This is my new Sten. There are many other like it, but this one is now mine...
Greetings all. One of my men, knowing my penchant for things British in general and WW2 weapons in particular, gifted me a Sten yesterday. It's unlike others I've seen, and has a rather interesting provenance. The man's grandfather was a commander in the French resistance and was based in the high Alpine region near the Swiss border. He was tasked at a certain point with the removal of a high ranking German officer, and obtained a weapon for the operation. This weapon, apparently, is the same Sten I now own. It is in remarkably good condition, with original black finish, and is complete with an absurdly ungainly silencer. This silencer is far larger than the models I've seen before. It is massive in diameter, unscrews from both ends, and has a rubber washer at the muzzle hole. It appears to be made of steel. The Sten itself is a MKII, and has an S stamped on the magwell. The recoil spring is shorter than on my other Sten models, and the bolt has a deeply recessed hole for the extractor pin. The rest seems the same, although the gun's finish is far finer, with all the welding smoothed out. The bolt also fits the receiver tube far more precisely. Interesting animal. I'd love to hear any thoughts about that huge silencer...
It also came with a spare barrel, and of course I had to try that out. Recently I was disappointed by one of my Stens that was grouping high and far right. This one is, to use the parlance de jour, an absolute tack driver. At 10 yards all rounds cut the same hole, and at 25 yards all rounds struck within a man's palm. These were fired seated using a sandbag as forearm rest. Pics if requested, to follow next week.
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Barrel notch I refer to in previous post...
It is a small notch engraved into the barrel and apparently should be at 12 o' clock when barrel nut is tightened. I can vouch that at all other positions the poi deviation is extreme, see 10m result in previous post.