Hi
I am trying to replicate the finish on the AGM stem but am failing miserably. Originally I tried black rattle can which was of course too glossy so have tried satin, still too glossy and matt - guess what....too flat.
I saw on the internet "British Black" designed to look like the sten finish but you can't seem to buy it in Britain...
Any thoughts / info would be very much appreciated.
Are you sure it's not blued?
I'm no expert on the AGM though as I have a VIVA myself. That is blued.
No it's only cheapsoft. It is definitely painted.
Apparently the originals produced by BSA were finished with a zinc rich paint which is now restricted due to some of the chemical composition.
Yup, I know that originals were painted... I do like my blued viva though. 
What about using one of the too glossy ones and wet/dry sanding it flat?
I've had some good luck using GW purity seal over the top of other paints for stuff like this... it's between matt and satin.
You could try lightly polishing the matt black with fine wire wool. Its worked for me, it gives a light sheen, less glossy than satin finsh.
Great ideas thank you for the input, I will keep you posted.
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The best paint i found was the cheap black 'auto' paint from £1 shops ('Poundland'), it's meant to be gloss, but isn't quite there, so it's a nice halfway house between having a sheen, and a matt finish... ...and it only costs a pound. Have a look at the forum topic where I converted some Thompson mags to 20rnd length, they're all sprayed up with that paint.
A Proud Member Of 'Team Spleen!' who play mainly at Gunman Airsoft, Tuddenham, Suffolk.
He's right - a lot of Stens were painted in a very glossy finish. The one in the B'ham Science Museum looks like it was done with car paint and then buffed up. There are similar examples in the IWM. Personally, I've left mine as it is...
Thanks for all the input - I found a perfect match using B&Q matt enamel.
The stuff many guns would have been painted with back in the days of yore was the armourer's favourite called "Suncorite". Very interesting stuff that will blow your head clean off with the fumes. I used to "love" my time repainting bay serviced 30mm ADEN gun barrels black and Jaguar blast tubes with red Suncorite. A good extractor fan and mask were a must, I went for the full S10 option.
-Marc-
4th Wilts LHG
WW2 armoury: WA M1911A1 SCW, TM M1A1 TSMG, AGM STEN Mk2, AGM MP40, S&S M1 Garand.
Another option is the stuff I use on my compensators - I just checked, and it looks the same as my AGM Sten to me.
Halfords Grey Primer, then Halfords Matt Black Spray Paint. Item code 451583
