Been mulling over the idea of a STEN with a .22 caliber rifle jammed inside of it. The more I think about it, the more "doable" it sounds, with really minimal cash involved, and not even a lot of welding. Finding the right donor .22 would probably be the hardest part.
^^ an uber-basic visual.
But anyways, thoughts so far. Any insight/input/thoughts are appreciated.
STEN MK3 kit. They're still cheap and pretty easy to come by. Less complicated than a MK2/MK5, and use a longer tube.
Tube: Standard MK3 tube is about 18" long, and the barrel sticks out about an inch or so. I'm thinking that the OAL of a .22 donor rifle receiver with a 16" is going to be around 24". Making a longer trigger to reach further downward if need be is easy enough.
I think I'd just have to go with a two-foot long section of 1.5" OD tube and trim if need be to keep the original look. This would put it a few inches longer than a regular sten SMG in length, but shouldn't be longer than a STEN 9mm with a 16" barrel.
It would of course have all kinds of various blocks welded in to prevent the use of actual STEN parts (SMG bolt, trigger etc).
The plan would be to try to center the barreled receiver in the existing STEN trunnion/bushings. The tube would be attached to the trigger housing via 4 button head screws (not welded) to allow for the removal of the tube/donor rifle. The plan would also involve having a slot in the bottom of the tube section to allow for the trigger group to clear, and the whole barreled rifle assembly to slide out the rear of the tube for repair/maintenance.
Stock: I think a rear-tube loading donor rifle might be the way to go? Without one in hand I cant say for certain but I have some thoughts on loading/feeding the beast.
It would depend on the length and angle of the rear feeding tube assembly, but it would seem pretty easy to cut the stock section off the rear "plate" of the STEN stock assembly, find some tubing the right size to house the inner/outer magazine tube assembly from the donor rifle, and reweld the rear stock to have the magazine housed inside and retain a "somewhat original" look back there. One would then feed through the buttplate or side of the stock depending on the setup of the donor rifle.
I'd think that while the angle and length may differ slightly from the original stock, it would still work. It would be minimal cost for small tubing like that and not much welding at all.
Any thoughts? Would trying to do a "under the barrel tube fed" .22 instead be less bull$hit to deal with? Id think it would be harder to work out a system in the front, and finding a barrel where the tube is less than 16" might be tricky to keep OAL down.
I dunno, a recoil-less WW2 style semi-auto plinker sounds fun.
