Lanchester Mk. I

Lanchester Mk. I - 9x19mm. This gun has a fire selector removed.

Lanchester Mk. I*, later model with fire selector removed and simplified rear sight - 9x19mm

The Lanchester Mk. I submachine gun is a British copy of the German Haenel-Schmeisser MP28/II. It saw some service in the early years of World War II, mostly used by Home Guard and Naval units, and was also issued to the (former) Polish Navy, but most land British forces used either Lend-Lease Thompsons or Sten Guns.

The Lanchester features SMLE-style furniture and a bayonet mount. Instead of a Schmeisser-system fire selector, it used a different type of fire selector, mounted in front of the trigger. However, this was subsequently almost always removed due to being considered superfluous. The later Mk. I* did not initially have it, and also differed in a simpler unregulated rear sight.

The 50 round Lanchester Mk I magazine is interchangeable with the 32 round Sten magazine.

Specifications

(1941 – 1945)

• Type: Submachine Gun

• Calibers: 9x19mm Parabellum

• Weight: 9.6 lbs (4.3 kg)

• Length: 33.5 in (85.1 cm)

• Barrel length: 8 in (20.3 cm)

• Capacity: 32 or 50

• Fire Modes: Semi-Auto/Full-Auto (Mk.I in original configuration); Full-Auto (Mk.I*)

---

The Lanchester Mk. I and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
Above Us the Waves		German Sailors		1955
Don't Take God's Children for Wild Geese		Charles' henchman		1968
How I Unleashed World War II	Marian Kociniak	Pvt. Franek Dolas		1970
1984 (aka Nineteen Eighty-Four)		Oceanian Soldier		1984
The Peace Hotel	Chow Yun-Fat	The Killer		1995
The Good, the Bad, the Weird	Byung-hun Lee	The Bad		2008
The Good, the Bad, the Weird		Henchman		2008

Video Games

Game Title	Modifications	Notes	Release Date
Karma Online			2011
Enlisted			2021

Television

Show Title	Actor	Character	Note / Episode	Air Date
Czterej pancerni i pies		Japanese paratrooper	Posádka	1966-1970