Sten magazine markings decode site?

[82Trooper]

Thanks for the info....are these (from metal Box) rare at all? I paid $9.95 (US) for it...did I get a deal?
Are there any manufacturers that are more sought after than others?

[Vincent]

Thanks for the info....are these (from metal Box) rare at all?

No. They are not rare.

I paid $9.95 (US) for it...did I get a deal?

Yes. That’s a good deal for one in very good condition. You can find them on line for $8.95. But there’s shipping on top of that and they are probably not as nice as the one you posted the picture of. The going rate for a nice blued one like that is around $20.

Are there any manufacturers that are more sought after than others?

If there are, I don’t know of any.

I like the remanufactured Finnish Army mags. They have the boxed [SA] marking on them. The “S” is for “Suomi”, their word for Finland. They are usually blued and in very nice condition.

For reliability, it’s hard to beat the 19/20 round Indian modified mags. They work when they are filthy. Some people pull the brass rods out of them so they will take 32 rounds again. You want to stay away from them. Part of the Indian mod was to shorten the spring. So, when the rods are removed they are even more unreliable than an original STEN mag.

The Israeli marked mags used to be common but seem to be harder to find now.

[Mk VII]

Metal Box were largely associated with the food packaging and canning industry. They merged in the 1980s and the name gradually disappeared. The company made a number of Sten components.

[Peter Laidler]

In the towns and cities where Metal Box was a big employer, like Carlisle, then regardless of the new names (it became Metal Box Carnaud - or MBC) it's still just '.....MB'! They usually had large plants close to where the biscuit and sweet makers were based. Huntley and Palmer, Reading. Carrs, Carlisle etc etc

They had an impressive historical archive of wartime packaging on display at their HQ foyer at Grove including a zillion variations of the little tobacco tin that eventually became the cleaning kit tin. Emergency rations for aircraft and lifeboats were also packed into their tins too. Shame their Sten mage weren't as reliable!!!!!