I tried driving a piece of 18mm round bar up inside the mag from the bottom keeping it in contact with the internal follower guide ridge.  It lessened but did not remove the crease.  I have a small pry bar that measures 23/32" (.719" or 18.25mm ) across the flats of the hex. I drove it in again keeping one point of the hex in contact with the guide ridge.  It gave a much wider area of contact that reached farther into the magazine space than did the round bar and again it lessened but did not completely eliminate the dent.  However it moved the dented side out far enough that the now much smaller dent no longer intruded on the cartridge space in the magazine.

I had a dented Sten mag which also benefited from the same treatment.  If you have Sten/Lanchester mags with dents in the sides of the tube, this might be worth trying.  It might or might also work with the dimensionally similar MP18/28 mags but I cannot say for certain.

As always YMMV so proceed with caution

This is from the same seller who listed the "FrankenSchmeisser" Mp28,II made up of mostly Lanchester parts that was welded together with the same care, attention to detail and pride in workmanship we can see in this example.  It was bad, pass me a barf bag bad but this one...I don't think that it can get any worse

Then, after cleaning the recoil spring assembly (parts) I noted that in the rear inside of the bolt is a spring loaded nipple, which until today I thought was used to secure the charging handle under spring tension. Using a pair of needle nose pliers (same one as with the extractor plunger) I pulled it out and much to my surprise, it is EXACTLY the same assembly as the extractor plunger and plunger spring. So each Sterling bolt has within it, a spare extractor spring and plunger. Nice!

The recoil spring exerts sufficient tension on the charging handle to keep it in place, so it's clear to me that this is a spare part! 

Always a surprise with these older guns. 

I have  3 magazines and ALL 3 have issues.

I saw an article about the Dawson Magazine Tuning Tool and I am asking if

this may be an option for adjusting the feed lips on my Sten magazines?

If not does anybody have other suggestions?

Feeding and jamming issues SUCK!!!

I have a good pile of 34 round Sterling magazines, 26 I believe with some NIW and also three of the rare 45 round magazines (made by the Chilean national armory?).

They are both so much fun to shoot!

was used on the Sten MK5. I will take the 

Hardware to mount this Front Grip and / or the

Front wood grip if that is available.

I have searched the Dark Web but as of yet I

have been denied in my quest for this

Sten MK5 wood grip.

Only markings are M/78 and the FLL marked floor plate.

What do you guys think?

Email if interested,

Bill

wspringfield@comcast.net

www.triggerwork.net

I don't think that the fail-to-feed problem is caused by the magazines, as it occurred with all 5 magazines. I'm wondering if the ammo (PMC Bronze 115 grain FMJ) could be the problem, or if the gun needs a total rework/tuneup.

I am new to the Sten MKII and looking for parts.

Any offers or suggestions are appreciated

lot of the problems with the magazines centered around the feed lips and a " TOOL "

that could be used to adjust the feed lips. I haven't seen any pics of this tool and are

they easy to find and buy?

Steve

My question was whether or not, over time, the guns were arsenal refinished and if so, what type of finish was applied.

Googling deep, I ran across a 2005 post from a Brit (civilian) who worked at a facility that refurbished Lanchesters for the government. He noted that the guns they received were stripped and re-finished with phosphate (parkerized). He also noted that the guns, in his opinion were very nicely manufactured, of excellent quality and way over-engineered.

His post was in my opinion credible.

He also noted that after the guns were declared obsolete in 1979, most were destroyed. Guns declared "export" include a separate six pronged star, and if then sold, a "S" stamp next to the star. (separate from the "star" by MK1*). Obviously most of the 79K or so guns were manufactured by Sterling "SA".  Since the gun was mostly used by the RN, after WW2 when the UK sold surplus ships, they did so with all accrutuments to include any onboard Lanchesters. 

So, for those of us lucky enough to own a C&R, we may have the original or arsenal refinished versions, domestic UK or export, sold export or not sold export, MK1 (or MK1 converted) or MK1*, bolt block or not.

Great gun (how could it not be since the design was "borrowed" from the MP28), great history and a welcome addition to any collection. 

My M.P.18,I is a very late mfg gun (SN 35,217) with 21 matching serial numbers. The gun was factory modified to a side stick version (20 round single stack proprietary magazines) in 1932 and does not carry the 1920 police date stamp on the receiver. 

Spare parts are impossible to find, to include extractors, bolts, recoil springs and especially magazines. A few observations during my ownership:

• The OEM bolts use proprietary firing pins that slot in from the rear, with the recoil spring sliding inside the firing pin and over a recoil spring guide rod in the rear of the receiver. This design is terrible as the spring is prone to kinking.  The bolts are SN matched to each gun, with a SN matched extractor, firing pin and charging handle.
• The OEM bolts are machined to accept ONLY Hugo Schmeisser 20 round single stack units.
• The extractors are sorta interchangeable with MP28 and MP38u40 parts. Some minor modification may be necessary. 
• I was able to convince Jason at IO to reverse engineer the OEM bolt and modify it slightly to accept OEM 20 round stick magazines AND modified Sten magazines. The modification to the bolt included slightly widening the feed lips to accommodate both the OEM magazines (slightly narrower) and Sten magazines. The Sten magazines had to be modified to a 2mm narrower sleve in order to fit into the M.P.18,I magazine well. The modified bolt appears identical to the OEM bolt and uses OEM firing pins and recoil springs. Of course, this bolt is still subject to the OEM smaller diameter recoil spring kinking.
• The M.P.18,I operates flawlessly and best IF you use a fully interchangeable Lanchester bolt, firing pin and recoil spring. The dimensions of the bolt match perfectly and the recoil spring is a large diameter type that does not kink or bind. All three parts fit into the M.P.18,I perfectly and make the gun shoot great. The Lanchester bolt also accommodates both the OEM stick magazines and the Sten magazines. 
• The OEM 20 round stick magazines are super hard to find and are very well constructed with stainless steel followers. All magazines were SN matched to guns, although this was clearly done outside of the factory as the magazines I have sport multiple SNs. 
• I have also installed a small thickness rubber "O" gasket around the recoil spring guide rear to prevent any unintentional stress on the wood stock when firing. 

I was able to locate a stash of OEM magazines and firing pins if anyone needs a back-up. I have one extra firing pin and five or six of the original stick magazines. The FP will run $200 and the magazines are $500 each.