[Chipperman]

What are the best choices?

Reising's-- have a bad rep, but for a fun gun I've heard they are ok if you get a good one.
S&W 76-- do not hear too much about these. How are they?
Sten-- Heard they're ok.
MP 40-- a little more money, but good

Any other good options?

[George Hill]

Wouldn't a Sterling be a C&R? Certainly is old enough.
Also, there are some Uzi's that are on the C&R list.

[ACP230]

I prefer the Madsen M50 to the S&W M76, but there seem to be more Smiths available.

STEns were discussed recently on the FA board
at www.subguns.com. The consensus was that quality varies, but some of the crude ones work OK, and they can be fixed if they don't work well.

Reisings are still relatively cheap and are fun. The ones I've shot were not as reliable as a Madsen, but they can be set on semi or full but the Madsen is FA only. New springs are usually needed on a Reising in my experience.

MP40s are pricey. Even tube guns are up around $6,000. I have never fired one so can't discuss their shooting charactistics.

There are clones of the S&W M76 available. Called the M760 they have a rep for being tempermental. A good one is still a couple thousand less than a Smith.

[P226]

Reising's----great range guns, very fast, mags hard to find and
cost alot,not a combat gun but great for shooters at
the range no problems,parts can be found most will
need new springs maybe a fireing pin

mp-40------great but c&r guns cost alot more than tube guns
and tube guns are $6000 and up

Sten------c&r guns cost too much,plus the tube guns are better

Madsen 50-----great, starting to be hard to find, people who have
them are not selling them because they like them

S&W 76-----great gun.looked down on because the swedish k and
the k is better and it is a copy of the k to begin with,the
k has a better rate of fire and 36 rd mags and if it has
the removeable mag well 50 rd mags and 71 rd drums.
Original factory 76 mags run around $125,but the 76
can use the cheaper $19 swedish k mags

i am waiting on a S&W 76 right now.It came down to the 76 or the
Madsen 50.I got the 76 mainly because of the price and the fact i found
6 different 76's to look at and only 2 Madsen's.The 76 i got was new in box
and less then the Madsen,but i think i would have been happy with either.
I may start looking for a Reising now,but the price of mags is what scared
me away,Plus they are only 12 and 20rds

[ACP230]

Ken Christie made 30 round mags for the Reising. He is no longer doing so, but someone may make more if the AWB expires.
Some 30s may be available somewhere, but they are even more expensive than original 20 rounders.
Early Reisings may not accept the Christie 30 round mags due to narrow action dimensions. Out of three Reisings I've gotten to handle one early commercial model would not take the 30s.

[firestar]

If they are C&R, do you still have to go through a dealer? You can't get C&R machine guns shipped to your door, can you?

[P226]

If you have your c&r they can br shipped to your door,but
you still have to do the fingerprint cards,passport photo's
and cleo signoff.Your c&r doesn't remove them.I think it should
atleast remove the cleo signoff but it doesn't.

[444]

If it was me, the only gun you mention that I would buy is the MP40 and I probably wouldn't buy that.
I would much rather buy something that is much more practical like an UZI.

I own a Sten tube gun and never shoot it. I am not into just spraying bullets. I want something that exhibits decent practical accuracy. Something with usable sights. Just making noise doesn't interest me; hitting something does. I would like to compete in the local machine gun matches, but you have to be able to aim at, and hit targets. This isn't impossible with the Sten, but for another grand I could have something that does it much better.

[Kharn]

I believe you can weld a Sten tube into a Sterling by adding some more pipe, so there might be some 50 year old Stens out there that were converted to Sterlings and are thus C&R, or the original production ones.

Kharn

[Johnny Guest]

The MAC 11 is still available for reasonable prices. There were a great many made and registered, and as with all full auto stuff, this is a supply-and-demand situation.

I know many of the MACs - - By whichever manufacturer - - have had a poor rep for various reasons, but they CAN be tuned up.

Shot one some yesterday that a pal had at the range. He is a gunsmith, and chose to make certain modifications. With a relative inexpensive piece, which is not really historically significant, he felt free to "do some stuff" to it, to make it more competitive in the full auto matches. I guess I can see his point - - - You can likewise modify most any sub gun, but an MP 40 or Thompson is a classic, and really rather expensive to cobble up with irreversible changes.

He adapted it to use an M16 collapsible stock, installed a rate reducer, modified it to use the common and inexpensive Sten magazines, and welded on HK sights. I don't personally care for the stock relationship to the sight line - - Owner says he crawls the stock so much that he likes this setup. Maybe my cheekbones are too prominent, but I just can't get down to see thru the sights. The M16 stock coming right out the rear of the received is simply too high for me.

Still, this is the funnest MAC I've shot, especially with the suppressor on it.

The standard MAC wire stock is mounted to the bottom of the receiver, and I can use it fine.

The dedicated machine gun boards show a lot of interesting modifications to these little sub guns. Owner says some guys cut a hole in rear of receiver and weld an extension rod to the bolt, to work against he standard buffer in the M16 stock. This REALLY reduces the rate of fire and makes the whole thing even more controlable.

Just another possibility - - -

Best,
Johnny

[WonderNine]

This is a great thread. I was pondering this question myself a few months ago, but gave up after searching for awhile. All of the MG's mentioned in this thread seem hard to locate.

[George Hill]

Shotgun News.

NEVER pick it up... or you WILL catch this bug.

/Waiting for the Beretta M-12 to reach C&R status.