Sten mk2 , ordering 10 only . How to get one ---

How to drill a hole while on site though?

I'm bringing a hobby drill... If someone has a dremel, bring that... You just need a small drill.

I'll pull my gun apart and people can copy it.

I can bring a few grub screws, but I'll have to guess the size, I suppose it's somewhere between tiny and really small.

EDIT - I have 9 no. M3s and 9 no. M4s.

Right... as Jamie says no hop up.

What needs to be done is that a small grub screw needs to be put into the hop unit like this... with the hop unit rotated.

The fps is still unknown... Jamie's chrono said around 300-320fps, but was giving error a lot. Mine was saying 420fps but also saying my MP40 was that as well, so may need fixing/caibrating.

I'm hoping Jamie's was right.

So two requests for tomorrow. Someone bring a chrono that will work down the tunnels and someone bring some grub screws.

Mine is already fixed, it's an easy job. I believe the screw that Jamie used is from the base plate of an M4.

Quick review to follow

looks like a workable fix except...from the picture there is no retaining clip on the barrel, so whats stops the barrel from twisting or coming out of the hop unit

Thoroughly enjoyed using the Sten today - despite me not risking bodging holes and grub screws into the hop it was perfectly serviceable for the game.
I was even more delighted that I didn't have to swap the spring in the gloom 100ft underground as it was chronoing at 260-270, others were doing up to 330fps.
Lipo battery charged in probably less than 3/4 hour and didn't get even faintly warm, let alone burst into flames! And the juice lasted the whole day, no probs.
The only problem I had was intermittent feeding from time to time. This may well be me not being used to how the gun sounds and that in the dark you often can't see the bb's nor hear them hit a target in some of the tunnels. I'll take a look at the mag catch 'cos it was a bit stiff sometimes.
Also Stg Ash pointed out to me that the motor brushes were sparking a bit so the brushes might need some attention.
Also I'll look to replacing hex and cross head screws with slotted and upgrading the spring (and there's me expecting to downgrade it!).

But anyway, for a first outing I am highly delighted with this bit of kit, loved it to bits.
As for the price? Is it worth £350 or so? Well, £350 is a stupid price to pay for any toy gun and it would be better if it were half the price, but it isn't. I paid the price and I'm chuffed - what more can I say?

Thanks for the reviews chaps, I`ve been waiting to hear how the Sten performed...even though i couldn`t justify buying one at that price. Interesting about the non hop situation, I feel that Yiths solution may be the answer to many a side fed custom gun project, instead of hacking off the feed tube and gluing it back on, the grub screw is a lot simpler and seems to work.

The only problem I had was intermittent feeding from time to time.

So it's like the real ones then.

whats stops the barrel from twisting or coming out of the hop unit

I've put a dab of jet melt on mine and it's now rock solid. I've gone a step further with my hop today, I've used a small cross head screw with a square end, which pushes down on a small piece of rubber which acts as the hop nubbin, as I reckon a metal screw in contact with the hop rubber would eventually tear the hop rubber as the gun is fired. It was fiddly to do but worth it for long term durability. I've also sprayed the silver ring in matt black and I've added a barrel spacer to eliminate the barrel movement. It shoots pretty well for such a short barrelled gun, although I've yet to do any longer range testing. I reckon the fps is somewhere between an AGM MP40 and a CYMA Thompson, so the initial worries of them doing 400+fps are gone. Next week, I'm having a bit of a range day with my Enfield and Mosin, so the Sten will get a good going over as well, so I can fine tune the hop setting and then lock it off.

Overall, I'm very happy with my Sten. Yes, £350 is a lot of money but I'm happy to spend that to get a gun I've always wanted and, with 1/2 an hour of work, performs the way it should.

One thing I've seen on a site about an airsoft .50 cal. is a home made hop that uses a steel bb between the rubber and the screw.
It might need the area above to be built up a bit to give the room, though.

I used my Sten all day yesterday and it worked perfectly. It didn't miss a beat. No missfires, nothing.

It was bashed against walls and scraped along the floor and the only thing to see for it is a nice sheen to the blueing. Yes, I'm not sure if mentioned that before, but these guns aren't painted, they're blued.

