Airsoft Sten MkIII

I’ve both seen and built quite a lot of different models of Stens. From the original Sten MkI, to the obscure Sten MkIV and the frankly weird Cornershot Mk5 I’ve built a few.

One thing I have never seen is an airsoft Sten MkIII: These were quite common in the Northern Europe campaign and were as simple as British-built Stens ever got. With the exception of the trigger group, bolt and barrel parts, these were entirely stamped steel; making them ideal for mass-production, though presented some difficulty in reproducing in my workshop as a result.

The base parts for this build came from an AGM Sten MkII, the gearbox and modified hop unit.

Inside the receiver the hop unit had to be turned down on the lathe to fit the narrower tube.

The top bar on the original, which holds the foresight, is a seam which is spot welded. On this build this is a separate part welded onto the tube as this is far easier to make without a press-brake.

The receiver has been made from 40mm ERW tube, I milled out the feed port, ejection port and operating handle slot. I used the original lower reciever and buttstock as these were pretty suitable already.

The back-cap is a modified MkII cap. I ground it down to give it the rounded look of the stamped piece and moved the rear sight to the front of it. I have fitted it with a flat locking screw to replicate the button on the real thing.

Finally, I made the front barrel bushing and cocking handle on the lathe and oil finished the other steel parts. I left most of the welds quite rough-looking to try and carry over the overall feel of the originals.

 

If you are interested in this build you can see the rest of the project here. If you have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

 

Don’t forget you can buy VA products on the website where this will be available.

Sten Mk5: Folding stock experimental model

On a Facebook group a few months ago, someone shared a picture of something I had never seen before. As time has gone by, it has become rare for this to happen to me in the world of firearms.

Yes, that is a Sten Mk5. Yes he is shooting it around a corner using a folding stock.

Although it’s not really practical for airsoft, where shooting without looking (blind fire) is a banned practice, it was such a distinctive and interesting idea it had to happen. This is what a Cornershot carbine looks like in the late 1940s.

At first glance, it looks like a standard Sten Mk5. I turned down the barrel to make it slimmer and more shaped like the original.

From the side, you can see the slightly longer joint for the buttstock.

The wood pattern is pretty much identical.

The swivel function is controlled with the silver button. This is depressed, the stock is swivelled 90º one way or another and the spring-loaded button locks into place. At the same time, the foregrip is loosened with the thumbscrew, moved into place and tightened down. This is one area where I have deviated from the original which used a hex nut: carrying a spanner around in the field wouldn’t be practical.

You will notice that there is no prism sight on this. I looked into getting a pentaprism as used by the original, but the cost would have nigh-on tripled the price of the build.

To round off: a couple of views of it folded different ways.

 

So far as I can tell these were never properly trialled beyond the one prototype. I imagine that managing recoil and maintaining a sight picture would have been tricky, the prism would have been expensive and limited the soldier’s field of view.

If any reader has any information on these carbines, better quality original photos or recognises the magazine the snippets above have been taken from I would be very much obliged if you would get in touch on the email below.

If you are interested in this build you can see the rest of the project here. If you have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

 

Don’t forget you can buy VA products on the website where this will be available. 

The DeLisle Commando Carbine: Complete

This project is one I’ve been wanting to do since forever and the outcome is very satisfying.

This VSR based carbine should be a very nice balance of practical and handsome. The receiver has been left quite plain, at some point I would like to do another with the receiver all milled out like the original. This will have to wait for now as it will require extensive modifications to make it secure.

As you can see, the bolt handle has been dropped down around the right location. The bolt back cap on this one has been 3D printed, but I am likely going to replace this with a milled one for strength and durability.

The foresight, which is adjustable for windage to a limited extent.

The 3D printed front cap. You can also see the barrel poking out. Although I could have made it shorter than this, it would have ended up being incredibly short and every millimetre helps with a barrel of this length.

The rear sight, adjustable for elevation. The hop adjustment is under this, a TDC screw modification.

The faux magazine is 3D printed and quite solid. If this model proves popular I may make it in black hard rubber instead. 

The buttplate is a rubber cast, as originals are getting prohibitively rare and expensive.

