Restoration of Rusty STEN Mk2 Submachine Gun
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ธ.ค. 2021
- Today we're taking care of an old rusted STEN Mk II coming straight from WWII. It was recovered in a basement while the house was being renovated, and so I had the opportunity to take a close look and do a test fire. However, before doing any of that I needed to do a conservative restoration, which is what this video is all about. In seven days from the publish date you'll find here the link to an in depth video on the English sten gun and the history and technology of this particular specimen.
Second part here: • STEN: How Bad Was the ...
A special thanks goes to Michelangelo Neri Orliani for helping in the making of this project
If you can and want to help me making videos like this, you can directly support me on Patreon:
/ backyardballistics
with your help, I can keep making educational content without having to give up my freedom of speech to the advertiser's needs. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
You can find the second part, where I test the gun and tell a bit of history and technology here: th-cam.com/video/ciF-aQhxScw/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=BackyardBallistics
you had it wide open, would have been the perfect opportunity to bake the parts at 250-275f after cold bluing and cleaning.. to apply FrogLube to everything.
every part would be slick, slippery, and kinda shiny too. its an excellent dry lubricant rust preventive soaks into warmed metal's pores as it surface coats.
if you're treating a spring keep its temp below 200f.
You should use electrolisis instead of oil and steel wool
@BackyardBallistics Do not do not sell or give away that ammo its exremly expensive
Don't you think the paint is an important part of the history of a museum gun? so that any paint that can't be replaced with a nearly identical type of paint should not be removed? at least beyond what is peeling?
@@alan6832 well the paint should be as well preserved as well as everything else but the ammo would be worth a lot more because of how rare old 9mm parabelum is (i think it might be that mabey a differnt one)
I really hope the museum will not "deactivate" it, as some do. A definite destruction of such weapons.
@@PilotTed This is not true. The Smithsonian, for example, does not deactivate.
The Danish arms museum Tøjhusmuseet shredded thousands of guns when the direction changed to woke. They could have auctioned it off in USA, but the left-leaning management prefered to rid the world of a bunch of old guns.
Im sure they will
@@erik_dk842 that hurts me
@@skepticalbadger thank you - there is a lot of deliberate disinformation out there.
"i then proceeded to gently tap the magazine bay with a rubber mallet" .... BAM! BAM! BAM! Hehe :)
It’s called a “technical tap”. It works wonders at freeing seized parts. 🤣
Thought the exact same thing lmao yikes
People who hired him will certainly watch the video so let's say he played smart. :)
Don't force it...get a bigger hammer. 🤣
@@thomasjmeade calibrated tap . In the trade ..
Oh to live somewhere where WW2 submachine guns are just randomly found during renovations! Neither the gun, or the ammo looked too bad, I wouldn't be surprised if both worked just fine. Have you tried electrolysis for cleaning up rusty guns? I've found that it works really well.
5-6 years ago I was called by the police of my village because a guy bought an house and found 4 pistols(a Luger, a Radom 35, a Beretta 1915 and a CZ 27) in the attic. None of them had any sign of rust and they were all well oiled, the only times I've seen a Luger in such mint condition were in museums. We(me and my fahter) helped identifying the guns and gave all the information to the guy on how to get a license to own them. He gifted us two bottles of Spumante a couple months afterwards
Some years ago someone in Norway was renovating their house and found a bunch of weapons and ammo from British drops during the war behind a wall. I have heard rumors of hidden weapons that havent been recovered.
There are a lot of really awesome WWII metal detecting channels where people find weapons in this same condition along with piles of iron crosses, helmets, whole bodies with jewelry and ID tags. Saw one where a guy found a wooden crate with 2 MG42 machine guns inside, both with hardly any rust on them at all. Never been more jealous in my life
@@maledetto1221 why on earth would he tell anyone anything 🤦♂️
@@averageodd Because 10y of prison are not interesting when you just need 300€ of burocracy for the license and can legally use them...
I think you turned it around without compromising its historical feel. You did a great job at saving something that was effectively junk 🙂
I’d rather have a rusty Sten then no Sten at all.
I’d rather have an arm then a rusty sten XD(in case it explodes)
@@puzz8930 the only part that has to be strong is the barrel, plus a nine millimeter Parabellum can’t take off your arm even if it explodes out of battery in your hand.
