Anyone fancy making me an Owen gun?

That's undoubtably why they look neater made ,to be fair the sten was made in factory's staffed by women who had only recently taken up the trade of gun smith ,that's not in any way meant to be sexist ,the women in question did not get a three year apprenticeship ,more like three week's I'd guess and in far from ideal situation's ,nobody could have been expected to do better ,the fact is they got on and did a cracking job .

The Australian armament industry performed minor miracles during the war, particularly in 1942.

Albeit a later experimental model with a 17pdr, but even the first production run Sentinel would likely have murdered any Japanese tank it was liable to face.

Looking great, Gav!

That looks like a cross between a crusader and a Matilda 2 with a proper gun on it ,good old Ozzy's eh !

Good eye, they were partly based on a Crusader!

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Albeit a later experimental model with a 17pdr, but even the first production run Sentinel would likely have murdered any Japanese tank it was liable to face.

Looking great, Gav!

Tbh though, a strong gust of wind would have murdered any Japanese tank it was liable to face.

Tbh though, a strong gust of wind would have murdered any Japanese tank it was liable to face.

"I fart in your general direction!"

My teacher's would be reet proud of me ,I actually spent an hour and a half drawing up design's for the mag well ,not like me at all ! You'd be supprised how many people ask me for design drawings of my gun's and I have to admit that no such thing exists other than a few grubby sketches ,pretty embarising when you thing I did an "O" level in graphical communication and an "A" level in design technology ,I tend to lean much further on my "A" level sculpture and just get too it .

made a start on the mag well today , by no means finished and not attached yet .

Mag well and release catch finished and working , its still not welded in place ,just resting on top for the picture and the catch is not adjusted to the correct height yet either ,i'n not going to weld it on straight away , when i welded on the barrel catch the steel tube deformed slightly due to hot metal contracting after the weld ,for this reason I'm going to make a solid ally rod to fit inside the tube while welding ,steel wont weld to ally so it wont get stuck(well not permanently) but hopefully it should help retain the shape of the tube .



the phillips screw's will be replace once finished

well the mag well is on and although it might not look much yet it is now a fully functioning airsoft gun , the mag release catch is adjusted and the hop adjustment system works and she feed's perfectly , its all cosmetic from here on in

Looking really good Gav, I wish I had your skill

Wow, it's really taking shape. I guess it will be ready for Aachen then (next game I can make it to).

Gotta decide what to call her. It's between Evelyn (Evelyn Owen is the designer of the Owen gun) and Sheila ('cos Australian).

At a guess I'd say mid to late January ,might be quicker as I'll be off work after my knee operation for the best part of a month .it's funny at the beginning of a build you do a hell of a lot of work with virtually nothing visual to show for it ,just the foundation stuff ,then all of a sudden you tern a corner and it starts to look like you're getting somewhere ."Ripper" might be a good name as well .

All my previous guns have female names: Sten=Maggie (high iron content and no safety so not suitable for minors/miners), SMLE=Matilda

Genius!

Though if it ain't suitable for minors you could also call it Jimmy Saville. Just a thought.

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they were going to call the pound coin a Thatcher , cos it's cheap ,brassy and think's t's a sovereign

Finally got back in the workshop today ,had time to blend the welds on the mag well so next is to start the trigger housing trigger and hand grips ,also remembered to order steel for the stock the other day so hopefully it will arrive before it's needed .planning on having the stock removable as per the orriginal as well ,the only detail i'm not sure on yet is the end cap on the rear of the main receiver tube ,it will be used to access the battery so ideally will have an easy mechanism to remove it ,the easy way would be to connect it to the stock but it's not ideal if you want to user it without the stock , I'll just have to figure something out .

I would probably not want to use it without the stock. I will be nice to have the stock removable for packing away though.

Looking at the photo's you have posted, the lower receiver would extend to the back of the gun. If the stock is removable then you could seal the end of the upper receiver tube and cut away the bottom making it accessible from below (via the lower receiver) when the stock is removed.
Attaching the end cap on the upper receiver to the stock also works for me.

It would make life a lot easier but i'll leave the desicion for now as I might have a bright idea later on ,I had'nt thought of using the lower receiver to access the upper receiver ,would still mean you would not be able to use it without the stock .

For the lower receiver I plan on making it in two parts ,just above the rear pistol grip there is a u section outer part that wraps around the front ,this section will be welded to the upper receiver ,the rear section ,by far the larger part will be removable to access the gearbox and service trigger components .

If it helps, the trigger guard on the real gun extends past the pistol grip, along the bottom of the lower receiver up to the back of the gun. This forms a box with the side panels and is bolted to the upper section by a long bolt through the pistol grip and another bolt further back. The stock then slides in the back and a catch holds it in place by hooking the rear bolt. There are diagrams on warwicks.com.au which may be helpful, I can't copy and paste a link as I am at work and this PC won't allow me.
Ok am home now: http://www.warwicks.com.au/owen/owen.html
Depending how you plan to mount the trigger, this might work and would mean 2 bolts hold everything together.