STEN Gun Mk1*

Does any one on the forum own a STEN Mk1* or have a photo of the front muzzle end? I am making a Mk1* Barrel Bushing for my Mk1 but I can't find a photo of the front of the gun. The only part I cant figure out is if there is a 35/64" hole all the way through (On the Mk1 barrel bushing, the flash hider cone fits inside this hole reducing the diameter to approx 3/8") or if its just the section that abutts the barrel. Also need to know if the section that the cone is welded to is machined off as part of the Mk1* manufacturing process or just left as is.

So many q's, so little time............ We have a couple of them. Why don't you come over and take one apart. It LOOKS as though the BUSHING, barrel, front is the same on the Mk1* except that the worthless spoon billed muzzle depressor has been left off or cut off and made good

Next question.........

Well Peter, I'll take you up on that offer. I'll be down with KG in the new year, i'll get lots of photos and I'll bring my measuring sticks. Can I also bring my 29 dated Enfield No.2 revolver, it needs a missing part.

On a side note, from a user point of view, which Mark of STEN do you personally find the best, obviously I've not had the pleasure of firing any marks but from a firing position and aesthetic point of view, I'd rank the Mk5 and then the Mk1 above the Mk2 and 3. I find the T stock too short and the loop stock too narrow in the shoulder.

The Mk.5 is the Rolls Royce of Stens in my humble opinion. Peter??

Being an ex paratrooper then I've got to let my heart rule my head and say that I agree with Brian. A Mk5 is as good as it gets. But with any of them, regardless of what you've got, you can only kill someone so dead

I realize this is an older thread, but I thought perhaps a photo of my weekend gun show find would be of use to future sten enthusiasts. Not sure if it is real or a repro, because it is awful clean for a 70 year old artifact.

It could well be original, the welding is tidier than on my own and the wording is in a different Type to mine too but all the copies I've seen are machined from solid whereas the originals are welded from sheet and have a weld down the inside of the cone. Does it have a weld seem down the inside top of the cone?

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...013/12/7-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...013/12/4-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...013/12/3-2.jpg

It does have a seam along the inside beneath the word "TOP". Other markings include a 16 beneath the word TOP, and a tiny 9 below the sling swivel. The P in "TOP" is double struck, not unlike the T on yours. No sign of a broadarrow....should it have that mark?

I didn't know there were repros of the mk1 cone.....must not have been a high selling item I should think. Mk1 stens are a pretty rare bird, at least in this country.

The fellow I got it from at the show had no idea what it was for. Another vender told him it was a funnel for a loading press. I decided to risk the $15....even if it is a repro it is still something one does not find often.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...89d1db62-1.jpg

If its got the weld then I'd say it's original and for $15 its a steal! I forgot to mention I've not seen a repro with the word TOP on it either. There are quite a few repro STEN Mk1s in the UK and I looked at quite a few being sold as original before I found my original gun. I'm just glad I took the time to research them before the right one came along. I think Peter mentions in his book that trying to return a Mk1* to Mk1 proved difficult due to the cone flash eliminator being a rolled cone and I guess that is why the repro's are machined from solid (And show all the cutter marks too).

Are you not tempted to build a replica Mk1? A Mk2 kit would provide about 80% of the parts and the rest is easy to fabricate/machine (Except the butt bracket as its a cast item).

I am considering mocking up a mk1 from a mk2 kit. I may bug you for a few measurements if I do. Time and weather are both against me these days......I have not been out to the shop in a while. We have been getting highs of -20 so it takes a while for the wood furnace to get the shop to a workable temp.

No probs, I can provide photos and measurements. I'm partially through making a mk1* at the moment. If you can use a Mk 2 kit, mk3 barrel, mk3 ejector all you need is a new receiver, front and rear barrel bushings and fabricate a new front sight. My problem at the moment is time and money!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stencollector

Another vender told him it was a funnel for a loading press.

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:rofl:

Might I suggest that when you do get fuirther into your Mk1* Sten repro/conversion project that you make a totally new barrel from some decent dural, only partially bored at each end. This means that you don't have to slot it. That way anyone who tries to use the old chestnut that in breaking an old one apart (to make into the new one) is an absolute offence has an uphill struggle.

FRirst hand experience of this as an expert witness where someone took a dewat/deactivated Mk2 apart solely to make a Mk2S (and it WAS good too). His saving grace was the fact that the barrel he replaced the slotted barrel with was made from tough black nylon bar stock. Lot more to it than that of course but the case against him floundered before it got off the boards.

He was his own worst enemy initially because he was a) a bit of a gobshxxe, b) too gobby for his own good, c) thought he was a bit more learned than he was and......... anyway! d) didn't take that age old advice of look twice, listen twice before gobbing off once. After all, that's why we have two eyes, two ears and one mouth!

Merry Xmas BP

Thanks for the advise Peter. The regulations here are that the barrel is blind pinned thru the receiver and chamber and the pin welded in to the gun. There are a bunch of other guidelines to the RCMP approved version of a dewat as well. I have too much invested in my firearms collection to bother straying too far from these guidelines.

I was thinking of BP when I passed my dewat comments Sten Collector. It looks like he is converting a dewat into another dewat. Could be wrong of course.

We had a re-enactor bloke used to visit us at Warminster who was making a dewat Mk5 from a dewat Mk2. Before he started he sought 'advice' from the local cops......... Jeeeeeees....., you'd think he was Osama Bin Frying Pan looking for an escape clause! Anyway he did it all and made a fantastic job but then they insisted in it being re-proofed again and all that that entails! What a palava. They eventually accepted an engineers statement that not only was it still.......... anyway......, onwards and upwards!

Hi Peter, I can't afford to go down the route of chopping up a De-ac Mk2 so I'm making the whole thing from scratch. The body is made from tube with a thicker wall than the original, the block is solid with no feed ribs and is smaller than a standard block and the barrel will be ally and as its not visible I may even paint it orange due to that useless legislation, the VCR act!