Sterling MK 4 with S Serial number

[Albayo]

My Sterling serial number is in the KR series.
How can one find the year of manufacture?

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

Year of manufacture can be found in a good little book called The Guns from Dagenham. If you have a Sterling and don't have this book then........... Well, you ought to have!

[Safeshooter]

I am looking for this book "The Guns of Dagenham", but Amazon is selling them at $1000. That's way to high in my opinion.

[Peter Laidler]

Ah, but you should have got a copy when it was cheap. Like they say, '....everything is cheap - yesterday!'

[Vincent]

I am looking for this book "The Guns of Dagenham", but Amazon is selling them at $1000. That's way to high in my opinion.

I have just seen a copy for about half that. I sent you a PM.

SMG prices have gone up a lot in the last year. I haven’t seen a transferable Mk4 under $10,000 for long time. A nice Mk5 will run you $16,000+. Those are just tube guns. No telling what an original C&R gun would fetch. Machineguns are becoming a hobby only the wealthy can afford. There’s a limited supply and a high demand. It’s the same with Peter’s book.

Then there’s the price of ammo. $1000 doesn’t buy a lot of SMG shooting time these days, maybe a couple of hours if you take it easy. This is the low end of the hobby.

“The Grand Old Lady of No Man's Land” by Dolf L. Goldsmith is another book with a big boy’s price tag. Those belt-fed’s go through $1000 of ammo in a few minutes. To their owners it’s not a lot to spend for a book.

I think all the really good MG books will go up when they are also out of print. Peter’s Sten book is probably a good investment now. It’s bound to follow The Guns of Dagenham when the supply runs out.

[Brian Dick]

My Mk.4/L2A3 a late one, sn. S33783. It's an original pre '86 dealer sample. The first MG I ever bought.

[Peter Laidler]

I understand that the Sten book will be the next one to go out-of-print.

[mrclark303]

Buy it now guys, the price will rise sharply over the next few years. The complete Fal, Peter's excellent Sten book and The last Enfield cost me enough, but all the collector Grade publications are absolutely indispensable reference books..

[Lee Enfield]

Buy it now guys, the price will rise sharply over the next few years. The complete Fal, Peter's excellent Sten book and The last Enfield cost me enough, but all the collector Grade publications are absolutely indispensable reference books..

They are nice, a should have bought 2extra copies of GoD as I have several friends who are looking for copies now...

[Peter Laidler]

I did ask Blake at Collector Grade some time ago whether he'd reprint TGOD again and he explained that if he reprinted, say, 500 copies, the problem would be thatwith the book immediately available again, those that wanted one would immediately know that it was available, so wouldn't rush to buy. So it'd just trickle out of the shop while the storeage charges for the books steadily rose upwards. Further, - his words, not mine..... - shooters and collectors are renown for their inability or reluctance to buy reference books. I think the words were '...short arms and deep pockets'.

There would be a case to reprint with substantial paid-in-advance back orders or where there were important corrections to be made (there's not), additions (there's two) or new information that's come to light. Regarding the last two things, a) there is a small document that's come to light from Patchett to the Sterling Company regarding the pistol grip shape and angle. Patchett saw how easily the Luger angle and shape came to hand so he copied it. And b) there is technical and scientific information regarding parts of the silencing system of the Mk5 that was restricted or what we call '....blue-lined out' when I wrote the book. Quite why, when the gun was already in commercial circulation is a bit of a mystery. But rules is rules as they say. It could be that the REASON for some aspects was restricted...........