Sterling 7.62

The Sterling 7.62 was a battle rifle/light machine gun variant of the Sterling submachine gun which was manufactured in the 7.62×51mm NATO calibre. It used lever-delayed blowback to handle the more powerful rounds and was fed from 30 round Bren magazines as well as 20 round magazines from L1A1 SLRs. A bipod and detachable fixed stock could be added as well as a Single Point IR/Trilux night sight. To prevent ammunition cook-off, the weapon fired from an open bolt. As the Besal was a planned LMG of World War II, the 7.62mm NATO calibre Sterling was intended as an emergency standby weapon in case of attack during the Cold War.