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So, as mentioned elsewhere, I've been doing the homework on a pistol caliber(ish) carbine. The Marlin Camp line caught my eye early on, but I'm leaning more and more towards an M1 Carbine. The only big negative with that is that I don't currently stock .30 Carbine ammo, but that isn't the end of the world.

Anywho, I remember some years back (in the 2012-ish period) there being newly made, closed-bolt, semi-automatic Sterling carbines on the market.* The reviews I read back then were generally positive. The carbine version has a long 16" barrel, but I can always Form 1 it and go the SBR route. The benefits would be we already keep a ton of 9mm Luger ammo and suppressing this platform should be do-able after the barrel is threaded.

I'm still leaning M1 Carbine, but I thought I'd just toss it out there for discussion. Anyone have one of these? How did you like it? Did you SBR it? How did it suppress?

Thanks!

* They look like this:
2%20Sterling%20Sporter%209mm%2016in%201501810.jpg
 
Looks like the Stromtrooper's rifle from the original Star Wars.

Neat carbine .... How available are spare parts and magazines?
With an M1 Carbine lots of places have parts and magazines.
So for me I still might be leaning in that direction...
Andy
 
Looks like an interesting gun.
I sure wish that Ruger would make a good semi auto PCC again though.
Hey, I like all guns, but it seems people looking for quality PCC's want pretty common magazines.. all at a reasonable price.
 
Take off on the old Sten. As Andy said I would wonder about parts and mags.




Actually I think the Sterling was made before the Sten. The Sten went into production as an extremely cheap gun during the war to save money. Sterling is much more higher quality that a Sten. Parts can be found but not as easily as parts for an M1. A lot less Sterlings than a M1.
 
Actually I think the Sterling was made before the Sten. The Sten went into production as an extremely cheap gun during the war to save money. Sterling is much more higher quality that a Sten. Parts can be found but not as easily as parts for an M1. A lot less Sterlings than a M1.
You mean these (Sterling) were originally full auto? Or did Sten start making "civilian" models later? By "Sten" I meant the old British (I think it was) design for a cheap to make open bolt sub gun. I know for many years "parts kits" and plans have been sold to make illegal Stens (full auto) because the design was so damn simple to make. It was something any amateur machinist could put together as long as they wanted to risk many years at a Fed bed and breakfast. I may have (cough cough) have known some guys who when Young dumb and full of........... may have done this.
Amazing when I look back on youth. I think of one of the Greek Philosophers who said something along the lines of "Youth is wasted on the young". Looking back I think he nailed it. :eek::eek::eek:
 
Looks like an interesting gun.
I sure wish that Ruger would make a good semi auto PCC again though.
Hey, I like all guns, but it seems people looking for quality PCC's want pretty common magazines.. all at a reasonable price.
Well, yes. I LOVE PCC's. To me they are the best thing since sliced bread. Many bad mouth them a lot but to each his own. The market seems to be showing me I'm not alone. The mags they take seems to me to be a big part of the "allure". Making one that takes a "common" mag to me makes sense. With all the constant talk of mags and limits. I'ts why out of my 5 PCC's 4 take Glock mags. I don't own a Glock pistol and probably never will. the mags though are well made and very common. Makes getting mags for my PCCs a snap.
 
Sten never made a semi auto for the civilian market. There are many semi auto conversions on the market for the home builder. Sterling themselves manufactured a semi version. There are many semi conversion on the market for the home built Sterling also.
 
Sten never made a semi auto for the civilian market. There are many semi auto conversions on the market for the home builder. Sterling themselves manufactured a semi version. There are many semi conversion on the market for the home built Sterling also.
OK that makes sense. That's what I meant when I said looks like something from the old Sten. Was the basic idea turned into a semi (Civilian) carbine. The design was so easy and cheap to make that it makes sense. As with the old M3 the design was easy to mass manufacture cheaply. I know a while back I saw where someone was making a civilian version of the old M3 too. Always loved those, the originals. If I ever win the lotto that will be one of my first buys. An original M3.
 
Thanks all for the replies.

I owned back in the 90's made by Sterling. I liked it. Had a lot of fun with it. I had to sell to pay bills and now I am building one.

