Early Sten MK II, Wrapped body

[lugerfan]

Hi all,

Vincent suggested putting some pictures up of my MKII as it may be of interest to some. Its an early UK deact, Fazakerly made with a serial number FB-27677, which I think falls outside the FB block of 1-10000 listed in Peters book.

B&T stamped mag housing with both a faint electro pencilled FB-27677 and a deeper stamp of just 27677. Lines Brothers trigger housing, a scattering of Broad arrows and stamps elsewhere.

any comments or thoughts gladly received.

Enjoy

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Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[browningautorifle]

So, that one really is like muffler tube...a seam along one side.

[Brit plumber]

The cheapest of cheap STENs!!

[Vincent]

Other than the pictures in Peter’s STEN book, this is the first wrapped body Mk2 I have seen. You can even see the witness marks from the tooling on the body.

Nice bit of history Thanks for posting the pictures.

[Lee Enfield]

One thing which should be noticed as I don't believe that it has been documented is that the washers welded to the side are there to support a cross bar welded on the inside.

Also the sheet material used to create the tube is a lighter Guage than that used on the trigger mech housing of the later guns.

In my view it shows how truly desperate they must have been to build the guns as I cannot understand how they would have passed any reasonable inspection protocol.

A gentle twist or squeeze would have immediately put one of the non reinforced guns out of action.

[CINDERS]

I honestly believe that the UK was on desperation street as far as weapons go after the Dunkirk and Singapore losses the amount of man power lost and kit would have been very hard to make up. Along with the u-boats sinking record tonnages of materials so desperately needed by her to carry on the war.
I feel those were the darkest days for Britain........

[Flying10uk]

I have heard it stated that the most vulnerable for the U.K. during WW2 was the month immediately following the Dunkirk evacuation. Luckily for us, Germany wasn't anywhere near ready or prepared, at this time, to mount a large seaborne invasion across the channel even if it is only about 20 miles at it's closest point.

[Peter Laidler]

The 'washers' tack welded on the side are to reinforce the change lever. I won't go into the mechanics of it too deeply, but it had to be done in order for the wrapped casings to accept the geometry of the standard change lever via the position of the detent balls that retain it in the A or R position. What crossbar welded on the inside? (thread 5, line 1)

Look at the gun and smile......... but you can have a blued, polished walnut stocked Thompson gun for £55 using valuable overseas funds and, paid for, up front, in gold. Or a Sten gun for £2:35p. But you can only kill a man so dead

[lugerfan]

I'll see if I can get a better view of the interior, but it looks like there is a bar welded across the opening above the change lever, I'm guessing that it protrudes outside of the sheet metal work and is covered by the big dirty blob of weld at the top of the "washers"

Is this a normal modification ?

I really love this old deact, apart from the butchered bolt and barrel it has survived pretty much intact. really gives a good idea of how desperate it was at that time. Typical British stiff upper lip resolve and all that

Makes a nice comparison with my MK V and my sterling (in the other post) to show how technology and design improves along with the luxury of time and money

[Vincent]

What crossbar welded on the inside?

There’s a picture of it on page 300 of your Sten book. You call it a “bracing strut.”

The big ugly welds just above the washers hold it in place.