Where is the serial number on a sten mk ii

#Where is the serial number on a sten mk ii full#

In addition, holding the weapon by the magazine when firing tended to bend its lips, often resulting in a stoppage, and hands had to be kept well clear of the cocking lever slot or the result might be a severed finger or thumb. Poorly tempered springs in early magazines were a particular problem, and experienced users loaded magazines with only 25 cartridges, rather than standard 32 rounds, so as not to over-stress this component. Magazines could also be temperamental and had to be loaded and treated carefully after fitting. It had to be kept clean or stoppages would occur due to dirt in the chamber or bolt mechanism. In Poland, approximately 23 underground workshops turned out 11,000 copies of the Sten MkII for the Polish Home Army between 19, all these Polish weapons being stamped with English marks to disguise their origin.Р”Вespite its popularity, it is certainly true that the Sten had faults. The Norwegian underground army (or Milorg) manufactured some of its own Sten guns and Danish resistance fighters also produced nearly 1,000 copies of the weapon from clandestine factories in and around Copenhagen. Its 9x19mm chambering also gave the Sten another overwhelming advantage - it used the same ammunition as the German ArmyРІР‚в„ўs own sub-machine guns, the MP38 and MP40, which was very convenient for Resistance groups, who could replenish their supply of cartridges from the enemyРІР‚в„ўs own ammunition pouches.Р”Р„s well as receiving complete weapons several resistance groups also arranged their own production facilities. The Cairo office of the SOE also found them particularly useful because they were fired without lubrication and thus did not attract dirt and other debris into the mechanism, unlike the more sophisticated Thompson SMG. SOE arranged for thousands of these weapons to be dropped to European resistance groups who valued them for their devastating firepower and simple construction, which made a Sten easy to both conceal and repair. By the end of WWII, approximately four million Stens had been manufactured by RSAF Enfield and its British and Canadian subsidiaries. Most notable was severely restricted accuracy, the effective range of the weapon being only 100m, although at anything below this distance it was frighteningly effective.Р”Р„ccepted into service with British forces in 1941 as the 9mm STEN Machine Carbine, Mark 1, later developments centered around simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing costs even further, rather than improving performance, and these measures were so effective that a later variant, the MkIII, could be produced in five man-hours for just over Р’Р€2. Unfortunately its austere design, together with the 9mm pistol ammunition for which it was chambered, brought its own disadvantages. The standard 32-round magazine then emptied in approximately three seconds on fully automatic, a selector button on the right of the frame giving a choice of automatic or semi-automatic fire.

#Where is the serial number on a sten mk ii full#

With Britain in such desperate need of weapons, cheapness and speed of manufacture were the designerРІР‚в„ўs main concerns, and they came up with a sub-machine gun whose assembly required only minor welding of simple parts stamped from sheet metal, with minimal machining for the bolt and main and trigger springs.Р”В¬hambered for LugerРІР‚в„ўs ubiquitous 9mm Parabellum cartridge, the Sten had a simple blow-back mechanism, operated by placing a full magazine in a slot at the left side of the receiver, drawing back the bolt until it was retained by the sear and pulling the trigger. Produced after Dunkirk to replace the huge numbers of weapons lost during the evacuation, the Sten sub-machine gun was the brainchild of Major RV Shepherd OBE and Harold Turpin, its name composed of the initial letters of the inventorsРІР‚в„ў surnames and РІР‚ВENРІР‚в„ў from Enfield.