Neat-O. Thanks for the info.

Looks like the Stromtrooper's rifle from the original Star Wars.

Indeed, a modified Sterling was used in the original trilogy.

Take off on the old Sten. As Andy said I would wonder about parts and mags.

Magazines seem to be no problem, though in checking regular sources, they are pricey compared to other carbines. Parts, however, may be an issue because these newly built ones are a mix of new and old items. Good point and another reason to favor the M1 carbine.

Actually I think the Sterling was made before the Sten.

AFAIK, other way around. The Sten entered service in the 1941 time frame and the Sterling was developed in the late war period (44-45) and didn't start to officially replace the Sten until the 1950s.

You mean these (Sterling) were originally full auto? Or did Sten start making "civilian" models later?

The original Sterlings were/are full-auto. I'm not aware of any "official" Sten semi-only, though they have been made by various individuals and companies. There was a "real" semi-auto-only version of the Sterling that was imported that was basically a Sterling Mark 6 "Police" with a 16" barrel. The ones that came about in the late 2000s, are, as far as I know, domestically built from new receivers and parts kits.

Thanks all. :)
 
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You mean these (Sterling) were originally full auto? Or did Sten start making "civilian" models later? By "Sten" I meant the old British (I think it was) design for a cheap to make open bolt sub gun. I know for many years "parts kits" and plans have been sold to make illegal Stens (full auto) because the design was so damn simple to make. It was something any amateur machinist could put together as long as they wanted to risk many years at a Fed bed and breakfast. I may have (cough cough) have known some guys who when Young dumb and full of........... may have done this.
Amazing when I look back on youth. I think of one of the Greek Philosophers who said something along the lines of "Youth is wasted on the young". Looking back I think he nailed it. :eek::eek::eek:
Well, before May 1986, you could legally make a full auto IF you submitted a Form 1 and $200 for the stamp.
 
I have a Sterling Sporter like pictured in the first post. They were made for Century but I don't recall who made them. The one pictured like mine is a type 1. I've heard, or rather seen in a YouTube video that there were fake suppressors for them with a barrel nut attached. I don't have one and that was the only one I ever saw. There was also a type 2 that had a barrel shroud that came to the end of the barrel. To me they look better but are hard to find. I guess the type one is better if you plan a SBR.
I haven't had mine out in quite a while. Best I recall it liked warm ammo. Or was picky on ammo.
Apex has parts kits. I looked into building one. For me it was cheaper to buy one.

Don
 
Actually I think the Sterling was made before the Sten.

Not so, Sir. The STEN - STERling-ENfield was a wartime exigency and predates the Sterling SMG which was not adopted by the British and Commonwealth forces until 1953, serving until 1994. The Sterling was named after the makers, but designed by a guy called Patchett, pronounced Pa-CHETT.

The Sterling was my personal weapon until I became a Warrant Officer, at which point it became the HP35/Browning SLP. It was a great favourite of all who fired it, being stupendously accurate, even at 50m, and no ping-pong ball was safe. Firing from an open bolt, and using the advanced primer ignition system like the earlier STEN [note all caps, please] its fairly sedate ROF in full-auto, added to the 32-round magazine, meant that leisurely working the rounds on the target was a hoot.

The first time I was sent over the Northern Ireland, Christmas 1969, I was travelling in civvies on the Liverpool/Belgast ferry with my SMG folded up on the top of my bag where I could keep an eye on it. Coming back, and travelling straight home, I handed it to to my local police station for overnight safekeeping. The desk sergeant nigh-on carped hisself when I passed it over the countertop...

Here in yUK, where I can't even have the airsoft version unless I register as a 'player' or reenactor, it's a crying shame that nobody has yet made a .22LR version - I'd have one in a blink of an eye.

tac

PS - the necessary improvements to the original and lethal-to-owner STEN were made by a famous British toy company - Lines Bros [brand-names Tri-Ang and Minic] whose expertise in making toys from folded tinplate translated well into the fabrication of the mostly pressed-steel STEN. Only the barrels and breech-blocks needed any kind of precision work, as we understand it, Jim.
 
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