Is Mise- Even if Foxy won't support your position in this case I do- I support the winding back of gun restriction policies- so that more Australian's take up gun ownership. This will mean more gun deaths but it's always a balance between risks- in this case the risk of China and it's ideological siblings such as Socialism and progressivism. Even though I'm not a gun owner myself. Someone recently told me about the Owen SMG that was made by Lysacht Newcastle- I thought that the Sten was an interesting device but apparently there was competition with the apparently simpler Owen. A bit concerning about the dicky selector though.

ttbn,
Riflewomen are fine, if they have the physical shape that allows them to hug the ground and not have their posteriors up for targets.
Put simply most women are not built to be infantry but they do fine in house to house fighting and in running battles.
Nancy Wake was a fine example of a fighting woman, she once killed a German soldier with her bare hands.

Canem Malem,
The Owen was considered by many to have been one of the best sun-machine guns of WWIi, if not the best, it was not a copy of the Sten but a unique design.
The Australian version of the Sten was the Austen, and it proved to be unpopular with the troops and from the end of the war until they were destroyed they were held in storage as reserve weapons.
The Sten was commonly known as the “Stench gun”.
The Owen continued in service until around the late 1960s then the majority of them were destroyed.
Australia at the moment has very few reserve firearms.
I’d bet that there are more firearms in civilian ownership than Government.

The role of the Sten in the French Underground due to it's compact breakdown is interesting- but can understand the stench. The location of the mag on the Owen seems problematic- perhaps the stock is superfluous too- quite heavy 5kg and 800mm. Sounds like there was issues with standardization/ interchangeability of the rounds- and the production started towards the end of the war. Very different to modern SMG's such as the MP5/ Styr Carbine.

Ah, the good old years of 1939-45, some of the Forum lads are going to be very disappointed when the clock ticks over to 1946.

Canem Malum,

The location of the magazine on top was one of the Owen’s great points, gravity assists the feed of the rounds and downward ejection means that the bloke next to you doesn’t get hit with hot cases; not only that but it enables the user to get closer to the ground, side and underneath mags are not as effective in this regard.
The stock is very necessary as it affords a great degree of control when firing from the hip and greater accuracy with aimed shots.
Although the standard accurate range is often given as 50 yards, aimed shots from the shoulder are easy at 100 yards.
One of my tricks, as an armourer, was to riddle a standard man size target at 400 yards much to the amazement of onlookers; but I had lots and lots of practice

400 yards wow- Given the documented range is 200 that's impressive- I would have thought that was difficult given the side sight- being an armourer/ gunsmith has it's advantages. At that distance a person would be 2.5mm/ 1/8". I suppose urban warfare means fighting at closer range. Bullpup weapons like the Austyr carbine as you know keeping the weight closer to the body giving better mechanical advantage from the shoulder- but yes getting close to the ground and ejections are a good point- doesn't mean that bottom/ side mounted mags can't eject downwards I suppose if they're designed that way- the reliability would be an advantage. I suppose the straight mag is better than the staggered design too- even though it's longer. The Sten would probably give an even better ground profile given the lack of grips and the side mag- I wonder if the side mag causes a twisting feeling- but you'd probably get used to it. I guess reloading and aiming after reloading would be easier from a prone position than underneath mags even more so for bullpups.

The Owens A£8/ US$24 manufacture cost and wholely Australian design also impressive.