L2A3 SMG / Sterling Mk.4: Mechanics And Basic Potted History 

As a schoolboy in Germany in the 70's, I was part of a school day-out at Sennelager ranges, firing all sorts of interesting weapons, riding in small armoured cars and playing with PE. Great fun. Firing the Sterling was my favourite, as it was Dad's designated firearm. One of the best days of my life.

We used to call those 10 round mags "Special Events" magazines as they were always issued when we had a parade or public show on. Fun fact they really balanced the weapon well and when paired with the bayonet which was issued in similar circumstances made the weapon diabolically accurate in single shot mode out to about 50 meters. Which is why we never gave them back after parades;)

Thanks Mike for showing us the ins and outs of a gun that most of us will never get to see let alone handle for our selves.

As a Crewman in the Canadian Forces, the Canadian version (Submachine gun - 9mm C1), was my personal weapon for years. Some differences in the design but basically the same and lots of fun on the range. We were issued 1 of the 10rd mags as part of our EIS for the weapon and it was used during parades but was designated for use in vehicles when a 30rd mag was a bit awkward. We only had the one recoil spring, no diagonal groves on the bolt and had a parkerized finish.

This was my weapon when I was in the British army in the 1980’s as a combat medical technician to protect the patients in our care , I loved it. When they phased it out for the SA80 the end of era had come .

When I joined my Regiment in 1986, six months later I got placed in my Sqn, and turned my FNC1 in for a Sterlin SMG. It was an awesome piece of kit! The open bolt system never failed me. The only stoppage I ever got was an empty mag! In Canadian Forces, our SMGs used the same bayonet as the FN C1, and we only got issued the 10 round mags for a parade. Our mags were 30 round Mags, and we got issued 8 of them when in the field. 6 mags in our webbing pouches (3 mags per pouch) and we loaded one mag, and taped the other for a quick change. Great piece of kit and I would take an SMG over my C8A2 any day. Thanks for the video. Nice walk down memory lane!

3:18 Ah, the Blastech Industries E-11. Made by Blastech with licenced copies being made by Sorosuub and Merr-Sonn due to the demands of the Empire. Thankfully for the Rebel Alliance most stormtroopers were so poorly trained that they often didn’t deploy the stock, leading to the myth that the rifle was inaccurate. It was a significant improvement upon the DC-15 of the Republic Clone Army, however due to the slow moving development in small arms blaster doctrine the under equiped Rebels were able to hold their own against troops wielding the E-11.

Great vid, it took me straight back to my light infantry days, I'm no longer a light infantry soldier, but more of a heavyweight granddad now, but, thanks for the memories of those days, way back in the 1970's!

Thank you so much for the memories. I was in the British army, on the Tanks, (QOH) and the sterling was my personal weapon. Unlike some folks in HMF I got to fire loads and loads. An enormously enjoyable weapon if somewhat limited in range. (I know, it was a close combat weapon) I remember a firing instructor telling us that wearing a greatcoat on a foggy day would stop a bullet at 75 meters. Needless to say I didn't put it to the test. I remember we used to tape two Mags together and clear 64 rounds in a very short time. I was sad to hand it in and swop it for the 9mm Browning.

When I was in the R AUX A F, as a joke we used to secretly strip a new guys sterling SMG, and then put the cocking handle the wrong way round. If you got caught you had to see the WO man, which was far from a happy experience!

Excellent video! We are very fortunate to have preserved a number of these for future generations, including an original Sterling MK-III, the MK-IV, MK-V, and a couple that were converted to closed-bolt semi-auto only (not a good idea). Gotta love all of these great open-bolt firing SMGs where every shot is essentially a slam-fire, like the Sterlings, the MAC-10, and the Thompson. They annihilate the primer, daring the round not to fire! And the Sterling magazines with the double rollers are probably the best magazines ever produced.

Nice! Im doing a run of 3d printed "E11 Blaster" type Star Wars cosplay props, and I've never seen anyone with an actually functional stock. This clears things up nicely thank you.

17:23 Dude, you haven't lost anything or shot anyone, nothing's on fire, and nobody's pregnant who biologically shouldn't be pregnant. You're having a good day.

I saw some of these onOctober 26th or 27th, 1983, when a very sharp squad of young Jamaican soldiers arrived at Point Salinas Airport, Jamaica's contribution to the invasion of Grenada. As were the soldiers, their Sterlings were in perfect condition. Their squad leader knew his business, and I was proud to welcome them to the operation.

