemade STEN guns. Parts for over 800 more. One factory made Uzi and two complete functional copies made by the same loyalist. Loyalist SMG’s like the Avenger evolved. The newer ones had folding stocks. Silencers and even rifled barrels.
@Cuddly Cat think handguns are still legal because of the security situation. Quite a lot of ex/serving soldiers and policemen carry Personal Protection Weapons. Even ironically members of Sinn Fein have them issued too due to attacks by Loyalist paramilitaries. Handguns are legal on the mainland. They just have to have stocks and longer barrels.
@@mrchickenfeathers9184 i highly doubt any member of sinn fein was ever issued a licence for a handgun , im fairly sure handguns were banned in the uk after dunblane. I would think they would be limited to serving or ex service men .
Rifling should be the norm today due to electrochemical rifling (though, for reasons I don't understand, it's apparently difficult to do for longer, smaller-bore barrels? Is it just that very tall and thin things are hard to print? Just turn the printer over, then, a la Maker's Muse..) > Handguns are legal on the mainland. They just have to have stocks and longer barrels. And the rather more restricting requirement that you "prove your need" for it...
I swear every month it seems like someone "finds" a grenade, explosive, gun, or blue barrel cache somewhere around northern ireland. Usually the small items are in gran's attic but it makes you wonder why it was up there in the first place...
Probably to stop it from being found? 😒 I’ve heard stories of granny’s apparently moving gear about in prams 😂 It was an elderly couple who hid rocket launchers for the UFF after they’d used them in attacks against PIRA.
When my great grandfather passed i found his military trunk from ww2 and korea. Inside was a ton awesome museum style memorabilia and a grease gun, wrapped in butchers paper and slathered in actual grease. And the thing is it looks like something id build if i were so inclined 🙄, yet after almost a century in a box it fires just like new. And yeah i did the whole the registration tax stamp eat my ass atf oxygen thieves deal.
While the IRA shines in it's international connections and advanced experience of explosives, the Loyalists where pretty good when it came to improvised firearms.
@@thegael1996 so you’re sweet with genocidal Islamist dictators and mafia rapists and drug dealers. 😂 I suppose what else would I expect from a “Gael”. The wonderers from Greece. Whose beliefs are built upon mythology. And whose modern politics is so skewed is laughable. Good gear. And all they managed to do was murder the majority of soldiers and policemen whilst they were off duty.
The uvf & other loyalist were covertly supported by the occupier government! As you stated the bolt is One of the hardest parts to make.the receiver is just a tube innit! Free Ireland ☘️☘️☘️!!!
Another interesting video, Matt. Do you have any footage of the gun being fired? I would be curious to see how it would perform compared to a Sterling. Also, was it built to accept standard Sterling magazines, or were there any home built magazine made to go with the guns?
Thank you! I wouldn't have contemplated firing it to be honest, the end cap wasn't secure enough. It might have fit better when it was made. With a bolt and the dual recoil springs taken from factory made sterling I think the rate of fire would have been similar to that of a factory gun. Yes, it was definitely dimensioned to feed from standard Sterling or Sten mags, making reliable mags is almost more difficult than making the gun so they'd probably have relied on factory mags.
@@TheArmourersBench : Do you think this gun is a one-off or part of a small-run of guns built? It’s interesting that somehow the builders could source certain parts of existing guns to make them work. I also would think homebuilding Sten clones would be easier for an insurgent force to do then knocking off a Sterling, which is a more refined and professionally built gun needing skilled laborers and machine tools. It’s too bad more of the history of this gun isn’t known.
Some of the Loyalist made SMGs are much, much crude. This one is a very well made example. Largely let down by the metal quality of the tube used for the receiver. You're definitely right it would have been much easier to make a Sten. The fact they went to the lengths of mimicking a real Sterling is very intriguing. I wish I knew more about it too. The head of the collection just told me it originated in N.Ireland. It may have been a one off or a small run, no way of knowing currently. But the sourcing of parts was apparently fairly common. I too would love to know more about that. One of the sites I link to in the accompanying article is working on more research into the weapons of the conflict I believe.
@@ultrablue2 When some of the loyalists were probably in the UDR & RUC sourcing parts would be less hassle than you might think. As for potential builders you are probably looking at people with connections to Harland & Wolff and Short Brothers.
@@TheArmourersBench I would strongly suspect they wanted it to look like an issue Sterling so they could pass them self off as soldiers when they went fishing for victims at unofficial road blocks. They had no problem obtaining uniforms via the UDR.
The factory made parts rather suggests that the important bits (barrel, bolt, recoil spring, trigger assembly, end cap & possibly magazines) were being covertly supplied.
Have you ever looked at the avenger smg development by loyalists it has a operating mechanism that ive never seen on other smgs with the recoil spring wraped around the barrel
I'm Australian, and I had a conversation with a retired British engineer on the Gold Coast who told me these weapons were factory-built and assembled. They were designed to look homemade to allow plausible deniability from the British government.
