The old plumber's nightmare, the Sten gun

[#juan]

The Sten Gun​

The British Army entered the Second World War without an adequate submachine gun of its own. During the battles on the Continent in 1940, the need for one was made apparent. At the time, only US Thompsons were available. A British copy of the German MP 28, called the Lanchester, was rushed into service, but it was complicated and not easily built in large numbers. ​

In early 1941, a prototype was put forth by the Royal Small Arms Factory in England, inspired by captured German MP40s. It was named by using the initials of its its designers, Major RV Sheffield and Mister HJ Turpin, and adding them to the first two letters of Enfield, the location of a small arms factory and arsenal. The Sten Gun was first used at Dieppe by Canadian troops. It completely replaced the Thompson in Northwest Europe by the time of the Normandy landings in June 1944.​

The Mark I Sten, which featured a flash hider, wooden furniture, and folding hand grip, was quickly replaced by the Sten Mark II, which saw widespread issue. Two million examples of this Mark were produced. The Sten was a very simply built weapon, manufactured from just 47 parts, mainly stamped from steel and welded, sweated, pressed or riveted together. The only machined parts were the bolt and barrel. It's compact size, simplicity of manufacture, and ease of dismantling (and hiding) made it a favourite among Resistance groups on the Continent. As well, it could use captured German 9mm ammunition. In fact, the magazine was a very close copy of the German MP40 magazine, which unfortunately meant that like the German version, it was prone to jamming.​

The Sten Mark II could be fitted with a silencer, becoming the very first silenced SMG. Large numbers of the silenced version were made.​

The Sten Mark III was an even simpler version introduced by Lines Brothers, a firm of toy makers, and was issued out out by the time of the Normandy landings. While possibly the best Sten version of the Sten, it was not produced in large numbers. It's main feature was a fixed barrel and all-in-one body and casing.​

MkII Mk III Mk V Calibre 9 mm Parabellum Magazine 32 round detachable box Length 762mm
30 inches Unloaded Weight 2.95 kg
6 lb 8 oz 3.18 kg
7 lb 3.86 kg
8 lb 8 oz Cyclic Rate of Fire 550 rpm 550 rpm 600 rpm Muzzle Velocity

381 m/sec
1250 fps​

The Sten Mark V was introduced for airborne troops, though no real improvements were made. Cosmetically, a wooden butt, a pistol grip, and a fore grip were added, along with a bayonet lug (to accept the spike bayonet of the No. 4 rifle).​

The Sten was issued to vehicle crews, despatch riders, and those who had no need for a long range weapon. In the main, however, it was issued to infantry battalions, especially platoon commanders, platoon sergeants, and section leaders in infantry platoons. Officers also carried them. On the night of 8-9 June 1944, during confused fighting in the town of Bretteville, a German despatch rider, thinking the town had been secured by his unit, rode past the battalion headquarters of the Regina Rifles. No less a person than the Commanding Officer personally brought the despatch rider down with his Sten gun. Another Canadian battalion commander in Normandy is also noted to have personally hunted down a German sniper, tracked him to a barn, and personally "gunned the bastard down" with his Sten.​

Artifacts from the collection of Sergeant Dennis Russell.​

Mark II Sten Guns, showing the attachment of the sling as well as alternate styles of butt stocks.
The Sten at top also shows how the magazine housing could be rotated.​

 

[#juan]

I only ever ran across the Sten gun in training. It was definitely not a precision weapon, but you could put the whole clip into a barn door from twenty five feet. Part of the problem was the heavy bolt that went back and forth about six inches as you fired it. The army guys that used it said it was a house cleaning weapon.....

 

[#juan]

Interesting. All the pictures disappeared.

I'll try again: http://tinyurl.com/3ld9v4

 

[#juan]

Apparently you could build 15 stens for the cost of one Lee Enfield 303 rifle. In itself that is impressive because they built 17 million Lee Enfields at a unit cost of about $28.00

 

[Colpy]

Just as an aside, I have a friend that was in the military in the early 60s. He found a Sterling abandoned in the bush at Camp Gagetown......he tried to turn it in, but the piece didn't exist on their inventories, and he was refused......after 3 attempts at surrendering it he finally just left it in some vehicle......

He says he will forever regret not taking it home.

 

[#juan]

Just as an aside, I have a friend that was in the military in the early 60s. He found a Sterling abandoned in the bush at Camp Gagetown......he tried to turn it in, but the piece didn't exist on their inventories, and he was refused......after 3 attempts at surrendering it he finally just left it in some vehicle......

He says he will forever regret not taking it home.

That's too bad. The Stirling used in the 60s was the most refined of the Stens, if any of them could be considered refined. There was a later version that the RCAF had kicking around that had a longer barrel and a real front sight that made it almost a reasonable weapon, but by this time there were some very good light machine guns out there.

 

[#juan]

Interesting to note that the Sten had only 47 parts, each of which could be made in a home workshop, as long as you had a small lathe and a drill press.

 

[Hyack]

It may be strange to note that the original AK-47 which was constructed in a similar manner, mainly stamped from steel and welded, pressed and riveted together only contains 52 parts. And are just like a Timex.....takes a lickin'....and keeps on tickin'

 

[#juan]

Yeah, the AK 47 was and is a great weapon. The Kalashnikov was a newer and better design but it was a fair amount more costly than the Sten that was designed and built to be as cheap and simple as possible. Each had it's place.

