New Zealands Wartime GUN MAKERS

In the Trentham War Museum there is a rather special MAXIM Gun that was built here in the Petone Railway workshops during the 1914 -1918 First World War. This gun is no mere specimen replica - it is a fully working 'war-horse' that fired thousands of rounds in military service and was in every way as servicable as the worn-out condemned gun that it was copied from.

 The old railway workshops at Petone are long gone - but when they retro-engineered and built our New Zealand Maxim (without drawings) they were a workforce depleted of  both men and materials by wartime conscription, - yet they achieved their accurate machining  using the machinery designed for heavy railway maintenance. The mounting tripod was claimed by some  to be actually much more useable than European models with a full 360 degree arc of fire but according to Rod,- is in fact a standard British MkIV as used on the later Vickers guns. - The project to see if the NZ Government might establish a small arms plant here was abandoned in 1916.
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During WW2 - A thousand MkII STEN GUNS were built by the The Precision Engineering company of Wellington for the NZRAF - but were designated ARMAF MkI . The seven inch 9MM barrels were made by cutting-up worn-out .303" barrels, reboring and rifling them!

                                      Radio Corporation Sten with Australian Barrel Set.

 Then 10,000 more Stens were built by the Radio Corporation Of New Zealand in Wellington for the Army - but as we had run-out of old .303" barrels - their 9MM barrels were imported from Australia. This model was designated LP (Local Production) and was a blend of MkII and MkIII features but with MkII barrel & barrel nut.

 - A further 5,000 Stens were ordered but possibly not completed - or maybe not even started, according to Rod Woods, before 1949 - when they were phased-out and replaced by British made Mk5s.

 - The Railway Workshops, Addington only made parts for the Stens - all of which were destroyed after the war by gas-cutting.
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Philip Charlton designed the Charlton Automatic Rifle in 1941 as a local substitute for Bren and Lewis light machine guns that were in short supply. Approximately 1,500 were built as a semi-auto / full-auto conversion of old Lee-Metford and Magazine Lee Enfield rifles.

                Surviving CHARLTON AUTOMATIC RIFLE in Waiouru Army Museum

Most of the New Zealand guns built by Charlton Motor Workshops in Hastings were destroyed in an accidental fire just after the end of WW2, when the Palmerston North storage depot burnt to the ground. - A second version of the Charlton was built in Australia by Electrolux who converted SMLE MkIII* rifles - using the same action design but without the forward pistol grip.

Rod has told me the names of lots of gun makers over the years - Indeed I personally owned a beautifully built 'Bradley' L.H. Bolt Action .22' in the '80s that was built in Washdyke near Timaru, and I know there is a book about the WW2 'Mitchell' SMGs somewhere. And what about the 'Hayes Longline' ? - But I don't know enough about any of them to do them justice - all information will be valued and passed-on.

Marty K

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870