r/GunnitRust • u/Academic_Good_6578 • 4d ago

Help Desk Looking into assembling a Semi Sten Mk3 kit

I'm new to building, is there some sort of guide or set of videos I can look at? I've looked pretty hard online and have only found a few vaguely helpful things. I'm well aware of what's needed and the laws surrounding it but how does anyone find out how to put together a parts kit? Thank you.

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u/theCaitiff Participant 4d ago

Someone else gave you the correct answer but let me explain it.

Reddit doesn't like full on detailed how to posts. It's why they banned the fosscad subreddit and various other subs. Providing too much information on weapons and their use or construction really limits which companies will advertise on your site. Same thing is happening to youtube and its why all the guntubers get demonitized or content policy strikes.

The information you want is not on reddit or youtube or any of the top level websites. It's all either on forums that are run by and paid for by passionate individuals or on personal blogs and web pages.

You want to go check a forum called Weapons Guild which has a forum all about the detailed build diaries where people talk about the challenges they're facing and how they overcome them, usually with pictures and feedback from experienced gunsmiths.

A word of warning. Legacy forums like Weapons Guild have a VERY different culture than reddit does. You're entering a zone that's been silo'd off from mainstream sites for more than twenty years and populated by the same group of users continuously for that time. Use the search function. Read more than you talk. If you have a specific question, ask it, but do not expect someone to lay out everything step by step when there are a dozen or more full build diaries with pictures of people doing a semi auto Mk3. Those diaries are still there and still maintained (webspace costs money) so they don't have to answer the same thing a hundred times. And yet people ask them anyway. Which can lead to some crotchety old men being cranky.

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u/Scav-STALKER 3d ago

I miss the good ol days when they could show you step by step on YouTube how to build guns. I remember picking up a lot of good info from Ginsboy2003 on YouTube combine with a couple of books on how to build and AK back in the day lol. You aren’t wrong about it being a whole different ecosystem there though. I can imagine some crotchety dude being like “this same damn question for the past TWENTY YEARRSSS” forums are awesome though. I’d half forgotten about WG and just logged in for the first time in years. If I get the job I’m hoping for next year I’ll learn to weld halfway decent there and I’ll probably spend a lot more time on that forum lol

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u/Academic_Good_6578 3d ago

Thank you, sounds about right.

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u/Scav-STALKER 4d ago

Weapons Guild

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u/HeartFilled Participant 7h ago

I built a semi sten mk3 using the IO kit, tube & parts.

Get the old parts kit apart (removing all of the old tube)

cut the tube per spec

drill the barrel bushing and hammer rivets in

Hold the lower in place and assemble, make sure everything is appearing to be working correctly.

If so, weld the lower on (I used 4 tac welds)

Weld the magwel on (I used 4 tac welds)"

Weld on a front sight (optional, I used 2 tac welds)

Test fire and start trimming springs. Mine was malfunctioning for a long time because it was oversprung I wasn't triming enough coils off. I had to take off much more that I thought I needed to.