Original British WWII Prototype Sten MkIVA Dummy Gun with Magazine – Fabricated from Original and New-Made Parts Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-Kind. Think of The Bridge on the River Kwai. William Holden holding his Sten and looking very grim. And how many other war movies do we remember where we remember the Sten but not the actors? Probably quite a few. Not only was the Sten ubiquitous in movies and among Allied troops, but the German Army, of all people, eventually made numerous copies of it. Earlier, Otto Skorzeny, the famous head of Germany’s equivalent of Britain’s Commandos, tried hard to get permission to use the silenced version of the Sten for his troops, but his request was rejected on grounds of national—read that as National Socialist—arrogance.

The Sten gun came about as a weapon of necessity, following the extremely large loss of small arms due to the Evacuation from the harbor of Dunkirk, France, May 26, 1940 – Jun 4, 1940. British / Forces were now engaged in the Battle of Britain, and needed replacement arms, and fast. The British did have access to Thompson machine guns from the U.S., but they were expensive and took time to procure. The MP28 Machine gun was one alternative, but also expensive. What the British needed was a gun that utilized mostly stamped components, which could be quickly and relatively cheaply made, but also be reliable.

The Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield was commissioned to produce this alternative. The two designers were Major R. V. Shepherd, OBE, Inspector of Armaments in the Ministry of Supply Design Department at The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and Harold John Turpin, Senior Draughtsman of the Design Department of the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), Enfield. They lent the first letters of their last names to the design, along with EN for Enfield, resulting in the STEN. There were several versions produced during the war, and it was the Sten MkII and MkIII that first came into prominence, with the more “upmarket” Sten MkV appearing later. However there were other designs before major production, as well as some intermediate designs, which were never made in large numbers, and never really left the prototype stage.

One such prototype was the “Commando” style MkIVA, which anticipated some of the features of the MkV, but ultimately was decided to not be feasible. It featured a folding stock and a shortened barrel with a flash hider, intended for easy concealment when necessary. As they never really left the drawing board, they are exceedingly rare, which has resulted in this wonderful replica example being constructed using a mixture of original and reproduction parts. The original parts used are the trigger group with receiver base cup, magazine well, and deactivated bolt section. These are attached to a BATF approved solid aluminum dummy receiver, along with other new made components, resulting in this wonderful non-gun compliant Sten MkIVA Display Submachine Gun. The trigger still pulls and the selector moves, though the bolt handle does not move, per BATF regulations. The original bolt section is installed into the ejection port to give it a great look.

The gun has a fantastic look, and has been painted “Stove Black”, with a fully functional folding stock and pistol grip attached to what we believe is a MkV trigger group. It has a post war Sten style sling attached to complete the look. It comes complete with an original magazine, where permitted. Elsewhere a deactivated magazine will be sent

A fine original display gun fully approved by BATF to be non-functional and totally legal without any type of license.

NOTE: Magazine will be deactivated if shipped to a state where they are prohibited.