Posted on 01/02/2017 6:09:30 AM PST by w1n1
A Classic Machinegun from WWII
This classic piece of weaponry shoots from the open bolt position with the capability of sending rounds down range on semi and fully automatic. If you're not familiar with the STEN gun history, here’s the short scoop on it.
During WWII, the British needed a submachine gun similar to the U.S. Thompson machine gun, which they were buying from the U.S. But due to the demands because of great hardware loss. The British had to come up with a solution.
British Royal Arms factory came up with the STEN gun which was an easy design, easy to operate and quickly manufactured in huge quantity greatly helping the fight in WWII.
If you haven't shot one, have a look at Hickok45 shooting it and taking it apart. This piece of weaponry is easy to operate from shooting to disassembling. See the STEN gun in action here.
Hickok45...
some of the best shooting and firearms info on YT. And, a damn nice range, too.
Ive got one for sale, C&R fro RAF Fazakerly for $8,000.00. Comes with extra parts kit, brass bolt, and dozens of magazines. All NFA rules apply.
used to be you could buy a tube with the design epoxied onto it, machine/dremel it out and finish it with a parts kit, but those days are long gone
You can still get them, but most MFGs refuse to sell unless you have an FFL/SOT:
YOu can still get them, but be assured, ATF will track them.
I’m actually kind of surprised the British didn’t drop the Sten—which had wildly varying quality of build depending on who built the gun—in favor of the M3 “grease gun,” which was a better submachine gun even with the issues with the magazine.
What I know of the Sten gun was it was not a very well designed and well functioning weapon.
100%...
Or you can get a demilled parts kit and make a display that maybe will look good at a distance. “Fair as is kit”
https://www.apexgunparts.com/parts-kits/sten-mk5-parts-set-pof-fair.html
(They have lots of other fun stuff, too)
I fired one about 8-10 years ago. Nice to say I’ve fired another piece of history.
They worked just fine. Well designed for its function: suppressive fire from a low, prone position, while your limey mates flank with Enfields with bayonets.
Not from what I’ve come to understand. The Brits did go for the Thompson in a big way. The emblem of the famed SAS use one in their logo.
One reason I remember reading decades ago, for the Sten gun being designed in 9mm was the wide availability of 9mm ammunition in Europe. It fired the 9mm Luger parabellum round.
Another account was that the Brits in North Africa captured millions of 9mm rounds of ammunition and then designed a gun to use them in. 9mm rounds were definitely more common in Europe than .45 ACP that the Thompson & M-3 ‘grease gun’ used.
I don’t know if either is true, but they were anecdotal reasons I heard back in the 1950s and 60s.
Nice Longbranch No. 4 rifle there.
Stens actually contributed to the demise of ROF Fazakerley...in the mid-late 50s they were still poking around building and rebuilding No. 4 rifles and Stens for Crown Sales, while dragging their tails on getting the new Sterling SMG and L1A1 rifle into production. TONS of production (and legal) problems with the Sterling, and they never assembled a single L1A1 before being shut down in disgust by the British government in 1960.
Was it the STEN or the M3 that was affectionately known as “a spring, a wire, and a prayer?”
Very entertaining video.
interesting...
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