Sterling Carbine to SBR?

[snipershot1944]

A few months ago I was walking through a LGS and saw a Sterling carbine for sale. It was a Dterling product, not a kit build or clone. I think they were imported in the 1980's if I remember. 16 inch barrel, folding stock, crinkle paint. The price seemed reasonable, particularly compared to an HK94. Condition was near new.

 

So my question, anyone have an idea what one is worth these days, and also how tough would it be to convert it to an SBR. Can one use just a Sterling SMG barrel after proper approval?

 

Thanks.

Davidn

[snipershot1944]

Anybody?

[emmagee1917]

No idea , but as a general rule , no . The feds will not approve a design for production if it can be converted to an illegal version too easily . I would suspect the barrel is of different specs so an original barrel will not drop in . Should not be a hard thing to remove the barrel and have it cut down and recrowned , though.

Chris

[m3bobby]

Would that be the mk6?

 

Ask Peter Laidler, he wrote the book "The guns of Dagenham" which covers the Lanchester SMG and the Stirling family

[Bldg365]

The 9mm Carbine you saw was probably one built by Wiselite Arms in Boyd Texas from Sterling parts kits. They used new receiver tubes, barrels and a barrel locking nut. Sometimes the welding (actually brazing) wasn’t the best, but many minor flaws were hidden by the black crinkle finish paint. The bolt and fire control group was modified to fire from the closed bolt. It cannot be readily converted back to full-auto if at all.

 

Wiselite 9mm Carbine Review

 

The original Sterling SMG barrel will not fit the Wiselite Carbine receiver. The flat bar welded in the bottom of the receiver tube to keep from using a full auto bolt will also keep the SMG barrel from working. The original Sterling SMG barrel is held in by two socket head bolts through the front of the receiver/barrel shroud. The Wiselite Carbine barrel is held in by a knurled locking nut, screwed onto threads cut into the barrel.

 

The Sterling Carbine is easy to SBR. You could do it with a hacksaw and a re-crowning tool from Brownells. I did mine on a mini-lathe. The gun looks a little odd with the Wiselite barrel nut and a short barrel. The thread adaptor on my Liberty Mystic suppressor is the same thread as the Wiselite barrel and I have used it to hold the barrel in place when shooting suppressed.

 

The SBR’ed Wiselite Carbine is a blast to shoot. Just use a powerful enough round to work the heavy bolt. The best part of the gun is the magazines. The Sterling magazines are the greatest. Holds 34 rounds and the 34^th round is as easy to load as the first. Kind of expensive and not always easy to find, but worth it. I like them so much; I converted some to fit my 9mm AR15.