I had a bit of a disaster on Saturday when the whole of the mag catch mechanism fell off. This was due to a screw coming out. However it could have come out at any time. It was quite loose. Every Sten that we checked at the event had the same problem of a loose screw. It was this one on the back of the mag and I recommend that all Viva Sten owners make sure it's tight and thread lock or superglue it to stop it falling off. I have not found the screw from mine so I have an M4 from B&Q that I've chemical blued on there now. I'd also recommend that the screw that acts as a spring guide on the top of the mag catch is unscrewed slightly, thread lock applied and then re-screwed in because it is VERY loose.

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Whilst doing this fix I did notice that the amount the screw was fastened in modified the tightness of the magwell. This is because it presses the u-shaped piece of metal into the mag well itself. This is worth experimenting with for those who may have had problems with mags being loose.

Also note that the outer barrel itself does screw out and you may want to thread lock that in as well.

I have also blacked the aluminium band on the front of the gun to make it more appealing...

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To the question about the hop-unit and barrel coming out. There's a flipping great chunk of milled aluminium around the hop unit block that stops the unit moving significantly.

Finally some pictures of the whole gun. Note that all these pictures were taken after a full day's play in the tunnels at ucap. The gun held up to the bashing and scraping superbly.
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Am I happy with the £350? Well if the hop unit had not required modification then yes... A few years ago I spent £350 on a plastic Star M249 and had plenty of problems with that. This is a much nicer gun in comparison

It's blued?
I did marvel at the abuse the 'paint job' took!

FOR GOD SAKE !!!!! stop saying how great it is for 350 quid. every china soft company is rubbing its hands together and having new price tags printed . you should all be sayings at awfull, bring the price down. ( )

FOR GOD SAKE !!!!! stop saying how great it is for 350 quid. every china soft company is rubbing its hands together and having new price tags printed . you should all be sayings at awfull, bring the price down. ( )

You make a very valid point there. While it's good and I'm personally glad that you're happy with it, it's soley because it's because it's a gun that's quite 'rare' in the airsoft world. Giving the chinasoft companies the idea that it's acceptable to bring out 'bodged together' guns (without a working hop!)at japanese prices isn't the best idea.

Still, they're happy, you're happy, so it's all good, i guess. Not sure what it means for the future though.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the slightest happy about the hop unit being non-existent. However if it had been fully working then in my opinion it would have been a better gun by far than the Star M249 I had at the same price.

Just because it's small doesn't mean that it has to be cheap and yes this is a handbag sized gun.

your missing the point a bit rich, what im jokingly saying is, dont give the chinese makers the idea that we will pay jap prices for chinese guns. they have been great in the past because of the price. we dont really want another chinese gun in the uk thats twice the price it is in the rest of the world do we? we need the japs to try and compete with the chinese and bring there prices down. we all win.

Problem is, 'we' will, wont we. Those ten went how fast?

I dont think it will be long before another company spots how well they're selling and bang out loads at £150 less. Just an opinion but they're not stupid and you can bet they're paying attention to this forum.

True enough - but some of us are too impatient to wait (and so pay through the nose, but meh).

According to Steve @ Airsoft World, they've got AGM making Stens for them and they'll be out in 3-4 months... I can wait

I have a few questions for those of you lucky enough to already own one of these stens-

how much space is there for a battery? could you fit in a 7.2v mini or even an 8.4v mini?
do they accept the king arms plastic mp40 mid-cap mags as easily as the agm locap supplied with the gun?
would it be possible to get the inner barrel to fit better (ie no chance of rotating or working forward) if you were to mill out the following on the inner barrel- the hop rubber alignment groove and mill out two grooves for the ak hop unit barrel retaining clip?
I have a hefty deposit put down on a forthcoming viva sten and have modified an ak hop unit as per yith's photo and am wondering if I could fit a non exploding nimh battery in the back.

just a thought- if the cloners in china are going to produce a sten won't it just have the same hop problem as I can't see them going to the expense of designing and machining a new type of side feeding hop unit?