Silenced Sterling L34A1

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pmercer
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Silenced Sterling L34A1

Post by pmercer »

I posted this last week, but after the site went down, the post seems to have dissapeared so I'll do it again.

I saw a lot of talk about the spiral internals of the Sterling silencer, but no-one had any photos of it, so I brought one home from work and stripped it down to see what it was like.

Hopefully all the photos you'll ever need are here:
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The holes in the barrel coincide with the low sections of the rifling.
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This is a thinwalled metal tube with an integral cap at one end.
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This is like a roll of cheese grater material.
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The cheese grater material is put over the thinwalled metal tube.
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The barrel is inserted into the thin tube.
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The assembly is put into the receiver. (the barrel actually has to go into the receiver from the rear of the gun)
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Sliding the assembly into the receiver is a very snug fit.
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This brass disc slides over the end. Note the locating lug on the left hand side.
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This nut is tightened down onto the barrel to stop the barel sliding out of rear of the receiver and the assembly coming out the front of the receiver.
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The screw acts as a locking tab for the nut. I assume a special tool is available, but I had to 'improvise'.
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This is the spiral. It is made of lots of pressed sheets of metal that all slide onto 3 tubes. They look like they have been silver soldered onto the shaft.
The end spirals are a different material to the rest of the spirals.
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You can see the joins in the discs here. You can see that the spiral on the far left is bent slightly, probably as this is the first baffle.
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The spiral slides onto the 3 steel rods that screw into the brass disc.
Only the 2 of the rods(lower ones) have locking nuts on them(no idea why)
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The spiral is free floating on the steel rods.
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The main body is a basic tube with the only obstruction on the inside caused by the recess made for the front sight.
It is this obstruction that stops the spiral travelling any further forward.
The main body has 2 screw that hold it on although these are mainly for orientation. One is at the front and has a hole in the body, the other is at the rear and is a groove in slot at the end(this can be seen a few pics above)
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Once the end cap goes on, the 3 allan bolt(threaded on the inside) hold it on. I have been told that these are torqued, but have no idea what to.
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The exit hole of the endcap has got a burr on it, but I don't think this is from a strike as it is burred towards the inside. The profile of the exit hole is such that if you had the correct sized doughnut, it would fit inside the endcap perfectly.
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I shot this smg before it was cleaned up, and there was a lot of smoke, assumably from a build up of oil/grease from previous people cleaning it. The smoke cut down after a while. No hearing protection was needed, although a true sound level isn't very represented in this video.
https://youtu.be/J063hqnhlBY

The gun is very accurate and there is no climb even on full auto.

I hope this is of use to someone.
Last edited by pmercer on Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:02 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Kevin/AAC
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Post by Kevin/AAC »

Thank you very much for posting. The Sterling MKV is one of my favorite guns of all time. It is very rare to see one disassembled, because it is nearly impossible after it has been fired. The sound reduction is excellent; almost exactly the same as the MP-5SD.

Thanks again- very educational.
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Post by pdemos »

Very cool,thanks.
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Hush
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Post by Hush »

Great photos, thank you.
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noiseless
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Post by noiseless »

Very nice photos, great educational peice
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Artful
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Post by Artful »

Thank you very much - best pictures I have ever seen of this.
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TManchester
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Post by TManchester »

Torque the end cap nuts 12 inch pounds....there is a weighted wrench in the Armorer's kit specifically for the tie rods for the spiral and the end cap screws.

I will try and dig out my copy of the manual.

I played with one of these for several months back in 1986-87. It was imported into USA for testing by the US navy by a old time Kali gun research company called S-Tron. They had 4-5 of them before they went out of business.

just FYI, if you fire the crap out of a Mk 5 or L34A1 and it will not disassemble...soak the suppressor, muzzle down in White vinegar. The UK model has a flat black painted finish which is pretty tough, but the commercial Sterling Sunkorite (spelling?) is really tough and the vinegar will not hurt it.....

The ding on the inside end cap of the silencer is pretty common. Not a baffle hit but a tell tale hit from being dropped on a work bench and hitting the bench vise. no kidding!

Great little photo essay! thank you Sir!. Great weapon and probably the best one. Only surpassed by the later model that allows you to mount an optics mount onto the receiver......
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jreinke
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Post by jreinke »

I read somewhere that a lot of suppressed Sterlings ended up in civilian hands after WWII and got "called back into service" during the Faulkland Islands war when the Brits realized that they didn't have many left to give to there commando's!

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Post by Artful »

I think I remember a lot of the Delisle's walked away with the shooters after WWII also - seemed to turn up in old Colonial haunts.
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pmercer
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Post by pmercer »

pics updated after my site has been offline. I'm gradually rehosting and relinking all my pics. If you want something done first in any of my posts, let me know.
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jimmym40a2
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Post by jimmym40a2 »

thanks pmercer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEZJ_C4LwzA
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Steve S
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Post by Steve S »

Very cool pics. The video link didn't work for me, but that's O.K. as I have experienced one personally. Amazingly quiet! The Sterlings are one of my favorite SMG's, and I'm trying to talk a buddy of mine out of an essentially NEW pre-May dealer sample! I've owned a few here and there, but if I get that one, it' STAYING with me! :wink:
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Post by ChrisF »

No ,it was the 45 cal Delisle bolt action carbines that where recalled from private hands & few musems for service in the Falklands , no doubt due to actual few silenced weapons being available when really needed .

And I also recall , that they where never returned ?

I had the pleasure of firing a real L34 in Finland a few years ago , its a GREAT gun , it was on a rental range in Joensuu , with Tukka .
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Post by Tuukka »

ChrisF wrote:No ,it was the 45 cal Delisle bolt action carbines that where recalled from private hands & few musems for service in the Falklands , no doubt due to actual few silenced weapons being available when really needed .

And I also recall , that they where never returned ?

I had the pleasure of firing a real L34 in Finland a few years ago , its a GREAT gun , it was on a rental range in Joensuu , with Tukka .
Hi Chris, good to hear from you!

The L34A1 really is one of the most fun SMGs to fire.

PS. We have a new distributor for the civilian market there, Beretta New Zealand. So our products should be available more easily in the gun shops.
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pmercer
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Re: Silenced Sterling L34A1

Post by pmercer »

All Links now up and working. Not sure how long they have been down for.

Enjoy
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Re: Silenced Sterling L34A1

Post by Odd Job »

Thanks for the info, very nice!
By the way, seeing as you are also in London, if you would like to get that Sterling X-rayed I can do it for you (provided I also get copies of the images).
I X-ray all sorts of firearms related stuff, especially suppressors.
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