Check out this .380

[woodandsteel]

A guy that I work with, kept talking about a .380 that he was given as a gift from an old family friend. He is not much of a firearms enthusiast, so he didn't really know what he had. I finally convinced him to bring it into work so I could see it.

The firearm in question is a Sterling Arms PPL. It is chambered in .380. It has a magazine release on the bottom of the magazine well. The safety appears to be a transfer bar system located forward of the trigger guard.

From what I have read, this type of gun was produced in 1971 or 1972. It is very heavy for it's size. And the barrell, for the front end of the chamber forward, measures at about 3/4 of an inch. The rifling actually looks to be straight up and down the bore.

Here are some pics;

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo187/woodandsteel/IMG_1994JPG-1.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo187/woodandsteel/IMG_1999JPG.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo187/woodandsteel/IMG_1998JPG.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo187/woodandsteel/IMG_2001JPG.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo187/woodandsteel/IMG_2000JPG.jpg

In the above photo, I placed a .380 round on the gun to show just how little barrell the round has to travel in.

I saw one of these sold for $292.00 on Gunbroker. And for a novelty, I guess I could see someone paying that much. But, as a gun for self defense, I wouldn't buy one.

In all fairness, the gun has a beautiful trigger. And the finish on the metal is real nice. But the safety is akward to manipulate. And the magazine his hard to load into the gun.

I just thought is was kind of an Unusual gun. Come Sunday, she is getting returned to her owner.

Thanks for looking.

[ZDL]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting weapon.

[woodandsteel]

I was going to do a range report, but I just don't have the time right now.

I may borrow the gun this summer and fire a few rounds. I am curious to see how accurate such a short barrel can be. Also, I am curious if there is going to be any keyholing issues.

I should mention that this is a single action firearm. And also, there isn't a slide stop.

When I did a google search of the weapon, I found that parts for it are plentiful. This leads me to believe that either there are a whole bunch of these out there, or the company went belly up before they assembled all the parts.

[SoulStealer]

Neat little gun.

Defiently have to watch wrapping you support hand around the front of the trigger guard on that one.

[woodandsteel]

Neat little gun.

Defiently have to watch wrapping you support hand around the front of the trigger guard on that one.

I never thought about that.:eek:

Maybe I wont do a range report then. I'll just give the gun owner a box of ammo and ask him to post pics afterwarwds.

[Shadow1198]

Interesting! I don't think I've seen one of those before. Looks almost like a short barrel micro machine Colt Woodsman or something. ;)