Forming Sten mag lips

[Brian Dick]

Hey Peter, I didn't see your name in the credits! Thank Christ.

[Lee Enfield]

[QUOTE=Gil Boyd;433517]An interesting perspective on the whole episode of the Sten

Typical drivel.... written, produced and presented by people who have never fired a subgun, and probably any other firearm either.


Thankfully they have weighed in to educate the public regarding the only sub gun from WW2 still in common service... continuously 76 years later...

obviously the worst SMG of WW2 (and possibly all time) by any realistic standard...

[Brian Dick]

And they obviously don't buy books either.

[stenmkII]

That video is pretty bad. "Thompson" huh?

The Sten is definitely misunderstood and generally extremely underestimated. Lack of reliability is the biggest piece of bad info in my opinion.

I do find mine likes hot ammo. It will run away with weak stuff.

The 7.62x25 conversion is pretty cool. I use a 20# spring with it. For mags I bought 2 MP28 9mm Largo magazines. One I polished down just a hair and it fits in the well snugly. Now mind you this was before the 7.62 Sterling pistols came out a while back with modified Sten mags coming with them. The other MP28 magazine I sent to a guy ("BustOff who is/was active in the NFA community for custom mags) with a PPSH41 magazine. He cut the MP28 mag just under the catch and that became the top half, then cut the PPSH mag just below the collar and that became the bottom half, welded and smoothed it out and made me an MPPPSH2841 Sten magazine . So the top fits the Sten and the bottom is curved in an attempt to better feed the tapered 7.62 rounds. The follower was cut off to follow the curve. It works OK but to perfect it I think it needs a stronger/custom spring. I can post a pic if anyone wants to see it rigged up for that caliber.

Shortly after butchering those mags (I didn't pay a ton but it turns on MP28 mags are collectible and the 9mm Largo mags are really rare) the converted for 7.62 Sten mags came on the market to support the new Sterling pistols so I bought a couple of those. They max out around 22 rounds iirc. The franken mag I had made will go to 34 or more?

The barrel is a Chinese Sten barrel as documented in Laidler's book. It runs surprisingly smooth with the #20 pound spring. Thing is, cheap surplus has dried up and much of it is poor ammo. I don't want to risk another malfunction in the gun so I don't shoot it much.

[Brit plumber]

How long is your Chinese Barrel? I have a Chinese conversion in the collection marked 7.62mm and is for Tokarev ammo. I have seen the conversions that use the PPSH mag and have a PPSH mag well but mine uses the standard 9mm mag well and came with a 9mm mag. I’d like to know what mag was used with these conversions and the concensus is that it was a 9mm mag with the ridge cut out of the spine and a plate welded over the back. No one has found evidence of this as yet but I’d guess these mags will be out there, possibly thrown in with a bunch of unreliable 9mm mags!!

[stenmkII]

How long is your Chinese Barrel? I have a Chinese conversion in the collection marked 7.62mm and is for Tokarev ammo. I have seen the conversions that use the PPSH mag and have a PPSH mag well but mine uses the standard 9mm mag well and came with a 9mm mag. I’d like to know what mag was used with these conversions and the concensus is that it was a 9mm mag with the ridge cut out of the spine and a plate welded over the back. No one has found evidence of this as yet but I’d guess these mags will be out there, possibly thrown in with a bunch of unreliable 9mm mags!!

I can measure it but it's longer than a British 9mm barrel and matches the length in the book. It has a 4 digit serial stamped into it, no caliber or other stampings. It looks to me like the barrel was cut from barrel stock, then had the supporting chamber sleeve bit (I cannot remember what it's called) attached. Basically my "kit" was just the barrel plus 2 MP28 9mm Largo magazines that someone sold me. Then I bought the spring from an outfit that makes a lot of aftermarket SMG springs parts. I can dig them up if you want.

[stenmkII]

10 & 11/16" measured from muzzle to the end of the sleeve.

[browningautorifle]

The Sten is definitely misunderstood and generally extremely underestimated. Lack of reliability is the biggest piece of bad info in my opinion.

I've had a few, a Long Branch '42 was my favorite. Worked well and had no shortcuts or shortcomings... Some of the late UK guns were a bit rough though.

[Vincent]

An interesting perspective on the whole episode of the Sten

What’s interesting? Looks like dross to me.

[Gil Boyd]

Sorry its my droll English humour