MP28 Project

Sten to MP28 Conversion Project

Someone commented on my last project, an AK74 to MG34 conversion (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14778) if I had any build pictures, so I thought for this project I’d try and remember to do some.
After seeing MP28’s in various photos and film clips, and thinking it was something a bit different from your average MP40, I thought I’d have a go at building one. But with limited resources (a Black & Decker Workbench, a drill and a router) it had to be simple and done on a budget. The obvious choice for a donor gun was the Sten so I started with the following :-

This is the donor Sten, the stock from my sons (broken) air rifle, some bits of suitably sized aluminium tube and plate and some old sling hooks I had lying around, and what I was aiming for was :-

It was never going to be an exact copy, but I wanted it close enough to fool your average blind man, and as I was starting to put together a British impression, I also wanted to be able to convert the gun back to a Sten.
I started off by looking at the barrel guard, this was made from a piece of 40mm aluminium tube cut to size, then filed internally to fit over where the sten guard fitted (I bought thicker tube for strength), this was then drilled with air holes at the appropriate spacing. Then I made an internal "washer" out of 3mm aluminium plate to support it at the end of the barrel, that was glued in place with JB weld. I then cut and drilled an end cap out of 3mm plate and glued and filed that to fit. Last was the front sight which is 2 pieces of 3mm plate glued together and filed to the correct shape, then glued on. The sling hook is a modern quick release sling hook, which just pushes into one of the slightly widened air holes in the barrel.

Next I turned my attention to the stock, this had to be hollowed out to take the Sten gearbox and a hole drilled through to the back of the stock for the battery.

In order to fix the stock to the Sten main barrel I decided to use the same mounting hole and screw as the standard Sten stock, so I made a bracket to fasten the rear of the stock out of a folded piece of 3mm aluminium plate, this was shaped to fit, drilled with the mounting holes then Milliput added to give it some bulk and make it more like a casting.

Next I had to sort a front mounting bracket for the stock, so I made a new support bracket for the Sten gearbox and included a threaded mounting plate at the front of it.

The stock could then be fixed to the barrel/gearbox assembly, also utilising the original stock trigger guard.

What was now missing was the rear sight, I obtained an AK sight which is similar and built a new mounting bracket for it.

This was mounted onto the barrel with some small M3 screws so it could be removed for when I used the gun as a Sten. Lastly I needed to shape the stock more like the original, stain and wax it, and paint all the metal work, and then a bit of weathering and done.



I think this is close enough to the original without being anal, and hopefully shows what can be achieved with the minimum of tools and a bit of imagination, and may encourage someone else to do the same!