![\"NIRA\"](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/07\/nira.png?w=620\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
At the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, both the Republicans and Loyalists were desperate for any weapons they could lay their hands on.<\/p>\n
These weapons ranged from smuggled AR-18s<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200a<\/em>infamously nicknamed Widowmakers\u200a\u2014\u200ato crude but ingenious improvised weapons such as the submachine gun pictured above.<\/p>\n These improvised weapons took the STEN<\/a> as their basis. They were simple but deadly, open-bolt submachine guns that any semi-skilled armorer could make quickly with only basic tooling.<\/p>\n The weapon pictured above was made by a Loyalist paramilitary force in Northern Ireland\u200a\u2014\u200aperhaps the Ulster Volunteer Force or the Ulster Defense Association.<\/p>\n Chambered in nine-by-19-millimeter, it bears a passing resemblance to theSterling L2 submachine gun<\/a> that British troops stationed in Northern Ireland routinely carried. The improvised submachine gun features a simple, square, tube-steel receiver\u200a\u2014\u200areportedly fashioned from metal table legs\u200a\u2014\u200aand feeds from a horizontal magazine. Other examples used metal piping and had round receivers.<\/p>\n The magazine housing is designed to fit a standard Sterling magazine but uses the STEN<\/a>\u2019s simpler magazine release. The weapon features a blowback action and has a square bolt to match its box section receiver.<\/p>\n It includes crudely drilled serrations in the barrel shroud and does not<\/em> have sights. The pistol grip is rudimentary and the trigger appears to be made from a piece of metal rod that the armorer simply bent into shape.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the example pictured above has a number of features not common to all of the homemade submachine guns. Not only is its barrel crudely rifled, but it also includes a safety-selector just above the trigger.<\/p>\n