Sten Mk II

What is the proper finish and colour for a war time Sten?

it would have been parkerized or some sort of paint or bluing idk it would be all over the place there was no one standard on some of the sten stuff other then the barrel length and chambering lol

Let me rephrase that rather vague question. Were the British war time manufactured Sten Mk II and III painted with suncorite? I realize they were after the war, just wondering about wartime finish.


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the parts i have seem to be blued or park idk like i said there was no one maker of stens so things vary alot most of my parts are canadian made so im no help on a brit made gun

some may be paint some may be blued and some may be park only wy to tell is holding the parts in your hands you are talking about a gun that was made in bike shops nd anywhere with a welder in war time :rofl: id just blue it or park it or maybe duracoat idk i dont have all the parts to build mine yet

I have a catco semi- auto that I had someone cut a dovetail for the foresight and he made a mk2 charging handle for it. But catco used green phosphate to finish it. I just wasn't sure what type of finish I should use. The other parts I have are both phosphate and paint. Long way round it but was suncorite used during WWII? Or some other type of finish.

i dont have a time machine lol id have to ask someone i know on this he makes sten guns and sells them so i bet he will have some answers (he was on this forum at one time but i dont thinks he's been on here in a few years )

id just finsh the gun the way it was before adding parts but do what you like its not like it would be like a real mk2 anyway with a long barrel and closed bolt

also im trying to tell you there was no proper finish since there was so many different makers thay all did there own thing for the most part thats why mags are lose on some and tight on others varying dimension from place to place manufactering differed this can be seen on the mag wells

Yes it was used over phosphate later in the war. However, it wasn't the hard durable finish of sunkorite as we know it today. I suppose that it was a spirit based paint but seemed to lack something. It would come off onto oily hands and certainly if you had insect repellent on them. The true stuff, from the 60's onwards looks identical but is far tougher and durable.

It's safe to assume that later Mk2 Stens and all the Mk5's will be phosphate and paint. Given that you have a Mk2 cocking handle and it's already phosohated, then black paint will be the most realistic.

To be honest, for military purposes, blueing is rubbish followed closely by the pre war controlled corrosion. Current phosphate and paint is as good as it gets in my opinion. Only stainless steel is better but shiny steel or even a matted steel isn't a wise option

Thank you! Was it a baked on paint? Or just brushed or sprayed on?


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Current phosphate and paint is as good as it gets in my opinion.

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Powder coat is more durable than paint in my opinion. You should try it, Peter. You're a practical man. I think you would like it.

Add to that, the STEN was made in different countries, some right under the noses of the germans. The IRA also made them

I REALLY don't know about Stens.

One night some time ago, while working on a museum exhibit, I had three frames sitting on the bench at the same time. They were all from different makers and they were all different.

No matter, anyway: NONE of them were like the ones I saw in Denmark, most of which had been turned out in local garages.

BTW, the Long Branch frame was the best-made of the lot. It was black phosphate finished.
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The one NFA Mk 2 that I had in the 1970,s was parked and painted with a stovetop black type of paint. Great sub gun if oiled ,clean with good mags down loaded to 28rds.

I hada Canadian long branch version 20 years ago. It was parked dull green.

There was a light gray park on many of the Canadian stens, and this was also applied to many of the Brit stens that were in Canadian service. However, it is believed that this refinish was post war, as evidenced by an extra lot number applied to the magwell, and sometimes the trigger housing and occasionally the barrel.

From the ex-Cdn parts kits that I have seen, the early Cdn stens were a nickle blue, while the last production stens were pitch black park..

I have a MKII Sten and a MKIII Lines Bros. The finish on both of them is fairly horrible and tatty. There were so many sub contrators used. I don't think there was a standard finish. The commercial version of the Sterling SMG was very well "crackle" finished. The Fazakerly Sterlings were smooth finished.

Look after your Stens they are going up in value!

Fazakerley were only permitted to make their Sterlings for the UK MoD and that's the reason they are phosphate and paint instead of commercial crackle. That they were only permitted is actually wrong too because they weren't permitted to do anything of the sort. In few words, they pirated the design from Sterling. Sterling threw their teddy out of the pram but Fazakerley still went ahead pirating the design at the behest of the Ministry of Supply. The little Sterling Company got as far as serving court papers for breech of copyright personally on the factory manager, naming HIM, personally for the breech of copyright/IPR breeches and therefore liable for millions in costs and damages.

It was only THEN did the Ministry of Supply take the case over and then, the Government of the day. They simply couldn't win but STILL fought the case. After all, they're fighting using/wasting YOUR money! Eventually, they lost the case and Sterling were awarded total costs and compensation.

Sterling did get a small afterthought contract for the UK Military and theseSterling guns, marked US xx Axxxxx are the UK Military spec smooth sunkorite black

However, the publicity was good and Sterling never looked back. The Court case prevented Fazakerley making any more guns, spare parts or magazines and the factory manager, who'd escaped by the skin of his teeth from total bankruptcy for breeching the copyright laws, even after he'd been clearly told he was breaking the law was hauled up before the judge and gived a dressing down to end all dressing downs. He was sidelined into a corner until the factory closed

I think I am digressing but that's the story of the Sterling smooth finish L2A3's

The post war finish for Sten guns was the usual phosphate/paint. But given that its service life in wartime was 70 hours, the finish was academic really - so long as it was baked black