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Just a minor point, but holding/firing a Sten by the magazine is something for the cowboy films Oz. The left hand is wrapped around the barrel jacket. But great to hear a Sten gun again. Like they say...... You can use a £50 walnut stocked and blued Thompson gun that has been shipped across the Atlantic - or you can use a £2-7/- Sten gun. But you can only kill a man so dead!
I sure did love my Thompson though...
Superb job!! Looks like all the effort you put into this has paid off and you now have a very nice Sten. That’s some nice trigger manipulation too! :thup: :thup:
Hard to say what’s causing the additional dings to the casing base. Any witness marks on the bolt?
When I built my IO Mk3 Sten I tried using the original extractor. The hole in the bolt for the extractor pin was in a different location, so the extractor wasn’t in the same geometry as on the original bolt. The casings were getting beaten up. I removed the extractor and test fired a few rounds. They looked good and I made a new extractor with the correct geometry. Case hardened it with Cherry Red.
Where did you get the barrel?
BTW, To add a little to Peter’s comment about holding the magazine. I was taught to put my left hand around the barrel jacket because it gives better control of the weapon and speeds up getting an accurate aim. That seems to be true for me. I hold the Sterling with my left hand as far forward as possible… knuckle of index finger up against the guard and thumb near the barrel support. Give it a try and see what you think.
There’s also the danger of an out of battery detonation. They are fairly rare. I have only experienced two. Both probably caused from dirty ammunition.
They happen when a round doesn’t feed into the chamber. The heavy blowback bolt has enough energy to occasionally ignite the primer. As the cartridge case is not supported by the barrel chamber it erupts and shards of the casing can be discharged with the powder blast around the magazine and through the ejection port. It’s an unpleasant experience if your hand is there. I was taught better, but my hand found its way there once as I anticipated the need for a magazine change.
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I like my Thompson… but I love my Mk4 Sterling. My wife even calls it “the other woman.”
Gents thanks for the safety comments. I will heed them. Here was my concern since my muscle memory of gripping a STEN consistently does not exist, I did not want to chance sticking the pinky in the ejection port. THis is what I was concerned about:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_0637-1.jpg
Instead I elected to grab the mag well, not the magazine itself as I did not want to impart any torque on the mag and cause a misfeed. (video looks like I'm gripping the mag). Although this prevents lost pinky, it would not prevent burned hand as mentioned earlier. It did seem much more comfortable when firing in this manner.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_0638-1.jpg
Peter your going to have to give these boys in Arnhem some grief for their improper weapons handling!:madsmile:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...th20sten-1.jpg
---------- Post added at 12:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ----------
Barrel is from Indianapolis Ordnance as are the guts, tube and misc parts. I will take a close look at the bolt and extractor and see what it looks like.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vincent
Peter,
Since we are on the topic of gripping the Sten Mk V, I was wondering if you know of a source for either original or repro fore grips? I realize they were deleted in 45 because of the tendency to cause the barrel nut to screw loose and for the problems with the screw splitting the handles.
I have the Mk 2 barrel shroud with the two rows of holes, so the band would fit over it nicely as originally intended. Granted...I would have the two problems that you document in your book, but it would look correct for 4 and perhaps even into early 45.
ANy comments greatly appreciated!
I put one of these on
Attachment 56586
That's a smart idea!Quote:
Originally Posted by gsimmons
I got it from Michel Perrier Militaria in Canada. militaria.qc.ca. As Peter says you'll only do it once!
Ah, yes....... It has emerged that that photo was posed for AFTER the event at the power station some way from the battle, during subsequent filming. You can be rest assured that you will NOT lose a finger if it gets caught in the ejection opening and hit with the breech block. I know that from first hand experience on a Mk2. And a Mk5 is less liable to do the damage that a Mk2 did!
Foregrips...... There are a couple advertised on that auction site but are not even remotely like the real McCoy. The real McCoy is simple to make
IMA in NJ had the fore grips. I'm not sure if they still offer them or not. I have one installed on a spare barrels. It's not too bad once I blasted, Parked and painted the metal.
Did you know the Sten Mk.5 was the first military firearm in British service to come from the factory "as new" with the phosphate and baked Suncorite 259 finish? It became the gold standard of rustproofing on British weapons and accessories from then until just a few years ago when it was finally deemed obsolete in MoD service.