Finally a quick bottom view, the VSR magazine well in the foregrip and cut out re-enforcing band. The grain on these bits of wood are particularly lovely and you can see them in this picture.

 

If you are interested in this build you can see the rest of the project here. If you have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.

 

Australian SMLE Carbine VSR

When I saw this pattern of experimental SMLE on Forgotten Weapons (see the video here) I knew I just had to make one. I used this as an opportunity to try out some of my new techniques for SMLE builds.

This carbine was conceived as a way to make the SMLE shorter and lighter, the project being run in parallel with similar programmes in Ishapore (India) and Enfield (GB), the latter of which used the No.4 as the starting point and resulted in the No.5 MkI.

This is an impression of the first shortened Australian pattern. In time I hope to replicate quite a few of the others.

It is, in essence, just a short SMLE. The only real effort to make the rifle lighter at this stage was in shortening the barrel and woodwork.

This does however make for a very handy rifle!

This was one of my first rifles to use my rubber cast buttplates. The originals used metal plates, I use rubber simply because metal plates are very hard to get presently.

Possibly the best feature of this conversion is the use of this rear-mounted aperture sight. On the original rifle, this had two settings for range, on mine I have gone for a simple zeroing elevation adjustment. 

Having used this rifle in-game I can say confidently that this is an excellent sight, far superior to a regular SMLE notch. The narrower aperture is in my opinion better than the No.4 sight, at least in daylight.

As with the original, I have put a large draft on the front of the aperture to gather the maximum light possible.

As with my other Enfield builds, I have used my custom Enfield trigger.

 

I got to use this in-game in October. The shorter, lighter version of the SMLE make this extremely handy on its own, add in the rear aperture and it’s extremely quick to bring to bear as well. As an airsoft version, I can’t comment on how comfortable it would be to shoot the original, but I suspect it would be rather brutal on recoil and have a rather blinding flash.

Although this was never adopted, I’m glad to have made my own version and can confirm it is going to a very good home.

If you like this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

Don’t forget you can buy many of our complete products via The website.

 

Enfield No.4 VSR: Complete

Some heads up on this No.4 in the aim of full disclosure!

Firstly, this is a custom build for Sniper Mechanic, using one of his base rifles. As a result the trigger group and internals are different to the standard. As he is a sniper chiefly, the way I have mounted the scope is different to the way I would do for a British WWII/Cold War Airsofter with the focus on stability rather than authenticity. I have also performed a minor heresy in producing shall we say… a non-standard accessory for it (more of that later).

Although in due course I hope to produce a No.32 scope mount that is both authentic and very stable it will require more work (though for the record the one I have made previously is fine, just not as stable as I would like for a high-powered sniper rifle). Watch this space for more news on that.

The Rifle

Right side.

Left side

The buttplate, a rubber cast copy as originals are becoming very difficult to source.

The foresight and muzzle. Dimensioned to take accessories. Note the original front band.

Top view of the receiver: from here you can see the hop-up adjustment screw in the top handguard. You can also see some of the modifications I have made to the receiver to fit the scope. As this is an older designed receiver I have used some Polymorph to add material to the structure.

The VSR magazine well. This is the newer MkII version.

Scoped

This replica uses my No.32 scope option. Although I tried using modern pattern scopes, alas they just don’t look right on Enfields. The No.32 scope is a very distinctive shape, which really changes the silhouette when mounted.

Side view showing the more modern scope mounts. As you can see, with these mounts it is necessary to fold the rear sight back to fit them.

Rear view.

 

Spike Bayonet

Although I have shared pictures before, I thought it would be nice to share a picture of it mounted on the rifle.

 

Suppressor

And finally, the heresy. Dan (Sniper Mechanic) wanted a way to mount a suppressor. I at first thought about making a screw mount adaptor, but this custom suppressor suits the rifle rather well, attaches to the bayonet lugs and keeps the tube out the way of this sights.

Front view.

Keeping the suppressor off-centre from the barrel means it is quite nicely in line with the rest of the rifle.

To remove it, it has the same system as the bayonet catch.

Pushing the button in allows it to be twisted and pulled off.

 

If you like this build you can see other complete projects here. If you have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.

