Are Stens the cheapest transferable automatics?

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I have fired the sten and also the 9 mm macs. In unaltered condition the sten is easier to control. If you add an AR15 buffer system to a 9 mm mac controlling long bursts at 50 yards is not problem. A fellow let me fire such a modification once and it was really slowed down fire rate. The macs seems to me to be more robust while the stengun receiver tubes seem to be a little too thin. The guns were not mine and I was only being allowed by the owners a very short time with them and other people may know more. For combat you can fire the stens that I saw in semi or full auto from the prone position that is nice.
 
I have seen M11 and Spitfire's for 3-4K from time to time in the last 6 months you just have to be ready when one comes up for sale.
 
Macs are cheaper unaltered ... I would not mind one with the slo fire upper that is out there. I own a sten I got way back when they were affordable.

"Thin sten tubes" thin for what?
 
I found the slow fire upper after a google search and it interested me greatly.
basically, i just wanted to add a 9mm C&R or any other transferable subbie to my #omgwant list of guns and the sten, while a gun I hated the look of as a kid, now i find to be somewhat stylish in its simplicity.
 
An AC-556 is probably the cheapest 5.56 full auto you're gonna find.

If you want a sub gun then the MAC or one of the clones will be your best bet.
 
STENs were sold in large numbers as DEWATs, going for about $10 in the late 50's and early 60's. When the 1968 amnesty was declared, many owners "rewatted" them and registered them, so they are at least among the most common transferrable sub guns around. Contrary to a lot of nonsense, they are reliable, accurate and easy to handle, plus a lot cheaper to feed than .45 caliber guns.

Jim
 
I'd take a Max-11 over a Sten, Stemple, or Uzi any day and I've fired plenty of all of them. I had a Max-11 for several years and absolutely loved it. Mine had the 750rpm "tactical" bolt in it.
 
If you look around a M16 can be found for under $10k pretty much anyday of the week. Theres been many threads about the AC-556 and M16, in my mind theres no comparision but if you are going to drop 10K on a MG the best option seems pretty clear.

Id take my Max-11 over my sten or uzi any day, if you want a sub gun the Max is hard to beat. MP5-SD comes close followed by 9mm M16 and the Uzi.
 
Short answer to the original question...not necessarily. The M-11/9 tends to be more resonably priced across the market. I have seen STENs listed in the $3-4K range (and up), but the basic M-11/9 can still be had around $3K. I paid $800 for mine back in 2000 and have since upgraded it to a point where I am happy with it. I could probably sell it for something resembling the high end of the current price range, but couldn't replace it for that amount.
 
Saakee, I assume you mean is the upper or the lower receiver the registered part. The lower receiver is registered on a MAC, which is why you can replace the upper receiver with a slow-fire upper or some other fancy upper and have a pretty nicely customized subgun.

Aaron
 
I found the slow fire upper after a google search and it interested me greatly.
basically, i just wanted to add a 9mm C&R or any other transferable subbie to my #omgwant list of guns and the sten, while a gun I hated the look of as a kid, now i find to be somewhat stylish in its simplicity.

For a little more money but MUCH better looks IMO, the sterling is on my omgwant list. Many were built on sten receivers (pretty sure it was an evolution of the sten).

sterling03.jpg
 
Saakee, I assume you mean is the upper or the lower receiver the registered part. The lower receiver is registered on a MAC, which is why you can replace the upper receiver with a slow-fire upper or some other fancy upper and have a pretty nicely customized subgun.

Aaron
Aaron_Baker: Yeah, that's what i meant.

DoubleTapDrew: I liked the Sterling's looks but the Sten's lack of [pistol] grip actually intrigues me more.

The different variants of the Sten do make me wonder about how to hunt down quality since the Sten II is the one I'm most interested in.
 
There are some MKIIs that are better then others but most work no matter who made them, its the mags that present issues. I buy them when ever I find them priced right and then sell the ones that dont work well with my gun. Many times they will work in another gun. Tolerances are not really tight on them, so long as you can get the mags to feed into the chamber correctly you whould be ok. Sometimes alittle modification to the mags feed lips will get a non working mag to function fine.
 
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