@@davidgruen7423 its a joke bruh
@@puzz8930 True, but it still shows your lack of knowledge.
@@AdamosDad i think he was making a joke about how catastrophic firearm failures are sometimes exaggerated.
The joke "I rather keep my arm" is also an exaggeration.
But that's just what i got from the joke. I might be wrong.
it's nice to see preservation instead of destruction.
They would have cut those puppies up in a heart beat here in Canada.
You could also try simply steaming the gun, Mark Novak does that in his channel for restoration/preservation to convert the iron dioxide to iron trioxide without destroying the bluing on the gun. It also makes for a better bluing overall than just chemicals as the iron trioxide can't convert back to iron dioxide.
Looks like the rust had gotten under the paint so there wasnt any finish to save.
That technique is the basis for rhe rust bluing process, where they artifically rust the part and then convert it to black oxide by immersion in boiling water. However, I don't have enough experience to know what result I would have gotten in my far from ideal case, a mixture of paint, phosphate and rust. I'll leave that to the pros until I have more experience
@@Backyard.Ballistics steaming is a part of the rust blueing, but it's also part of a restoration process called "conservation", or to stop the active decay of the artifact without sprucing it up.
By steaming or boiling the gun, it loosens up the excess rust, and converts the surface rust back to black oxide, restoring the original finish.
It's a shame you took the path you did in restoring the gun, removing salvageable original finish (both paint, and blueing which was originally under the paint)
It's understandable because you are not a "professional restorer", but the use of cold blue at all is generally frowned upon, and is within the "bubba" territory, it's almost always better to salvage as much original finish as possible, then leave it as is.
Either way, the gun is certainly better then how it started, there was just a better way to go about it
@Joshua Bullock good on you, both channels offer the depth that the meme gun boys don't even though its fun to watch at times :)
@@Backyard.Ballistics that's plenty fine, use the amenities accessible to you. Just a suggestion for future perhaps?
Man when I got notified that this video went live, I was in a middle of a long meeting. All I could think about was when I could start watching haha. Man you are just a walking encyclopedia. Supremely informative video and entertaining :). Out of all restoration videos on youtube, are the only one that explained why you went through each rust removal method. I LOVE this channel, and I hope you keep making content.
I may know the theory, but I'm clumsy and disorganized when it comes to doing the job. A proper restorer would have had a better looking result is a quarter of the time. 😂
Mark Novak does great conservation on his TH-cam channel
He often works with C&Rsenal too
Awesome, I’m definitely looking forward to the firing video. You’ve gotta wonder how many cool old guns are still kicking around in random basements in Europe.
As another piece of trivia, this volume expansion of iron when it rusts is why iron and iron-based alloys can rust away completely. The rust cracks and lifts off the surface, exposing a fresh metal surface for oxygen and water to act on again. With other metals, like aluminium, the amount of volume per metal atom is more similar between the base metal and the oxide (for aluminium, that ratio is 1.28), so the oxide forms a solid, airtight layer that prevents the underlying metal from further corrosion.
As a Brit I’m very proud of the marvellous engineering of the Sten, and how remarkably good condition it was in!
have you never notices , all his rust looks exactly the same ,, and seems to wash off with a tissue , leaves no pitting , and does not eat springs or small screws ,...
just saying ... ???
@@tomthompson7400 so you have watched like 2 videos of him
@@thatneo4133 too many is a better answer. click bait.
@@tomthompson7400 I mean multiple of his ww2 guns have been completely coated in cracked rust that he has to completely restore himself. This sten is just in really well kept to have that little rust.
@@tomthompson7400 And he has only 9 restoration videos which is very realistic for him to get these old guns. Like the kar98 restorations the thing is in complete shambels.
Looks good. Especially for a museum display. Always a pleasure to watch and learn from you're videos. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for the comment. I'm a bit sad I didn't have the proper equipment and marksmanship. The theory is right, but the execution could have been much better. I guess that's why there are proper professional restorers
You sure speak like you're a professional firearm restorer. You really do know your stuff. Very expertly presented. Thank you.
Glad to see that the story of this gun is not quite over, love to see that.
