The Sten MK III (or Sten gun) as seen in slow motion

[LibertyPrime1982]

Dammit. I wanted to hear the gun. Not some sad bastard music.

[weaponeer]

@LibertyPrime1982 - for future reference.. high speed camera's used for true slow motion like this video, don't capture sound. the effect is the same thing as pressing the mute button... If you have heard the videos with the awful audio from just slowing down the clip (rather than using a HS Camera), true high speed at 600 to 1200 frames per second would be noting more than inaudible noise. which is why high speed cameras don't capture sound.

[wedvarn]

@weaponeer What is so hard about understanding that highspeed cameras dont capture sound.

[DieBittereWahrheit]

dude, no offense, but when doing a weapon movie, gun sounds are like the MOST IMPORTANT THING

[weaponeer]

@DieBittereWahrheit dude, 300 frame per second high speed video has no sound

[BackInAGiffy]

the guy with the buckets reflexes suck

[weaponeer]

@BackInAGiffy - everyone looks the same way when viewed at 600 frames per second

[BackInAGiffy]

@weaponeer yeah i know it was just a joke :)

[l2a3sterling]

@BackInAGiffy CATCHING BRASS MUST BE ON HIS BUCKET LIST

[donspatula]

I'm not the hardcore-expert for weapons, but as far as I'm concerned, the sten gun was not really reliable. I read that - because it was so cheap - the quality suffered, and things like single rounds being fired when the gun falls to the ground happen ... or that the gun jammed, because the mags weren't the best ...

[ArterialX]

They used stenguns in norway to under the world war II

[flyboyreloaded]

holding it by the mag makes the weapon jam realy bad but the one i shot was a real hack job frankenstein pos put together from a parts kit

[weaponeer]

@flyboyreloaded you have to hold it at the magwell, and not the mag. The Sten mags never were great for reliability. This Sten fed pretty much anything, and worked really nice if you had a good mag

[GunBroker100]

@weaponeer I have to disagree with you on this. Proper hold for the left hand is by the forward receiver tube. Hence the "finger guard" at the front of the ejection port. Pick up a copy of the old Sten Gun manual and it will explain this. Kinda like holding a Thompson by the mag, you see it done, but it would have gotten you "push ups forever" from your DI or the range master. Sten mags are no more unreliable than most other "stick" mags. They use them in Mac-11's without a problem.

[weaponeer]

@GunBroker100 - in combat the book go's out the window, and the slow rate of fire allows you to walk the rounds in, within a couple rounds, and at close range (which is what it's for) you would not be aiming it like a rifle using the shroud, but instead with your hand on the mag release so you can reload quicker. as for the Sten Mags, they are notorious for being unreliable, and requiring less rounds to be loaded. the mag issue is why the Sterling used curved mags and not straight sten mags

[GunBroker100]

@weaponeer Well, I own Mk2's, 3's and 5 Stens, two Sterling's and a Lancaster. The mags interchange between them and still function. If the mags are undamaged, from dropping or other mishandling, I've never had a problem with any of them, even those of Finnish manufacture. As for the Sten being unreliable, if they aren't properly maintained, perhaps. But, I dumped my M-16 in '68 for an M-60. Mag was fine, the M-16A1 rifle was junk. Been a smith for over forty years, perspective, I guess.

[weaponeer]

@GunBroker100 - sounds like we have the same collection. I started out with 22 MkIII's and now just have 1 MKII, 2 MKIII, and 1 MKV, Sterling, beretta 38, suomi M31, Uzi, PPsh41, PPS43, kp44, m56, Spanish Z45, M11/9 etc. I used the M16A1 for 16 years, including the first gulf war, and none of our 300 ever had an issue, then again I was caring for them. These days I specialize in the AR plateform in a number of calibers because thats what sells. my website is dedicate to training home smiths

[GunBroker100]

@weaponeer Ahh -Haa, Minor differences aside, I knew you were one of the good guys, LOL!!!! I have many, many former military firearms. Including several pre-production FN-FAL's, three in the original 7mm Kurtz and .280. The M-16A1 had many issues. The A2's solved many and the A3 the rest. The current M-4 I have no issue with aside from caliber. Never been a huge fan of the 5.56. I much prefer my M-468 in 6.8mm SPC, or Stoner in .308 Ya gotta love the Thompson M'-27A1 or M-'28.

[ecopper1]

watch out with the sten because this is a little bit of the real story about the sten...

