Meet the Owen: The Weirdest Submachine Gun to Fire a Shot

War Is Boring

Security, Global

But it did the job.

If there were a contest for the weirdest and wackiest-looking submachine gun of World War II, Australia’s Owen would win hands-down.

It looks as if the designer cobbled it together from mismatched pieces of plumbing. Rather than a parkerized finish, the factory painted the Owen gun with a lurid green and yellow camouflage pattern that resembles Shrek’s puke.

What’s more, there’s nothing “down under” about the weapon’s magazine. The magazine loads into the top of the Owen — and spent cartridges eject from the bottom of its receiver.

But there’s just one thing wrong with this picture. Despite all its oddball features, the Owen worked really, really well. It was one of the most reliable submachine guns of the war, with a track record that includes conflict in the Pacific, Korea and Vietnam.

The innovative gun is the namesake brainchild of Lt. Evelyn Owen, a member of the Australian Imperial Force who loved to tinker with firearms. But his alcoholism and poor business decisions overshadowed his inventiveness.

In 1938, Owen designed and built a homemade .22-caliber automatic carbine that had a large revolver-style cylinder — instead of a magazine — and a thumb-operated trigger.

Unfortunately, the military wasn’t interested in the contraption. Owen literally set the gun aside, storing it in a large sugar sack and went about his business as an Army private.

The Australian military brass distrusted submachine guns, putting their faith in the tried and true Lee-Enfield rifle. Besides, the generals were waiting for the Sten gun — a weapon still in development and touted by its designers to be more than adequate in battle.

But in 1940, Allied forces collapsed under the weight of the German invasion of France. As British troops fled the continent, they destroyed or simply abandoned thousands of small arms. This led to a serious shortage of weapons for the whole Allied war effort.

For the Australians, bolt-action rifles left over from World War I and hunting guns were often the only weapons available for some units.

Terrified generals in Australia knew they didn’t have enough weapons to repel a Japanese invasion force — and the Sten gun wouldn’t be production until 1941.