So over on another thread we were talking about where to get a new Sterling and the shop Paintballshop.com was brought up since they seem to have significant stock. Some of us Americans took the gamble and amazingly the stuff showed up.
Why import a UK-made gun from a place four times as far away as the UK? Well, if you’d ever tried to deal with Sterling (Arrow Precision) you’d know that as soon as they find out you're American they stop any communication with you. This has happened to lots of people here, I’ve bothered to go through this twice now,
”Hi, do you still sell the Sterling paintball gun or any parts?”
”We are PROUD to be the exclusive seller of the Rolls Royce of pump paintball guns and parts, the Sterling!
”OK, I’m in the US, can you send me like 50 rebuild kits and ten guns?”
[crickets]
So that’s why this gun came from Australia…ok, enough back story.
My Sterling arrived yesterday after eight days of travel. EMS rules.
The gun looks amazing. I’ve only ever owned OG Sterlings so this was a big change for me. Almost no parts are the same, maybe the bolt? Pretty much everything is different. The grip isn’t (obviously) borrowed from some place else. The velocity is adjustable, and that means different pump handle, pump rod, hammer, etc. The barrel is spider threaded and THICK enough to roll out cookies with. Pump action is smoother and lighter than my OGs. The vertical feed and the way it attaches are also new to me.
After airing it up it leaked, of course. This reminded me of some things Turbowagonman said about later Sterlings having frustrating quality control issues. I guess I should have stripped the whole thing down first, but I assumed it was oiled because I did pull the bolt and that looked like it had been literally dipped in oil it was so lubricated. Upon disassembly the issue was that the valve wasn’t actually threaded in all the way…nice…it was also bone dry in there.
Before I heard the leak though I discovered another issue, that the trigger was adjusted so tight that it was essentially in all autotrigger all the time mode. I backed the stop off quite a bit and that issue went away.
It’s obvious they don’t test fire these before shipping them…like Rolls Royce would…just saying…
The sticker says “Made in The United Kingdom”. Anyone who’s seen The IT Crowd may laugh at that. I used to work for Lotus. I’ve been a Doctor Who fan for 40 years. I can roll with effed up Anglo stuff that isn’t all there. Being a fan of British things and an understanding person when it comes to hand made stuff I don’t have any genuine complaints about shipping %99 assembled guns, but I do feel I have to mention that. If you expect the gun to be…you know, done, it may not be. This is an enthusiasts gun, IMO, since you have to fix it out of the box. Lots of great guns have to be fixed right out of the box though, honestly.
I think it’s fair to say though that I don’t think the person who made all the parts for this gun ever met the person who did the final assembly. And this makes me wonder how many offshore parts are in this Made in UK gun…I wish I knew anything about this company at all but as I said the guys won’t talk. The grip is Hogue so we know at least that was made in a place with worker protections and such but for all I know the rest is a great deal from Taiwan slapped together by a English school kid. There is no Mike Cassidy of Sterling, if you know what I mean, to explain this stuff to us.
So after the fixing I was able to hit 300fps, turned it down to 284 bps. Velocity wasn’t super consistent but I don’t think it’s fair to bring that up at this moment because I’ve only shot junk paint through it with the electrical tape detent system.
BTW, the barrel is awesome because it’s so thick it’s basically flush with the block. I do wish it had some porting or at least a more well rounded opening. It’s loud as $&@?, which I like, but I’m not so sure how accurate it will be once I start caring. It’s a little shorter than OG Sterling barrels and has no brass liner.
I LOVE THIS GUN. It’s golden and special and it pumps very smooth and it’s even rather light, much lighter than Sniper.
Attached are pics from a late night shooting and swearing session with Mr Crystal Cut himself, Gold Lightan. You can see he loves the color but hears a leak from somewhere…
Why import a UK-made gun from a place four times as far away as the UK? Well, if you’d ever tried to deal with Sterling (Arrow Precision) you’d know that as soon as they find out you're American they stop any communication with you. This has happened to lots of people here, I’ve bothered to go through this twice now,
”Hi, do you still sell the Sterling paintball gun or any parts?”
”We are PROUD to be the exclusive seller of the Rolls Royce of pump paintball guns and parts, the Sterling!
”OK, I’m in the US, can you send me like 50 rebuild kits and ten guns?”
[crickets]
So that’s why this gun came from Australia…ok, enough back story.
My Sterling arrived yesterday after eight days of travel. EMS rules.
The gun looks amazing. I’ve only ever owned OG Sterlings so this was a big change for me. Almost no parts are the same, maybe the bolt? Pretty much everything is different. The grip isn’t (obviously) borrowed from some place else. The velocity is adjustable, and that means different pump handle, pump rod, hammer, etc. The barrel is spider threaded and THICK enough to roll out cookies with. Pump action is smoother and lighter than my OGs. The vertical feed and the way it attaches are also new to me.
After airing it up it leaked, of course. This reminded me of some things Turbowagonman said about later Sterlings having frustrating quality control issues. I guess I should have stripped the whole thing down first, but I assumed it was oiled because I did pull the bolt and that looked like it had been literally dipped in oil it was so lubricated. Upon disassembly the issue was that the valve wasn’t actually threaded in all the way…nice…it was also bone dry in there.
Before I heard the leak though I discovered another issue, that the trigger was adjusted so tight that it was essentially in all autotrigger all the time mode. I backed the stop off quite a bit and that issue went away.
It’s obvious they don’t test fire these before shipping them…like Rolls Royce would…just saying…
The sticker says “Made in The United Kingdom”. Anyone who’s seen The IT Crowd may laugh at that. I used to work for Lotus. I’ve been a Doctor Who fan for 40 years. I can roll with effed up Anglo stuff that isn’t all there. Being a fan of British things and an understanding person when it comes to hand made stuff I don’t have any genuine complaints about shipping %99 assembled guns, but I do feel I have to mention that. If you expect the gun to be…you know, done, it may not be. This is an enthusiasts gun, IMO, since you have to fix it out of the box. Lots of great guns have to be fixed right out of the box though, honestly.
I think it’s fair to say though that I don’t think the person who made all the parts for this gun ever met the person who did the final assembly. And this makes me wonder how many offshore parts are in this Made in UK gun…I wish I knew anything about this company at all but as I said the guys won’t talk. The grip is Hogue so we know at least that was made in a place with worker protections and such but for all I know the rest is a great deal from Taiwan slapped together by a English school kid. There is no Mike Cassidy of Sterling, if you know what I mean, to explain this stuff to us.
So after the fixing I was able to hit 300fps, turned it down to 284 bps. Velocity wasn’t super consistent but I don’t think it’s fair to bring that up at this moment because I’ve only shot junk paint through it with the electrical tape detent system.
BTW, the barrel is awesome because it’s so thick it’s basically flush with the block. I do wish it had some porting or at least a more well rounded opening. It’s loud as $&@?, which I like, but I’m not so sure how accurate it will be once I start caring. It’s a little shorter than OG Sterling barrels and has no brass liner.
I LOVE THIS GUN. It’s golden and special and it pumps very smooth and it’s even rather light, much lighter than Sniper.
Attached are pics from a late night shooting and swearing session with Mr Crystal Cut himself, Gold Lightan. You can see he loves the color but hears a leak from somewhere…
I hope to play with this in a few weeks but I’ll be on HPA so this velocity thing won’t be an issue.
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