 

[Colpy]

The AK47's greatest feature was that it went off every time you pulled the trigger.....I used to haver a semi-ato civilian version.

There were a number of things I didn't like......the gun was not particularly accurate, a problem not aided one bit by the sights, which consisted of a U notch rear and post front.......yech! The safety covered the ejection port, doubling as a dust cover.....it had two problems. When you pushed it off it went CLACK! loudly. And, as a combat rifle....wow, to flick the safety off you had to either let go with your off hand and reach over the weapon.....or let go off the pistol grip and reach up....not good.

The Israelis took the design and improved it.....chambered it for the 5.56mm, put the safety under the thumb of the right hand were it belongs, added apeture sights........nice piece! That was the Galil.

 

[#juan]

That is interesting. I didn't know there was a civilian version. Would it take all the ammo clips? There was a 100 round clip for the military version, ...a semi-auto wouldn't need that many shots. You say it wasn't all that accurate, so it is hard to imagine a use for it....or a market..I guess the idea of owning a "sort of" AK 47 would be attractive to some. I wonder if there was a way to convert it to full auto?

 

[Colpy]

That is interesting. I didn't know there was a civilian version. Would it take all the ammo clips? There was a 100 round clip for the military version, ...a semi-auto wouldn't need that many shots. You say it wasn't all that accurate, so it is hard to imagine a use for it....or a market..I guess the idea of owning a "sort of" AK 47 would be attractive to some. I wonder if there was a way to convert it to full auto?

Yes, back in the day (when it was legal) it took 30 round magazines, in fact that was all that was available. The rifle was made by Norinco in China, and brand new cost $250. I just like guns, is the only reason I had it. It was a curiousity, one of the most famous weapons ever made. It could probably have been made full-auto reasonably easily.........most semi-autos are.

If one had mounted a decent sight on it, and could have gotten by the CLACK of the safety, it would have made a decent close range deer gun..........the cartridge is about ther same power as a .30-30. Not that I would ever have used it as such.....I have better options.

And you would really look like a nut. I like to keep that aspect of my personality a secret.

 

[#juan]

Having a semi-auto rifle with a thirty round clip sounds expensive. I once had a semi-auto 22 rifle and I had trouble keeping 22 shells in the house. 22 rounds were relatively cheap......30 30 shells are at least a buck apiece.


The only weapons I have left are an old Winchester model 12 shotgun(12 ga) and an even older model 94 Winchester 30 30. I used to have more but I've either sold them or given them away.

Nobody would ever guess you liked guns...;-):roll:

 

[Colpy]

You could (and can) buy 7.62 x 39 ammo dirt cheap...........about 15 cents a round. And, you don't have to squeeze the trigger as fast as possible....

And, shooting a lot is more fun with a .22 than anything else.

But I did shoot up some dollars with that piece....mounted an Aimpoint on it.....one that shows a red mark on the target (not a laser, it is an optical sight).......covers about 3" at 100 yards.....fast! and perfect for that gun. We used to fill old 2 litre pop bottles with water and see how quick we could blow 10 of them up at 50 yards.........some fun!

That game made it very obvious how deadly the rifle could be at moderate range.

 

[#juan]

I haven't bought any ammo for years so I thought I would check the prices. 30:30 ammo is still expensive......About $18.00 for twenty rounds unless you buy in large quantities. 12 ga. is about the same as it was twenty years ago.

The shooting I like with a 22 is 12 inch paper targets at 50 yards........Plinking tin cans can also be fun but one can go through a lot of rounds in a short time. The gun I had was a Browning semi-auto with a but-plate tube magazine At one time I had a source for military surplus 22 ammo. It was very cheap but you got about 3 percent misfires.

That would be fun....Shooting a real gun with a recoil and everything for fifteen cents a shot but in my younger days I would have kept myself broke with that rifle. I can't imagine having a full auto gun. I probably have the self-discipline now but at 16 or 17 I sure as hell didn't.

 

[lone wolf]

Full auto? Block or file the seer pin

 

[Zzarchov]

Lots of people at 16 or 17 join the military and handle full auto weapons. As for converting the civilian version to a full auto version...

Considering you can make the full auto version from scratch in a basic machine shop, I'd wager its easily doable

 

[#juan]

Lots of people at 16 or 17 join the military and handle full auto weapons. As for converting the civilian version to a full auto version...

Considering you can make the full auto version from scratch in a basic machine shop, I'd wager its easily doable

Yes, but they weren't paying for the ammo. That was my only point. It is easy enough to go through ammo with a semi-auto rifle.

 

[Zzarchov]

Yes, but they weren't paying for the ammo. That was my only point. It is easy enough to go through ammo with a semi-auto rifle.

Very very true, But I would then contrast that with paintball.

At some fields the ammo is 33c a shot. But kids still have enough fire control with fully auto weapons to conserve ammo for a full 4 hours of game for $20

 

[darkbeaver]

I saw a pile of them on the beach at the shipyard in 1963. the pile was eight feet high maybe and 12 arround, they had all been slashed accross the breach with a cutting torch, there was Brens too here and there in the heap.