...the sten was desinged by british but there where first bullets before the weapon the bullets where found in the destert but they have tested it in any weapon but does not annything so they maked the sten for it the sten has 2 problems the first is i can shoot if you put on the ground by itself problem 2 is it can explode if it jams this is not a lie so watch out with a sten

[lemonfilms214]

@ecopper1 any gun can explode when it jams

[GunBroker100]

@lemonfilms214 No, guns don't explode because of jams. The cartridge might, if the primed is crushed by the extractor or pinched between opposing steel faces. Over the years I've had many, many jams in various model guns. none of them were ever damaged or the cartridge explode. I've seen barrels split by firing with a plugged muzzle.Seen guns damaged by firing the wrong caliber in them. I had a new model 10 smith damaged because of a timing issue. Guns seldom are blown apart.

[DVGangula]

That is by far the ugliest gun in history. Feels like they never really finished it.

But that's just me.

[1ukjunglednbraver]

@DVGangula it wasn't designed to be pretty and ergonomic it was made to be cheap easy to use and to quickly arm the masses....it is an ugly gun a gun as simple as this will be ugly though

[wind4watts]

Often made by Triang Toys (who usually made toy-model railways) cost pennies at a time when Thompsons were expensive & hard to get hold of, these fired 8 rounds of 9mm para a second Killed Germans well &cost Peanuts to make, so we could Parachute them to Partisans all over Nazi occupied Europe, great I fired 2 of them!

[samj5664]

Your holding it wrong.Tthe Sten MK3 had an extended shroud as you can see, it was designed for the magazine to lay across your forearm for better control. If you can see another difference with the MK3 is a guard just after the ejection point was in place to prevent the shooters fingers being caught. Look it up if you disbelieve me.

Dont criticise holding it by the magazine either as this was done be countless soldiers during the war, though wrong it did have its pros as well as cons.

[weaponeer]

@samj5664 - keep in mind, I'm the one behind the camera, not the shooter. but to answer your question, had they designed the proper angle for the housing, It wound have worked as a means to stabilize, but as designed you had to keep your none shooting arm high at the elbow for it to work, which is not a very good combat stance (too wide). The best hold was with your hand on the mag housing, thumb on the mag release. a couple of your fingers do grab the mag, but thats for mag changes.

[samj5664]

@weaponeer Im not crticising the shooter, I was just saying for interests sake as it seems to be a big debate amongst others on youtube on the correct way to hold it. I personaly dont mind either way and as I said ''Dont criticise holding it by the magazine either as this was done by countless soldiers'' However the way I described is the correct method approved by the British army for holding the Sten M.C. MKIII.

If anyone is wondering the m.c. stands for machine carbine.

[jonasldg]

@samj5664 for me it dosnt really matter how you hold the gun aslong as it gets to do what its ment to

[C2builder]

Ah, good 'ole reliable Post '86 Sample gun. Nice vid.

[BoldUniverse]

LOL, I think the dude with the bucket catching the shells got about 50%... LOL

[MrDeano324]

My Grandfather said this weapon would jam under prolongued fire and was nearly killed by an SS officer because of it. Luckily he pulled out his knife in time to make quick work of the nazi. He still has the officers cap coupled with SS skull and cross bones symbol on the front.

[PVTMTA]

@MrDeano324

Nice !... I mean, the gun jamming isn't nice but he still having the cap is...

[saj12100]

it irritates me when people hold it by the magazine.

[weaponeer]

@saj12100 - he held it by the magazine housing, and not the magazine.

[saj12100]

@weaponeer oh.

[saj12100]

@weaponeer did you mean the magazine well?

[curseofa5r5a]

@weaponeer talking about that, why do the profesionals hold the long weapons by the magazine housing?

[weaponeer]

@curseofa5r5a - due to the balance. it's a heavy magazine when full, and it causes the weapon to tilt to the left unless you hang on tight. If you hold it by the magazine housing you are holding it at it's balance point, and no need to hold it tight. the sights are not adjustable so most of the time the bullets were walked into the target, so its not like holding an accurate rifle. as for walking the bullets in... it's super easy and quick, and at close range you normally never miss anyway.

[curseofa5r5a]

@weaponeer understood thnaks for responsing.

[XLnotsofunny]

wow so easy and fast to make that it is not a wonder that gun control does not really work since such weapons can theoretically be easily made in a basic workshop, at least that is how i see it.

[insertpunhere367]

Hard to believe you can make one completely from plumbing parts

[nv707]

how do you make one of these full auto?

[ToreDL87]

@nv707 Originally they were full auto only, not sure if there are any converted to semi, but I would guess that it has to do with trigger and bolt sear mechanisms ;)

[weaponeer]

@ToreDL87 The only ones I have seen have been select fire.

[madeinamerica650]

such an ugly gun! but it gets the job done!

[Trashcansam123]

@madeinamerica650

Yeah that's british ingenuity, they produce about a billion of those, and they're a match for a panzer division

[kiwitedferny]

These vids are great. Really classy. Keep 'em coming!!