rumours and legends and tales of war

ollie said:
The MP40 mag will fit and function in a sten, but not vice-versa! I wonder if the German copy of the sten(appears identical, but with a vertically positioned mag)takes sten mags?
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Hello,

Ollie is 100% correct.

The MP 40 Mags will fit in a Sten and the Sten Mags will not fit in an MP 40.

There are a few reasons for this. This first is since the stens were heavily dropped to the resistance during the war, they designed the sten so the mag wells could fit the MP 40 mags in order to allow them to pick up German mags to better improve there arsenals. As well, it also made it easy for our side to pick up the German Mags and keep on fighting, not allowing the germans to do the same.

Here are some pictures to prove my point which no one so far has been able to post. Yes both guns do not look like they are in the best shape. They both are pieces at the museum that I help run. The Sten is a LB 1943 and the MP 40 is BNZ 44.

The first two show the sten and Mp 40 mags side by side. This shows that the sten mag was slightly larger than the MP 40 Mag.





The next two show the mags being used. The first one is of the mags in the proper guns. The second one shows the MP 40 mag fitting nicely in the Sten Gun.





Hopefully this can solve the issue.

Cam
 
Cam, unfortunately I don't see a bolt handle in the Sten MkIII.

I think that the MP38/40 mags may run into the Sterling problem, that being the the bolt runs into the feed lips of the mag when it is locked in.

Have you tried it with a bolt in the sten?

Anyway, it wasn't the MP38/40 that the Brits used as a pattern, it was the MP28-II.
 
Lee Enfield said:
Cam, unfortunately I don't see a bolt handle in the Sten MkIII.

I think that the MP38/40 mags may run into the Sterling problem, that being the the bolt runs into the feed lips of the mag when it is locked in.

Have you tried it with a bolt in the sten?

Anyway, it wasn't the MP38/40 that the Brits used as a pattern, it was the MP28-II.
Click to expand...

Hello,
Yes I have tried it with the bolt in.

I was on lunch so I grabbed the first two in the weapons locker and I didn't have time to grab the parts that make the guns live.

It doesn't really matter becuase they do fit.

Cam
 
I note the MP40 magazine is smaller front to back than the Sten. Even though it will enter the housing and lock in place, will it rock back and forth? This could affect feeding.
The Sten evolved from the Lanchester, which evolved from the MP28. If German magazines will fit, this is the reason. When the Sten was developed, there was no thought given to them being supplied to the various resistance groups. This was done when inventory permitted. I suspect that it is coincidence, rather than intent that a MP40 magazine will latch in place in a Sten.
 
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