I'm in the process of putting together a replica of a Sten MK1, and so I've been doing some research. I've got a couple of questions.
The Sten MKI was tested in Jan 41, and produced for a short number of months until replaced by the cheaper, simpler, faster-made, but less-polished MKII in Aug of that same year. About 100,000 MKIs were made; far fewer compared to 2 million MKIIs, but twice as many Lanchester SMGs.
Well...where the hell did they all go? Looking around, there appear to be no more than a few functional examples in museums. I find a couple of reports that say the British Army declared them "obsolete" during the war, which I presume to mean they were removed from service...I'm not sure why, given that they appear to have been slightly superior to the MKII, which were evidently kept around or given out for some time. It doesn't seem likely they were all worn out or destroyed in combat, as there seem to be few reports or images of their use in battle outside of commando raids and North Africa. Presumably at some point the British Army had a number of them on hand. Were they all so thoroughly destroyed to such a point as to make them this rare? Why? The smaller production Lanchesters certainly aren't in such short supply.
Secondly, I don't know if I've quite unravelled the mystery of the front-end barrel retention with 100% certainty. It appears that the cone-shaped flash hider slipped over the barrel into some permanently attached retention ring on the end of the receiver, and then the flash hider was held in position by a couple of screws, which fit through a squared-off extension of the ring on the front, into notches along the sides of the hiders insert. Is this correct? If not, does anyone have a schematic, or even a crude drawing, of how exactly this arrangement worked?
The Sten MKI was tested in Jan 41, and produced for a short number of months until replaced by the cheaper, simpler, faster-made, but less-polished MKII in Aug of that same year. About 100,000 MKIs were made; far fewer compared to 2 million MKIIs, but twice as many Lanchester SMGs.
Well...where the hell did they all go? Looking around, there appear to be no more than a few functional examples in museums. I find a couple of reports that say the British Army declared them "obsolete" during the war, which I presume to mean they were removed from service...I'm not sure why, given that they appear to have been slightly superior to the MKII, which were evidently kept around or given out for some time. It doesn't seem likely they were all worn out or destroyed in combat, as there seem to be few reports or images of their use in battle outside of commando raids and North Africa. Presumably at some point the British Army had a number of them on hand. Were they all so thoroughly destroyed to such a point as to make them this rare? Why? The smaller production Lanchesters certainly aren't in such short supply.
Secondly, I don't know if I've quite unravelled the mystery of the front-end barrel retention with 100% certainty. It appears that the cone-shaped flash hider slipped over the barrel into some permanently attached retention ring on the end of the receiver, and then the flash hider was held in position by a couple of screws, which fit through a squared-off extension of the ring on the front, into notches along the sides of the hiders insert. Is this correct? If not, does anyone have a schematic, or even a crude drawing, of how exactly this arrangement worked?
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