How a Replica STEN Gun Led to a Sailor’s 20-year Prison Sentence

Former sailor Patrick Tate Adamiak once bought a replica STEN Mk. II submachinegun at a local gun show. He paid $75 for the non-firing Spanish replica – or toy – which was made by Denix and is still sold online for hundreds of dollars more.

At the time, Adamiak felt pretty good about his replica STEN purchase. Sure, it could not chamber a live round, was mostly made of a zinc alloy and had a smooth rather than rifled barrel, but he planned to feature it prominently in a weapons museum he dreamed of creating. He had purchased other firearm replicas for the same reason.

Unfortunately, Adamiak had no idea how badly the ATF would lie about this completely legal purchase. The STEN toy became the most tested and most written about gun of all the legal firearms parts seized by the ATF during their raids. At his trial, none of the other weapon parts received the amount of testimony as the fake STEN.

This legal toy, Adamiak believes, is one of the main reasons why he is now serving a 20-year prison sentence.

As previously reported, Adamiak was on the fast-track to become a Navy SEAL officer until the ATF targeted him and lied under oath about the facts of his case. Most suspect it was because Adamiak became one of Gun Broker’s top 500 gun parts dealers. As a result, rather than becoming a Tier 2 or even a Tier 1 operator for the Navy, Adamiak was sent to a federal prison in New Jersey where he remains.

To be clear, the report by ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell about the gun parts seized during the search of Adamiak’s home was harmful but it is tainted with multiple lies and questionable processes – none more crazy than Bodell’s attempt to make the toy STEN fire a single live round.

The STEN, known legally as Exhibit 28, is the first firearm Bodell listed in his report, and his work to get the fake gun to fire produced the most ink.

“Exhibit 28 is a non-firing replica of a STEN Mk. II machinegun manufactured by Denix in Spain. The Exhibit is approximately 31 inches in overall length. Exhibit 28 has the physical appearance of a STEN machinegun and simulates a STEN machinegun’s action,” Bodell wrote in his report. “My examination revealed the receiver and magazine well of the Exhibit is comprised of a homogeneous casting of zinc alloy. The simulated barrel is a hollow tube with no chamber and thin walls. The barrel assembly of the Exhibit is simply press-fit into the receiver. The bolt of the Exhibit does not contain a firing pin or extractor. I ‘field-stripped’ the Exhibit to examine its major components. The Exhibit appears to be unmodified and in its original configuration.”

While researching the STEN, Bodell claimed there were several “previous ATF correspondences” about the gun and other “non-firing machinegun replicas manufactured by Denix.”

“However, I was unable to locate any documentation regarding prior ATF evaluation or classification of a STEN-type replica manufactured by Denix,” he wrote in his report.

Bodell went a bit crazy in his testing. He inserted a real machinegun bolt from a real STEN submachinegun and replaced the toy’s fake barrel with a real STEN barrel, which did not fit until the technician “wrapped it with a few layers of electrical tape to make a tight fit, and press fit the machinegun barrel.”

There was another problem: no real magazine would fit into the toy gun.

“Due to the fashion in which I improvised a machinegun barrel to fit, a magazine cannot be inserted due to the barrel being too far aft,” Bodell wrote in his report.

Eventually, using the real machinegun bolt and barrel, Bodell was able to load one round by hand and get it to fire.

“I test fired Exhibit 28, assembled as described above, on June 8, 2022, at the ATF test range in Martinsburg, West Virginia, using commercially available, Federal brand, 9mm Luger caliber ammunition. I pulled the bolt to the rear until it engaged with the sear, inserted one cartridge into the chamber of the barrel, and pulled the trigger. The Exhibit successfully expelled a projectile by the action of an explosive,” he wrote. “The process of converting Exhibit 28 into a weapon which will expel a projectile by the action of an explosive was extremely simple. No specialized knowledge, tools, or machining were required to convert Exhibit 28. Only three items were utilized in the conversion process: a STEN machinegun barrel, a STEN machinegun bolt, and electrical tape. The entire process took approximately five minutes.”

Once the gun fired a single round, Bodell wrote that the toy STEN was a firearm, and he also determined it was “a machinegun as defined.” However, he claimed the records were missing for the thousands of other fake STENs that had already been imported from the Spanish firm.

“It should be noted that non-firing replicas or blank guns, such as Exhibit 28, are typically examined by ATF prior to being imported to ascertain their status as firearms. As stated above, the ATF examined several Denix replicas for importation, but no records were found of a Denix STEN replica examination,” Bodell admitted.

Pushback

A former ATF official contacted by Adamiak’s legal team is pushing back hard against Bodell’s alleged findings. He found that the Denix STEN is not a firearm but is instead a “nonfiring STEN machinegun replica.”

The expert noted that the Denix lacked a real STEN’s frame or receiver, that its barrel was comprised of weak zinc alloy, that its bolt was plastic with no firing pin or extractor, and that the entire replica was “unmodified and in its original condition.”

“It is egregious to assert that this STEN replica is a machinegun when it cannot accept a magazine, as the magazine serves as the ammunition reservoir for a firearm. Without a magazine, it can only hold one cartridge at a time, making it impossible to ‘shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger, and therefore, impossible to be a machinegun,’” the expert wrote in a report that will be filed soon. “In the way that FEO Bodell improvised Exhibit 28 to fire by taping a NFC barrel into the tube, the same conclusion of his test would have been reached with any similar diameter pipe from a common hardware store; such as The Home Depot.”

Other findings

ATF’s Bodell examined all of the items seized during the search warrant and wrote that many of the parts were “machineguns,” even though they were legally purchased from reputable online dealers and are still available today without any NFA documentation.

Bodell refused to render a classification on another toy gun, an M240 made by Jing Sheng, which he referred to as a “replica toy air gun.”

Bodell found that a real machinegun bolt and carrier group could not be installed because the toy lacks “guide rails or machining for guide rails,” but it was still close enough.

“Due to the similarities of Exhibit 29’s receiver side plates compared to a machinegun’s side plates; it is unlikely that Exhibit 29 would be approved for importation as a non-firearm. FTCB is rendering no classification of the receiver of Exhibit 29,” he wrote.

Bodell only found one item that he did not consider a weapon – a toy Mk. 19 40mm machinegun, which was labeled as a “suspected machinegun and suspected destructive device.”

“My research and examination revealed Exhibit 35 may not readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive nor does Exhibit 35 utilize the receiver of a firearm. Exhibit 35 is not subject to the provision of the GCA or NFA,” he wrote.

According to the ATF, the term machinegun means:

• Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger
• The frame or receiver of any such weapon
• Any part designed and intended solely and exclusively or combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, or
• Any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.

None of the items seized from Adamiak’s safe are considered weapons. They are gun parts. Besides, all of them were obtained legally from longtime and reputable dealers. As a result, legally, Adamiak never owned a single machinegun.

Takeaways

Adamiak spends most of his time doing menial tasks within the prison to keep his mind off of the massive injustice that was committed against him by the ATF.

Said Adamiak: “Every single thing I legally owned. I bought everything at gun shops. I have the paperwork. The thing that’s most interesting about the STEN is that he inserted a real barrel and got it to shoot one round, but how can it be a machinegun if it can only shoot one round? It’s just insane. The rest of the parts are 100-percent legal – everything was legal – not a single thing in their whole booklet violates that law. You can still buy them all – Google them – and walk right out of the shop past any cops. Nothing they found qualifies as a firearm – nothing. Bodell is the guy who screwed me. He misclassified everything in the entire case.”

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About Lee Williams

Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.