Frank Iannamico

Hard to control? Not really

That is correct, but what happened was trigger frames got mismatched with the receivers, and while secured in the rack, the wrong serial numbers were recorded. So around 1943-44 or so they were ordered to stop numbering M1-M1A1 trigger frames, there is more detailed info in American Thunder 3. That is a pretty low serial number, the lowest I had ever seen recorded was by Roger Cox, as I (vaguely) recall was #153

There are/were Sten aftermarket magazines sold by KeepShooting.com, I believe they were made in Taiwan and they work VERY, VERY well, well-made and the feed lips do not distort when fully loaded. I suppose the magazines did not sell well because of the abundance of original magazines. I have seven of them, I wish I had bought more. I have a friend who has been looking for them for years, with no luck. They have a shiny black finish. Link to the aftermarket Sten magazine article http://archive.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=3018 Link to magazine tool article https://smallarmsreview.com/sten-magazines-a-love-hate-relationship/ If the links don't work just go to the Small Arms Review website and search Sten, its now free

Has anyone successfully modified a Keystone titanium firing pin into an inertia pin? I often get several light-firing pin hits that won't fire the round. My thoughts are that the titanium pins are too light in weight to function as an inertia firing pin? http://www.machinegunboards.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=8854

NICE

Those pictures are a mere fraction of Babty's inventory, there are a lot more guns than in the photos, and they also had helmets, uniforms, military radios, swords rubber prop-guns, Knights armor, etc. We also visited a restored WWII airfield in the north of England, it was closed, but Dan got us in, one of the aircraft was a C-47 used in HBOs Band of Brothers Series. At the time we were at Babty the place was being remodeled there were workers and painters there, so everything upstairs was in disarray.

I went to England with Dan Shea, who knows everyone there. On that trip in 2012, several people went along, Dan, Phil Dater, Dolf, and Robert Segel. It was a two-week trip, Dan was able to get us in the National Firearms Collection (former Pattern room) The British Small Arms School gun room, Warminster, another Army facility in Shrivenham (I don't recall the name) Babty, A section 5 dealers Greg Felton, and Dave Thomas' and the War and Peace show, on the weekend we went to the War Museum in London. It was great all I had to do was show up in the hotel lobby in the morning and get in the van. The attached images are all from Babty

Good catch, in addition to no Buttstock, the gun has the VERY early L rear sight. When I visited Babty's movie rentals in England the owner showed me a rack of Grease Guns and said that ONE of them was used by Lee Marvin in the movie, BUT they never documented which one. He also said Lee Marvin wanted to use an MP40 for that part, but I guess he was "shot down" in that request. Note that the 3rd and 7th M3s on the top shelf appear to have L rear sights. The movie was filmed in the UK, based at the, long-gone, MGM Studios in Borehamwood, using locations in Hertfordshire.

EVERYONE gets old (well the lucky ones get old) the only way to stay young is to die young.

I'm glad you got some resolution, in my experience dealing with lost, damaged shipments, you must be persistent. They never pay on the first attempt hoping you will give up. I wonder WHAT happened to the parts kit? Pretty big box to go missing. The missing signature is a mystery. Once I had a registered mail shipment that was lost, the PO found it locked in their cage, apparently they forgot about it.

You have to use PDF Pro The free version won't work, it does as described, it only fills out the first page, the others will be blank.

I'm kind of a purist, as are most Thompson guys and gals. I would not put an aftermarket barrel on an original WWII gun, a West Hurley or a post sample probably.

Back in the 1990s the Pacific International Inc in California was selling original Thompson barrels NEW in the grease for $22.00 each. They were advertised as 1928 finned barrels, but some were M1 and some smooth 1928 barrels, me and a friend bought a lot of them. I can remember being disappointed (at $22.00) when I unwrapped a few and they were M1 barrels! I spoke with a salesman (in those days you had to call, and talk, on the telephone to order parts) He told me that they found the barrels stored in the Philippines. Those barrels are all long gone now, sold most with parts kits when barrels were banned from import.

That sounds pretty low for a NOS barrel, mine is at that now after 3 days. On GB it seems to be all in the timing. I got some tips from a High-volume GB dealer... start at .01 or a dollar to generate interest and bids, start and end on a Sunday at 9:00 - 10:00 PM when most people are home, and end at an even time e.g. 10:00 not 10:07 etc. If you look at past auctions that started out high, they usually generate zero bids. If you get lucky you will get two bidders in a mano-a-mano contest and you will win. (I know I have been in such contests) On low-interest parts valued at less than $100.00, do a buy it now or you will likely give the parts away, and you can advertise them elsewhere and end the listing if you sell it.

Good luck Bob, Collecting insurance from any carrier is very difficult. It may show up yet, did it track to the PO?