"French"-"Broken" Sten Stocks

[Vincent]

Wow! That’s a really bad fake. The shoulder plate is at the wrong angle, 90 degrees to the tube.

The laser marks are often from feeding the metal too fast. You can see one of the holes in the shoulder plate has them and the other doesn’t.

The LB (Lines Bros) and broad arrow marks are clearly an attempt to convince people it’s real.

The Khyber Pass copy I have seen was closer to an original, but the markings were gibberish.

Thanks for posting the pictures. I've never seen anything like it.

[tankhunter]

I would ASSUME, that the Butt plates would have been stamped out on a Hydraulically operated machine press. During Wartime production?

Possibly a row of them in one hit, or Singly? I would think it all depended on who the manufacturer was. & what facilities/ machines were available at individual Factories?....

[Flying10uk]

It would be punched out in WW2. With a pierce and blank tool for the Sten butt plate it would be normal practice to feed the strip in one side of the tool up to a first manual stop, press comes down and puts the holes in the strip, press comes up, manual stop pulled out, strip fed along (with holes punched in) to second latch stop, press comes down again to punch out the outer profile of the butt plate. The finished profile drops out through the tool/press to a tin on the floor. It is very easy to make the second latch stop operate automatically as the press goes up and down but not very easy to explain how this would work. Normally I would always make a pierce and blank tool with an automatic latch stop. The strip would be fed through the tool and the tools which I have made that punch strips you just get left with a strip with a row of holes, the same size as the butt plate in this case. A tool of this type can operate relatively quickly and the speed of the job will depend largely on the speed that the press cycles at. It also depend on how many cups of tea/coffee the press operator wishes to consume while they are supposed to be doing the job and also how long they wish to spend skiving in the toilets.

[Peter Laidler]

Hey........ just a minute chaps......... We need to hold our horses for a second here regarding those people in Europe or the UK who put their own hands into their own pockets and spent their own money remanufacturing this stuff for the benefit of owners who haven't even got a workable gun! It's a good job these people aren't chided for ramanufacturing high quality car parts for those MGB owners out there. Think that you can get an original Leyland/Rover MGB exhaust or king pin set? THINK AGAIN. And what about those poor unfortunates that are STILL using their No32 telescopes because someone put his hand deep into his OWN pockets to have 'new - fake - repro' lead screws made to replace the worn out tat. Or a £1,000 a time outlay to have new - fake - repro' ocular lenses made to save a kaput telescope with an OG lens polished and deeply scratched with the tail end of a gravelly old shirt. Now that I think about it, someone to my knowledge has just been very grateful for a set of fake ocular and OG lenses for his Patt 18 scope. Not quite a Sten, but at least it's a working P'14.

I have said it once and I'll bite back EVERY time I read of those good souls getting the sharp end of someones tongue. It should be praise - even if it's praise through gritted teeth I say.

[Flying10uk]

Here are some pictures of what I believe to be a perfectly good quality reproduction Sten stock.

The only issue here is that when I purchased the U.K. deactivated Sten that this stock was attached to I stated that I did not want a reproduction stock and I was told that it was original. As previously stated the dealer who I purchased it from was not the dealer who carried out the deactivation work but I am not prepared to name either dealer.

My tongue in cheek remark at the end about the stock being rubbed over with sand paper was made because I believe that I know who did it and it wasn't the person/organisation who made the reproduction stock but I don't wish to name.

My only real complaint about this item is being told that I was getting a genuine WW2 manufactured stock by dealer when I specifically asked for an original and being sent a modern reproduction. However excellently well made the reproduction is made it is never going to, somehow, magically morph into a genuine WW2 item. If it's a modern reproduction then say so, especially when specifically asked and it is known to be. There is nothing wrong with reproductions and we don't have to wait until late into the night, behind closed doors, before we start talking about them but there is something wrong about knowingly trying to pass a reproduction off as original.

[Peter Laidler]

The up side is that you could always ask for your money back - and there's always trading standards. But at £35 or whatever it was and looking at the material, labour, work and effort I think it wasn't bad value at all ESPECIALLY if it was the last piece you needed to get your dewat looking good. In fact it was better than some of the original crap I've seen. When we were dropping then from various heights to test the 'it'll go off if you drop it and kill everyone in the room' fallacy even the original ones were bending and breaking at the welds like there was no tomorrow.

But, and I don't point at anyone in particular, just have a thought for those who dig deep and spend their own hard earned money to provide the goods

Anyone out there in Forum land who agrees with this point of view, please acknowledge in the thanks section and it can be used as a gauge. And I'd expect everyone with a No32 telescope to be the first in line because, as I have heard it said, every one gets new, up to date properly made and tempered spring thrown in

[Flying10uk]

The repro stock came attached to a U.K. deactivated Sten and for various reason I didn't want to or think it worth while taking the matter up with the vendor. Sometimes it's not worth the hassle.

I think that Vincent made a very good point about the butt plate being welded, mostly likely inadvertently, to the tube at 90 degrees; I had noticed this when I first got it but had completely forgotten about it until Vincent mentioned it. Obviously these repro stocks are only going to be used on deactivated Stens here in the U.K. where it is only for show/display. What I am interested in from people with experience of actually firing a Sten on full auto is whether the butt plate welded at 90 degrees to the tube is going to make much difference such as causing the butt to slip off the shoulder more often? From a manufacturing point of view it would have been much simpler and easier to weld the butt plate on at 90 degrees to the tube.

[browningautorifle]

causing the butt to slip off the shoulder more often?

There's not much recoil, certainly not enough to make a buttstock move. FA is probably done from the waist. Singles from the shoulder.

[Vincent]

But, and I don't point at anyone in particular, just have a thought for those who dig deep and spend their own hard earned money to provide the goods.

Yes, good point. It often takes a substantial outlay to meet a manufactures minimum order quantity. So, it can take years just to recover the outlay.

[tankhunter]

I have hand made Sten T stocks in the past & ( a couple of years back when I think of it now!) The time & Labour involved (As Peter has stated) alone.
Make a purchase & final finishing of a 'T' lug, a worthwhile investment!

PS: I have no connection, & indeed. Do not know the vendor of these, on 'That' Auction site myself.