Editing Lanchester submachine gun (section)

==Production==
[[File:Fighting in the Dark. 2 January 1943, Liverpool, the Navy's Lanchester Gun Fitted With Illumination Attachment For Night Operation. A13831.jpg|thumb|A Lanchester gun fitted with an early version of a [[tactical light]] in a Royal Navy experiment from 1943.]]

The first contract of 13 June 1941 produced an initial 50,000 Lanchesters that were nearly all for the Royal Navy use. The British Army by now had supplies of the relatively expensive US-produced [[Thompson submachine gun|Thompson SMG]], whereas the RAF had chosen to instead test the [[Smith & Wesson Model 1940 Light Rifle|S&W Model 1940 Light Rifle]] (also US-produced, chambered in 9mm), whose use was not adopted and was mostly discarded.

The final contract was issued on 9 October 1943. Production averaged 3,410 units per month over 28 months. According to contract records, Sterling was to have made guns serially numbered from 1 to 9999, then (S) A1 to about A64580. Certain numbers of Mk.1 were modified later in the war and designated Mk.1*, the key differences being the removal of the fire-selector switch and addition of simplified rear sights. This modification makes it difficult to ascertain exactly the production runs for each model.

There were four Lanchester assembly plants, though Lanchester assembly contracts were actually awarded to only three firms. Sterling assembly of the Lanchester was split between the Sterling Engineering Company Ltd in [[Dagenham]] (code S109), and the Sterling Armaments Company in [[Northampton]] (code M619).

Quantities produced:
*Sterling (two factories; codes S109 and M619): approx. 74,579.
*[[W. W. Greener|Greener]] (code M94): approx. 16,990.
*Boss (code S156): approx. 3,900.

Some early version do not appear to be code marked at all except by the serial number prefix of "S", "A", or "SA". Pieces marked with the "A" prefix lacked perfect interchangeability and often required hand fitting of components.