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STEN MKIII
DISASSEMBLY2

Uppon arrival of your kit, you should un pack it from the plastic bag and inspect it to make sure all parts are there. If you are un sure of what should be included in a parts kit, look at some of the pictures found within this web sight and compare the parts you have to what the photos of a parts kit show. The main things you are looking for is the 1. Trigger assembly 2. Stock 3. Barrel and barrel bushing (usually still attatched to the front of the barrel) 4. Magazine holder and if you got lucky a magazine.

Now that you have looked at all of the parts, lets start to remove all of the pieces. My suggestion to you is to put a nice clean sheet of cardboard down so that you can both make notes and sort out the pieces. Everyone works differently, I happen to be an organization nut. Be sure and get a couple of Zip Loc bags, these will come in handy for the smaller pieces so they wont get lost. A black "all surface" marker comes in handy too to label the bags.

As you have found all the parts are nice and greasy, I have found that Simple Green or Castrol Clean work the best and are cheaper than HOPPES #9 NITRO SOLVENT, but having a bottle of HOPPES around does not hurt. Take an old gallon milk jug or plastic oil drain pan and fill with the Castrol Clean or Simple Green just enough to cover the parts, I let soak for a day or two, but if you are in a hurry, you can clean each piece as you go. After drying the parts off and wiping excessive grease off you are ready to begin.

*** There are pictures posted in DISASSEMBLY you can look at also***

#1... REMOVAL OF THE RIVITS: There are a couple of ways you can go about removing the rivits, it will all depend on your prefference and skill as well as tools you own. File a small flat spot on each rivit head, use a sharp center punch and punch each rivit in the CENTER! ( I CAN NOT STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IN THE CENTER! IF YOU ARE OFF YOU WILL END UP DRILLING INTO THE PIECES AND DISTORTING THE HOLES) Drill out the rivits. **second method** Use a DREMEL or similar tool and use the thin cut off wheels, cut the heads of the rivits off in a "V" shape. Place the piece on a scrap piece of 2X4 and using your center punch hit each rivit starting to free it from its location. Use a drift punch that is almost as wide as the rivits and drive the rivits through the hole until they fall out.

#2... Now that we have all of the rivits out, take the barrel and the piece that is attatched and open your vice just enough for the barrel to go through the jaws, the old part of the tube should now be resting on the vice jaws... Hold on to the barrel from the underside and hit the barrel top with a plastic hammer or the piece of scrap 2X4, this will drive the barrel out of the front shim. Set the barrel aside.

#3... Again, there are a couple of ways to remove the shim from the old receiver tube: A) Set the piece on a non flamable surface and using a propane torch, heat around the outside of the old receiver tube... Get it good and hot and use an old piece of broom handle or 1" closet rod to drive the old shim out. It is held in with a crude form of solder. B) Using your dremel and the thin cut off wheel if you look at the old receiver tube where the two pieces come together to form the sight blade, you will notice an air gap... take the cut off wheel and cut along the blade the entire length of the tube piece, being careful just to cut it deep enough to cut through the tube, place the sight blade in the vice and hit it with your plastic hammer or scrap 2X4 to peel away the old tubing section. WEAR GLOVES SO YOU DO NOT CUT YOUR HANDS ON THE SHARP EDGES! Throw out the old tube piece and clean the old solder off of the bushing with a piece of emery cloth.

#4... Looking at the MAGAZINE HOLDER you will notice it is held on to the tube section by two flaps that are spot welded to the magazine holder, Take your cut off tool and cut the flaps as close to the tube as you can on the top and bottom. This will free the magazine holder. I am currently looking for suggestions on the removal of these flap pieces left on the mag holder from people who DO NOT have someone who can machine or grind these flaps off. I took mine to a friend who is a machinist and he milled them off for me. One person suggested using a grinding wheel on a variable speed drill to "hog" off the pieces, if you do it this way, be EXTREMELY CAREFUL NOT TO DAMAGE THE MAGAZINE RELEASE ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM! I am sure as time goes on and people e mail me, someone will figure an easy way to get these flaps off. ***keep watching for new tips here***

#5... Before you toss the section of receiver tube that the magazine holder was attatched to, you will have to remove the back barrel shim, again it is a good idea to heat this section with a propane torch but if you do not have one available, place the 1" closet rod or broom handle inside and several firm whacks with a hammer will free the back shim. DO NOT USE ANYTHING METAL to drive out the shims or you may damage them! Again, Clean up the old solder with a piece of emery cloth or the little wire wheel on your moto tool works good too, WEAR SAFETY GLASSES, THOSE DAMN WIRES FROM THE WIRE WHEEL FLY ALL OVER HECK AT TIMES!

#6... NOW THE EASY STUFF IS DONE, We move on to the trigger housing. Looking at the old section of receiver tube you will notice an ear on each side of the trigger housing that is spot welded usually 4 times to the old tube, take your cut off wheel and cut the tube close to the ears on both sides, then cut from the inside so that you can remove the front section of the old tube (see the pictures) (In the past I have just cut the ears off from the trigger housing straight with the rest of the shape, saved an old section of the tubing and cut new ears to be welded on later) Here is another section we will wait for other ideas to come in on... Now, This is where it gets ugly.....

#7... Looking at the trigger housing you will notice the old receiver tube goes into the back round section, this is held on normally by a "hidden" weld and 2 spot welds. Looking at the back sight hole, you will notice a raised "L" shaped hump at the base of the sight, you will need to cut this hump as close to the sight as you can in an "L" shape.. (SEE PICTURES) The raised section of the tubing that served as the sight rail is welded into this little part! Next find the spot welds and drill them out (OTHER IDEAS FOR REMOVAL WOULD BE APPRECIATED IF YOU HAVE SOME) Again take your propane torch and heat the back section up, there is some crude solder in here as well, There is really no easy way to tell you how to go about removing this tube section, you will need some patience and a lot of swearing! I use a chisel and from the back side where the cut outs are for the spring cap, and drive the tube section out that way. I then take my dremel and with one of the FINE sand paper rolls, gently clean the inside of the back housing up after the section is removed.

#8... Remove the cotter pin that holds the fire selctor and disassemble the trigger housing. LEAVE THE BACK PIN IN THE HOUSING!!! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REMOVE IT... Place all of the small parts in a zip lock bag.

#9... You can either use a wire wheel and a variable speed drill to strip the finish or you can SAND BLAST the parts...

It is a good idea to invest in a propane torch, a Dremel moto tool or similar make.. and a tube of the thin cut off wheels. You will also need a scrap piece of 2X4 and an old broom handle or scrap piece of 1" wooden closet rod. A Plastic hammer and a couple of center punches, and drift punches come in handy too.