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I found some boxes Thompson M1928a1 wood. British, more info?


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Hello all,

 

 

I found some boxes with Thompson M1928a1 wood. British conversion. Anything to say about styles related to manufactury dates? (I assume these were made before 1945)

Thank you for looking! 

Best regards Tommy

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Edited by US1945
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Thank you GiJive, is it possible to see the difference between a pre war set or one that was manufactured between lets say 1940-1945. I mean was this style manufactured through the rest of the war?

I saw a 'n' mark in one of the sets.

Best regards Tommy

 

Edited by US1945
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The British and Commonwealth forces, altered to sling swivel positions, once they received the TSMGs from the USA.

Stay safe

Richard

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US1945,

 

Each piece of wood would have to be inspected to determine if there is any pre-WWII (Colt Thompson era) wood in there. It is virtually impossible to make that conclusion from the photos. Certainly some of the wood is early (1940 era) Savage Thompson wood, but again each piece would have to be inspected. The letter codes are contractor codes, e.g., S-Savage, D-Dittenborn, M-Strombeck-Becker, etc. Different codes can be found on the butt stock. Early Savage stocks will have a four-digit production number stamped on the inside rear of the wood butt stock and the butt plate. Originally the numbers matched but after many rebuilds during WWII and after, the numbers quite often don't match anymore. Different contractor names and codes can be found on the butt stocks.

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I find it interesting that the fore ends are not checkered, they use M1A1 swivels and the swivels are attached in the rear of the wood rather than the front. Not at all like the one on my 1928A1. Also, do the butt-stocks have the British cross screw modification or the later American cross bolt or no reinforcement at all?

 

Dan

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Jackpot! Nice collection of Thompson wood! Sounds like you need to pick up a copy of Frank Iannamico's 'American Thunder II'.

 

I'm curious if there's any D (Dittenborn) marked grips or forends as Strombeck-Becker and Savage are most common.

 

Andrew

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I find it interesting that the fore ends are not checkered, they use M1A1 swivels and the swivels are attached in the rear of the wood rather than the front. Not at all like the one on my 1928A1. Also, do the butt-stocks have the British cross screw modification or the later American cross bolt or no reinforcement at all?

 

Dan

Yep, the Greeks modified ex New British M1 and 1928 wood but didn’t chequer the grips. Most of the Greek Armourers had been trained when serving in or trained by the British Army. I have an Ex Greek M1A1 in my collection but it has an additional mod by having a Butt disk fitted in the style of the Lee Enfield and early Bren guns.

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Right, all Thompson parts and spare parts were made before the end of WWII. Crossbolt reinforced M1928A1 butt stocks were spare parts only, and were not used in the production of new guns. M1A1 cross bolt stocks were used in WWII M1A1 TSMG production, and are perfectly correct for M1 TSMGs that were arsenal rebuilt to M1A1 standard.

 

Slings are a different story. Mustard colored M1 TSMG slings were produced during WWII. Those with parked hardware and OD canvas webbing are post war. Neither had any markings as produced, not US, and not MRT. Mildew treatment happened long after production, if it happened at all.

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Hi guys, thank you for your information so far. I already learned a lot. I'll post some photos of markings I observed, I might forgot one or two.

 

 

 

Buttstocks:

 

Unmarked (as far I could see)

X marked

X marked and a number such as 2 or 9

 

 

N marked (seems to be under representated)

O.G.E.K. marked (seems to be under representated)

Arrow marked (seems to be under representated)

 

 

IMG_20200319_151418.jpgIMG_20200319_151429.jpgIMG_20200319_151448.jpgIMG_20200319_151504.jpgIMG_20200319_151512.jpgIMG_20200319_151531_1.jpgIMG_20200319_151542.jpgIMG_20200319_151618.jpg

 

 

 

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Grips:

 

M marked (very common)

S marked (very common)

Unmarked (seems to be under representated)

D (captital) marked (seems to be under representated)

6 or 9 marked (seems to be under representated)

 

 

IMG_20200319_151109.jpgIMG_20200319_151148.jpg

 

 

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Forends: (all these markings seems to be under representated)

 

Unmarked

P marked

Boxed P and 1 marked

F and G marked

F marked

K and S marked

 

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Best regards Tommy

 

Edited by US1945
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Gijive: "Early Savage stocks will have a four-digit production number stamped on the inside rear of the wood butt stock and the butt plate"

 

I can't find any four digit serial number. Or is it in the wood under the buttplate? I know that the Germans did put dates and codes under k98k buttplates.

