A Belgian Sten Replacement: Vigneron M2 at the Range

The Vigneron was adopted to replace the Sten in Belgian service – so is it actually better than the Sten? In my opinion, yes. The sights and overall handling are better. The pistol grip is a welcome addition, although its contours make the grip safety a bit difficult for me to fully depress.

14 Comments

  1. Ian,
    Your French has improved considerably over the years. Now we challenge you to introduce an obscure Belgian gun while speaking Flemish. Hah! Hah!

  2. It would seem one of the great improvements over the STEN is the mounting of the front sight on the bbl.

  3. Actually, the MP38/40 mags will fit in the Vigneron M2 but not vice versa. For some reason, the Belgians were of the opinion that they might need to use German mags but didn’t want the Germans using theirs. Wonder why?

    • After WW2 the first official new sub-machine gun was the MP1, the Beretta model 38/49 aka the model 4. The MP2 is the Uzi. No MP38 or 40 in service in Germany after the war. So I guess it was just some design happenstance that the magazines do not fully interchange.

      • That remark was intended as a witticism. But I did want to correct the impression that the MP38/40 mags cannot be used in M2 Vig.

  4. What strikes mea s really odd about the Vigneron is the angled stock. If it was straight parallel with the barrel ist should help with recoil control. As Ian shooting it shows it wanders upwards despite the compensator at the muzzle. A straight stock may have helped a bit.

  5. I still think that the Sten Mark 5 would be at least as good and probably as cheap. Everyone always compares SMG’s with the mass produced ‘we need guns now’ Sten marks II and III. I wonder if Ian has ever fired a Sten Mark V. especially one with the vertical fore grip.

  6. Really, nobody picked up all the MP38/MP40’s lying around for free? Not even the French (who had two battalions of Panthers post war) or the Ivans (who hauled off anything they could manage to unbolt from Germany and never throw ANYTHING out)? Not even to arm the militia if worse came to worse?

  7. I wonder if going to a “chicken wing” stance would make it easier to depress the safety and deal with the odd grip. I know when i hold that way, it makes it easier to handle certain guns, especially older designs.

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