This is why I love your channel. Concise and to the point. Lots of info. Thanks, mate.
What a wonderful find. Maybe I'll check my basement for one ;-) Thanks for walking us through your conservation steps.
Let us know, did ya find anything nice 😂
I always loved this submachine gun.
It's extremely beautiful.
That rust was so thick, it looked like pink paint!
There was a superficial layer with a very homogeneus color. It was definitely not paint though, it scraped away and crumbled way too easy. It had a powdery consistency
Yup, THIS Is how you properly restore guns! Great work.
Nice job, the sten gun is a beautiful piece of history
Kudos to Italian Police for trusting you to take care of the restoration job! This would be impossible in Portugal with our gun law...
police in most ocuntries seize weapons, regardless of historical value
Normally firearms of artistical or historical value are preserved here
@@Backyard.Ballistics Don't get me wrong, we also preserve firearms with historical value. But in this case a sub-machine gun is classified as a class A weapon, so it's impossible for a civilian to own it, unless it's a deactivated weapon. In theory our law "may" allow collectors and private museums to have a functional machine gun. For that one needs a special license granted on a case by case basis by the national director of police. To my knowledge it´s always been denied to anyone asking for it. Thanks for doing this videos, I just wish you had more views, because you really deserve!
@@kevinmorrice Seize them and put them through a shredder, regardless of value. At least here in Denmark
Nice job, and very non-intrusive conservation! The finish on my STEN was not as far gone as that one, but rather than remove the finish that *did* remain, I opted to clean it with paint thinner (so as not to damage the bluing) and spray painted it with "wrinkle" paint, giving it the appearance of a Sterling. It can be brought back to its previous finish, if desired, but looks quite nice with this finish! Thank you for the video!
Thank you for saving this gun, love the Sten.
The sten is the personification of a crocodile
Angry tube
And god do I love it
Very cool as a gunsmith I love seeing pieces of history like this brought back to life.
Too bad it's being sent to a museum, to never be fired or probably even held again
@@benb5308 something to be said for historical pieces being preserved for future generations though even if it's just to look at.
@@just1ofgod well you're acting like firing a gun damages it. Plus there were millions of sten guns made, most of the surviving examples are in museums already. Honestly a private owned gun being shot and maintained regularly is a much better example for the younger generations than one in a glass display case gathering dust while all it's springs lose tension and become fragile
@@benb5308 most surviving ww2 semi/full auto guns I have worked on are shot out so yeah firing them does indeed degrade the components most standard high pressure rifle barrels have a prime life span of about 10000 rounds or so (depending on brand and quality) all of the main parts on a firearm are wear components.
@@just1ofgod that's if they're not taking care of, which granted back in the day a lot of people didn't do because they were cheap surplus, most of the damage on world war II guns happen in world war II when they were getting sand and grit in all the components and not getting cleaned regularly, but if people are cleaning and oiling regularly and not shooting them every single day they'll definitely be preserved better by being fired. And that 10,000 round estimate definitely not true for the lifespan of a firearm, most firearms break in period is the first 500 to 1,000 rounds, so unless it's a particularly fragile piece the gun should last way longer than 10,000 rounds if properly maintained. But honestly what does it matter if the firearm functions if it's going to a museum, it'll likely never be held, definitely will never be fired, they might as well just an empty shell and remove all the internals because it's just a glorified paperweight once a museum has its hands on it
Thank you for saving that piece of history. 👍
My pleasure
I would love to see the reaction on the inventors of the sten if they found out people were 'preserving' a 'piece of history'...
Stens were designed to be throwaway and disposable cheap crap, before throwaway disposable cheap crap was a thing!
I just love British war era guns, they are so simple that even after couple of decades rusting they are still functional
Hey Brother, I was surprised by and deeply appreciated the educational aspect you added to the video. Thank you for enlightening me. Very Cool!
I'm happy that Italy isn't destroying a piece of history and is instead putting it in a museum. Here in the states I'd just restore it and keep it to shoot but hey that our gun culture lol
I live in the UK...save me from this nightmare, please
@@OutOfNamesToChoose do what your ancestors did and escape to the colonies and enjoy a mostly free life.
