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Contributing Member
Didn't it work the other way round though, Sterling mags fit a Sten?
The picture shows a Sterling mag end plate, lower, in comparison to a Sten mag end plate, upper. The Sterling end plate looks to be, without measuring it, to be about 4mm sorter but about 1mm wider than the Sten end plate. It's only when you put them side by side that any difference is noticeable.
Last edited by Flying10uk; 04-10-2017 at 03:47 PM.
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04-10-2017 03:07 PM
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
Flying10uk
Didn't it work the other way round though, Sterling mags fit a Sten?
Attachment 82714 Sten bolt w/Sterling mag
Attachment 82715sten mag with sten bolt
Attachment 82716sterling bolt with sten mag
Attachment 82717sten bolt with sterling bolt
Notice that the centre feed horn is actually the same size in the sten bolt and the sterling bolt. If you grind the sten bolt magazine clearance slightly wider to clear the sterling magazine the sten bolt will function with both magazines, just like the sterling bolt.
...snip...
Thinking out aloud, you'd think that after 1959 when India was producing thousands of Sterling magazines a day, that instead of modifying Sten mags, they'd just incorporate into the design a feature to make them useable in Stens. George Patchett had thought of that too in the design. He made sure that tight fisted nations couldn't just buy Sterling mags to make their Stens more reliable. Nope....., they had to buy Sterling guns in order to use Sterling magazines!
In my view the marketing job was to convince them that it was difficult or impossible to convert a Sten to Sterling magazines.
Last edited by Lee Enfield; 04-10-2017 at 03:50 PM.
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Legacy Member
Originally Posted by
Lee Enfield
If you grind the sten bolt magazine clearance slightly wider to clear the sterling magazine the sten bolt will function with both magazines, just like the sterling bolt.
I tried that with an aluminum-bronze Sten bolt and couldn’t get it to work. The bolt stripped the rounds and drove them into the trunnion. I think the presentation angle of the Sterling mag is too shallow. Or am I missing a mod to fix it?
Last edited by Vincent; 04-10-2017 at 09:47 PM.
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Legacy Member
I have seen in an article the past. (Don't ask Me what publication it was!) that there was/ is an adaptor made for sterling Mags.
To enable their use in Stens
I have never seen one, or indeed. A Photo of one. But If I'm honest, I have never really searched hard.
Can any of our US Members supply/ help out with a Pic of these adaptors at all?
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There is a picture in the Sten book of one used in the US. but I don't remember whether it was Sten to Sterling or vice verca. Better still, just do what every soldier armed with a Sten did. Get 10 Sten mags that work in YOUR Sten and keep to them!
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
Flying10uk
Didn't it work the other way round though, Sterling mags fit a Sten?
No, Sten mags fit a Sterling without mod but not the other way. Altering them means they weren't intended.
Originally Posted by
Lee Enfield
the center feed horn is actually the same size in the Sten bolt and the sterling bolt
If you look at the bolt face and how high the recesses for the mag come up into them, you'll see they aren't even close. Never mind the feed horns themselves.
Originally Posted by
tankhunter
that there was/ is an adaptor made for sterling Mags.
To enable their use in Stens
It's a major mod that means grinding and altering completely.
The way to go. I can't imagine using mags for something else and then bitching that they don't work.
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Another bout of good old common sense from BAR.........
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Advisory Panel
I have one of the semi-auto police carbine sterlings. Here in Canada, Sterling magazines are expensive...meanwhle I have literally thousands of sten magazines that were demilitarized on release by a hammer or axe strike on the bodies. Since we are limited to 5 rounds anyway, I cut the demilled magazines to about the 10 round witness hole, reshape the lips for the bottom plate, and shorten the spring. It results in nice little 5 round sten magazines that work flawlessly in the sterling. The Sterling is very forgiving it would seem...I have never had a sten magazine that doesn't work flawlessly in one.
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
stencollector
sten magazines work flawlessly in the sterling.
Yes they do...that was part of the original sales pitch.
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Contributing Member
Sten mags fit a Sterling without mod but not the other way. Altering them means they weren't intended.
I meant to say "Sten mags fit a Sterling" in response to Peter's previous Post (20) but got it the wrong way round. I thought that I had heard or read this somewhere. Thanks for the clarification, Jim.
So you could economise by just purchasing the Sterling, without the magazines, and use existing stocks of Sten mags but doing so would result in an increased number of stoppages on a par with the Sten?
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