Thoughts, Suggestions, and Ideas

Well without asking questions, you learn nothing eh? And no one is born with an indepth knowledge of history, so anyone who acts all high and mighty is best avoided anyway, as they are exactly that which you stated. Pricks.

TBH Sten MKII is good for anything *except* paratroopers as they largley used the MKV for D-day and beyond.

Any other British impression post 1942 is fine for one.

Tank crew had them as did corporals in infantry sections, some junior officers carried them as did some othe rjobs in which a rifle is too heavy or unwieldly.

Cheapest way to do a decent brit loadout is a £75 windproof suit form 'panzerfaust' 1943 on ebay, a MKV post war steel 'turtle neck' helmet and some 37 pattern webbing. You could then do a convincing late war (winter 44 onwards) assault infantry impression for just over £100.

If you are in the states your best supplier is probably Jerry at What Price Glory.

TBH Sten MKII is good for anything *except* paratroopers as they largley used the MKV for D-day and beyond.

See what I mean about no one knowing everything!!! Gadge you bugger, you've scuppered my plans for my brit loadout!!

I'd check out the one Gadge posted, and even do a bit of google searching for comparisons before you decide anything.

So when I saw that AGM released the Sten MKII my first thought was "When can I get it?" and my second thought was "What kit can I use it in?". And I looked, and looked, and looked for surplus British WWII Uniforms and Gear and I couldn't find much but when I didn't I looked at it a realized that I had no idea what I was looking for so someone told me about this forum and I figured this would be the place to come and ask for help. So with that said, I have some questions.

1. What are some different impressions I could do with the Sten MKII?
2. Has anyone used the AGM Sten MKII and what were your thoughts?
3. Were can I get Surplus WWII British Gear? Perferably a store in the USA.
4. Is there any basic knowledge I need before I start looking at making a kit.
5. Is is possible to make a decent impression without breaking the bank. I'm only a teenager so I have to buy a car and insurance and keep my AA L85 and that Loadout running.

Hi, welcome to the forum! hopefully you'll find us a fairly friendly bunch (though we are primarily a UK group), hopefully here's a few answers to your questions!

1. Pretty much any British soldier post 1942, Line infantry, airborne or commando are the most common, and all used Sten MkII's.
2. A fair few people have them now, general impression is quite good, so far.
3. Not sure about US stores, but there are some reproduction uniforms being sold on ebay now from Singapore: http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Spearhead-Militaria_Allied-Uniforms_W0QQ_fsubZ5878170QQ_sidZ146084432QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322
4. most of the basic info can be seen under the 'Kit Guides' at the top of this forum, there's a basic guide, and then several for specific units, which will help you get an idea of what you need, along with links to suppliers (though mostly UK-based again)
5. I'll be honest, it's not the cheapest loadout you can buy. the uniform itself can be expensive, and if you're not in the UK, i imagine the '37 pattern webbing could be an issue too. However, once you've got the basics, it's fairly easy to vary your kit to portray any of the different types of unit.

Hope that helps!

I have one of the Spearhead BDs from Singapore and I think they're fine. The wool is a lot softer that the 49 pattern one I have which means your neck won't be red raw by the end of the day.

http://www.whatpriceglory.com/uklist.htm

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/WW2-UK-SAS-Windproo ... .m14.l1262

Ignore the fact it says 'sas camo suit' thats just rubbish they put on to try and sell more. *everyone* in about four different divisions got one.

$100 for a loadout, you might be able to do counts as but a convincing one will be tricky.

Well worth saving up for good stuff though.. buy a good set of battledress and you'll probably never need another one.

I got my first set second hand for £85 about five years ago.. i skirmish in it regularly and have even lived out in it and its not even starting to wear.

The decent budget parasmock we recommend is going to cost you $200 alone TBH. Even the really cheap option of an Indian made one wil be $120

Thanks for that site, I found some good stuff.

http://www.ima-usa.com/product_info.php ... ts_id/1536
http://www.ima-usa.com/product_info.php/products_id/30
http://www.ima-usa.com/product_info.php ... ucts_id/25
http://www.ima-usa.com/product_info.php ... ts_id/1035

Thoughts on this stuff?

