Highest known Sterling L34A1 - Mk5 ?

[browningautorifle]

I had one of those here for a short time too. It was someone else's though and I didn't get to properly wring it out, always something I would have liked.

[tankhunter]

When you are firing the L34/ MK V Sterling. It will sound to you like a .22" Short cartridge report. If you stand say 15 feet away & listen whilst some else fires it. You wont hear a thing, not even the mechanical sound of the bolt going forwards!

It is superb design, & item of engineering!

[Vincent]

Thank you for updating the thread, LE.

I don’t remember seeing these two before.

Centrefire automatic suppressed submachine gun - Sterling L2A3 Experimental (about 1958) - Royal Armouries collections

Centrefire automatic submachine gun - Sterling Patchett (L2A3) Experimental SV (Silent version) (about 1965) - Royal Armouries collections

Looks like they were made using Fazakerley guns.

[browningautorifle]

I like the short one from 1958. Wonder of they used a short barrel too? I'd like to have a look...

[Lee Enfield]

Thank you for updating the thread, LE.

I don’t remember seeing these two before.

Centrefire automatic suppressed submachine gun - Sterling L2A3 Experimental (about 1958) - Royal Armouries collections

Centrefire automatic submachine gun - Sterling Patchett (L2A3) Experimental SV (Silent version) (about 1965) - Royal Armouries collections

Looks like they were made using Fazakerley guns.

Just a note on the dates many of the experimental guns listed by the Royal Armouries staff: A lot of the Royal Armouries dates are (generally) out to lunch in their descriptions - how could a salvaged Fazakerley L2A3 casing be used in 1953 - 1955... 2-3 years before the L2A3 existed?

Physical Description: built on a rejecyed Fazakerley made casing.


Faz manufactured production L2A3 in '57, '58, '59 so the earliest the L2A3 project guns could have been is 1957... and from the (very few available) dated examples, Fazakerley L2A3's dated 1957 do not have the (distinctive) flanged magazine housing.
Markings and Spares sterlingl2a3.com
http://armamentresearch.com/wp-conte...2271755_WM.jpg

And the Patchett L2A3 "Silenced Version" test reports date to 1961 (15 Nov 1961 for the attached)...found one dated march 22, 1960 too.
https://www.smallarmsreview.com/arch...cfm?arcid=1746

I like the short one from 1958. Wonder of they used a short barrel too? I'd like to have a look...

Actually BAR, this one is incomplete, we are looking at just the bearing surfaces for the silencer casing...it appears that they put a sleeve across the whole of the front receiver tube covering the cooling holes. If you blow up the photos you can clearly see that the tube between the bearing surfaces is larger in diameter than the rear section of the casing.

[Vincent]

Yes, it would be nice to see the suppressor internals.

Did you see the Mk5


Centrefire automatic silenced submachine gun - Sterling Patchett Mk.5 (L34A1), skeleton (about 1967-1993) - Royal Armouries collections

[Lee Enfield]

Yes, it would be nice to see the suppressor internals.

Did you see the Mk5


Yes, it would be nice to see the suppressor internals.

Did you see the Mk5


Centrefire automatic silenced submachine gun - Sterling Patchett Mk.5 (L34A1), skeleton (about 1967-1993) - Royal Armouries collections

There is a line drawing in c. 1978 Small Arms of the World which is also in Nelson & Lockhoven IIRC, it shows the ["current" baffle stack e.t.a This is wrong from review of the drawings] with a piston passing thru the top of the baffle stack and flapper (presumably located where the screws on either side of the casing below the front sight).

Pachett L2A3 Silenced Version


Sterling L34A1 / Mk5




So the pictures in Small Arms of the World are of the L34 type baffle system. The line drawings of both are in "the World's Machine pistols and Submachine Guns" by Nelson and Musgrave. printed 1980 and still one of the best reference books available. The whole series (starting in 1963) is highly recommended.
Attachment 95544
It appears to only have a single reflex type baffle, similar in concept to the end cap. The space between the baffle and the front sight housing appears to have space for several more baffles.
Attachment 95545
Attachment 95547
Attachment 95546


https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....l=1#post387183 Link to post 31 (serial number list)

[Peter Laidler]

The push-rod actuator system shown above was doomed to failure from the word go. Within a few rounds the rod and its mechanism would/will foul up with carbon. The muzzle cap designed by Patchett is also an important feature of the L34/Mk5. Can I presume that everyone knows about this important feature before I say it again?

The short one, not sanctioned by Patchett for audible reasons didn't leave space.volume for a mathematical formula to operate effectively so was never(?) an available option. But there are reports that some were '.....supplied'

[browningautorifle]

The short one, not sanctioned by Patchett for audible reasons didn't leave space.volume for a mathematical formula

Actually BAR, this one is incomplete, we are looking at just the bearing surfaces for the silencer casing

That follows, bigger is better in those. I do know that for a fact. I know it's a pipedream, somewhat like the tiny silencers you see in movies or portrayed on revolvers in movies. None are feasible.

[Peter Laidler]

There's a rule of thumb that the FREE area inside the silencer casing (that's the volumetric FREE area and not including baffles etc etc0 must be 27 barrel volumes. Don't quote me on the 27 figure, it's from memory. But it's all to do with the mathematical physics of it all. Someone PM'd me about the mechanics of the Patchett muzzle cone earlier so I'll describe the theory and practice tomorrow. Sure I said about it some time ago.........