Who Sterling Arms was...
 

I recently purchased a Sterling Arms X-caliber .44 mag single shot pistol (kinda looks like a Thompson Contender but with wooden grips). Gundealers I spoke with told me little but that Sterling is a low end gun, but I found out that they were all talking about semi-autos. This is a very hard company to resaerch on. So I began posting questions on other sites and finally one man who owned two X-calibers gave me his exhausted reseach on Sterling Arms, for anyone who' s clueless on Sterling I hope this helps!

A little more about Sterling Arms and E & R Machine:
E7R Machine Inc. was incorporated in the state of New York in April of 1961 with Eugene Sauls as President and Robert Lindke as Treasurer, each owning 50% of the company. The company' s first place of business was a small 900 sq ft building in Lockport, NY. By 1963, the business had outgrown the original building and they rented 5,000 sq ft of floor area in Gasport, NY. (not in Calif.) Their business continued to grow and late in 1971, they contacted Sterling Arms in Buffalo, NY, about becoming the licensed manufacturer of their products. Sterling had been in business about three years and were having trouble with machining. E & R set up a plant at 4436 Prospect Street, Gasport, NY, to handle the manufacture of firearms for Sterling in `1972. In December of 1973, E & R purchased all the stock of Sterling Arms Corp. making Sterling a wholly owned subsidiary of E & R. In 1975, Eugene E. Sauls, President, bought the 50% ownership of Robert Lindke and became sole owner of E & R Machine.
In 1977, the city garage at 211 Grand Street, Lockport, NY, was purchased by Sterlin Arms from the City of Lockport. In April of 1978, both E & R and Sterling were moved from Gasport to the new facility in Lockport. In 1990, E&R was sold by the President, Eugene Sauls, to his son Gary Sauls.

His story ended her with the exception of phone numbers of Sterling and E&R family members he was able to track down. But if anyone knows better or owns a Sterling let me know!

RE: Who Sterling Arms was...
 

Here is a picture of the X-caliber, I was having some problems getting it on.

[QUOTE=BighornedElk;266047]I recently purchased a Sterling Arms X-caliber .44 mag single shot pistol (kinda looks like a Thompson Contender but with wooden grips). Gundealers I spoke with told me little but that Sterling is a low end gun, but I found out that they were all talking about semi-autos. This is a very hard company to resaerch on. So I began posting questions on other sites and finally one man who owned two X-calibers gave me his exhausted reseach on Sterling Arms, for anyone who' s clueless on Sterling I hope this helps!

A little more about Sterling Arms and E & R Machine:
E7R Machine Inc. was incorporated in the state of New York in April of 1961 with Eugene Sauls as President and Robert Lindke as Treasurer, each owning 50% of the company. The company' s first place of business was a small 900 sq ft building in Lockport, NY. By 1963, the business had outgrown the original building and they rented 5,000 sq ft of floor area in Gasport, NY. (not in Calif.) Their business continued to grow and late in 1971, they contacted Sterling Arms in Buffalo, NY, about becoming the licensed manufacturer of their products. Sterling had been in business about three years and were having trouble with machining. E & R set up a plant at 4436 Prospect Street, Gasport, NY, to handle the manufacture of firearms for Sterling in `1972. In December of 1973, E & R purchased all the stock of Sterling Arms Corp. making Sterling a wholly owned subsidiary of E & R. In 1975, Eugene E. Sauls, President, bought the 50% ownership of Robert Lindke and became sole owner of E & R Machine.
In 1977, the city garage at 211 Grand Street, Lockport, NY, was purchased by Sterlin Arms from the City of Lockport. In April of 1978, both E & R and Sterling were moved from Gasport to the new facility in Lockport. In 1990, E&R was sold by the President, Eugene Sauls, to his son Gary Sauls.

His story ended her with the exception of phone numbers of Sterling and E&R family members he was able to track down. But if anyone knows better or owns a Sterling let me know!

I have a ppk .380AUTO it is a non functional fun. Can anyone tell me about this gun and where i can take it to be fixed or can it be fixed?? I know anything about it. Sort of a funky looking gun, but would like to get it working. 512 -656 338 Sam

I have a 22 Mag made by Sterling Arms. ISterling Arms single-shot break-action pistol, manufactured in Lockport, NY. T

Features:

Octagon Barrel
Interchangeable Barrels
Dual-Firing Pin System Adjustable for rimfire and centerfire cartridges
Break-Action Mechanism
Solid Construction

Very Similiar to the Thompson/Center Contender.

Thank you for sharing this fantastic research. This is exactly the kind of detailed, obscure history that makes collecting so interesting. It's a common issue that lesser-known companies like Sterling are quickly labeled as "low-end" without understanding their full story.

Your pistol, especially being a single-shot .44 Mag variant, is a particularly interesting piece. It's great that you managed to track down so much specific corporate history. I don't have any additional information on Sterling, but I appreciate you posting this. It's a valuable contribution for anyone else who comes across one of their firearms.