WW II Sten Mag Problems? (History Question)

[tj214]

Although I have Peter's "bible," don't recall reading anything about this there. Were the Sten mag feed problems we experience today also present in the equipment dropped to the Occupied Europe resistance forces? I'm not widely read on the resistance movements' technical problems, so hoping somebody here can expand. Sure would have been "inconvenient" to have multiple FTF problems during a gunfight with the SS or Heer.

Hopefully the brand-new mags supplied to the resistance forces were more reliable than the well used/abused pigs available to us today. Clearly the feed problems were present on some level then or soon after or the "single stack" mod wouldn't have been implemented.

I'm generally omitting the Commonwealth forces from this question because they had qualified and competent armorers (armourers?) to keep their gear running. It seems less likely the resistance fighters had the same quality of gunsmithing/testing available to the Army. (No insult to the resistance's capabilities; gunsmithing is one thing but test firing tends to draw attention, especially in areas where a neighbor was about as likely to be a collaborator as a patriot.)

I wonder whether this issue, if present, may have played a part in the resistance's well-known "no more Stens!" plea.

Information

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[Daan Kemp]

Orgin of the Sten mags was the Lanchester SMG, itself a copy of the German WWI SMG. Tooling was available.

Curious, what is the source of the "no more Stens" quote? Stens were in common use many years still after WWII.

[Peter Laidler]

They all got the same magazines from the same Ministry of Supply. In REAL life, you got 10 magazines that worked well with YOUR issue Sten and kept them and the gun together. End of problem. There were GUN problems that were not MAG probs and vice verca. For example a slightly drooping mag housing might well affect some magazines but not others while some Sten mags with a worn stop lug would stop one gun but not another. That's the nature of the beast.

Turpin did want to make a new design/type of magazine but was told in no uncertain terms that he had £5 to spend on the gun and the magazines were already available. Lanchesters. BUT, he could shorten then to fit into the standard Army '37 pattern pouches. Which he did!

I NEVER heard a documented account of the resistance pleading '.....no more Stens' If they did, it wasn't because they were crap but because the resistance groups in Europe already had 200,000 of them.

[Sunray]

Everybody forgets that the STEN was a War Time Emergency, "We need an SMG, right away quick!", thing that cost next to nothing to produce(~ $10 each. VS $225 for a Thompson. $24 for an MP40.). It was known as the Plumber's Nightmare for a reason.
"...feed problems..." With a 75 plus year old mag that's been knocked around by All the King's Men and milsurp dealers everywhere since it was new? Brand spanking new mags can have feeding issues too. Usually fixed with needle nosed pliers.

[Lee Enfield]

Orgin of the Sten mags was the Lanchester SMG, itself a copy of the German WWI SMG. ...snip....

Lanchester/ Sten magazines are copies of the MP28ii magazines, not the WWI MP18 which used "snail drum" (Luger) magazines.

According to the MP28 brochure which I have a copy of, the MP28ii was available with 50rd, 32rd and 20rd magazines.

[Flying10uk]

"no more Stens!" plea.

Unfortunately I am one of the people who has never heard of the "resistance's well-known "no more Stens!" plea". I wondered if you are able to provide some background information on this, please, because I appear unable to find any reference to it on-line either.

[tj214]

I'm away from home for a bit, but will look for the "no more Stens" quote when I return.

[Peter Laidler]

It's always remembering when you have got a Sten gun that no matter what else and how expensive the other blokes gun is or you COULD have had, it's all you've got. And you can only klll a man so dead