Quartermasters Stores - Your kit queries here.

I have no idea!

I have been fortunate enough to fire a real Sten and the approved grip seems to be to hold the magazine braced against the muzzle rising (which surprised me, I thought you'd hold the magwell). So on a foregripless Mark V, fingers would be well out of the way.

Cheers
Martin

Me too, I've fired it wrong then, as I was told to hold the magwell and "keep your bloody fingers out of the bolt, or they really will be bloody fingers!"

Though I have never fired a real one, except for blanks, I too have been told that you should hold it by the magwell, as even though holding it by the magazine kept your fingers away from the bolt and ejection port more, holding it by the magazine would lead to the magazine being held askew in the housing and cause misfeeding.

That may well be the approved modern grip, but it doesn't mean it was the approved WWII grip.

In fact as far as I am aware the normal grip was to hold it underneath, ahead of the bolt. Which risked you getting your fingers over the ejection port.

In fact there was a little clippy thing supplied which could attach ahead of the ejection port stop your fingers doing just that. I think even some stens had it built in.

Also, holding it in this position is uncomfortable as the barrel nut will get hot after prolonged firing. My blank firer did. For that you get barrel covers.

I must check what my copy of the WWII manual says...

Well, that is what I'd have thought too. One of my pals has a collection of small arms manuals and I'll see what the official line is.

Holding the magwell seems like a no brainer to me, it was a commercial range so maybe they were being overly cautious. It seemed to work OK holding the magazine though.

Photographs seem to show a range of ways of holding them, including some extremely dangerous looking ones (fingers over the ejection port). The famous photo of the paras with Mark Vs in Oosterbeek all has them holding the magwells, despite the nice wooden foregrips...

Cheers
Martin

In fact there was a little clippy thing supplied which could attach ahead of the ejection port stop your fingers doing just that. I think even some stens had it built in.

To the best of my knowledge it was only the STEN Mk3 that had an ejection port finger guard fitted. I've never seen any mention of a "clip on" one for fitting to any other marks, that's not to say there was no such thing I've just never heard of such an item.

1942 manual for the sten shows the under barrel holding method and no other method.

As for the "clippy thing" I am pretty sure I have seen one. There's no guarantee it wasn't a fake/made-up... etc...

1942 manual for the sten shows the under barrel holding method and no other method.

Would that be the Small Arms Training pamphlet? Leeroy Thompson in The Sten Gun lifts the passage on carrying, holding and firing the Sten directly from it.

'The right hand is on the butt with the forefinger on the trigger, the left hand on the barrel locking nut with the wrist under the magazine...'

This method of holding applied to both firing from the waist and from the shoulder - although it does stress that 'Care must be taken that the little finger of the left hand is clear of the ejection opening'.

Yes it would.

Just thinking about kit to go with my camera when were at games, is this legit or is it this a bit of SOF shite?

http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/press-arm- ... duct,15615

(Camera)

Also on another note, can anyone measure the toggle on the airborne rope and let me know the dimension, would be fantastic

Cheers All!

I have a query about Scottish headwear, if you don't mind me asking.

I've bought a SOF Tam O' Shanter and given it a Black Watch cap badge, but I'm struggling with the officers equivalent. Any information about what an officer of a Scottish regiment would wear on their head other than a helmet is appreciated.

Secondly, anybody bought the updated version of the SOF GS Cap? It's changed since I've got mine and I'm wondering whether they did away with that pointlessly large front part of the crown that annoys me considerably.

Thank you for your assistance,
Tommy9151.

I believe you need a balmoral, rather similar to what modern scottish troops wear but slightly larger. -- attachment is not available --

Thank you, sir. Would anyone have any suggestions as to where I can obtain one?

Hi all, I'm hoping some of you who know more about Brit kit than I do can help me figure something out. I'm working on putting together a Democratic Army of Greece impression, in most pictures of them I can recognize their uniforms, but the cap that most of them wear confuses me, it looks very similar to the British Field Service cap, but it lacks the buttons. Basically, its a tropical FS cap, but made of wool. Was there ever a British hat matching that description? And if so, do you know anywhere I might be able to pick up a repro of it?
Here's a picture of the cap in question.
http://www.kolivas.de/wp-content/upload ... _dse_5.jpg
And a drawing of Vafiadis Markos wearing one on the cover of Time magazine.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KCuHoU9QBUU/T ... -04-05.jpg
-Thanks for your time.

Don't quote me on this since to my knowledge no such form of headwear exists in the British arsenal of random headwear. It looks more similar to a Russian Pilotka or US Garrison Cap to my not so experienced eyes, sir.

Definitely not a British fs cap. Most likely something very specific to the Greeks

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

'tis not the wartime Greek side cap

it looks similar to items I remember seeing on Yugoslav Partisans. Could it be an item sourced from there?

it looks similar to items I remember seeing on Yugoslav Partisans. Could it be an item sourced from there?

Beat me to it, my thoughts exactly.

It seems a pretty generic style of the times, whether it be Pilotka, FS cap etc. but with regional variations and I would look to the Balkans for the most likely source.

sir.

Its Mam actually

It's similar to a Yugoslavian Titovka cap, and Yugoslavia as well as Bulgaria were sources of uniforms for the DSE, but it has a visor that the Titovka lacks. The side cap worn by Hungarian troops in ww2 comes very close but is shaped a little differently. I might just try modifying a FS cap.

Thank you all for replying so quickly!