2nd and 3rd item are of use to you if you want to do either the 3rd infantry division or the 5oth division on D-day as they were the assault divisions refitted with MKIII helmets. Its no use to you for airborne but great for the above units of as aforementioned very late war brits. (the MKIV and MKV helmets are externally very very similar to MKIII.

The pistol grip probably wont fit an airsoft type (but thats a guess)and the lanchester bandolier is useless.

The net would do for any impression.

The cheapest way to get a vaguely brit looking loadout is probably a set of denim battledress off ebay.

Price tag is a wayy too much for the last one. At least for now. And its the same on the 1st one. I was hoping for under $100 for a uniform... guess I was wrong...

Think you might be struggling at that price range, i'm afraid.

One thing you might want to consider though, is Canadian battledress. It's a slightly different (greener) colour and has some noticable differences in cut, but would do as a cheap 'counts as', if you were really short of funds.

I imagine it'd probably be quite cheap for you in the US, but personally i'd save up and get something more accurate from 'What Price Glory' or similar.

Commandos tended to use thompsons rather than stens and paras the MKV Sten with wooden stock and pistol grip.

I mean do whatever you like but the MKII is really the infantry type of sten, as Evo suggests why not do a Canadian infantry loadout? the helmet you checked out would ideal for that.

You're looking at the Canadian BD (post war greek BD is very cheap and looks about right as it has that greener colour - try tlaking to 'sabre sales' in th euk for the cheapest price and seeing if they will ship to the US) (prob around £20 each piece jacket and trousers)

Then you want some 37 pattern webbing. You only really need a belt, two pouches and some cross straps. £20 tops.

Then the helmet you saw online.

That would give you a passable Canadian infantry look.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VsPSgPTQicc/S ... 400/14.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/318 ... 98.jpg?v=0
http://kingandcountry.co.uk/userimages/ ... 113_HR.gif
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_femhrxbNtS0/S ... g_1944.jpg

The SAS (if thats what you mean by SF) rarely used the Sten as it was unreliable short ranged and badly made.

The Sten was designed to be made in great quantities for pennies, and to use german ammo so it could be dropped into occupied France for the resistance.

The preferred SMG of UK 'SF' was the MP40 tbh.. It was more reliable used 9mm para and there was no shortage of finding magazines for them behind the lines

We used in the British Army cos it was *CHEAP* about 20 times cheaper than buying in a thompson from the US.

Up until 43 the standard SMG isthe Thompson, after that the Sten MKII for infantry and MKV for airborne.

The silenced type were rarely used by anyone other than Soe as firing more than a couple of rounds out of them destroyed the silencer.

Other headwear is a cap comforter, or gs cap for infantry. Cap comforter or beret for airborne or commando.

A word of caution though..you've chosen to do a brit loadout of WWII... its very hard to look gucci in wwii brit kit. Its practical not fashionable and the specialist stuff (airborne/commando) can be *very* expensive.

Why not do a french resistance loadout if you're on a budget but already have a sten... then gradually get the kit over time.

My overriding advice however would be DONT BUY ANYTHING right now. You'll regret it. Read up as much as you can look at the kit guides on here, look at this site here:

http://www.justordinarymen.org.uk/index ... et_=return

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sten

The advice from everybody is good, but you won't beat doing some research of your own before buying anything to save yourself money in the end. Are there militaria sales or shows near where you live? Otherwise dealers like What Price Glory are good many people in the UK use them for uniforms. Chose which 37 pattern webbing you will want and then check out sources until you can find some for approx £30 for a basic set.
Khaki Drill uniforms as worn in North Africa may offer a cost effective loadout for you.

Good point there.

If you're in a warm part of the US you might want to also look at Chindits and 'jungle green' kit.