stirling sub machine gun

[AlienFTM]

I fired more smoke grenades at BATUS Training Area In Canada, than I did in the Rest of My service! And most of that was in B.A.O.R where it was supposed to be, 'High Profile Deterent in Germany by N.A.T.O Armed Forces'!

 

Ah you see my time in BAOR was in either Command Troop or a Medium Recce Squadron of an Armd Recce Regt. Regiment less the Close Recce Squadron (plus some attachments) formed a Recce Battlegroup. Recce BGs didn't go to BATUS because we weren't restricted in BAOR the way Tanks were, so there was nothing to gain. The powers that were could declare a temporary 443 Area for us practically anywhere and that's where we exercised.

 

It meant about 1980 we were the first NATO unit into the Harz Mountains after the war and I remember a lot of the locals were less than happy to see armour swanning through what to them was something like a National Park. Had a few walking sticks waved at me personally. Being recce, we were always there first, so I guess we always caught the locals by surprise.

 

So we never saw smoke grenades.

 

We did get to lob 76mm Smoke shells about on Hohne Ranges though.

[ferretfixer]

We SOMETIMES used to get a Negative Fist waving driving through SOME villages way out in the country. We used to wave Enthusiasticly & SMILE . That REALLY drove them wild!

On One occassion, we pulled up outside a Pub & went for a drink when I was commanding a Scorpion. The Lanlord made it clear he didnt like Brit Sqauddies & wasnt going to serve us. Me being a German speaker pointed out the Error of his ways & informed him of our presence in B.A.O.R being to keep the Peace & Keep Germany free of Communism. At the same time one of my fellow crew members went outside & cranked the turret round so the Gun Barrel was JUST pointing in the window. The Landlord was informed that there was a Blank round of 76mm Ammo in the gun & that we would fire it 'Accidently' if he did not serve us! Well he became VERY friendly after that & we had two jars apiece before continuing on our way. All helped move along the Anglo-German 'Friendly Relations'.........:angel:

Didnt you just LOVE 'The Boxheads'?...........

[ChasSomT.]

Alien, I was in the RY (TA recce) for the same period as your service. Ferrets and Saladins

at the beginning, CVR when Saracen was withdrawn. We never saw smoke (or No.36) grenades until either Crusader or Lionheart, then we were issued with at least one 'salvo' (8) per Fox. We never had opportunity to use them, so going through a National Forest our Dashing Troop Leader couldn't resist firing his off! Luckily no walkers nearby! As I remember at least two fired, but didn't 'smoke' - I volunteered to stay behind for a while in case they went off.

Talking of H + S, we took most of the grenades back (either ferry or container)

I had a nice little line in 'Testing rounds' - drilling out the filling, firing the ejection charge and connecting a small (Glass-lensed) Army tail light - just the right size - to the top.

Our RH PSIs took some back to BOAR for their Chiefies.

H + S? What was I thinking of? Ignorance is bliss sometimes, IF you get away with it!

[Bazz]

I can remember giving a demo on Lulworth Ranges to the Sqn, Sgt Bevan was the cmdr I was the gnr. we also did a canister demo at the same time. Ther was/are 2 types of granade, 1 very similar in operation to the hand held smake grenade and 1 phospherous whish burst milliseconds after leaving the launch tube, very dangerous these ones you have to be closed down to fire them and they can be surceptable to certain radio freqs.

[schliesser92]

Going back to Stirlings, has anyone fired one on full-automatic?

 

I did once, under carefully controlled conditions. It's surprising how quickly the beast "climbs".

[Bazz]

Yes quite a few times, the Idea is to pull the butt into your stomach at belt buckle height, grip pistol grip with right hand and push down on barrel cover with the left hand. This helps to prevent weapon climb on auto.

[ferretfixer]

Going back to Stirlings, has anyone fired one on full-automatic?

 

I did once, under carefully controlled conditions. It's surprising how quickly the beast "climbs".

 

All Depends on how you hold it! When firing on Automatic, It is ideal to say to yourself in your head. 'Ham & eggs' each time you pull the trigger, until you get to the 'S' in eggs & release the trigger. You then will fire CONTROLLED BURSTS, as the weapon was intended to do. To get ACCURATE fire, & resultant fall of shot on your target.

