Sten

Sten of the Sten Gun was a British 9 mm submachine gun used during World War II.

History
The Sten was designed during the Battle of Britian during World War II, to replace the weapons lost from evacuation in Dunkirk, France and as an alternative to the more expensive Thompson. The Sten was created by the Royal Small Arms Factory. The Sten Mark I went into production in 1941. The Sten used in the game though, is the Mark II. Developed at the end of 1941, the Sten Mark II was made almost entrely of steel stampings, and the resulting weapon was cheap, ugly, and none too durable. Nonetheless, it did its job well. The weapon also found extensive use in the underground resistance in Europe, Scandinavia, and the Pacific, because it was small, compact, and could be hidden clandestinely and still offer full-auto capabilities. Demand for the new weapon skyrocketed due to anticipation of urban warfare and the need to supply resistance groups in continental Europe. The Sten was soon being produced all over the Commonwealth, especially in Canada. The Sten was used during the Korean War and stayed in service until the 1960s when replaced by the Sterling Submachine gun.

Call of Duty 1 and United Offensive
The Sten is essentially a poor man's MP40. It accepts 32-round magazines, has good accuracy, does a good amount of damage per shot, and has very controllable recoil. Like the MP40, it can be used at close or medium ranges. For medium, burst fire three to four rounds. The only thing that makes it different from the MP40 is it's slightly higher rate of fire, but that's it. There's nothing wrong with this weapon, it's just that there's not a lot that makes it unique besides it's ROF and crude looks.

In United Offensive, a silenced variation of the Sten is spawned with you when you start the British Sicily mission. It's the same as the regular Sten, except that enemies won't hear you fire.

Call of Duty 2
The CoD2 Sten is the same as the one in CoD1. Despite the British being able to select the Thompson as well as the Sten, most choose the Sten because of it's higher capacity magazine and more-manageable recoil.

Trivia
In Call Of Duty 3, the in-game info claims that the Sten can use captured MP-40 ammunition, but is not possible in any of the games.

The Sten is one of the most misrepresented guns in Call of Duty as well, with the player often holding the gun's magazine. This was ill-advised at the time, as it made the gun very prone to jamming.