STEN smg 1/2 scale

[IanN]

OK, I'm sorry that I've only just thought of posting this project here - it has been under construction for some time now.

The background:

During his National Service (in the 1940's) my father had an "experience" with a Sten gun. The incident became part of the family folk law and in a rash moment I offered to make a model of the Sten for my father.

The project was well underway - I completed the research and drew the appropriate drawings and had started the actual construction but my father passed away before the model was finished and my work on the task ground to a halt.

I re-discovered the model a little while ago and decided to finish it.

 

[steamer]

Hi Ian,

Cool, my friend trades in miniatures....and a well known member here makes some.

What caliper are you modeling? 22?

Dave

 

[IanN]

Hi Dave,

Legislation in the UK is such that the model is non-functional.

The chamber is 4.5mm and the barrel is drilled through at 2mm diameter (just so I can poke arod down the barrel to dislodge anything that got jammed into the 4.5mm chamber......)

Ian.

 

[IanN]

Hi Dave,

Legislation in the UK is such that the model is non-functional.

The chamber is 4.5mm and the barrel is drilled through at 2mm diameter (just so I can poke arod down the barrel to dislodge anything that got jammed into the 4.5mm chamber......)

Ian.

 

[steamer]

OK

Here in the states it is generally frowned upon....ie illegal...to make a machine gun without a "constructor's license", but you can get the paperwork sorted and do so.

I'm very interested in this project...I'll be watching along....but you have piqued my interest about your father and his run in!... ;D


Welcome!

Dave

 

[shred]

That looks to be a neat little memento to be passed down. It looks like you've got a pretty good grip on it, but if you need anything from drawings, I can probably scratch some up.

 

[Stan]

The Sten gun was a classic example of 'you get what you pay for'.
They cost less than $3.00 to produce during WWII.

 

[IanN]

Some more pictures of the Sten.

The magazine collar.

 

[IanN]

The casing assembly and the casing with the barrel.

 

[IanN]

The bolt and bolt handle

 

[IanN]

The main spring and the casing with the bolt

 

[IanN]

The stock

 

[bp]

Nice project.
A friend of mine, who has moved to the Great Workshop in The Sky was an Armourer in the British Army when Stens were a current weapon. He looked on them with disdain, saying ".....they did more harm to us than to them.....". However he would go on for hours about what a beautiful weapon a Bren gun was!
cheers
bp

 

[GOOFY063]

i have a old shotgun news somewhere showing how to convert a Sten to a closed bolt using a ar-15 trigger group which would make it semi-auto and legal to own

 

[steamer]

Looking good Ian!

Dave

 

[IanN]

Hi Shred,

That looks to be a neat little memento to be passed down. It looks like you've got a pretty good grip on it, but if you need anything from drawings, I can probably scratch some up.

Many thanks for the offer. Ironically one of the biggest problems that I had when collecting drawings for the project was the fact that there was so much information available - the gun was in production from the early 40s and was still in service in some countries up until the late 60s. In that time the design was licensed to many different countries and quite a number of variants produced. As a result I got dimensions for parts from different countries and different marks and there was no way all the bits would fit together - it reminded me of the Johnny Cash song "One piece at a time"...

Ian.

P.S. Next project will probably be the Sten replacement - the Sterling - you don't know where any drawings are available for that, do you?

 

[IanN]

The next set of pictures:

The casing and the stock assembled

 

[IanN]

The magazine latch

 

[IanN]

A couple of miscellaneous parts:

The trigger and what is referred to in the parts stock list as the "Lever, Tripping" - still covered in "blue"

And the extractor - waiting to be fitted to the bolt.

 

[napoleonb]

Hi Ian,

Where I live it is also illegal to build functional firearms, although miniature non firing "firearms" can be subject to a rather nasty court trail as are airguns, but I'm also fascinated by them. Having seen the plans you probably refer to and not being able to resist from drawing a full size and 1/2 scale model i found several flaws in the drawings I had. Because of a lot of projects waiting to be finished i have to keep telling myself that building a scale version isnt what i need at this time, i still badly want one.
Did you make any further progress?

If you like to make miniature firearms there are beautifull original thompson drawings for almost every part for a M1928 to be found on the web.