 

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Bridgeport: "anchor marked Colt"

 

I haven't seen this mark yet, unless it has an arrow also. I only can see a part of the marking.

 

Btw yes 48 is about right. There are color variations. on average, most grips are black-browns or either brown.

 

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Dzelenka: "they use M1A1 swivels and the swivels are attached in the rear of the wood rather than the front"

 

Interesting, so what's a typical M1928a1 swivel? Or do you mean that the heavier swivel should be at the buttstock and the ligher one to the forend?

 

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TSMGuy: "Right, all Thompson parts and spare parts were made before the end of WWII"

 

Great, that makes it easier.

 

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M3bobby: "fore ends are not checkered"

 

Can you specify what you mean with this :)? Do you mean a crosshatch pattern?

 

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Adg: "I'm curious if there's any D (Dittenborn) marked grips"

 

Yep only one grip :) :) Did I do good?

 

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Reconbob: "Found where?"

 

These are probably Greek indeed. I have no idea to be honest.

 

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Edited by US1945
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Yeah you did good! I haven't been able to find any D marked grips in the years I've been looking haha. I've got a nice collection of Thompson wood I've been collecting but nothing like that!

 

I also have a few checkered (rougher/larger crosshatch) that I was able to locate in England.

 

 

Most of the numbers/letters on the buttocks and some on the foregrips are probably some sort of rack number/ID I'd guess.

 

Andrew

Edited by Adg105200
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Gijive: "Early Savage stocks will have a four-digit production number stamped on the inside rear of the wood butt stock and the butt plate"

 

I can't find any four digit serial number. Or is it in the wood under the buttplate? I know that the Germans did put dates and codes under k98k buttplates.

 

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Yes, under the butt plate, stamped in the wood and the metal. Most of the alpha characters stamped on the butt stocks, X,F, etc. are not contractor markings, they were probably put there by the country that inherited all these Thompsons, e.g., Greece, etc. The location of the contractor marks on the butt stocks is usually under the butt plate or under the slide attaching metal at the front. The contractor marks on the horizontal front grips are on the rear of the wood, e.g., S, M, etc. The contractor marks on the rear pistol grips are on the top which you have photographed, e.g., S, M, D, etc..

 

Private Message sent.

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I have a British M1 stock with the parallel butt stock hole with a Broad Arrow mark with a E A S at 9 o'clock 6 o clock and 3 o clock around the Arrow. Two slot screws reinforcements. I bought it simply due to it Broad Arrow stamp as it would not be correct on a receiver stamped RIA FK M1A1.

 

Here are some photos of the stock referenced above

 

Parallel hole

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mAQYZM3l.jpg

PrB6Tj7l.jpg

6F91uXXl.jpg

 

https://imgur.com/a/tbUzQLb

Edited by Bridgeport28A1
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Here are pictures of my British wood on a 1928A1.

That’s a nice example of a British modified 28. The 2 wood screws being a result of British combat experience, quite scarce in the UK now as collectors like to fit unmodified wood. A real shame to remove that history.

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Thank you again for posting these photos. So 'textbook' British conversion stock sets look slightly different. Could these checked versions early or maybe just an another variation of British reuse?

 

Best regards Tommy

Edited by US1945
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This thread has turned into a sales post. While the poster is not eligible to post items for sale, I'm going to leave it up for the collector value of the information that has been posted. I hope that the original poster will consider a donation to the site for the free advertising they have gained here.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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