Russe11

I plan to be at this with my Owen gun. If anyone else fancies it but needs help with kit let me know.

It's for using. Between my Sten and Owen gun, I have British and Aussie impressions covered. I also have an SMLE which I need replacement mags for (hopefully they will be available in May). Now I just need a period suitable sidearm. If we win this AI competition, there will be £500 to spend at Firesupport between the 2 of us so I may get a revolver: http://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/marui-m19-4inch-revolver Then I am definitely finished on buying guns... for a bit.

I use cardboard boxes with rubbish in. Then you throw the box and contents out and start a new one. Bio bb's may be a good idea. Stray bb's will eventually build up and get everywhere, no matter what you do.

I have deliberately never mentioned the price. It was probably not as much as you would guess though. Dadio doesn't do this for a living, he does it for fun. The hard part was getting him interested with an intriguing project. If someone else decides they want one, I don't want him tied to doing it for what he charged me, as it won't be as much fun a 2nd time. There is something fun about turning up to a game with a gun that no-one has ever seen. This goes way beyond that though. The idea was actually a result of that thread ages ago asking what gun you wished you could get but can't. It just stuck in my head that an Owen gun would be awesome, then one day I worked out that an Owen gun is basically a Sten with the trigger moved forward and the magwell rotated. Once I had worked out it could be done, it was simple progression of the madness to find someone who could do it. As you can see from the number of photo's taken during the construction (and I left half of them out), the process involved a lot of discussion about how I wanted things. This mean't I had to know how I wanted things to look. I love researching stuff, so this was a great excuse to sit and study photos and basically learn everything I could about the Owen gun. As for the competition, I am sure it should win, sadly though I have a suspicion that it will be won by some tricked out M4 with a fancy rail system.

I don't get my hands on her until the end of Feb I just don't want to risk a courier and pay the shipping costs when I will be meeting Dadio at the next WW2 game anyway.

I waited until she was finished before posting these pics. It just makes it easier to read not having it come in stages. Many people think the Owen is an ugly gun, its certainly not the most aesthetically pleasing design. I think though that it is an example of ingenious design. It could beat any other WW2 SMG for reliability due to having a separate chamber for the cocking handle (so dirt cannot get to the bolt via the cocking handle slot), vertical mag (gravity assisted feeding) and part of the shell ejection mechanism was built into the magazine (the part that gets dirty when firing gets removed every 30 rounds). The Vertical mag also means that you can change mags whilst prone, without the magazine catching on jungle vegetation (a major flaw with the Sten's design). Evelyn has incidentally been entered into Airsoft International's friendly fire competition for custom airsoft guns.

Compare with the real Steel:

Cocking handle assembly. It bolts to the gearbox housing and uses 3 biro springs. Pretty much just the stock left to build. With it's release catch. Sling points. The sling for this gun is a standard Lee Enfield sling. The shape of the sling mounts confused us when discussing it. Only when in place does it become clear that it's just to provide more space for your hands on the front grip. Grips get a final sand down, stain, oil and beeswax.

The lower receiver started with a front bracket, which then allows the attachment of the rest of the lower receiver, whilst also helping lock the gearbox in place. The rest of the lower receiver was then added but made from a much thinner steel in order to fit over the gearbox. A new trigger was constructed... ...and then shaped. Phew, imagine using that boxy trigger! Trigger guard. Its a bit of a large trigger guard on this gun, but if you think about it, the ejection port is just in front of it and you don't want to risk the casings hitting your trigger finger. With the pistol grip, its now really taking shape. The front sight was then added. Lower receiver was reinforced to it could withstand the stock being mounted. Cocking handle slot and rear sight. Bits are incidentally getting blued as they are finished. The end cap, which is secured by a screw inside the lower receiver to access the battery. Apparently there is going to be a tool for opening it clipped to the part of the stock that is inside the lower receiver. It was at this point that a problem was discovered. The removable front end, could only be removed after removing the grub screw that adjusted the hop. This would be a nightmare. The hop was modified by adding a nylon bridge for the grub screw to screw into instead of the receiver. This in theory should also make it less likely to work loose.

I was given the choice of whether to have the cooling fins. Later versions didn't have them and I knew they would be fiddly to do so I said I was not fussed which version was made. It would seem Dadio wanted to make cooling fins The fins were a gradual process of getting the diameter of the fins and the spacing right. What I was not expecting was a functioning barrel release catch. Dadio claims it was just the simplest way to join the gun together, I think he was just having waay too much fun building this The magwell came next. My original idea had been to take the magwell from the Sten and re-use it. This would save building a new mag release catch. dadio preferred to make a new one with the mag around the other way so that it could tilt forward slightly as it does on the real gun. A whole new mag release catch was fashioned, utilising a groove found on MP40/Sten mags that up until now had no purpose. This catch now matched the appearance of the mag release on the real gun. Kinda starting to take shape.