Excellent video. I was issued with an L2A3 quite a few times between '69-'75 but I've learned more today about this utterly brilliant firearm than I did during my service years. This, and the other magnificent battlefield weapon - the L1A1 SLR, are part of my life and why I'm still doddering around today.

I'm pleased that you explained about the crackle paint because I never saw one with that finish just the Japanaed type that was smooth. Of course, in the Army you weren't told all the details about manufacture. And this (more) old than bold guy was not commenting but did have an ironic grin on his face. It was a real blast from the past and I have a wonderful anecdote but not really good for public consumption as it wasn't so in line with range safety but that's squaddies for you and as we were Heavy Artillery these things were like pea shooters to us.

Mint example. I loved it because you could dump it in your bergen. The blanks were lethal! Mine was non-crinkly.

Carried one as a signaller in my TA Infantry company. Loved it. Also, used it live in a CQB range and was surprisingly chuffed when I got the highest score! The only time I fired it full automatic too...

We still have thousands of these lying in police warehouses in India, especially with the rural police departments & railway station guards who never get any budget to upgrade anything. Along with thousands of Ishapore Lee Enfields in 7.62 & even a few old ones in .303.

This was my personal weapon a few times while serving in the British Army (RSigs). It was a fun thing to shoot. But never once were we allowed to go full auto on it. Why? Not a clue. Also we never filled mag to 34 capacity but 30 again not a clue why. In NI (1975-1979) when we did patrols we only got 20 rounds. 10 round mags were also issued in NI if you were moving about in unmarked cars we did this a lot moving crypto equipment, patch settings and one time cards One of the craziest thing I remember was one of the immediate actions (IA), which in weapons training lessons went something like this; Weapon firing. weapon firing all right. Weapon has weak report and working parts forward. The action was to remove the mag, cock weapon and apply safety. The insert right thumb in the the ejection port with thumb nail facing the breech rotate weapon and look down barrel if you can see your thumb nail mag on and carry on firing. If you couldnt see your thumb nail put weapon to side and let an armourer attend to weapon. This was in a peace time situation. In combat situation the instruction was if you couldnt see your thumb, put the mag back on, get into cover put the SMG out side cover aim in the direction of the enemy and fire another round in the hope that it clears the problem. That particular little maneuver was something nobody wanted to try. All this palaver was due to a duff batch of 9mm which was issued this resulted in occasional squib round which lodged the projectile in the barrel. Rumour command had it was either an under charge problem, or a bunch of ammo that was bought from India that had the wrong powder loaded. This IA was dropped around 1980 - 82

Excellent video Sir thank you. For such an iconic weapon it tends to get overlooked by many. Whenever you saw one of those toted by a chap in a properly worn beret; usually with a fetching moustache, you knew the big boys were in town to handle things.

Yes the Stormtrooper blaster, nice.

That was ace, thank you! I was in the ACF in the late 60s and had the pleasure of shooting the Sterling (as well as other other weapons) at Plasterdown Camp in Devon. They were very happy days!!

Very informative video. I carried the .45 M3, but I wish we had Sterlings. I did a TDY to the UK in '84 and had the opportunity train with it with the RAF. It's a simple, robust and reliable weapon and is *_incredibly_* soft shooting and controllable, I fell in love with it immediately. You could go prone, use the sling and get some wicked accurate bursts with it. Awesome for a tube. Thank you going into such detail on it.

Loved the trick with the rollers!

I do not known English. It is shown so well that everything is clear. Thanks a lot!

I fired one in the Canadian Land Reserve in the early 90s. Obviously those were the last days for them. They were taken away in 92 and replaced with C7s of all things. Thanks for the video.

An interesting dive into a piece we rarely see on this side of the Atlantic. Thank you!

I got to shoot a civilian one pre the UK s/a ban, owned by one of my gun club members. Also the T/A mortar section based next to my Air Training Squadron had Sterling and one evening our ATC cadets had a session learning how to strap and reassemble the Sterling. Thank you for the video.

Used one of these in the late 80s. Stripped and rebuild it blindfolded many times. We used to go on the CQBR ranges fantastic tool on the ranges. We had a HQ company attached to our infantry company and was mainly our female counterparts and medics that had the SMG. Great video and brought memory’s back so well done. ;-)

I used this weapon on a number of operation ,it never let me down and even fired it at Bisley. A great wee tool, you had to be careful with the handling. But thats another story.

i had one of these as my personal weapon when i was a chieftain tank gunner back in 1972 great little bit of kit !

