Original Item: Something of a mystery surrounds these butt stocks. Of the many thousands of Stens that have been examined at IMA, only three of these stocks have surfaced. All are marked with the Broad Arrow but have no further marking. Peter Laidler, in The Sten Machine Carbine, pages 254-255, identifies these as very early designs because of the internal strut provided for attachment of the Enfield rifle sling; in other words, they were made before the very familiar Sten slings were developed. There is some evidence that they were developed for the prototypes of the eventual Mk II Stens. The very early No. 2 Mk. 1 butt of the Mk I Sten also featured a sling strut for the Enfield sling. Laidler has also noted the SMC logo of Singer Manufacturing Company on some examples, but the logo could not be found on ours.

Although they superficially resemble the Butt, No. 3 Mk. 1 (the later loop or skeleton stock) in some ways, design details show a resemblance to the No. 1 Mk. 1 butt of the prototype guns and to the No. 2 Mk. 1 stocks that were standardized on the rare Mk. I Sten. Unlike the much later No. 3 loop stocks, the rolled steel frame is not welded in a closed loop; instead, the upper and lower ends of the loop are welded directly to the abutment plate. The sling strut is stoutly riveted to the rolled steel loop. Overall quality of manufacture is very good, unlike most production stocks. For the advanced Sten collector.