By Eric Nestor via wideopenspaces.com

The MP 3008 is the German copy of the British Sten submachine gun. It was meant to be a cheap stop-gap weapon that was made in haste. Here Ian from Forgotten Weapons explains the inner-workings of the 3008 machine gun. If copying something is truly the most sincere flattery, this machine gun is a labor of love . . .

The Nazis needed a cheap, quick-to-assemble weapon and looked to the British Sten for the answer. They only made a few minor design changes to create the MP 3008, also known as the Gerät Neumünster. This cheap weapon did not turn the tide of the war. It’s become a historical weapon with a great story to tell.

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27 COMMENTS

  1. The Sten was designed to be built in garage work shops with little skilled machining needed. The Brits had lost a lot of gear in the french debacle and were facing an invasion.

    I have no way to find out how many Stens have been built since the end of the war. I know they were built in clandestine work shops by the Israelis before the UN mandate. How many more have been built without .gov consent or knowledge worldwide?

  3. Why Isn’t Anyone Turning These Out Now?

    If you mean turning them out commercially, who’s going to buy them? We can’t. Civilians in most civilized countries can’t buy them either, and civilians in uncivilized countries prefer AKs and inexpensive, readily-available ammunition.

    • They make semi-auto closed bolt STENs. Someone could turn these out either as “pistols” or 16″ rifles for cheap and sell them for about $200 a piece, and make a mint, just like Hi-Point (only with presumably better build quality and materials). Bonus points if they accepted Glock mags. lol

      • Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Sten clone for $200 or even $350? It would fill a very notable gap. That is the double stack pistol carbine for less than $500. The hi point offering is good, but it lacks due to the capacity ban from 1995 (hence hi point model 995) hi point seems to be happy with their product, so. Yeah. Classic design and with a place in the modern market. Adjustable irons and a way to slap a rail on there. (I know, ick) maybe take the vented forend and go full keymod. The stock is interchangeable so SBR options and grip options. Where are my manufacturers at?

      • Maybe High Point is reading this? They’re ideally positioned to make and sell Sten or MP 3008 copies.
        For that matter, a Sten would be a perfect candidate for the next generation of 3D printer weapons. If they’re as easily produced as their reputation says, making them with a 3D printer is a no-brainer.
        Hell, I’d buy one.

  5. Unfortunately, even if a civilian version were to be made available, it would have to be converted to fire from a closed bolt and a bunch of other crap added. It would be as stupidly expensive as a Skorpion, MSRP of what, $1700 or so?

  6. I’m not at all knowledgeable on the topic, but is there any reason why someone can’t design a semi-auto trigger and sear system for the Sten? They’d be cheap to manufacture and I’d love to have one for plinking.

  7. I will debate stupidly expensive. This type of weapon was (as mentioned in the video) designed to be of a finite life span. Making a similar concept striker fired version wouldn’t be too bad, a reworked trigger group and a few extra holes in the bolt. That being said although likely not stupidly expensive I’d think a Sub2K or AR-15 9mm would be similarly priced and superior in a lot of ways when full auto is taken out of the equation.

  9. “German copy of the British Sten submachine gun. It was meant to be a cheap stop-gap weapon that was made in haste.”

    Sten gun was not made on the cheap and yet it was utterly unreliable. Even the most high profile Nazi assassination almost failed due to Sten failure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Anthropoid

    Cheap version of utterly unreliable piece of junk really doesn’t sound like something that should be high on anyone’s purchasing list.

  10. Why would anyone want to copy a Sten? You might as well be making a duplicate of a cowpie for the effort.

    The Sten came about because we (Americans) couldn’t produce Thompsons quickly enough for the sudden need that arose in the UK after they left to much material on the beach at Dunkirk. So the Brits, holding the Thompson’s high quality, lovingly machined, construction in contempt to their needs, went clear off the map in the other direction.

    If you really want a stamped sheet-metal sub-gun, then look at the M3 “Grease Gun.” More reliable, better design in that it is safer, less apt to go cyclic of its own accord.

    • This is why we listen in history class kids. So DG has laid out some noted faults. Things that could be designed around.
      Modern manufacturing techniques prevent poor tolerances and unreliability.
      A proper safety mechanism. (Ar15 fcg?)
      Marketing to give consumers faith that the product was well made.
      Anything else?

  11. I would revise the design to take a better magazine. That would resolve most of the reliability issues.

  12. I own a STEN Mk II it is legally registered to me; positives about the STEN they were cheap to buy prior to 1986. Worse thing about the STEN is the single feed position on the magazine… a trait the Brits coppied from the German MP28.. Magazines were $2.00 a piece and with proper cleaning and adjustment you could get several to work quite well…a dual position feed like that on an Uzi would have been ideal…that would require a redesigned bolt to feed from both feed positions…I like my piece of history.

  13. …
    Slightly off topic: Here’s a song about the Bren not Sten gun.

    They were very short of arms in Britain after Dunkirk.
    The great Noel Coward wrote this song about it:

    Could You Please Oblige Us With A Bren Gun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnFO5l63BGI
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-f0f9ChIE

    Lyrics:
    COULD YOU PLEASE OBLIGE US WITH A BREN GUN ?

    Colonel Montmorency who was in Calcutta in ninety-two
    Emerged from his retirement for the War
    He wasn’t very pleased with all he heard and all he saw
    But whatever he felt, he tightened his belt and organised a Corps

    Poor Colonel Montmorency thought considering all the wars he’d faught
    The Home Guard was his job to do or die
    But after days and weeks and years, bravely drying his many tears
    He wrote the following letter to the Minister of Supply

    Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun?
    Or failing that, a hand grenade will do
    We’ve got some ammunition, in a rather damp condition
    And Major Huss has a arquebus that was used at Waterloo

    With the Vicar’s stirrup pump, a pitchfork and a stave
    It’s rather hard to guard an aerodrome
    So if you can’t oblige us with a Bren gun
    The Home Guard might as well go home

    http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/c/couldyoupleaseobligeuswithabrengun.shtml
    …

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