Sterling Mk 7 Para Pistol

Sterling's last new gun, a cut-down Mark 4 sub-machine gun made from late 1983: the open-bolt, select-fire Para Pistol A4 and A8 and the closed-bolt Pistol C4 and C8, told from the maker's own 1984 text, with markings, magazines and an identification plate, the mechanism and maintenance from Sterling's handbook, and why the two series lead entirely different legal lives.

Firearms

Sterling Mk 7 Para Pistol · Deep Dive

Sterling Mk 7 Para Pistol

Sterling made the Mark 7 in two series that lead different legal lives: the open-bolt A4 and A8 are select-fire, the semi-automatic C4 and C8 are closed-bolt guns with floating firing pins, and Canada still names those two in its prohibited-firearms schedule.

Sterling's last new gun, a cut-down Mark 4 sub-machine gun made from late 1983: the open-bolt, select-fire Para Pistol A4 and A8 and the closed-bolt Pistol C4 and C8, told from the maker's own 1984 text, with markings, magazines and an identification plate, the mechanism and maintenance from Sterling's handbook, and why the two series lead entirely different legal lives.

Photo: Sterling Para Pistol Mk 7 A4, left side (deactivated) by Enfield Guns

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    Volumes

    1. Vol 1 The Para Pistol: What \"Sterling Mk 7\" Means, and Sterling's Last New Gun, 1983–1988 The Sterling Armament Company's own account of its Mark 7: a cut-down Mark 4 sub-machine gun put into production in late 1983 as two pairs of guns, the open-bolt Para Pistol A4 and A8 and the closed-bolt Pistol C4 and C8, why it was made, who is recorded as buying it, and how the company ended five years later
    2. Vol 2 Four Guns: The A4, A8, C4 and C8, Their Markings, Magazines and Accessories, and How to Tell Them Apart The Mark 7 family set beside the Mark 4 it was cut from: the dimensions as the maker, a museum and a dealer give them, the factory markings with the US importer's name, the 10-, 15- and twin-stacked magazines, the foregrip, butt, scope buttons and silencer, and a side-by-side identification plate
    3. Vol 3 How It Works, and How to Keep It Working: The Mark 7 Read Through Sterling's Own Handbook The blowback cycle, the A-series trigger mechanism and the little that is published about the closed-bolt C series, field stripping, the armourer's detail strip, zeroing, cleaning, wear and repair, all from the Sterling Mark 4 User Handbook that the US dealer shipped with new Mark 7s, with every point where the Mark 7 departs from it marked
    4. Vol 4 The Law: Two Series, Two Legal Lives, in the United States, Michigan, Canada and Britain Why the open-bolt A4 and A8 are machineguns that no private American can buy new, why the closed-bolt C4 and C8 are ordinary handguns until a butt, a foregrip or the wrong bolt changes that, what ATF Rulings 82-2, 82-8 and 83-5 actually say, and where Michigan, Canada and Great Britain put the gun today