Its all a big misunder-STEN-ding..! (or...let me take STOCK, of the situation...)

[Maiphut]

Just to add the Thompson was too expensive and had high manufacturing costs for urgent mass production and what production could be made was all ready spoken for and could not extend to the Commonwealth other than in small batches.

Commonwealth needed something that could be built in a shed cheap. $11 for a Sten, or $200-$70 for a Thompson which the Commonwealth already bought up as many Thompsons as they could get hold of and was no where near enough. So they came up with it’ll do.

The Sten is reasonably accurate, I was able to get 3" groups at 50 yards when I used one. That’s good enough The crude sights let you down. Much better with a red dot on top.

[Friendly_Fire]

So for your $1000 you could equip 5 of your soldiers with Thompson SMGs or 90 with Stens…

Don’t have to be a military genius to work out that one.

[Maiphut]

Thats right and another reason the Austen failed is because itself was more expensive using diecast parts, diecast magazine feed top, mag housing, fancy grips and things but why Australia went with making Austen and Owen as we couldn’t get enough Thompsons or even Stens to equip our forces let alone the Brits when jungle fighting the Smelly was not suited for.

That itself explains how dire the situation was if Aus forces couldn’t get enough to equip our force numbers. The Owen saved the day. Grandpa told me about it as he was issued one mid deployment in the jungles of Bougainville to replace his smelly during The New Guinea campaign. He said it was a god send as all combat was under 50 yards, couldn’t see any further. Rustle up in the tree above where they liked to hide and attack from, loose a mag at the tree and a enemy would tumble out.

Sten magazine. All stamped steel construction.

Austen 2 part stamped steel lower with die cast top section circled in red in an attempt to make the magazine more reliable. It did but so did the complexity and cost of the magazine.

Don’t mind me I find this sort of thing interesting is all

[shadow187]

very interesting indeed

[BME]

Ok, a bit more info.

This time…BATTERY…

There is only ONE battery that will fit, its a gymnastic act to fit it, and it needs a plug change…

So, the battery fits into the top of the magazine, the end cap must cover it properly, and it powers the mag, and the blaster.

The Main spring on the blaster is HUGE…the tiny battery has to do a LOT of work, and even 11.1v only sees a ROF around 500-550 R/min. It wont last very long. The ONLY battery that fits properly , is a generic chequred battery (running JST plugs).

This is the top removable part of the mag, insert it, and the battery fits in the slot.

This is a new 11.1 battery i just bought…
Even before you insert it, you can see the battery is too tall…

Battery top protrudes past the end, stopping cover from going on…

A smaller 11v battery is needed…go the generic chequred…

[BME]

The chequered batt is JST plugs, so you need to cut them and solder on some XT-30’s.
Not much spare wire to play with, and you need to do acrobatics later, so a good connection is required.

Once the battery is ready, insert the top end plate. It has a groove in it to get it past the power cable. As such, the power cable naturally wants to sit to one side…insert the top part, and connect the battery…

As you can see, there is very little cable room available, so limited battery mobility.
Move the cable to the other side…

The battery has to now do a somersault…careful of the soldered connectors…

It JUST BARELY fits in…size wise, and cable length wise…

The top cover can now fit on, holding it all together.
You can see how annoying it is, to pull a mag apart, when you get a motor jam, and need to clear it…

Undo EVERYTHING…cover off, battery out, top slide out, spring out, bottom slide out, all gels out, clear jam, reverse to reassemble…!!
I’m tired, just typing it…!!!

Anyway, top cover now fits.

Anyway, with all this battery bending, you need to be SUPER CAREFUL of the soldered battery connection.

Its easy to forget its a weak link, and in a rush to clear a jam, pull too hard and rip the terminals out.

Like I just did.

GRRRR

Back to soldering again…

[BME]

Next part… the mag spring (FIX) (Sort of)

Here is a comparo of LDT MP-5 spring mag , vs the Sten…
LDT on the left.

Just as i thought, the LDT has a stiffer, thicker, firmer spring.
@Maiphut , mind out of the gutter…!!

Also, the LDT spring is not free floating, each free end is firmly attached into the top and bottom of its mag components.

This is the offending free end, of the Sten…
Same free end, at the top and bottom…
It cant wait, to jam into something…

Like a pollie at election time, it buckles under pressure, and jams the whole spring up…

My trial solution, was to embed the top end of the spring, into hot glue gun glue…

This embeds the pointy free end, and contains it.
I only did it on the top end, the bottom end will be under compression via the spring.
Also, on spring withdrawl, you are pulling the top end out via the plastic component, with no real force on the spring/glue interface.