That's the gun I was armed with as an armoured corps trooper in the Canadian army before we got the M16 family of weapons. It's a great piece of kit. I would happily go to war with one. Light, handy, easy to use, reliable, easily hit targets in excess of 100 meters. What more could one ask for in an SMG? Edit, I used the Canadian version. It was slightly different. There was only one spring and it was attached to the bolt, and there was no spring loaded plunger on the cocking handle.

Loved the thing , it was my personal weapon when I served in the 80's , zeroing it properly ,when given the chance, showed it to be surprisingly accurate !

Really enjoyed watching this 👍

Excellent! Thanks Bloke. Rich.

Good explainer of this weapon. I was a radio operator in the RN back in 89's and trained for, and carried, one as part of the ships boarding party (along with a portable radio). RN issue weapons had the smooth black finish to them. Thanks.

V. Instructive and nicely narrated. Thank you.

Oh my, now this brings back some memories........ I served 78 - 87 and had plenty of fun with this little gem. Most of the time we used our trusty SLR, but on occasion, when driving, carrying the carlyG or playing signals, we would be given the SMG. It was reliable, fairly accurate and much easier to carry around than other options. Never had a failure and only ever fired it on auto once.......

I qualified on the Sterling in 1967, with 43 of 45 rounds in the figure target. Nice little gun. The 10 round clip was known as a driver's clip, as it could be fired by a seated driver without the magazine getting in the way.

First full auto weapon I fired as a young army cadet in the mid 80s thanks for bringing back great memories

Hi Mike. Thanks for this video,Brought back memories of the mid seventies. I was in the Army Air Corps, we were issued with the smg as our personal weapon. Great gun to fire, minimal recoil and very accurate at 50 mtrs +. Not allowed on auto, only single shot. My theory is that ,as MOD only allowed us to shoot 30 rounds a year as practice. They didn,t want to spend the extra money to teach us to handle it on fully auto. Occasionally the safety did slip onto A. Lovely

Very interesting (as always) and a beautiful yet simple firearm

Remember the soldiers on the army camp I went on for two weeks when I was in army cadets in 1992 had the sterling smgs. Great memories thanks.

During my basic training on the Sterling during re-assembly and feeling a bit gallus (yes it is a Scottish word meaning bold, cheeky, or flashy.) I misaligned the smaller spring and the cocking handle and successfully launched the spring assembly across the hut. Where you mentioned your not paid and you do not have a sergeant standing behind you, in my case it was a corporal and the first I knew was a size ten boot arrived on my backside followed by being given 20 press ups then sent scurrying on my knees across the hut floor to retrieve the assembly and carrying on the correct assembly of the gun. My fond memories of the Sterling.

Like other commentators I too was trained on the "SMG" as a field ambulance medic in1980. This was our personal protection weapon and we were instructed never to put the weapon on "A" as this was the setting to clear a room and the only "room" we would ever be in was a dressing station / operating theatre. We did weapons training in Aldershot. On live ammo. range day we had a scouse lad, Charlie, in our group. He was a total braindeader. When he was called up to shoot, the rest of us scattered and hid out of his line of sight, giggling. True to expectations he blasted off in full automatic mode. He spun around in panic and everybody else dropped to the ground. Luckily no-one was hurt and we never saw Charlie again. ps - anybody remember CSM Higham (aka Banana Boots) drill instructor?

That took me back! (RN mid 70's) Thanks.

Ah...I remember this weapon well. Me and my fellow Stormtroopers used them on Jakku.

Wonder why we don't see more roller type magazine followers? Maybe it just an added expense for minimal benefits. Still a very cool feature.

Great explanation. Thankyou.

Great video good quality good guidelines

Thanks again for sharing

I love the finish on those... :) so cool :) nice video btw.

Other than the clunky stock, Sterling is a great gun. Excellent videography and best video on Sterling disassembly. Thx!

I regularly travel past the spot which used to be the location of the Fazackerley Small Arms Factory, today it is a housing estate. It still has an enormous earthwork that shields it from the people passing by, topped by a massive hedge. This place was known to be something special and very secretive, so it was obviously surrounded by rumours. The factory was barely 1 mi from Kirkby Industrial Estate which was set up in 1938 as the top secret shadow factory for the Royal Ordinance and eventually made a vast amount of bombs and shells for the war effort. The scale of what was done here would take your breath away, the other end of Knowsley had Huyton POW camp which was the location for a massive camp that was used to contain those POW's headed for Canada via Liverpool, or the Isle of Man if less of a problem. Kirkby was amazingly rural back then, Liverpool people used to come here for camping holidays in the 20's and 30's. When the RO set up they brought in thousands of people via tram and train from the heart of Liverpool, and all within less than 20 minutes. And all of this was Top Secret at the time.

