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Help to I.D. magazine


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I picked up this magazine at the gun show the other day, was not certain what sub gun it was for but it was pretty much included with the Grease gun magazine pouch I bought. My best guess is that it's for the Fbp sub gun but thought I would ask here since someone must know for sure.

 

Nearly the same size as an MP 40 mag which I pictured it next to for comparison. It has what appears to be a marking near the center that's an MB1, also a boxed SA marking What do you think?

 

Mike H.

Mag 1.jpg

Mag 2.jpg

Mag 3.jpg

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Thanks Doug, that was actually my initial thought however with the greater width for what would possibly be a longer cartridge I thought it might be for something else.

 

MH

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The SA in a square marking is on my Suomi/Swedish K mags. I do not know whether they are Finnish or Swedish in origin but I strongly suspect the former. However the mag in question is clearly not compatible with the Swedish K but it might fit the Finnish guns before 1955 when they changed magazine styles to match the K. The Finns also used the 7.62 x 25 cartridge in their M/26 SMG which would account for the extra length. Could that be what this one is for?

Edited by StrangeRanger
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Here's the markings on my mags. Very similar.

Sorry for the crappy pix, my phone doesn't have a macro mode

Also "MB1" looks like "M31" to me which pretty well screams Finnish. I've never seen an M/31 with the pre-conversion mag well so I can't state anything definitely

 

EDIT: I did a little searching SA stands for Suomen Armeija (Finnish Army.)

76 mag.jpg

Edited by StrangeRanger
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Yes, the three pictures shown here of Suomi mags do have the same Boxed SA marking, but the mag looks nothing like the one I have. I'm also not entirely convinced it's a Belgian Vigneron mag, otherwise why would it have the Finnish SA markings. And the dimensions while they appear very close to a Vigneron mag there seems to be slight differences particularly in the width (cartridge length) of the mag. And in the last picture, (a Vigneron mag) they are marked with a VIG marking easily identifying them.

 

Mike H.

SuomiM36mag.JPG

SuomiM36mag.1.jpg

SuomiM36mag.2.jpg

VG.mag.1.JPG

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But the Suomi mags that you and I have are the late model (i.e. after the 1955 conversion to Swedish M/45B style) mags. I do not know what the earlier mags looked like. If they were of this pattern then there's a possible scenario that would explain what you have.

 

The original M/26 were made long enough to accommodate the 7.62 x 25

When the M/31 was designed it was decided to use the same tooling to produce the guns, the magazines or both so the magazines were left at the same length.

There were some minor changes to the feed lips or follower which necessitated marking the new mags as "M31" so they would not accidentally be used with the 7.62 rounds in the older guns.

All of these mags were scrapped/surplussed when the existing M/31s were converted to use K mags c. 1955 and one somehow made its way to you

 

The only question is: what did the original mags look like?

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Yes, the three pictures shown here of Suomi mags do have the same Boxed SA marking, but the mag looks nothing like the one I have. I'm also not entirely convinced it's a Belgian Vigneron mag, otherwise why would it have the Finnish SA markings. And the dimensions while they appear very close to a Vigneron mag there seems to be slight differences particularly in the width (cartridge length) of the mag. And in the last picture, (a Vigneron mag) they are marked with a VIG marking easily identifying them.

 

Mike H.

 

I have a dummy Vigneron SMG, and my magazine is like the one in the last picture you posted.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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I got that close up photo of the Vigneron mag off the internet, I’m assuming all of there mags are marked that way and is why I’m thinking my mag in question is not a Vigneron. So far the best bet is S.R.’s suggestion of a Suomi M31 pre-conversion mag, it would be nice to confirm this somehow.
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It sure looks like a STEn mag to me. Not sure of the markings, aside from the Finnish SA. Many countries made STEn mags. And the Finns imported weapons from a wide variety of sources from 1940-1944. It's not unreasonable to think that they made or bought STEns.

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When I have the time I will pull out one of my Sten mags for my Mac and see how they compare and post pics.

 

Mike H.

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When I have the time I will pull out one of my Sten mags for my Mac and see how they compare and post pics.

 

Mike H.

Don't know how this slipped past me, I guess the markings threw me off. After pulling out one my Sten mags for my Mac 11 9mm and comparing it, yes this Finnish mag is for the Sten. Cool!

 

Mike H.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I must have missed this post earlier but the mag looks to be a STEN magazine Mk1 made by the Metal Box Co. but it's a little odd on the back spine. Normally STEN mags have an indentation running the length of the spine but this was does not appear to. Unfortunately I don't have a Metal Box Co version in my collection to compare to so it could just be a variation as manufacturers were allowed to deviate to suit their machines and process as long as it didn't effect the overall product compatibility etc.

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  • 3 weeks later...

way back in the day sam cummings of interarms fame bought many thousands of brand new never issued sten mark 3 from england govt , he paid something like 25 cents each, he had a deal that finland wanted guns to arm its home guard,,at that time finland hade a hughe pile of captured german and russian stuff, sam cummings traded the finns one for one,, what a deal ! this started the whole post war flood of arms into the u.s. just sayn

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