Sterling Mk4/L2A3 trigger en bloc

[tankhunter]

Is this the bushing modification?

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...tt20hole-1.jpg

It looks like the bushing is welded in.

Yes, but not a 'Normal' Brit repair. We would have brazed the bush in. Much neater!

---------- Post added at 01:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:53 AM ----------

Thanks. It sounds like I should just replace the ‘butt pivot’ with a newly made one. We call it a ‘trunnion’ over here. Not difficult to make. I could do away with the pins and use e-clips, like on the Canadian C1 SMG.

Yes indeed! Trunnion is more correct! don't forget, ALL projections/Fittings on the Sterling Receiver. Were electrically heated & brazed on in the factory. They were aligned on a jig to hold them correctly in place prior to 'fusing' on the receiver tube.

For the butt especially, it is CRITICAL to align the Trunnion properly. Or the Butt wont line up with the butt holding lugs recesses. On the inside of the Return spring end cap, When opened up!....

[Peter Laidler]

In NZ I think the repair bush on the butt was soft soldered in place in the reamed hole and then filed to thickness to eliminate side float. No need to weld, braze or hard solder because it ain't goin' nowhere!

We didn't use that method of repair but ploughed on with the ring punching method that solved the end float - temporarily. But still didn't solve the side float. Whereas the NZ Army method solved BOTH problems at once, permanently.

[Vincent]

… don't forget, ALL projections/Fittings on the Sterling Receiver. Were electrically heated & brazed on in the factory. They were aligned on a jig to hold them correctly in place prior to 'fusing' on the receiver tube.

There’s a picture of a pivot/trunnion jig being used on the spot welder in Peter’s book (p144). That spot weld can make getting the pivot/trunnion off the tube quite difficult. The braze melts with no trouble, but that spot weld can be a problem.

For the butt especially, it is CRITICAL to align the Trunnion properly. Or the Butt wont line up with the butt holding lugs recesses. On the inside of the Return spring end cap, When opened up!....

Yes, that’s critical. What I found what works for me is clamping the butt in the end cap, with the cap pushed into the open position for the butt and the butt locking lugs aligned to just clear the recesses in the cap. Mind you, if you didn’t get the end cap locking ring aligned correctly on the receiver tube…

I wonder what happened to all the Sterling tooling, jigs, etc.

[Peter Laidler]

Roiyal Ordnance made sure that nobody could resurrect the Sterling gun from the embers of the old factory and tooling. It was crushed

[tankhunter]

The Sterling SMG is still manufactured under Licence. By Indian Ordnance Factories I believe?

Where they got their jigs from, or indeed. Manufactured them, themselves. I cannot say? More likely, the latter?......

[Brit plumber]

Are they under license or did they just do it?

[Lee Enfield]

Are they under license or did they just do it?

Kind of an odd agreement, no fees payable...

There must have been an up front payment and Sterling supplied tooling.

Having said that, the Indians (certainly at that point in time) paid no attention to intellectual property rights (FN-FAL / IA1, Browning Hi-Power / IA1, MAG58.... ect.)....

[mrclark303]

They did eventually have to cough up, with a deal involving royalty payments to FN and direct purchases from Belgium, the UK and Australia