It’s really neat that you are able to restore an old weapon rather than some politician destroying it publicly and screaming about how wonderful they are for taking this horrible engine of destruction out of circulation. Thanks for the videos and education.
I appreciate your narration about your thought process. Made for a much more interesting video.
Honestly I think that cold blue makes a good finish for a display piece if they end up keeping it that way. Pretty accurate depiction of what a well used smg would've liked like back in the day.
Damn I wish I owned that thing. I’d love a beaten ass sten that still shoots and isn’t neutered. One of the coolest sub guns ever made.
The blueprints exist :)
@@148crusader true and these are super easy to make. Some of the guns I manufacture are actually harder to make hahah but I want a true British made STEN.
Awesome refurb, would love to do a sten mk 2 or mk 4 kit build some day, thanks for the vid!
Thats where my favorite restoration channel has started
Explaining each process is real detailed. Nice work
For those wondering, at 9:04 the photo was from a roof that had collapsed in a swimming complex in the town of Uster, Switzerland sadly killing 12 people. The cause was found to be the chrome steel hooks used to hold the roof up had rusted due to the chlorine used to clean the pool, as well as the roof being too heavy.
It really looks more like someone painted it bright red, ive never seen rust that color.
Looks like its been deliberately 'rusted' with a chemical for the vid IMHO
You've never seen orange rust?
Who knows how he does it?😮That's amazing, isn't it?👍
Excellent video! God bless you and yours! Praying for you!
Pro tip to remove rust but keep your finish: Galvanic rust removal. Dissolve Sodium Carbonate in (preferrably warm) water, place an electrode in it and connect your part to negative. Apply 6-12V (6 works best for me) and let it do its magic for a few hours.
Afterwards a regular brush will be able to remove whats left of the rust, leaving your with nothing but steel. Bluing will not be harmed at all. I have used this method many, many times. The result looks much better then it does after all your brushing, with probably 1% of the effort.
My revolver with rust doesn't have bluing, but I think it's some cover, this method won't remove the cover right? I got most of the rust off with oil, but there's some flaky parts on it.
@@urboyseth5922 I have seen some paints that where partly "lifted off" the material, in areas where it was cracked already. I think what happens is that bubbled form underneath the already lose paint that lift of the paint in this areas. Far less then any wire brush or steel wool would do though.
With nitrited and phosphated finished I have no experiece, as these are really rare her ein europe. By my limited understanding of chemistry it should not harm it though.
Extra pro-tip instead of removing the rust. Convert it by boiling the parts in water then card off with OOOO steel wool or a super fine wire wheel (should be able to touch it while spinning) . It will convert it back into the original bluing and you end up with even less work.
@@d3faulted2 impossible. This concept of "converting" rust is a myth.. you can stoo the oxidation by revoming as much oxide from the rusted surface as possible but you will never convert anything back.
Boiling in Water will not do much other then losening up expanded oxide.
You did a great job! And very thorough descriptions. I'm subscribing to your channel now.
It always amazes me what a bit of TLC can do, Excellent Work well done
Thoroughly enjoyed this video! If that gun could talk!
Great variety on this awesome channel. I just joined your Patreon. Thanks for your fun & informative content here.
Beautiful, meticulously precise and detailed narration combined with superb videography, lighting and editing make this video a joy to watch.
It comes as no surprise that the channel owner is an Expert Witness, any hearing he attends will be very well informed on the matter in which he presents. Subscribed.
If this piece was truly rusted ,then why does it release the clip and the bolt move freely ? Hhhmmmm,hhhhhhmmmmmm.
What an absolute find , that nice stash of 9mm too, I'm gonna make my own Sten, with a switch 😲
Glad to know it's going to a museum and not getting destroyed
What works best is just to boil the parts. Adopted this after seeing it on Mark Novaks channel
i love how he gives us as much information about this as possible like we're gonna restore a firearm
I mean, grandpas trunk still has stuff in it…
Always love you videos. Great job and incredible craftsmanship
This is how I feel like when I disassemble a pen.
Thank you for another fascinating and highly informative video -it always makes me happy to see that you have uploaded a new video, and this was no exception.
Please keep up your excellent work, and are there any new developments regarding the unfortunate Serbu RN50 detonation?
