Mk 2 Sten gun manufacture differences.

Sten gun question again. Just seen a mates collection of deactivated Mk2 Sten guns and noticed the differences between them, some had lugs spot welded to the trigger housing and main receiver housing, some were welded and ground down. Some had trigger guards that were square in shape with the weld done from inside, some had tapered guards that had obvious welds seen from the sides, the guards slightly out of square. Differences of how the stock housing is fixed to the main receiver in that some are spot welded and some are welded and dress, some with just neat finished welds. Would you be able to tell which factory or period they were made. Are there any anorak web sites or books showing these details of the Sten.

"The Sten Machine Carbine" by Peter Laidler is the book on subject. Brian Dick at BDL Ltd. has it. If you're collecting Stens this is the book you need.

GREAT little book. You ought to get two copies. One for best and the second one to keep on your grubby workbench.

Get them direct from Collector Grade Pubs. Blake still lists them. I'm out of stock.

Thanks for the info, looks like Peter's book is going to be a very good read.

To be honest, it was a book that I really enjoyed doing. Starting from fresh and ignoring all of the re-hashed previous drivel and, what turned out to be absolute horse shi.......... er....., horse manure that had been written before. Put most of the myths to bed too. Oh yes...... and the next time someone tells you that it's S for Shepherd, T for Turpin and EN for Enfield tell 'em that they're wrong. It'll be like pulling teeth but Major Shepherd and Mr Turpin say that it is EN for England. And if anyone should know.........

I have your book 'The guns of Dagenham' about the Sterling, if it's as in-depth as this then it will certainly be the book for me. I bet you found some surprising details and info while researching these books, must be great fun looking through the archives at the big establishments.

When you collect STENs you soon realise that the Mark 2 number is about the only thing that mark has in common. You could have 2 guns with consecutive serial numbers and the parts have been made by completely different companies. The only Mk2 that are consistent are Longbranch guns in my opinion. I should post a photo of the welds on one of my Mk2 guns, splatter and welds that haven't welded anything together. They may be rough to some but I love them.

I have to admit, after all the poor press the Sten got for it's fit and finish...I had a couple of Long Branch guns that were both 1944 marked and they gave no problems at all. I don't recall having shot English made guns.

It's just another of the hoary old chestnuts BAR. To be fair, even though they made 4.2 million VW's, some of them would be defective. Not many but...... Just ask anyone with a an MGB about defects during manufacture!

About what I thought. Anywayzzzz, that was what you were for. Spot of weld, hammer a few into the butts and hand it back out again.

I would add the following observations on the Canadian produced Sten mk2. Since they were only produced by one factory, there is not a lot of variation, and it is all pretty definite.

1942 LB stens: Rough weld on the body, and magwell. First few hundred had the welds dressed on the magwell, so a somewhat smooth finish. First few hundred also bear the DCP proof marks. First few hundred were also hand stamped. Later guns were roll stamped.
The rough bodies have the small LB on the right rear of the trigger housing, and an inspection stamp on the left rear. This stayed the same throughout production. Some of the early ones are broadarrow marked on the bottom of the trigger guard, while some are C/l\ marked. All the early Cdn rough welded bodies have a small H stamped in to the rear over the slot for the T stock.

Serial numbers on the early ones range from 0L1 to into the early 3Ls. Very small serial numbers were stamped on Cdn stens from about 1L5000 until 1L8000, at which time they reverted back to the normal size serials.Early Finish was a blue/black.

1943: Magwells and bodies were smooth finish. Mag housings were formed rather than fabricated, and the trigger housing and back tube rings were spot welded to the tubes. Serials range from the 2Ls up into the 9L area. Some 9Ls and many 10Ls were for Chinese contract. Rear of guns were cut for use of the Lop stock. Canadian loop stock differed form the British loop in that the loop was butt welded to the front piece, as opposed to looping completely around like the British stocks.

1944/1945. Also smooth finish. Original guns are a dark black colour. All Cdn stens observed from around 11L3000 are Chinese marked. This incudes un-serialised Cdn housings that were later serialised with the XR range of serials (only a few hundred observed, no idea what the XR project was, but an XR serial number was also observed on a Brit housing).

The Grey guns (and mags): Suspect post war, many of the Cdn stens (including British made examples) were re-finished into a very grey park. All guns observed have a single letter and 2 or 3 numbers following added to the magwell, and occasionally to the sides of the trigger housing. Could be an inspectors number or a batch number.

Cdn magazines: Common to see KC (Kalvinator of Canada) stamped on the mags. Small C/l\ at the top front of the mag. Occasionally also marked M3. There are also LB marked Cdn mags, and I found one Cdn mag that was formed slightly differently and with a plastic follower.

Despite the different methods of attaching (spot weld vs gas weld) things like the design of the trigger guard or front sight never changed. There did seem to be a slight change in the magwell release, with later guns having a lightly raised center. Again, since all the producton was limited to one company, there did not seem to be a lot of variations, unlike the British guns, which had parts made all over and collected up to be assembled into guns.

Now all this is just on the Cdn sten production. One can only imagine the variations that were available with the British production.