Forming Sten mag lips

[stenmkII]

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.