F1 submachine gun
Encyclopedia
The 9 mm F1 was a standard Australia
n submachine gun
manufactured by the Lithgow Small Arms Factory. First issued to Australian troops in July 1963, it replaced the Owen machine carbine. The F1 was retired in the early 1990s and replaced by the F88C Austeyr, an Australian-built version of the Steyr AUG rifle with slight modifications. The F1 had a robust and simple design and proved useful in close-quarter fighting during the Vietnam War
. Malaysia bought a small number of the F1 but this only totalled 28 in number.
Sterling submachine gun
. Unlike both the Sterling and its predecessor, the Owen, the F1 has a removable wooden butt and pistol grip. A curved detachable 34 round box magazine is inserted in a magazine housing on top of the barrel, similar to the earlier and popular Australian Owen gun. The top mounted magazine is unobtrusive for carry and when lying prone. Lightning fast magazine changes can be made, it has the added advantage of only needing a light spring being no harder to load than a .22 magazine not requiring special mag fillers like its contemporaries and to be less likely to jam than a bottom mounted magazine. The butt-plate and pistol-grip are identical to those on the L1A1 SLR as well as the capability of adapting SLR bayonets.
The trigger is a two stage pull, half back semi auto, pull and hold back gives full auto requiring a safety catch only easily operated by the thumb.
There is a small guard fitted forward of the ejection port to protect the forward hand.
The left mounted cocking handle has a tab that when presed locks into the bolt enabling it to be worked back and forward to clear fouling.
Stripping is simple, Safety on remove magazine, cock and hold bolt open rotate to left inspect bolt face and chamber, release bolt under control.
Grab butt press catch on bottom of receiver with other hand rotate butt to left 90 deg pull off, remove spring, release safety tip barrel up pull trigger bolt slides out. Assemble in reverse.
Suggested ranges for use were 25 meters from the hip snap shooting 100 meters using sights.
Ammunition 9mm x 19mm Luger/Para 115 grain Ball, Velocity 1250 feet per second. As a side item the same ammunition was used in the issue Browning Hi Power pistol
Because of the vertical magazine the sights of the F1 were offset to the right of the weapon requiring a slight head tilt to the right, the rear sight being a roughly triangular asymmetrical metal flap with a round aperture, the foresight being a blade mounted on the right side of the weapon's magazine well.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
manufactured by the Lithgow Small Arms Factory. First issued to Australian troops in July 1963, it replaced the Owen machine carbine. The F1 was retired in the early 1990s and replaced by the F88C Austeyr, an Australian-built version of the Steyr AUG rifle with slight modifications. The F1 had a robust and simple design and proved useful in close-quarter fighting during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Malaysia bought a small number of the F1 but this only totalled 28 in number.
Design details
The F1 is a simple blowback design firing from an open bolt with a fixed firing pin. It shares many design features with the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Sterling submachine gun
Sterling submachine gun
The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun which was in service with the British Army from 1944 until 1994, when it was phased out with the introduction of the L85A1 assault rifle.-History:...
. Unlike both the Sterling and its predecessor, the Owen, the F1 has a removable wooden butt and pistol grip. A curved detachable 34 round box magazine is inserted in a magazine housing on top of the barrel, similar to the earlier and popular Australian Owen gun. The top mounted magazine is unobtrusive for carry and when lying prone. Lightning fast magazine changes can be made, it has the added advantage of only needing a light spring being no harder to load than a .22 magazine not requiring special mag fillers like its contemporaries and to be less likely to jam than a bottom mounted magazine. The butt-plate and pistol-grip are identical to those on the L1A1 SLR as well as the capability of adapting SLR bayonets.
The trigger is a two stage pull, half back semi auto, pull and hold back gives full auto requiring a safety catch only easily operated by the thumb.
There is a small guard fitted forward of the ejection port to protect the forward hand.
The left mounted cocking handle has a tab that when presed locks into the bolt enabling it to be worked back and forward to clear fouling.
Stripping is simple, Safety on remove magazine, cock and hold bolt open rotate to left inspect bolt face and chamber, release bolt under control.
Grab butt press catch on bottom of receiver with other hand rotate butt to left 90 deg pull off, remove spring, release safety tip barrel up pull trigger bolt slides out. Assemble in reverse.
Suggested ranges for use were 25 meters from the hip snap shooting 100 meters using sights.
Ammunition 9mm x 19mm Luger/Para 115 grain Ball, Velocity 1250 feet per second. As a side item the same ammunition was used in the issue Browning Hi Power pistol
Because of the vertical magazine the sights of the F1 were offset to the right of the weapon requiring a slight head tilt to the right, the rear sight being a roughly triangular asymmetrical metal flap with a round aperture, the foresight being a blade mounted on the right side of the weapon's magazine well.
Accessories
The Complete Equipment Schedule (CES) for the F1 included:- a large round wire and nylon brush, similar to a bottle brush for cleaning the tubular body of the weapon
- a standard SLR pull-through (a string with a loop at one end for holding a piece of service flannelette and a weight at the other to assist the user in feeding it down the barrel)
- a sling similar to the standard brass and canvas SLR sling, but shorter
- 5 magazines and
- a 4 magazine pouch, each column having its own flap.