It was a lovely little weapon. I first fired it, aged 13, under my father's instruction at the Europa Point Rifle Range in Gibraltar. Accuracy was never a major attribute of SMGs, but a genuine attempt was made to train soldiers to at least aim and fire it for maximum effect. And it was ergonomically comfortable, with a COG around the mag housing. I remember it fondly.

Good post, Bloke on the Range, takes me back 50+years. After a few attempts, you almost hit on the quick way ( it can be done in a couple of seconds to get that pesky cocking handle into the breech block--well done for a non-instructed first attempt! All you do is BEFORE putting the breech block in the gun, assemble the plunger and spring, then, using the cupped palm of your RIGHT hand to hold them. compress them by pressing with your LEFT hand, until you can grip the breech block with the finger tips of you RIGHT hand and you see the hole lining up with the hole in the receiver, Hold it in that position with your right hand( it's quite easy), pick up the cocking handle with your now-free left hand, put the block and spring into the receiver,and continue to hold in place with your right, and insert the cocking handle --easy! insert secondary spring and replace end cap, job done. Easier to do than to explain in words!

It is still a good weapon especially for close quarter fighting. We were issued them in our tank regiment in lybya in the sixties.I carried one with a full magazine when escorting the regimental payroll.

I must be growing up: I saw that video clip of the old-school machine shop (starting at 21:57) and inwardly scolded the people in the vid for not wearing safety glasses.

I love the texture of this gun.

I have a Firth Staybrite fork stamped "ROF Fazakerley" - probably liberated from the staff canteen at some point.

I got a chance to play with one once and boy did I enjoy that.

This was my personal arm as a tank gunner in the 70s and was very accurate if held firmly when firing.

I did a CQB range in Cyprus doing a course of fire with pop up targets. Fired a mag off on full auto into the sea which was fun. Great little weapon.

Excellent video 📹 Now I think I can make one in my DT class

I left in 1972, personal side for tankies. The crinkle paint is new, and am surprised at the bolt mech, don't remember that either. Was very familiar with the SMG, fired it many times. I used the 200 rear aperture, because I found it more accurate. Horrible things to carry without a pack to tie it too. Got bits that stick into you all over when marching, or covering ground for long distances on foot. Only ever allowed to fire on Auto once, this was straight after Sennalager duty at the end ! Loved it to bits.

Your left arm is healing very well. Thoughts and prayers.

@4:54 I love this crackle glaze finish.. common on old instrument panels too.

I carried the Canadian version, the SMG C1 when I was a tanker. I was surprised by the differences. The Can version had a one piece recoil spring. Our bolts were more like the STEN bolt. No grooves cut. Because of the one piece spring, the retracting pin in the cocking handle hole didn't exist. Our magazines did not have the double roller followers. Bent mag lips were a constant problem. Having said that, I loved the weapon. I really did NOT want to give it up when the Can Army replaced it with the C8 carbine.

Great video! Thanks

Nice video, thanks!

I did a work experience placement as a 15 year old at Hyde Park Barracks at around 1989 . Their armory at the time was stuffed full of rows of these. While everyone had a skivvy job placement in an office, I was being taught how to strip and assemble these.

During Desert Shield at we had a British Officer waiting in our tent to board our C-21 Learjets for a flight. He left the tent and forgot his Sterling on the table. I ran out and handed it to him and said "Here you might need this" He replied " I don't know what for they wont give me any ammo for it anyway . " If I could have gotten it home I would have kept it but I knew better.

Great stuff🇬🇧👍.

I use one of these when i was in the RNZNVR back in the 80's - fun to shoot

That takes me back, in the early 70s my Dad had one as his PPW under the weapons out program as he was an NCO, thankfuly he never had to use it (almost once) I remember him showing me how it worked then telling me NEVER to touch it lol.

