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Rusted Thompson M1A1 Restoration


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Hello everybody !

 

 

 

I'm writing you from Banja Luka, the capital of Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of former Yugoslavia). I'm a passionate gun enthusiast since childhood and for many years restoration of old "Tommy guns" is a hobby of mine.

 

Here's a story

 

"Despite Josip Broz Tito's firm adherence to communism, because of the ideological note and personal conflict with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union - and thereafter all the Warsaw Pact's pro-Soviet governments - denounced his treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia on September 27, 1949. For some time it seemed to be a serious threat and a real danger of an intervention of the country by his former allies, so Yugoslavia accepted readily the American offer of assistance.

 

There were even discussions at that time on its possible inclusion into North-Western Alliance.

 

The Mutual Defense Assistance Act (An Act to promote the foreign policy and provide for the defense and general welfare of the United States by furnishing military assistance to foreign nations) was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949.

 

Following negotiations, an agreement on military assistance was concluded in Belgrade on November 14, 1951, between the governments of the (then) Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and the United States. The agreement was signed by Marshal Tito and George V. Allen, US Ambassador in Belgrade. Under this agreement, Yugoslavia is included in The Mutual Defence Assistance Programme.

 

Thompson M1 and M1A1 submachine guns were delivered to the government of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (over 34000 pieces). Yugoslav armed forces received during this period standard NATO military equipment and arms - such as the F-86 and F-84 Thunderjet jet fighters or M36 Jackson and M18 Hellcat tank-destroyers."

 

 

This is my restoration project. Heavy rusted and pitted Thompson M1A1 (S - Savage), before and after restoration. Thompson had been forgotten in the attic (old house in the mountain village, Bosnia and Herzegovina) for 70+ years.

 

 

Sincerely, Draško Dragosavljević

 

 

 

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Electrolytic Rust Removal

 

 

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Brushing and sanding

 

 

 

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After bead blasting

 

 

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Furniture

 

 

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Hot blued (and heavily coated with cosmoline)

 

 

 

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:happy:

 

 

 

 

Yugoslav People's Army soldiers with Thompsons. 1950s.

 

 

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Edited by Quintilian
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Outstanding! Thanks for this post! R

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Great restoration and great pics, thanks!

 

Good decision leaving the metal surfaces cleaned and blued, but otherwise like they were.

 

The MR marking on the butt stock in pic #37 indicates arsenal rebuild at the Mount Rainier Arsenal. After rebuild, the guns went into US government stocks to await reissue to US forces, or as foreign military assistance, as happened here. The gun would originally have had a blued finish. It would have been Parkerized during rebuild.

Edited by TSMGguy
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@TSMGguy


Sir, thank you for the information, very interesting ! And yes, restoration of antiques (especially heavy rusted guns) is in the first place a matter of patience. One must remove as many as possible holes caused by rust, yet without removing too much of the surrounding metal. But this piece was too rusty. How to find manufacturing month and year ?



 

 

Thank you all !

 

 

An original, Yugoslavian M1 and M1A1 Operator's Manual (just part):

 

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Edited by Quintilian
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Very well done sir!

 

Interesting how the selector and safety are paddle type and knurled too.

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Wow ! You did a great job considering the shape it was in. You should be proud of it. Do you know any more of the history of the previous owner and how they acquired

it ? I bet if it could talk we would find some great stories of what the gun went though. Have you attempted to fire it ? I don't think I would ever replace any parts on it. How many hours of work did you put in this restoration ? That you for all the pictures you posted . Have a great day.

Edited by wv1928
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How to find manufacturing month and year ?

 

 

 

Unfortunately, no detailed production records have survived. Best estimation is that the gun was produced anywhere from late 1942 to mid 1943.

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Wow, Fantastic! Bravo on your stunning results. I have studied this time period with aid to Yugoslavia, but my numbers in Thompson transfer are different. Can you provide a link or other info where you got the 34,000 Thompson numbers? Cheers, JB

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Yes, way better results than I would have expected judging from the initial photos! Great job on saving it! And welcome to the board!

 

Andrew

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A most excellent job of restoring your Thompson. I too would love to hear more about its history and how much effort you put into its rescue. Were you able to restore it to full functionality?

 

Well done!

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Thank you all, once again !

 

 

This particular Thompson was found in the attic of an old mountain house (cabin) on the border between Bosnia and Croatia (2 years ago). It was explained to me that in the late 1940s, after the WWII, the Yugoslav army organized a chase for gangs of Croatian and muslim nazi terrorists and war criminals - the Ustashas. On that occasion, an officer of the Yugoslav army donated a submachine gun to the old man (a partisan), owner of a cabin in which a detachment of Yugoslav soldiers spent the night.

 

Otherwise, these submachine guns have long been in the warehouses of the Yugoslav Territorial Defense and were used in the The Yugoslav Wars (from 1991 to 2001).

 

Several books and articles quotes a figure of 34000:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_submachine_gun

 

"The Yugoslav Army received 34,000 M1A1 Thompsons during the 1950s as part of a US Military Aid to Yugoslavia Agreement. These guns were used during the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s."

 

(Dyker, David A.; Vejvoda, Ivan (9 December 1996). Yugoslavia and After: A Study in Fragmentation, Despair and Rebirth (1st ed.). London: Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 9781317891352.)

 

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.........................................................................................................................................................................................

Bojan Dimitrijević (Belgrade, 1968), Ph.D historian, deputy director of the Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Serbia.

 

"Relations between Yugoslavia and NATO 1951–1957"

 

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.............................................................................................................................................................................................

 

Bojan Dimitrijević (Belgrade, 1968), Ph.D historian, deputy director of the Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Serbia.

 

"Isporuke naoružanja u okviru zapadne vojne pomoći od 1951 do 1957 u Jugoslaviji-Faktor modernizacije armije", Vojno-istorijski Glasnik 1-2/2001 ; strana 144 do 160.

 

https://www.mycity-military.com/Opste-vojne-teme/Jugoslavija-i-NATO-1951-1957.html#p304749

 

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As I said earlier, restoration requires endless patience (6 months, winter project).

 

 

1. Love, patience and patience

 

2. I carefully unscrewed all the wooden parts with the help of Wurth Boltex

 

3. Soak the gun in diesel (hermetically sealed container, for a 2 months)

 

4. Stripping (complete disassembly)

 

5. Electrolytic rust removal (no springs!!!! - possible hydrogen embrittlement of springs)

 

6. Extra fine steel brush

 

7. Sandpaper, different grit sizes (removing pitting, very carefully at the edges)

 

8. Bead blasting

 

9. Hot bluing

 

10. Cosmoline (preservation)

 

 

Thompson was in a fully functional condition after the restoration and I fired a few bursts (just to make sure). Don't ask me about the laws - my country does not allow full auto working machine guns and what I've done is actually a crime. But I'm not a criminal ! Submachine gun is retired forever.


 

:rolleyes:

 

 

More photos

 

 

After hot bluing

 

 

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Ammunition (badly corroded)

 

 

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Cheers ! :)

Edited by Quintilian
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Very nice restoration. One thing that caught my eye, is that the gun had been reworked at one time during its military life at the Mount Rainier (MR) Ordnance.

My M1 was reworked at the same.

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