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DirtyJerry44
Hello All!

I have been thinking of building a semi - auto sten. I have a few questions.

1). How do you locate the magazine holder for weld?

2). Would it be legal if the selector switch is welded so it cannot be put into full auto?

Thanks!
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • nmyers
    I suggest that you think again.

    It IS possible to build a semi-auto Sten. But, it's not easy to build one that will pass ATF scutiny. The penalty for a little mistake in your design is a long stay in a Federal prison. Remember, ATF policy allows them to manipulate a gun in any way they can think of, in order to test it; that means they can beat it with a hammer, &, if it goes full-auto, you are in trouble.

    The Sten is not a (legally) safe design to fool with. If you want to build something, there's lots of help available for building an AK that's 922r compliant.

    Neal
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  • vicg1
    A Sten is one that is easily legal to fool with... use a thicker diameter tube so full auto bolt doesn't fit in, relocate cocking handle and trip lever slots, and make it fire from a closed bolt.
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  • stankemp
    Yeah BUT
    The barrel will get you SBR (under 18") rating , so it will be NFA covered.
    Since it fires from an open bolt it won't be accurate anyhow .
    You can , however keep it legal by making it a muzzle loader. Don't laugh , I did a CZ 24 SMG in this fashion and it's still a fun gun without the legal hassels.
    See my post in the Black Powder forum, "and now for something completely different".
    Stan
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  • vicg1
    quote:Originally posted by stankemp
    Yeah BUT
    The barrel will get you SBR (under 18") rating , so it will be NFA covered.
    Since it fires from an open bolt it won't be accurate anyhow .
    You can , however keep it legal by making it a muzzle loader. Don't laugh , I did a CZ 24 SMG in this fashion and it's still a fun gun without the legal hassels.
    See my post in the Black Powder forum, "and now for something completely different".
    Stan


    You can build a pistol and keep original barrel length.
    You can weld a barrel extension on.
    Any semi built today can not be an open bolt.
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  • stankemp
    Might be a job to get the bolt to fire from closed.
    If it's like the CZ, the firing pin is not a seperate moving device from the bolt. It's just a bump on the bolt, so when the cartridge is chambered , the inertia of the slamming bolt gives energy to the "pin" to fire the round.
    It can be done, but I suspect a LOT of machining will be needed.
    I ground the "pin" off so the bolt face itself hits the cap on the nipple.
    Takes a long time to load though.
    Stan
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  • Wehrmacht_45
    You just drill it out and use a modified AR 15 firing pin. SGN had a series recently on how to build a blowback carbine that would help you.

    They used an AR-15 trigger setup and firing pin, while modifying a Soumi bolt to use in the gun. They also recently did a PPSH41 semi build that would give you some ideas.
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by nmyers
    I suggest that you think again.

    It IS possible to build a semi-auto Sten. But, it's not easy to build one that will pass ATF scutiny. The penalty for a little mistake in your design is a long stay in a Federal prison. Remember, ATF policy allows them to manipulate a gun in any way they can think of, in order to test it; that means they can beat it with a hammer, &, if it goes full-auto, you are in trouble.


    Well, at some level, the ATF can get anyone "in trouble" they like, so you do have a point that its better not to take chances.

    But to be clear, if a gun malfunctions and fires more than one shot with a trigger pull, you haven't just committed a federal crime. If you screw with it enough you can make ANY semi-gun fire full auto.

    If they want to "get" you, ultimately the burden of proof is still on the ATF to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of your criminal intent.

    The point is, if in normal use your gun is semi-auto, and you can't make it fire full auto, and you never have made it fire full auto, its going to be hard for the ATF to make a case against you. If the gun will only go full auto if the ATF beats on it with a hammer (for example), they're going to have a pretty hard time convincing a jury or a judge that you've done anything wrong.

    This is even more true if you can document your contruction of the gun (ie to specs of a known legal design), and also its ordinary function after the fact (ie in case the ATF tries to play games damaging or switching parts on you).

    I would definitely NOT try something like welding the selector switch in place, seems too easy to defeat. I'm pretty sure there are viable semi-auto Sten designs. . .just find one.
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  • vicg1
    quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by nmyers
    I suggest that you think again.

    It IS possible to build a semi-auto Sten. But, it's not easy to build one that will pass ATF scutiny. The penalty for a little mistake in your design is a long stay in a Federal prison. Remember, ATF policy allows them to manipulate a gun in any way they can think of, in order to test it; that means they can beat it with a hammer, &, if it goes full-auto, you are in trouble.



    I would definitely NOT try something like welding the selector switch in place, seems too easy to defeat.



    Too easy to defeat and the receiver is still a machinegun according to ATF... check out http://www.semiautosten.com for conversion kits.
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