Forming Sten mag lips

I found this thread:

http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=36343

Which states what a Sten mag needs to feed right but I'm wondering if anyone has come up with a tool or solution for correcting sten feed lips to get the right angle? I have but about a half dozen that don't feed due to angle issues.

Years ago an outfit was selling surplus repair tools, the body would be fitted over one portion and another would be presumably hammered down on the feed lips but since then I've never seen them for sale nor am I aware of a repro repair kit.

Also I have Laider's book and yes it is awesome in every way!

I've got a DLO tube gun and a few other MGs but the Sten was my first and fave. I've got an integral silencer for it as well.

stenmkII,
Welcome to the site, as far as I know the only one's now in existence are home made, but Peter will know I am sure if there are any helpful tips for you. ;)

Is this the tool you mean?

STEN Magazine Repair Tool Set - 01 - BRP CORP

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Originally Posted by stenmkII

I found this thread:

http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=36343

Which states what a Sten mag needs to feed right but I'm wondering if anyone has come up with a tool or solution for correcting sten feed lips to get the right angle? I have but about a half dozen that don't feed due to angle issues.

Years ago an outfit was selling surplus repair tools, the body would be fitted over one portion and another would be presumably hammered down on the feed lips but since then I've never seen them for sale nor am I aware of a repro repair kit.

Also I have Laider's book and yes it is awesome in every way!

I've got a DLO tube gun and a few other MGs but the Sten was my first and fave. I've got an integral silencer for it as well.

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https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=58989
Marstar Canada - Sten Magazine Gauge (STN-102)
STEN Magazine Repair Tool Set - 01 - BRP CORP

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Originally Posted by stenmkII

I've got a DLO tube gun and a few other MGs but the Sten was my first and fave. I've got an integral silencer for it as well.

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Pictures man! Post some pictures! “Show them to me.. just like the girls gone wild on TV.”

As far as I remember, we didn't ever have a mag lips adjuster for the Sten. We used a simple gauge called an 'angle of presentation' gauge and you simply adjusted the feed lips to allow the round to be presented at 8 degrees as I recall. But additionally, when the round was correctly presented at 8 degrees, the feed lips were parallel. If you couldn't get BOTH, 8 degrees and parallel lips it indicated that the feed lips were worn. You couldn't really mention fancy tools in the same breath as Sten gun!

Thanks all. That kit BRP has is the one I was thinking of. It was $55 or so when I saw it, and at the time I only paid an average of $5 or so for the mags so I figured it wasn't worth it. Definitely not worth $250 to me.

Here's all my MGSs. The Scorpion is a SBR, the rest of them are autos.

The suppressor is a custom one of by Lee Minor from a long time ago. It has a ported barrel and a monocore aluminum baffle assembly. The tube is aluminum with a steel sleeve inside it where the porting is to protect it. The ports are near the chamber end. It's very quiet. The ports bleed off enough to keep 115gr subsonic for the most part. I've let it get dirty which let some bullets go supersonic at altitude as I'm in the mountains.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...M5CfriYl-1.jpg

I wish you'd do a short vid of you shooting that Mat 49, it would likely be the first most had seen as they're a bit scarce...

---------- Post added at 09:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:59 AM ----------

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

As far as I remember, we didn't ever have a mag lips adjuster for the Sten.

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I'm betting if they were out of whack you guys just smashed them flat.

Thanks for the picture. That’s a nice collection. The camo Uzi looks great!

The Uzi always looked like it would awkward to me. Then I got to shoot some and found out looks really can be deceiving. It’s really a very nice handling SMG.

I had one too, the folding stock version. Found out the same thing...was quite serviceable. There ARE other I like better though...

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I wish you'd do a short vid of you shooting that Mat 49, it would likely be the first most had seen as they're a bit scarce...[COLOR="black"]

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I recorded this of a friend shooting my gun. It's the MAS-38. Pre-war design chambered in 7.65 Longue. Pretty much 100% milled gun, very much the opposite of the Sten. Bolt approaches the chamber at an angle. Weird but cool gun. Only downer is you have to reload for it.

The MAT-49 came after the war and to my understanding was only chambered in 9mm, and was mostly a stamped gun.

K MAS 38 - YouTube

What's that cute little bugger at the bottom? I love WOOD furniture!