Haven't heard anything else, but faulty ammunition (wrong powder type/load) seems the only cause of failure.
And a simple cap redesign could make the gun failsafe
@@Backyard.Ballistics Thanks for your reply 🙂
To be honest, I had always assumed that the RN50 already was as failsafe as any firearm could really be, mainly because of its' simplicity and lack of moving parts to break.
But as poor Scott unfortunately found out, if the cartridge is so dangerously overpressure as to detonate an RN50 then there really isn't much that anybody can do to safeguard against the irresponsibilty of negligent/dangerously-ignorant reloaders trying to make an easy buck, other than to do your own reloading and to take full responsibility for your own work.
I sincerely hope that Mark Serbu's (slightly eccentric, but 100% unique...) business doesn't suffer unfairly as a result of this unfortunate incident because I admire his engineering, his presentation of information to his viewers in a way we can all understand, and his determination to do his own thing in his own way, and I also hope that people respect the power of .50BMG a little more than they did before Scott's accident.
A good trick for stuck bolts and parts is to use a 50-50 mix of automatic transmission oil and acetone
I've heard about it, never tried it myself though, and didn't have any ATO at hand
this is it, this is the channel i needed that i didnt know i needed
Wow, if those guns could talk. Very interesting, I enjoy these types of video. Thank you for telling us why you do it too.
As a corrosion engineering major I knew that the gun was salvageable BECAUSE it was so orange. Uniform corrosion >>>> pitting
orange rust is new rust and not old time rust...a lot of video such like this one show fake restauration
A brass or stainless wire wheel would have saved you a ton of time. Awesome piece of history!
I quite agree on that
I can tell you are still good buds with your old job buddies in away
I'm still working with them😉
Awesome historical find
I thought this was that other Italian channel by the gunsmith that restores guns like this
He's done very similar work with a 9x21mm Uzi and an Italian pistol
A lot of rusty guns have been "found" recently.
I wonder how many were found inside a bathtub with salt water in it.
This looks incredibly fake
Stems were made in all kinds of shops and meant to be quick and easy to manufacture for the the war effort when money was tight and men were fighting.. Great video.
thanks for helping preserve history!!!
My pleasure
If you were in the US, I would love to see you try to clean and fix pawn shop guns. Because quite a bit of them just simply can't do just that let alone research the gun (from my experience).
Because it’s a pawn shop. Key word pawn, not gun shop or gun store.
@@NigelThornbery I know, but they should need to learn at least the basic name and the MSRP as well putting the condition of the said firearm into the equation.
@@killertruth186 them not knowing what it is often works in your favor. It is old and has some rust get it out of my shop. If it is over priced you just walk away.
But...but...I want to be the guy the police call when they find WWII weaponry.
I'm not complaining, but they also call you in much less fun circumstances
This gun looks awesome, would like to see one irl one day. I remember it from old war films such as A Bridge Too Far highly recommended
Underrated channel. I very much enjoy the content.
The firearm itself might be structurally sound, but is the rough surface left by the corrosion not going to accelerate wear between sliding surfaces, say the bolt and the receiver? I know you aren't a professional restorer, but would that be of any concern to one, or is the material already too badly damaged by that point for this to become a concern?
So in this specific case the firearm has undergone uniform corrosion and is almost entirely orange. This is actually a good thing which negates some excessive pitting, making the firearm potentially safe to shoot.
In terms of safety and use, the sliding parts would probably be fine as long as the initial rust is mostly removed. However, the barrel and chamber are an issue. The higher tolerances required by most machine guns are negligible to think about for most of this firearm (as it is a simple tube gun) but the biggest issue I can think of is corrosion within the chamber. This corrosion can leave microscopic pits which can more easily grip a cartridge that is being forcefully pulled back by its rim. The rim and can ripped off and the case left behind in the chamber.
But yeah it terms of corrosion within the tube there is most likely not a huge issue with exacerbated wear as the tolerances are low and the gun isn't being run dry. Also even if rust was still in the action rust is much less hard than steel and won't hurt the steel too much.
Sources; I'm a corrosion engineering major
Whoopsh!
There is more than enough contact to resist wear. Pits will be spanned for the most part; if you are concerned about roughness. Besides, they are not going to shoot it very much.
