How to repair bad STEN magazines

[Bad Magazine]

Hello All,

I have looked high and low for a "how to" on fixing bad STEN mags with zero luck.

I know buying STEN magazines is a hit and miss endeavor; some work, some don't. As of late, most of mine have not worked.

Does anyone out there repair bad magazines? Any information would be helpful and appreciated. How to tweak the feeds lips? Tools, Dimesions, etc.

I've done the obvious. Cleaned them spotless, checked for burs, follower slides smooth. It seems to me a feed lip problem.

Thanks!
Bad Magazine

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[Peter Laidler]

You don't say just what the problem with yours is. But the feed lips have to be parallel when viewed from the top and must present the cartridges at exactly 8 degrees. Given those two features, that's all you need. Obviously you'll need to eliminate all or most friction and cleanliness is important too.

But if all your magazines seem to fail, then I suspect that the magazine housing is faulty.

There is a good book that's packed with these details all of these faults. Published by Collector Grade in the US by someone - I forget his name now, but a good read in any case

[Sarge1998]

Peter you are indeed modest, here is the link Bad Magazine:

Collector Grade Publications - Bookshelf #6 - Prewar Colt National Match Government Model Pistol, M1 Garand rifle, Sten Machine Carbine (scroll down)

[Bad Magazine]

I am certain the problem is not the mag well; for, I have magazines that work. In my ever growing collection of bad mags, I have noticed a few parallelism problems, but the larger issue is the presentation angle. I have a few mags that the angle is near zero. Does the book cover the techniques in correcting these problems? Thanks

[Peter Laidler]

How do you know that the magazine well isn't the problem. In my rather limited experience, it usually is. THere's a saying that is particularly true with respect to the Sten gun. 'Common problems occur commonly' And yes, it's all discussed in the book. Even to using the superb Sterling SMG magazines. But if you ain't got the book, you'll never know how to a) identify the ACTUAL problem, b) correct the problem and c) use Sterling magazines.

On the other hand, you could just keep buying magazines until you arrive at ten good working examples that are fine for your gun and stick to that. Then sell the others on again. They'll probably be OK in other guns - but that's Sten guns for you