P.A.W.S. Inc. Model ZX-7SS .45acp Integrally Suppressed “American Sterling” Transferable Submachine Gun
$17,500.00
Status: In-Stock / Please Call to Purchase
This Chester County Armory listing is for a rarely seen P.A.W.S. Inc. Model ZX-7SS .45acp integrally suppressed transferable submachine gun.
Also known as “The American Sterling”, this rare and uniquely US-made ZX-7SS serves as a fascinating homage to the venerable British Sterling MK 5 suppressed submachine gun.
Always enamored with the craftsmanship and design of the British Sterling, the ZX-7SS was built and created by gunsmith and Class 2 manufacturer Bob Imel at his company, Police Automatic Weapons Services, in Salem, OR in the mid 1970’s. Built from the ground up, Mr. Imel re-created the beautiful lines and wonderful reliability of the original integrally suppressed British Sterling MK 5, but with his own unique redesigns and improvements, to make it a truly Americanized version. Of course, the improvements started first and foremost, by offering it in one of the most American of all American calibers… .45ACP.
For an in-depth analysis of the differences between the British Sterling and Bob Imel’s creation, check out Ian at Forgotten Weapons and his wonderful video on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKk9Ss6RJ80
Utilizing easy-to-come-by M3 Grease gun magazines, the ZX-7 models function amazingly well, with a cyclic rate of around 750 RPMS, making them markedly faster than the M3 Grease Gun and more in line with a 1928 Thompson. Robust and controllable, the ZX-7SS in .45acp was only made in very small numbers by P.A.W.S. as a transferable, one stamp only, integrally suppressed submachine gun. Some counts have them as low as 20 or 25, as the 9mm version (the P.A.W.S. ZX-5), was made in significantly greater quantities. This specific model is serial number 14.
This transferable submachine gun is in excellent overall mechanical and cosmetic condition. The internals note only minor wear, the bolt is solid with a crisp, clean face. The bore remains bright with clean rifling. The fire controls are in excellent condition, with solid placements on the selector controls in both semi-automatic and full-automatic modes, as well as a positive safety lockup. The original crinkle-style finish employed by Mr. Imel is in overall very good condition, with only a few minor marks observed on the exterior finish. The metalwork is excellent, with no dings, dents, gouges, cracks, etc. Purchase includes four 30rd magazines.
This rare and unique weapon is currently on a Form 3 for easy transfer with “POLICE AUTOMATIC WEAPONS SERVICE INC” listed as the manufacturer and “ZX7SS” listed as the model. As noted prior, this is a one NFA stamp only model as a machine gun. The suppressor is integral to the machine gun and is not removable, so no additional NFA paperwork is required.