Russ

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Originally Posted by stenmkII

It's the MAS-38. Pre-war design chambered in 7.65 Longue.

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Gracias...still not common and I've not fired one. I only knew offhand the wood butt was different, we had one floating around here a while back...Mat 49... Not often seen. Load for it? Sure, I'll cast for it too, then we can warm it up right...

More on it...

The French MAS-38 Submachine Gun - YouTube

If you went to SVN, there were zillions of those MAS's. I'd say that every arms cache yielded a couple. It always amazed me where they got all the assorted ammo from. The VC quartermasters must have been pulling their hair out

I'm a big fan of the Uzi, its probably the pistol grip that reminds me of the Walther P38 for some reason...... but still i don't think you can beat a Sten........ or a Lanchester or Sterling.

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

but still i don't think you can beat a Sten........ or a Lanchester or Sterling.

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The Lanchester and Sten are good but held back by the magazine. The Sterling is superb and its magazine is unmatched to this day. The Thompson is also a very impressive classic SMG. When you walk into a room with a Thompson, you own it.

The Sig MPX is a modern modular design. It has a lot of nice features. I am still not 100% comfortable with it, but it makes me see how dated the MP5 has become. The bolt hold open and flared magazine housing are a big help when you’re looking through a soda straw and down to using basic motor skills. It hasn’t become famous yet and the cost is very reasonable.

Yeah Sten mag quality is all over and they're a pain to load. I've got a few Austen mag loaders which are great and make it pretty easy. I bought a ton of mags and have set aside the ones that don't work hoping to fix them one day per this thread but probably will end up selling them on.

To me the Sten stands out for a few reasons. It's extremely reliable with known good mags. It's very easy to break down and the barrel can be quickly removed and replaced with an integral suppressor. At least one SOG unit used it in Vietnam for those two purposes as a quiet weapon they'd stick in a pack in case it was needed. But the ergonomics and sights are terrible. I have a 7.62x25 barrel and mags for mine and had a setback round-kaboom pop my front sight off. I got it fixed but it's not zeroed for windage dead-on so I'll eventually have to have it removed, re-welded and re-painted. Fixed sights can be a pain. However the event was a testament to the toughness of the gun that the extremely high pressure event I had didn't mess the gun up. It's a tank.

Comparing it to the UZI, the UZI's magazines, sights, and cleaning routine are superior. The top opens right up. But that top cover is also a source of failure as they can become too tight or too loose and cause problems. It's a relatively common problem after extractor issues (typically the bolt hole can become very dirty and cause extractor issues). The Sten just doesn't have these problems as a single tube. I've never experienced or even heard of extractor issues with the Sten. It's been more reliable than the UZI over a decade for me.

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Originally Posted by Vincent

The Sig MPX

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They're available in semi only around here but not very reasonable. Love to be able to wring one out for real though...I like the look of them.

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Originally Posted by stenmkII

I have a 7.62x25 barrel and mags for mine(Sten)

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That would be very interesting and add a bit of velocity...

An interesting perspective on the whole episode of the Sten

The Pivotal WWII Gun That Nobody Wanted to Put Down: The Plumbers Nightmare - YouTube

Never watched and heard such a load of pure horse shi.........., er..........., horse manure in all my sheltered life. What drivel!

Hey Peter, I didn't see your name in the credits! Thank Christ. :madsmile:

[QUOTE=Gil Boyd;433517]An interesting perspective on the whole episode of the Sten

Typical drivel.... written, produced and presented by people who have never fired a subgun, and probably any other firearm either.


Thankfully they have weighed in to educate the public regarding the only sub gun from WW2 still in common service... continuously 76 years later...

obviously the worst SMG of WW2 (and possibly all time) by any realistic standard...

And they obviously don't buy books either.

That video is pretty bad. "Thompson" huh?

The Sten is definitely misunderstood and generally extremely underestimated. Lack of reliability is the biggest piece of bad info in my opinion.

I do find mine likes hot ammo. It will run away with weak stuff.

