Reloading for a WWII Sten

notsorichguy

notsorichguy

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So lately I have met a good ol boy from North Dakota. I have been working around Estevan and I usually go across the line once ot twice a week for cheap'er' gas and cheap beer at a small town bar.

As all things happen, you start to make friends when you show up at the same place 2 or 3 times a week.

This fella and I get around to talking guns etc.

It comes around to I'm jealous cause I can't own or shoot FA in canuckistan, skip forward about 15 min in the converstion and turns out he has a WWII sten that he hasn't fired in over 25yrs as he doesn't want to take a chance on commercial ammo in it. I tell him to reload some low power 9mm cast stuff and see what happens. He then tells me he wouldn't even know where to start.....

I'm sure someone around here know something about old Stens. Someone also must have some idea of how to go about a reduced load that will function in a FA.

My first thought was a light load of Unique would do the trick, but I would like confirmation before I pass on the info.........

Cheers!
 
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Do Not assemble light loads for use in a Sten. Might not function, might create a runaway gun. Use full loads. Use strong cases. Lightweight commercial cases run the risk of blown heads. Stens need good, snappy, issue equivalent ammunition.
 
I do know that it fires from an open bolt and has no firing pin.......

Other than that I am clueless.

I just assumed that since it is an old(ish) firearm that it would be possible for it to be 'weaker' than a 'modern' gun.......
 
The firing pin is fixed, machined on the bolt face. The gun operates by advanced primer ignition, the firing cycle starting just before the bolt closes completely.
 
Blowback operated guns are very hard to blow up; they'll usually open up and dump all the pressure before rupturing the barrel. To be honest, I don't think there's enough case capacity in a 9mm to blow up a properly built blowback gun...
 
As stated above, any commercial ammo will be just fine. I have used Federal, Winchester, PMC as well as commercial reloads. The only hiccup I have come across was when using too light a bullet. It didnt like the 115s(nor do I) but functioned flawlessly with 147 or 124s.
Have fun with it. You will find them surprisingly accurate.
Cheers
dB
 
the sterling which is pretty much a sten in fancy clothes will eat almost anthing, the brits loaded ammo that pushed a 124g bullet to ~1500fps. it was discontinued because it was over the nato limit of 50000 psi for small arms ammo

ive known guys who load for open bolt guns starting at max listed and go up from there until cases start to fail
 
My buddy has a restricted semi only sterling I have had the chance to shoot.
On the range we were using some lighter powered commercial loads, not enough energy to get the bolt back fully to the sear and soft enough primers to fire from the incomplete bolt stroke.
Suddenly it was not semi only, but not in a good way. Not a runaway, but 2 or 3 round bursts normally ended with a stove piped round or double feed. Ran fine with normal (or higher power) rounds.
 
Thanks for all of the replies.

To be honest when he told me he was wary of shooting 'modern' ammo in an old gun I assumes it was like any old Winchester or marlin 45-70 that was built in the age of BP, but if I sit and think about it WWII was pretty much the age of smokeless propellants!

I guess I'll pass on the info and let him decide if he shoots it or not..... Never know, he may let me shoot it too! :D

Cheers!
 
daBear said:
As stated above, any commercial ammo will be just fine. I have used Federal, Winchester, PMC as well as commercial reloads. The only hiccup I have come across was when using too light a bullet. It didnt like the 115s(nor do I) but functioned flawlessly with 147 or 124s.
Have fun with it. You will find them surprisingly accurate.
Cheers
dB
Click to expand...


Where did you buy your sten ?
 
It is part of a collection of military/modern firearms. We used to be able to buy them as army surplus many years ago. Current laws now make it impossible unless you have the proper licenses.
dB
 
Thanks dB. I was hoping you owned a non restricted Saskatchewan sten gun, I was looking for a opinion from someone who owns one.
 
The Sten needs and can handle just about as powerful ammo as you can build.

From my experience it would be nearly impossible to blow up a Sten. I have overloaded rounds enough to bulge and even rupture the case. In that situation the case and fragments are simply ejected out the side of the gun and it keeps going.

The only damage I have ever seen a Sten receive was a blown extractor when a round ignited prematurely going into the chamber. It was a simple matter to swap out a new extractor.

Light loads in a Sten will cause uncontrollable runaway due to short stroking.
 
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