Charlton Machinegun

[Woodsy]

I am fortunate to own two original Charltons, although they are both incomplete, and my research has shown that there are no more than 14 worldwide. Although they were essentially handmade, there was a definite production design which is clearly illustrated in the first photo of the Waiouru collection shown above. The give-away is the shape and angle of the pistol grip which should be straight and angled rearward. Any that are not straight, or angled forward, are modern made replicas which are based on the original drawings, copies of which are fairly common in NZ. Only 1800 NZ Charltons were made and almost all of them were destroyed in a fire at a storage facility just after the war. They were only ever issued to the Home Guard and they were not to be used in full-auto mode except in extreme emergency (like you are the only Guardsman facing a Japanese invasion force and they are 20 yards away!). I knew a WW2 Armourer who had the job of acceptance testing of them in WW2 and he said the friction brake (the cylindrical device on the right rear of the action) would fail in full-auto fire and the gun would speed up until the bolt head fractured. Charlton took his design to Australia during the war and the much neater version made by the Electrolux factory in Melbourne in pictured in the Waiouru photos. Only four or five of these exist and they were never put into full production. I have a partially modified Lithgow SMLE body that was recovered from the old Electrolux factory many years ago. The NZ Charltons used purpose-built Bren type magazines that were made in Australia but they were slightly oversize where they fitted the action and had to be file fitted which caused a weakness in the feed lips. These original mags are very rare but I am fortunate to have an example. Any Charlton magazine which is modified from a Bren mag is a replica. After the problems with the contract magazines was discovered, the Charltons were issued just with their standard 10 rd MLE mags. The NZ made MP38 shown in the Waiouru photos was made by an RNZAF Armourer (Beale) and was milled and turned from solid metal. It is beautifully made and is a one-off. In addition to Sten production in NZ during WW2, Allen Mitchell of Wanganui also developed a submachine gun of which four prototypes were made. I was able to handle and examine one at Waiouru Museum in 1993.

---------- Post added at 10:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 AM ----------

Peter, the NZSAS modified L1A1's have the forward pistol grip screwed to a steel plate inside the fore-end, not directly to the handguards!