The 7.62x25 conversion is pretty cool. I use a 20# spring with it. For mags I bought 2 MP28 9mm Largo magazines. One I polished down just a hair and it fits in the well snugly. Now mind you this was before the 7.62 Sterling pistols came out a while back with modified Sten mags coming with them. The other MP28 magazine I sent to a guy ("BustOff who is/was active in the NFA community for custom mags) with a PPSH41 magazine. He cut the MP28 mag just under the catch and that became the top half, then cut the PPSH mag just below the collar and that became the bottom half, welded and smoothed it out and made me an MPPPSH2841 Sten magazine :D. So the top fits the Sten and the bottom is curved in an attempt to better feed the tapered 7.62 rounds. The follower was cut off to follow the curve. It works OK but to perfect it I think it needs a stronger/custom spring. I can post a pic if anyone wants to see it rigged up for that caliber.

Shortly after butchering those mags (I didn't pay a ton but it turns on MP28 mags are collectible and the 9mm Largo mags are really rare) the converted for 7.62 Sten mags came on the market to support the new Sterling pistols so I bought a couple of those. They max out around 22 rounds iirc. The franken mag I had made will go to 34 or more?

The barrel is a Chinese Sten barrel as documented in Laidler's book. It runs surprisingly smooth with the #20 pound spring. Thing is, cheap surplus has dried up and much of it is poor ammo. I don't want to risk another malfunction in the gun so I don't shoot it much.

How long is your Chinese Barrel? I have a Chinese conversion in the collection marked 7.62mm and is for Tokarev ammo. I have seen the conversions that use the PPSH mag and have a PPSH mag well but mine uses the standard 9mm mag well and came with a 9mm mag. I’d like to know what mag was used with these conversions and the concensus is that it was a 9mm mag with the ridge cut out of the spine and a plate welded over the back. No one has found evidence of this as yet but I’d guess these mags will be out there, possibly thrown in with a bunch of unreliable 9mm mags!!

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Originally Posted by Brit plumber

How long is your Chinese Barrel? I have a Chinese conversion in the collection marked 7.62mm and is for Tokarev ammo. I have seen the conversions that use the PPSH mag and have a PPSH mag well but mine uses the standard 9mm mag well and came with a 9mm mag. I’d like to know what mag was used with these conversions and the concensus is that it was a 9mm mag with the ridge cut out of the spine and a plate welded over the back. No one has found evidence of this as yet but I’d guess these mags will be out there, possibly thrown in with a bunch of unreliable 9mm mags!!

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I can measure it but it's longer than a British 9mm barrel and matches the length in the book. It has a 4 digit serial stamped into it, no caliber or other stampings. It looks to me like the barrel was cut from barrel stock, then had the supporting chamber sleeve bit (I cannot remember what it's called) attached. Basically my "kit" was just the barrel plus 2 MP28 9mm Largo magazines that someone sold me. Then I bought the spring from an outfit that makes a lot of aftermarket SMG springs parts. I can dig them up if you want.

10 & 11/16" measured from muzzle to the end of the sleeve.

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Originally Posted by stenmkII

The Sten is definitely misunderstood and generally extremely underestimated. Lack of reliability is the biggest piece of bad info in my opinion.

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I've had a few, a Long Branch '42 was my favorite. Worked well and had no shortcuts or shortcomings... Some of the late UK guns were a bit rough though.

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Originally Posted by Gil Boyd

An interesting perspective on the whole episode of the Sten

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What’s interesting? Looks like dross to me.

Sorry its my droll English humour :lol::lol:;)

I thought this picture was lost but found it on another forum I post on every once in a while

The conversion magazine
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../15of5up-1.jpg

I know what it is....... but what is it meant to show? A curved mag converted to Stem configuration? Better just convert an ultra reliable two stack feed Sterling magazine as shown in the book.

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

I know what it is....... but what is it meant to show? A curved mag converted to Stem configuration? Better just convert an ultra reliable two stack feed Sterling magazine as shown in the book.

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It's for 7.62x25 high capacity. But it was equally just a project, seeing if it'd work.

That’s the type of mag I was told would have been used on my STEN but someone else has told me they think the version with the standard mag well used a standard mag with the rib cut out of the back and a flat plate welded in its place. I’m not sure how the follower would have looked though. Anyone got an odd looking sten mag with no rib??

This is what WLA was making from 9mm Sten mags

Attachment 94392

The Wise Lite Arms converted Sten mags work well. Back when Tok was cheap I used them a lot. Now 9 is cheaper than Tok and the WLA converted mags work just fine with it.