Thanks for the interesting insight in to the trusty SMG or not so trusty in my experience having been familiar with them during my British army service in the 1980's. SLR was the preference when lining up at the armoury to draw weapons however on occasions - usually when driving a vehicle on exercise - SMG's were issued. My oppo had a close call with one during our deployment in the Gulf - grabbed the weapon from the passenger seat after climbing out and somehow the cocking mechanism plus safety catch got caught on the side of the seat frame firing a round off in to his arm. We heard a bang and some moaning to then find him slumped on the ground on the other side of the vehicle. Luckily 'just' a single shot to the forearm but could have been a very different outcome. Can't see how he would have had a round in the chamber at the time so can only assume the weapon got cocked accidentally and with protruding safety catch managed to loose off a round. Was always wary of them after this!

Another reason why in the manual they insist on being very gently when manually dropping the bolt is because the Sterling is blowback-operated WITH advanced primer ignition, meaning that the bolt strikes the primer before fully chambering the round. Ergo, the round goes off before going fully into battery. It may sound very unsafe at first, but on normal firing conditions it actually improves accuracy and controllability. Even if the cartridge detonates before being fully chambered, it still has to overcome the inertia of the bolt that's still slamming forward and the spring pressure. One endemic quirk on open bolt guns is that the first shot (or every shot when firing in semi automatic mode) always suffers a bit of because the mass of the bot going forward shifts the sight picture, and even affects the barrel harmonics to some extent, maybe unless you have the strength of a male silverback gorilla. With API blowback it solves that, at least partially. It decreases the mass needed for the bolt in order to be safe and to stay on the same rate of fire. The Sterling was arguably one the nicest shooting 9mm SMGs from the Cold War era, until the germans came with the HK MP5, arguably the first viable and reliable closed-bolt SMG. The H&R Reising was a nice shooting closed-bolt SMG, but it was a bit delicate.

Great video,thank's👍

Such an unusual surface finish. Great SMG.

Super stuff thank you

Vary nice explanation.

I remember the guards on the Barack gates where I lived as a kid used to carry this SMG along with SLR.

Recall first seeing these back in 1975 while on an exercise on the Salisbury Plain. The survey officer for 23rd Light Battery was armed with one. When I first saw it, I mistook it for a Sten as that was all I had ever seen in WWII movies!

Cracking weapon. One of the finest post war smg's.

I had a MK8 back before we all lost our guns here in UK it was the closed bolt version, what a beautiful gun it was

you give good weapon dude!

Back in the pre Hungerford days I owned an original L2A3. It had been converted to semi auto only, but still on an open bolt. It was fine with standard factory 9mm including RG 2Z. It had a tendency to go full auto if you put low load home loads through it!

I think Im in love with this gun

that was really interesting thank you

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing! =)

Its amazing how these rough ass things actually work. Youd think a pipe a spring and a bolt wouldn't be so reliable

Having ben in the RAOC we got a fair bit of usage from the Sterling , but my old SLR was my favourite. Latterly in the TA changing over to an Infantry role ,I used my SLR with an old Bren Magazine , which slotted into my SLR .Never used a Sterling mid 80's but a good piece of kit for up close stuff.

I've read in a few places (mostly in extracts of books I don't have full access to) that the Sterling SMG has "advanced primer ignition" either intentionally of accidentally. By that I mean the bolt never impacts the barrel, the bolt still has its forward velocity when the round fires and the case begins pushing back on the bolt which has a few effects: - the forward inertia of the bolt is not near-instantly transferred to the rest of the gun when it collides with the breech face - the force exerted by the case on the bolt must first overcome the forward momentum of the bolt then accelerate the bolt backwards, this results in a lower overall bolt velocity for a given bolt weight. You can see the first half in slow motion video of the Sterling, there isn't the characteristic "forward jolt" the moment the bolt closes. IDK how this is done but the extract I read mentioned how you get a different bolt velocity if you fully insert a round into the chamber then fire the weapon compared to feeding a round from the magazine.

Mine has rhodesian markings on it. Fantastic gun

Fire one of these at RAF Wildenrath while in the ATC in the 80s - 10 rounds, single action, prone, with the stock extended @ 25 yards, 300mm (ish) target; didn't hit the paper once! Awesome!

My Dad was Royal Marines. I remember him telling me about one of his comrades, who had been on guard one rainy night, came back into the guardhouse, not in a happy frame of mind. threw his Sten down the table, where it hit the wall and discharged ,hitting himself in the stomach.

First class video,,,,,,,,subscribed

❤️Loved that thing❤️

The chap in the Pathe video is a mate from schools grandad!