Back in October I posted asking for someone willing to make me an Owen gun on both this forum and on ww2airsoft.org.uk. I eventually got 2 replies but the 1st reply was from Dadio on ww2airsoft.org.uk and having seen some of his earlier creations I knew he would do a decent job. The plan was to use the ASG Sten as the basis for the gun and by the beginning of November, one had been ordered and work started. It was found that the Sten hop up could be modified to take a vertical mag and still use the large housing that the Sten hopup sits in. This is the key feature of the Sten design that causes much annoyance to the WW2 german airsofters as it makes the hop up very consistent. The next stage was to make the cutouts in the main tubing to fit the gearbox. The gearbox of the Sten is a modified version 7 gearbox (as you would find in an M14 but full auto only). Next the barrel was threaded for a new compensator. The 1st compensator was too short. The second attempt was better.

There was someone recently asking what his webbing was worth so he could sell it to raise money for a gun. Can't find the thread atm

If the site has a facebook page, post on there. Facebook is a great tool for getting groups together. Don't worry about going on your own, everyone will be friendly, especially if you remember to ask them about their guns etc

There is a New Zealand whisky. Unfortunately the distillery went bust before the 1st produce was ready so it's quite rare. https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-23881.aspx I bought my Dad a bottle a few years ago for about £30. He decided to keep hold of it rather than drink it as it might go up in price, £85 now.

Okay, I don't actually take delivery until 28th Feb so these are not my pics, but my Owen gun is finished!! Meet Evelyn: This earlier photo shows how she strips down for storage: Internally it's an ASG Sten Mk2 with a modified hop up. That means a modified ver7 gearbox. It takes MP40/Sten magazines. The entire hopup/barrel assembly can be removed using the barrel release catch, as you would on the real steel gun. The Owen gun was the Australian equivalent of the Sten or the M3 Grease gun. It featured a vertical mag as this allowed mags to be changed whilst prone. The Sten also allows easy mag changes whilst prone but a mag in the side of the gun makes it more likely to catch on vegetation. A vertical mag also improves feeding. Unlike other submachine guns of it's era, it has the cocking handle in a separate section of the receiver from the bolt. The bolt will jam if dirt gets to it and the slot for the cocking handle is the most likely place for this to happen. This is the reason for the removable front end, as to strip it you have to take the bolt out from the front. In trials it was pitted against the Sten, Thompson and some german submachine guns, after immersion in sand and mud only the Owen would still fire. The design was not as cheap and easy to produce as the Sten, but Australia was in a very different position to the UK in that they were more self sufficient in terms of raw materials and their factories were not getting bombed. Incidentally Evelyn Owen was the guy who invented it, hence my choice of name for this gun.

Yeah, cos the rest us us guys who run around the woods playing soldiers at weekends are totally mature and stuff!

Small target on an arm connected on an off switch? A goliath style pyro tank would be the safest option. Just use a colour of smoke thats unusual and agree a blast radius. when hit make it set off the pyro so people aren't tempted to run up to it an disable it. I would imagine that the blind firing rules are an insurance condition that would mean sites can't allow a gun fired by remote control.

I don't think you're causing an issue. There are just a few legal considerations involved that you may want to consider. On the other hand, I can see no reason why you can't go to a local airsoft site and have some fun with the gun if it takes your fancy. You never know, it may turn out to be something you enjoy. You never know, you may bump into him one day and be able to shoot him with his own gun

Had you considered using them? It's great exercise (especially with a gun that big). When selling the gun, you have to do reasonable checks that you are selling to someone who is using it for airsoft or re-enactment. The easy way would be to ask for a UKARA number and email address, then check here: http://www.ukaraselfcheck.co.uk/

Longer barrel doesn't always mean better accuracy. The barrel only needs to be long enough for the BB to stabilise centrally within the barrel, cushioned by the air forcing itself around the bb. The quality of the hopup is key to accuracy. A tight bore barrel may improve things slightly but mainly it will just increase fps a bit.

Hmm, a Goliath would be cool

Or keep it and get the gun to match. There are Gunman airsoft vietnam games and Combat south does it's annual Vietnam game.

I have 3 batteries. I am just thinking that if there's a 2 day game and I have used all 3 on day 1. Or someone gets to a game and realises they forgot to charge their battery. I presume with the right adapters etc it could also charge NiMh's phones etc. It just seems like something that may be kinda handy in an emergency. Especially as I usually have to camp at WW2 games.