It won't be a problem, there is very little sliding friction in this design (little force pushing the sliding surfaces one against the other), as is the case for most gun designs, woth some notable exceptions.
It’s amazing how red oxide primer makes things look rusty , making a restoration very easy
What an enjoyable video! Your content is always soothing to watch and very informative in one way or another. And all that without bullshit, politics, flexing, wastefulness or so many other bad things many of the "big" gun channels display! I'm very glad you're still around and I hope your channel will get more and more well deserved recognition!
Friendly greetings from Germany! Stay safe and healthy!
I really love watching you work
I laugh cause I'm in the "land of the free" where you can't even legally do this. More like land of illusion.
In the “land of the free” ATF would shoot your dog.
Land of pay your taxes or we'll take all your shit,which is both ironic and sickening at the same time. Seriously though even the bad bad uk didn't rip off said land so badly lol honestly it sucks that it didn't remain as free as those treasonous english rebels had intended
If this will ever shoot again?... Noooo. absolutely not! I will discard of it for you, no worries!
It was very good. Good luck, dear friend 👏🏻👏🏻
really cool, thank you for sharing.
This looks like some one deliberately rusted it up. Weird
With paint...
Are you snitching? Or just finding if it works or not?
imma spend hours watching you restore old guns back to greatness now that I found your channel xD
For removing rust, I recommend evapo rust, which is, like its marketing claims, super safe. It does not harm the skin nor does it smell bad. Also, if you know how to blue metal, don't worry about removing the original bluing if you plan on re bluing the gun anyways. If you don't want to remove the blue, what you did is fine. I am a gunsmith from Texas and have restored a few firearms so far like a Swiss K11, a Calvary Carbine Carcano, a Ruger 10/22, Century Arms Sporterized L1A1, and fixed a Winchester 1897 that was not feeding right. I have done a lot of bluing, wood work, fabricating parts on a lathe and mill, and even jeweled a bolt from a friend's hunting rifle and I got to say, gunsmithing is an absolute joy of mine.
Yup , I would've just chucked the whole thing in a bath of evaporust before even trying any disassembly.
The stens are the cheapest guns of ww2.
Nah. Some of those late-war German volksturm weapons are much cheaper and shittier.
I’d hold onto that and the ammo instead of turning it over to a museum. Trust me with how things are going in Europe you are gonna need it in the near future.
Why should we trust a random person on the Internet about Europe's future?
@@lptomtom do you think it’s gonna go swimmingly there?
@@MultiRokusho Who am I to say? I don't claim to predict the future and tell people to "trust me" about a topic I'm not knowledgeable enough to discuss. Who are you, a geopolitical expert who's privy to very sensitive information?
Let's just say it isn't going great and will/is getting worse. Don't expect the media to tell you though lol
@@tesstickle7267 Wow, another geopolitical expert! Now that's lucky, who would've thought they congregate in the comments of gun restoration videos?
Great video. I just love those things.
This is my favorite video, the sten is my favorite gun along with the type100
to all the people here claiming this and his other restorations are fake (probably for the attention they are already deprived of), if you know so much (you do not) then become a gun restorationist instead of bitching about a video you likely didn’t even watch. great video
I like the narration part, lots of information.
Bị nghiện bài này từ thời Bảo Thy, ko ngờ lại có ngày được nghe idol mới trong lòng mình Đức Phúc cover lại. Cảm ơn em ĐP vì đã cover lại lắng đọng cảm xúc như vậy
Very informative video! Thank you
Magnifico video, molto tecnico ed esplicativo, bravissimo. Grazie !
I've had the opportunity to shoot one of these and they're fun!! Full Auto! Sure, the way you must hold the weapon is a bit weird, but still fun to shoot!
This is fascinating!
Nice work!!
You said that you are not a profesional restaurador. But my friend, you are an amazing restorator.
This would be my dream job. restoration of museum piece! nice
Amazing Restoration
Very cool well done.
Fascinating video. 👍
She must to work well, the barrel it so good... test it and good luck greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina
I also use the ballistol cold blue, it is a very cool thing!
Good stuff. I use super fine bronze wool and a spray called kano aeroKroil to remove rust on firearms, works pretty good and less harsh then steel wool.