Adventures with a Sterling .25 Auto

[Dion]

First off, I have to say that I bought this off a CG'er with full knowledge that it would be a "project" after reading a lot of internet complaints. So, the CG'er I bought this from did NOT rip me off - I knew exactly what I was getting into. I picked it up for a fair price, and I fully understood what these guns entail

I took this ancient, poor reputation gun to the range today. It jammed like crazy, but for a tiny little thing, what did come out was actually not bad. When it jams, the round actually points upward.

It seems the magazine is the culprit. I tried bending the tabs to "smooth" out the cycling, but didn't shoot it after doing so as it was lunch time and the blood sugar started to drop rapidly.

Something else happened that actually could've been catastrophic if I didn't practice safe gun handling. When you pull the slide to load a round (finger OFF the trigger) and let it snap back, it slam fires!

I always operate the slide with the gun pointed down range, but I see a lot of people who do not. This definitely could've turned out bad. You have to pull the slide, and then ease it forward for this not to happen.

This is the first time I've ever had a handgun slam fire.

So who else has one of these insane pocket guns? Wondering if I can do something to keep it from slam firing aside from what I did today. I'm thinking a new firing pin and sear will do the trick.

[bohoki]

weird but makes you think if you have a machine gun that jams every shot is it really full auto?

[VegasND]

My dad had one back in the '70s that was on his CCW (in Orange County). It worked very well and I was surprised to hear of their terrible reputation some years later.

I did convince him to step up to a .380 -- an AMT BackUp. I now think that's an insanely heavy pocket pistol.

[89 Vision]

I have one in .22. Also bought if off another CGer. Mine works well. I'm no gunsmith, so I can't really offer any advice, but getting a new sear definitely sounds like a good first move. Good luck!

[TANK]

i have one in .25 also. i shot one mag thru it and no complaints other than its really small

[RedFord150]

...When you pull the slide to load a round (finger OFF the trigger) and let it snap back, it slam fires! ...

This alone would make me take a cutting torch to it.
This is a pocket pistol for defensive use, not a range or target pistol. Why would you even consider depending on this to possibly save your life?
BTW, I bought and sold a Jennings J22 many years ago. I understand the 'curiosity factor'. I ultimately bought a Bersa .380 to fill this need.

[Dion]

This alone would make me take a cutting torch to it.
This is a pocket pistol for defensive use, not a range or target pistol. Why would you even consider depending on this to possibly save your life?
BTW, I bought and sold a Jennings J22 many years ago. I understand the 'curiosity factor'. I ultimately bought a Bersa .380 to fill this need.

Please don't assume I bought this to carry - I did not. Why would anybody carry this when you can get a modern subcompact gun?

I would not use this as personal defense - just fun @ 7-10 yards to see if I could actually hit anything. I can, so I'm happy.

I just want to make it work well. I have a habit of buying things for the sake of a project for my own knowledge building. I get a lot of satisfaction in doing things like this.

I've had much worse, and brought them back to reliable, handsome guns.

[ojisan]

Sounds like the sear is gummed up...perhaps a good cleaning will fix it.
Mine in .22LR works just fine.

[Dion]

Sounds like the sear is gummed up...perhaps a good cleaning will fix it.
Mine in .22LR works just fine.

I cleaned the gun very well, but on inspection of the sear, it looked "knicked" (sorry, that's the best way I can describe it).

I member on a different forum said he had the same problem and replacing the sear and firing pin did the trick

[placergold1]

Sterling pistols

I've had one of their .22 pistols since the 1980's. Many years ago the firing pin broke off of the striker/firing pin piece. This was caused by a very limited number of dry firings after the magazine ran dry while shooting at the range. Apparently the metallurgy of the part was very brittle. It wouldn't surprise me if he sear notch of that part is also similarly brittle and subject to failure causing slam fires. Back then it was easy to get a replacement part from Numrich.

IMHO this was not a pistol I would have carried loaded as I feared it was more likely to break a part and discharge when i least expected it. Now the pistol just sits in my safe and occasionally gets fired at the range purely for nostalgia sake.