 

The DeLisle Commando Carbine: Build

The DeLisle is VSR based, so this acts as the joining unit between the different parts. Due to the sheer size of the suppressor however this will pretty much be joined as part of the chassis.

At the fore-end, the front cap is 3D printed, as is an internal spacer.

At the back of the suppressor is the rear sight, a simple V-notch on an elevation leaf.

The woodwork on this is in three parts, the buttstock, receiver housing and forestock. Once I had carved out the internal shapes for the receiver and magazine well, I could shape the outside.

Once all the parts were roughly shaped and strapped down to the VSRI added the re-enforcing band. I’m not sure this was strictly necessary, but it was on the original so on it goes!

The band had to be cut back for the magazine well, but it will make quite a nice tactile reverence point if the gun is used in the dark.

Fitting the faux magazine well in permanently, this 3D printed part is fitted with a machine screw through the stock so it’s pretty solidly mounted.

At the front, I turned the inner barrel down to the correct length.

At this stage, it’s mostly finishing and painting work to do, which isn’t very interesting to see so the next time you see this, it will be the finished item!

If you are interested in this build you can see the rest of the project here. If you have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.

The DeLisle Commando Carbine: Introduction

The DeLisle carbine was born of a need, usually by special forces units, to dispatch enemy soldiers quietly. This came from the rise of raiding tactics used by British forces against Fortress Europe, the only way that precision strikes could be made against German targets.

Although large-scale raids did occur, many were smaller scale and undertaken by the newly formed Commandos and Parachute units. Taking out one or two sentries discretely before moving up to the target would allow soldiers to get much closer to their objective before the main, noisy assault.

The carbine itself was the lovechild of an SMLE, (receiver and furniture) a 1911 (magazine) and a Maxim style suppressor. The reason for its near legendary status as one of the quietest arms ever made is that every aspect of it was either chosen for its quietness or modified to achieve it:

1. The ammunition: .45ACP is a subsonic cartridge. This means that, never breaking the sound barrier, it does not have a sonic ‘crack’. A quiet ‘whizz’ is easily drowned out by ambient noise.
2. The SMLE has very few ‘clicky’ parts already. The safety is already silent, the cock on close action means there is a fairly quiet slide into battery. The bolt was baffled so that when opened it would not make a loud clack. For when it was being closed the bolt handle had a baffle so it wouldn’t clack against the receiver band.
3. The suppressor is huge. Much, much bigger than you could reasonably carry on a pistol. It also proved very effective at catching and slowing gasses down before getting rid of them at a low enough pressure to reduce the noise massively.

It is known that the DeLisle was issued to and tested by Combined Operations (who ran the Commando type raids) in the field, but finding solid accounts of their use during WWII in Europe is pretty tricky. The only account I have found so far is one by a Jedburgh Commander who says that one was used to successfully dispatch two German officers (1944).

Other more substantial accounts outlining more specific details of their use have been recorded in the Far East against the Japanese and during the Malayan Emergency. They point to it being used very much as a psychological weapon, taking out individuals during ambushes at night or on roads during the day, killing one or two men in a lorry. Being almost silent, the Japanese involved struggled to know they had been fired upon and even more-so where from.

 

Similarly it was deployed against bandits and terrorists in Malaya, allegedly by plantation operators. One man caught out alone in the fields had a significant advantage when he could fire on a group of hostile enemy without giving his position away. Just a couple of men so armed would have a significant force multiplying effect. 

 

Just before I wrap up, the folding stock ‘Para’ version does deserve a mention. Originally, these were supposed to make up 50 items of the order, but it looks as though they were left until last. As a result, when the order was cancelled there was only this sample produced as far as we know.

 

And in case you are not familiar with the Vintage Airsoft format by now… I will be building a De Lisle carbine! This build will be VSR based, using my new MkII magwell and almost certainly making use of my lovely ‘new’ mill (more to follow on that when it arrives!).

 

You will be able to follow the build progress here as it is published.

If you are interested in this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles.

 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.

Sten MkIV: Build

The first major hurdle for me was that my Sten was missing the massive chunk of aluminium that houses the barrel and hop up unit. I measured up one from another gun and created a 3D model to be printed. I added a section to the front for the flash hider which is a separate piece. Running through this and the other part is some 16mm steel tube for strength.

