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Want a challenging build? A .308 Sterling?

3K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  TRX 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
This got as far as experimental prototypes with the British government. Perhaps someone can start with a cheap Sterling kit and use the grip and stock with a new receiver tube, bolt, and magwell and build one of these?

Check out all the photos at the British 308 Sterling prototype!

 
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#2 ·
Hmm... there are two different rifles in those pictures.

I confess I don't understand what's going on with the two-piece bolt. It looks awfully complex for blowback, but there's no obvious locking method.

Interesting, though.
 
#4 ·
Uuuhh... an H&K G3 trunnion OD is 1.532". And it's round.

You could make a new carrier to hold the G3 bolt head. but it might be practical to just take a G3 carrier, saw the forward extension off, and just turn it round in the lathe.

Apex has complete CETME bolt and carrier assemblies for $65 and trunnions for $30. You'd want the recoil spring too; Apex doesn't list them on their web site, but they're not expensive. You'd probably want a CETME or G3 barrel; they have flutes in the chamber to make it easier to extract the brass. A bunch of people have cut their own flutes. Apex has a new US-made G3 barrel for $175, but you can get used ones cheaper if you shop around.

That'd give you a proven delayed-blowback breeching system, firing pin and spring, and extractor. The bolt is intended to be hammer fired; it you wanted a striker setup you'd have to make your own carrier and use the CETME bolt head.


Come on. You know you want to do it...
 
#5 ·
That looks like a open bolt lever delayed blow back setup. Looks like two prototypes with differences in where the locking shoulder is in the receiver. Looks like something the Moon Nazis would use in Iron Sky.

Using a CETME bolt and trunnion converted for gas unlock with a air soft Mp44 shell would be neat.
 
#9 ·
Is that Spring extra Long? Never touched a sterling spring before.
From what pictures I have, it's long for a Sterling spring... but if you used CETME or G3 bits, you'd probably want to use the spring that matches those.

Anyone want to venture a guess on the wall thickness for the tube? You'd probably wind up with something thicker than really necessary, in order to bore it to fit the front trunnion. The G3 trunnion sitting by my keyboard is 1.533" OD.
 
#10 ·
Both guns seem to be incomplete. There's no front sight, no sling swivel in the bracket on the end of the heat shield, and the lugs under the back of the receiver look like they're intended to hold a Thompson-style stock. The wings on top of the receiver appear to be for a rear sight.

The lever on the front of the receiver on the left side looks like a quick-detach lever for the barrel.

The right side breech opening almost looks like a casting... the unused small holes might be to mount an AR-style dust cover.

Hmm... the receiver diameters are different, and the fatter one has a box shape over the mag on the left side. The smaller one doesn't have any lugs to mount a stock.

I'm curious about why the tags are blacked out. There's no other information available, eh?
 
#12 ·
Looking at my steel catalog, the closest fit I could find for a CETME-based receiver was 1-1/2" Schedule 80 steel pipe. That's 1.90 OD, .200 wall, 1.50 ID - just bore the end a bit to accomodate the trunnion, and turn the OD to whatever strikes your fancy.

From what I've gathered browsing the H&K fora, the G3 and CETME use plain soft steel for the receivers, about .060-.063 thick. So you could turn the pipe OD down on the lathe to 1-5/8, or whatever you felt happy with.

I was at the steelyard today getting some other metal, and asked about the pipe. Not everything in those catalogs actually exists; or more properly, it's a "standard size" only if you'll commit to buy a railcar-load after they set up to make it. It turns out 1-1/2 Sch 80 is a very common size, and they had a bunch in stock.
 
#13 ·
Hello TRX,
I notice that AC Spruce Co lists 1 5/8 inch OD 4130 CMS tubing wth .058 inch wall and 1.509 inch ID in their catalog. It costs more than pipe though but it might save a lot of remachining and povide a stiffer tube.

That Sterling on steroids would look very nice in 5.56mm as an SBR. The German VG-1 gas delayed action could be adapted to the Sterling style. A fluted barrel such as the HK 5.56 uses would be needed with that type action.

VD
 
#15 ·
You didn't know about Iron Sky? Then you probably haven't come across Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. The movie is in Finnish, but there are subtitles in English.

Star Wreck: In the Pirkining : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

What happens when a bunch of crazed Finns make a science fiction fan movie? When they're prepared to spend years making it, and to shell out for detailed sets, costumes, and state of the art CGI? You get a Finnish-Russian empire created by some accidental time travelers, which conquers the Earth and goes into space a-viking? And after that, it starts getting a bit strange...

Maybe it's something they put into the alcohol in Finland. Energia is to video as the Leningrad Cowboys are to music - so totally WTF?! whacked out they might as well be from an alternate universe. Except the Pirkinning was just a movie, and the Cowboys are real.

[video=youtube;0lNFRLrP014]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP014]YouTube - Leningrad Cowboys & Red Army Choir - SWEET HOME ALABAMA[/video]

"It's reality, Captain, but not as we know it."
 
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