question about sear opening

[Bisley45]

Hope this works, not used to new boards yet

 

Me and a buddy were out with his Sten yesterday afternoon, and I set it in the Semi mode and we suddenly experianced all sorts of problems. The sear began comming up to almost the center of the bolt and hanging up the recoil spring.

He's never had that happen before but admitted he had never fired it in semi. It was one of those slap dash pre dedline 86 guns, construction is as bad or worse than british. The entire bottom of the trigger mecinisum is cut out, the sear doesn't catch on the botom of the tube like the diagrams I have seen to limit it's travel into the tube.

I don't know if a extension can be brazed to the sear to limit it's travel or if the tube is ruined. Anyone know about the legality of replacing a tube with a new one with same serial ?

Anyone else have this problem ? Might add dimentions on his mag well, some of the mags we were using had problems. They were marked with the british broad arrow arrow, had a sticker

 

I. P. NO - JAM

18 RD.

DO NOT OIL

 

and stamped I.C.R.1 tward the front by the floor plate. The other 32 rounders, some worked some didn't. No apparent ryme or reason, some look flawless and don't work, some look knared and trashed but work just fine on full auto.

 

Can any one send me mag well dimentions, sear opening dimentions or the name phone no and or E-mail of a good Class III repairman familure with the Sten. Or know if the Machine Gun Books CD on the Sten might have these dimentions.

 

Thanks BB

[PK.]

It sounds like you may have the problem figured out; to large a hole in the tube.

 

Unfortunately, you can not legally replace the tube, even if you transfer the S/N. The tube you have is it.

 

Fortunately, they are made of steel and therefor there are options for repair; a plate could probably be welded into the tube to replace the missing metal. I’d have to see it to be sure of the options available.

 

I am sorry I don’t have any measurements to provide, but I would be pleased to offer any service I can.

 

[nfafan]

"Can any one send me mag well dimentions, sear opening dimentions or the name phone no and or E-mail of a good Class III repairman familure with the Sten. Or know if the Machine Gun Books CD on the Sten might have these dimentions.

Thanks BB"

 

Just a suggestion...

 

You can try looking up Charlie Erb, a CL2 in West PA. Check out the Bowers boards for contact info. Last I heard, Charlie has no web site, but can be phoned or e-mailed.

 

He's made a living off of building Stens for many decades, and registered about a million miles of pipe just before May 18 hit, so if anyone knows how to make a Sten from scratch, he does.

 

And no, no connection with Charlie. If anything, I'm rather pissed that his $600.00 pipe I passed on 15 yrs ago is now a $2500.00++ pipe. Same pipe, different date. NFA is funny that way.

 

 

 

[Guest iannamiconick]

If you're still looking for his address contact Frank Iannamico for it.. He's dealt with Erb in the past...

 

 

[Bisley45]

Well, one eviction and two moves later I have internet access again (hopefuly reliable) and I can tell you all how Jason's Sten problems were solved.

We ordered a parts kit and tried the sear from it, it was a stamped sear and just a little longer, the malfunctions were less frequent but still far to prevelent. Jason is a welder by trade and we added an extension to the milled sear's rear leg where it is suposed to catch the recever tube. This ended all problems on the semi mode, we filled all his magazines up after serial numbering them and found two bad magazines.

One problem remained, the extension was just a little too long and when the selector was shoved to auto we still had semi auto only. This did not show up in cyciling the gun manuly but on the range.

Too bad the BATF frowns on open bolts, I could see buying a 16" barrel and making a semi only sten this way... add a ring welded to selector so it would block the sear from moving when pushed over as a safety and the other side would be Semi. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/sad.gif unfortunately the BATFE would not like this as it is an open bolt and used all the select fire parts despite the fact the semi auto selector would have to be cut out of the gun to convert back to select fire http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/sad.gif

Anyways we simply filed the end of the extension on the sear off until it cleared the selector button and the thing opperates properly. It may not have the class or feel of a Thompson but the damn thing can be a fun way to spend an afternoon. Too bad the liberal gun banners wern't there, we might change their attitudes if they could spend an afternoon mowing down pop cans and water filled 2liter bottles as well as paper targets.

 

BB

[RichUrich]

Avoid business with Charlie Erb.

I know too many people who regretted doing business with Erb. Yes he does nice work, but taking a year or longer after paperwork is approved to deliver on a simple transaction that needed no work done. He has a bad reputation of typically no delivery unless law suit is threatened.

 

I do not wish to "flame" but please talk to people who have done "business" with Erb.

[geodkyt]

Contact Vic Benson at stenguns@lycos.com. His website is Sten Guns. He's a Class 1 SOT (NFA dealer), and specializes in the Sten. He also knows those Indian Railroad magazines (the "18-rounders") intimately. I'm sure he can come up with a real fix, rather than partially successful attempts -- and he can certainly point you in the direction of the guys he would have doing repairs on his guns.

 

BTW, if you can locate the original manufacturer of the receiver (should be marked on the tube -- if it isn't your buddy has other problems), then the original manufacturer (if they are still in business as an SOT) may be able to replace a defective receiver if ATF follows the same reasoning they follow with all other firearms (including other NFA firearms). Best advice here is to write a letter to the Technical Branch and ask them what repair proceedures are legal for a registered machinegun receiver. They will probably give you a vague answer.

 

Here's another idea -- once it's a registered receiver, it remains a machinegun receiver until it is completely destroyed. ATF has identified it's only acceptable method of destruction of Sten receivers. Hence, anything less comprehensive is not considered destroyed (if you don't believe me, ask anyone who's had to surrender their parts kit, because ATF didn't like the "saw-cut" method that they had previously approved). A licensed gunsmith can get a tube section (not a complete cylinder section -- just that section that covers the trigger group that everyone throws away from their parts kit) that has the correct sear hole dimension, cut out the "bad section" in your buddy's tube, and weld the "good section" in place. Given that your sear hole is already oversized, making it more oversized in order to facilitate repair to proper operating conditions is standard gunsmithing -- like drilling out a bunged threaded hole so you can insert a threaded bushing to replace it. Regardless of the legal requirement (or lack thereof), I would file Form 5's for the transfer to and from the gunsmith, stating the reason for transfer as "repair" or "repair to sear opening" (if ATF gets picky).

[Bisley45]

Geodkyt,

 

Good ideas, the lenghtened sear did the trick, Jason could have welded a new section on better than the original manufacturer. He made an off the cuff remark when I first saw the gun about the welding on it to the effect of "no wonder their out of busness...."

http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif He gets real evasive when I ask him how much he paid for the Sten, I know he paid too much. He got an education the hard way and is much more pleased with his M2. I am too, the Sten is just a little too prone to run away when bumped off the shooting bench. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/unsure.gif makes for more excitement than I'm good for. I've never dropped my uncles F/A M1A1 but would be more trusting of it not going off....

 

BB