The stock is made from pieces of laser cut steel. For the very sharp bends I made cuts with the angle grinder, made the folds and welded them up.

The locking bar is kept in place with two screws. These ride in slots that stop it from travelling too far back or forwards.

The pistol grip slotted into place, welded on the bottom which was then ground flat to allow the stock to pivot. The trigger guard is huge, the bend was made with wooden formers and the shape was checked against my paper template.

A close-up of the locking system. This is a pretty solid system, with only the wobble you would expect from a typical Sten stock.

Once the stock unit was welded onto the backplate, this really started to take shape. Shown below with the stock stowed.

And the stock deployed. So far it’s more comfortable than it looks, the next step is to make the wooden grips.

These are made from some leftover walnut I had sitting around. I printed a paper template, cut them out and drilled the screw holes. Then fine fitting and shaping was done with files and the electric hand sander.

Then it was time to strip everything and finish her up.

The grips got a quick soaking with some dark red woodstain, followed by hardwax oil.

All that’s left now is reassembly, fitting a foresight and doing some internal work on the Sten. I’ve swapped the barrel out already for a shorter one but the trigger needs some TLC.

You can see the complete item here.

If you are interested in this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles. 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.

Sten MkIV: Introduction

The Sten MkIV has very little written on it, so this introduction will be rather short.

It was an experimental design to make Britain’s Sub machine gun more compact. This has several possible reasons, but the most likely seeming to my eye (lacking access to original documents) is the Airborne theory. A more compact sub-machine gun than the standard Sten MkII and MkII would make sense for airborne troops and this definitely meets that requirement.

This was ultimately met by the Mk5, which could have its buttstock removed and replaced with a blank backplate.

There were two versions of the MkIV, the ‘A’ which had a hand guard style trigger guard (some say to accommodate arctic mittens) and the ‘B’ which has the trigger and pistol grip advanced to halfway down the receiver. This was apparently an improvement but not enough it would seem!

The reason the MkIV was rejected during trials was that it was ‘uncomfortable to fire’. This does seem a little bit ironic seeing it was designed to replace the ergonomics-violating MkII and MkIIIs, but judging by what was eventually adopted the general effort was towards a significantly better gun comfort wise rather than a slight improvement.

 

The other possibility is that, being much smaller in the body than a ‘normal’ Sten (especially in the barrel) the recoil, muzzle blast or ejection may have been pretty bad. It’s pretty much impossible to say without access to trials reports or getting to fire the (so far as I can tell) only remaining piece at the Royal Armouries. I suspect it will grow legs and walk out before I am allowed to do that however!

I’ll be making a MkIVa replica based on the example in the Royal Armouries, as a bit of  change of scene from the bolt actions and machine guns I’ve been building a lot lately!

You can see the build and completed item here. You can see more Sten projects here.

If you are interested in this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles. 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.

P.S.: Bonus photo of a suppressed MkIVa apparently in the NFC, Leeds.

Sten MkIV: Complete

The completed Sten MkIV. Perhaps not a looker, but definitely one of the most practical SMGs I have built to date. When folded, this easily fits in a backpack making it a much more portable choice than my usual long rifles.

The large trigger guard makes it ideal for use with gloves in cold conditions.

The buttstock when folded also makes a handy foregrip. In CQB this is very practical for when poking round corners.

When  you want a little more shooting precision, just grab the inner tongue and pull it towards the buttstock.

You can then unfold the stock and lock it into position at the back.

This is pretty comfortable in this layout, though I am not sure if recoil would be easy to control. I can see how the flat steel would be uncomfortable for prolonged periods of shooting, but no more so than many of the previous models of Sten gun. Frankly compared to the prolific T-stock this would still be a huge improvement so I don’t understand how this was rejected due to being uncomfortable while shooting.

 

If you missed it, you can see the build post for this project here.

If you are interested in this project or have an idea of your own, drop us a line on enquiries.vintageairsoft@gmail.com to discuss. ‘Like’ our Facebook page or follow the blog to get regular updates on projects and interesting videos and articles. 

Don’t forget you can buy our smaller items via Etsy. Our larger items can be found here.