What you should NEVER do with ANY Sub Machine Gun when you fire it is. LONG bursts of fire. The IDEAL method is as above, burts of three to five rounds max at a time. If long bursts are used, it WILL wear out the barrel prematurely by erodeing the bore quickly. Nothing destroys a barrel faster than a LOT of Traffic down the bore quickly! It Irks me to see this sort of thing going on in War Films, because it is not the way things are done in the Real World! (They are firing blanks remember!) Also annoys me with lack of Magazine Changes that are unrealistic. IE: 'The Everlasting Magazine!'.:mad: If you want to see how it should NOT one, check out some Youtube clips of some owners in the US using privately owned Sterlings. SOME empty the mag in ONE long burst! You can iamagine what I think when I see that! I also wonder, 'If they do that regulary,I would be interested to know how many Barrel replacements they get through in a year'!!!!! :-(

[AlienFTM]

Yes quite a few times, the Idea is to pull the butt into your stomach at belt buckle height, grip pistol grip with right hand and push down on barrel cover with the left hand. This helps to prevent weapon climb on auto.

 

In my fourteen years we never had the ammo to spare to be that profligate. (It didn't help after the Falklands, when all our war stocks went down south leaving BAOR even shorter than it had been under the recent government, that the Belgian manufacturers wouldn't release more and we had to buy "interesting" 9mm from the sub-continent, but that's scope for another thread).

 

The only tip I ever got (at odds with Bazz even though we spent many years in the same squadron) regarding firing SMG on auto was to hook the left arm over the barrel to stop it climbing. I didn't personally fancy this, since as it was my SMG firing stance saw my left hand extremely close to the guard at the muzzle end and range staff used to have kittens, convinced I was about to shoot my own index finger off. But further down the barrel the left hand is, less the muzzle end is likely to wander. Still got ten fingers, along with trophies for SMG shooting, so there cannot have been that much wrong.

 

My guess is Bazz, being a Junior Leader, got fun days like "Firing SMG on automatic" courtesy thereof.

[Bazz]

Alien,

 

Later on in life I became RMQ. I used to have "fun" sessions once the serious shooting was done (if we had the ammo spare). I did this with most weapons that we were using.

[Topdog]

Going back to Stirlings, has anyone fired one on full-automatic?

 

I did once, under carefully controlled conditions. It's surprising how quickly the beast "climbs".

 

Yes, we had to use controlled bursts in order to qualify - that was 1981. I had to fire bursts of 1 round because I am naturally left handed.

[Bazz]

I have my user handbook somewhere, I'll have a look and se what it says about auto fire.

[airportable]

My users handbook - code no.12042 does not give info on using the gun, just detailed description of operation regards the sear and related action of parts, cleaning, maintance etc.

Would like a training manual.

[Peter4456]

Infantry Platoon Weapons Pamphlet No 4 'The Sub Machine Gun' 1955 (Army Code 8948) says:

 

'The normal way to fire a SMG is a quick aimed shot or number of shots from the right shoulder with the safety catch at R' (Page 22, Para 12 a)

 

However the 'Firing from the waist' section says:

 

'...point the gun at your enemy and fire a burst of sufficient length to kill. This may well mean firing a whole magazine in one burst, correcting your fire by observation' (Page 23, Para 15 b)

 

I love these old blue training pamphlets (getting harder to find now though!) but I've never seen one for the 9mm Browning - do they exist?

[schliesser92]

In my fourteen years we never had the ammo to spare to be that profligate. (It didn't help after the Falklands, when all our war stocks went down south leaving BAOR even shorter than it had been under the recent government, that the Belgian manufacturers wouldn't release more and we had to buy "interesting" 9mm from the sub-continent, but that's scope for another thread).

 

Yes, I remember firing ammunition from the "sub-continent". It wasn't only after the Falklands War, we got some in the mid-70s (part-payment of debts etc). What a disaster! About every fourth round didn't come out of the barrel! Kept our armourers busy for a while!

[andym]

 

Yes, I remember firing ammunition from the "sub-continent". It wasn't only after the Falklands War, we got some in the mid-70s (part-payment of debts etc). What a disaster! About every fourth round didn't come out of the barrel! Kept our armourers busy for a while!

It's the stuff that came out of the barrel but didn't cause enough recoil to allow the sear to catch that caused the real problems. Full auto even with single shot selected ... Andy

[ashley]

The only time i was allowed to fire one on range (25 yd ? ) we were forbidden to use the auto option probally because we were only 12 yrs old and we fired mainly from the standing position.

 

Ashley

[Chris Hall]

Hi John, Can you post photos when you get it.

[Foxy1]

Hi there, can you let me know if the sterling is still for sale, and how much you wold like for it.

Regards Adrian 07753934751

[Catch 22 LBDR]

Love this thread, I was 4 when the Falklands kicked off:rotfl:. But nothing beats a good old war story:). Keep them coming.

[tim gray]

Memory lane .............BANG......BANG..........Phut!........Mag off, thumbnail test.

:-(