If the very bottom one was glued in, it would be dragged up by the glue, and hot glue isn’t all that strong. Being unbound at the bottom, allows the spring to rotate a bit too…

I was going to do some more firing / testing tonight, but i have buggered the battery, and should do the thommy review as well…

@AKgelblaster , attaching the spring to the mag top with stronger glue, should solve the mag problem somewhat… it was always the top part of the spring that buckled and folded…if its glued on, it cant…

Tell that to the factory…

And, also tell Jing Ming to make some Nice Uzi’s…!!

ALSO: for those interested, NO, the LDT MP5 mags DONT work with the new JM MP5-k…

it doesn’t have the protruding terminals ( but you could potentially add them on)

[Friendly_Fire]

Man, it’s lucky you’re more into the replica factor than functionality.

Mag spring issue aside, trying to run that unit for any length of time on that tiny little battery would be an exercise in anger management for me. I’d have relegated it into the wallhanger category by now with that ridiculously inadequate battery driving such a chunky battery draining blowback system.

Seriously, if it were mine I’d forget about better performance and possibly even consider dropping back on the piston and return springs to take a little of fhe load off that digital watch sizes lipo. Just so it cycles and kicks a bit when you’re playing with it.

You’re tenacious, I’ll give you that, matey.

Your thread’s invaluable to anyone contemplating one of these… great stuff, BME.

[BME]

Im very much of the opinion, this is a speciality, collectors item…

For those who really want one, and are prepared to live with its limitations…

@shadow187 , are you still interested, having read this.?? Just curious.

I suspect major retailers would be hesitant, to bring in large quantities of these…the average punter wants something easy and reliable, particularly at a higher price point…

Anyway, thats fine by me…i like quirky items, and its not going to get a huge amount of use…

@AKgelblaster can service the local market of people here , wanting speciality items…all you need is a B709…

[BME]

Another option, is to run the battery externally mounted.
Have the cord protrude, run a larger battery underneath the mag, and retain it there.

Wont solve the problem of 1/2 filling the mag though…

I was going to see tonight, if glueing the spring in solved the mag filling issue, but i’ll have to re-solder the battery first…

[Maiphut]

Just a thought, instead of buying ali batteries. Have you had a look at Hobbyking. They have restarted the australian store, the Turnigy line of batteries are very good I have some that are 15 years old.

But on the HK website you can search for and look at the specs, so 3S and lengthxwidthxhieght and maybe match something up there, maybe even with the right plug

Another option I thought worth mentioning. They have the AS specific buffer tube types which I have and they are very good.

Even oddball size I have measured out for things like the LH AUG to get maximum power for space available.

[Maiphut]

Thinking outside the box with the battery inside the mag. The battery only needs to be big enough to expend what’s in the mag is maybe their thinking. Which is stupid imo or they just don’t know we like to expend lots of ammo. But then you just change mag that would have another battery in it and go again.

Which is ok in theory but in real world, too many compromises effecting performance.

[shadow187]

awesome write up, a little disappointing about the performance, finding a way to disable blowback altogether would save battery but a little kick back wouldn’t hurt, although if there is stronger small sized batteries to suit that would be convenient.

my purchase of a Sten MKII would’ve been strictly for my uncle n he’s probably going to be devo if retailers here don’t get them in, performance wise I’m not sure he’d be overly fussed but who doesn’t like bang for their buck? and it is quite a few sheckles to spend

still far better than a denix for around the same price by a longshot and more detailed

I highly doubt my uncle will want to fiddle with soldering new plugs etc

on the fence about it tbh, he wants a Thomson as well n he’d be happy with one if I got it for him from tac but his heart lies with a Sten MKII

[BME]

Its yet to be pulled apart, but…

• If blowback can be disabled, it will be. that will definately save overall wear, reduce vibration, and reduce battery load.

• performance gains will be minimal, and involve trying to improve airseals. there might be 20- 30 fps in it, but thats it.

• Even xforce agreed, they said they wouldn’t want to muck around too much, proprietry parts would be impossible to replace, and even if you got big fps gains, you’d probably load something else up, and break that…

Still, courtesy of a discount, its still cheaper than a denix. We’ll muck around, and make a custom rear stock for it. And see if it can seal a little better.

In my mind, a funky quirky item, better and cheaper than a denix, and it does at least shoot gels.

I would understand if retailers didn’t bring them in, and they remain a boutique item, for personal import…

[BME]

Got a battery sorted, another attempt at firing.

Couldn’t get it to feed gels., even with the mag less than half full.
Maybe the spring is too bent, to function effectively…or the gels are a bit too damp, and sticky…

Enough for tonight…

[AKgelblaster]

Check the mag on any parts damaged?