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Restored 1928a1


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I write from the Philippines. I don’t know much about the history of this particular gun other than it was kept in a closet for decades by its original owner. A few years ago, it was given to a cousin of mine with some rust which corroded portions of the receiver as can be seen in the pictures. Mechanically however, the gun was in good condition and more importantly, the bore was in perfect shape. The gun was taken to a local gunsmith who restored it to “like new” condition. All exterior metal surfaces were parkerized and the horizontal grip, pistol grip and buttstock were sanded and given a very attractive oil finish.

 

However when I took the gun to the range the thing wouldn’t go BANG! I took the gun apart and discovered that the firing pin was broken due to too much dry firing. Also the original “lifesaver” shaped buffer had disintegrated into dozens of tiny little pieces. The gun went back to the gunsmith who was able to salvage the original firing pin by welding the two broken pieces together. He also built a buffer from scratch using asbestos (I think).

 

The result is a wonderful shooter that makes me very proud. I have fired 200 rounds so far in semi-auto and bursts. Not one stoppage! The gun came with five functional 30-round magazines (Crosby and Seymour Products). About a year later I managed to get a Crosby L drum magazine which I still have to test.

 

Earlier this week, I posted a query in this thread about the serial numbers. As can be seen, the receiver is AO and the trigger frame is S, something which I thought might be unusual but apparently is not in GI Thompsons. Hope you like the pictures. Feel free to comment or post additional information that you may know on this gun.

 

 

Restored 1928A1

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Thanks! As far as I know, civilians are not supposed to bring in firearm parts, however due to the small size and "innocent" shape of a firing pin and/or buffer, these particular parts could easily be brought in by a passanger in a commercial flight without drawing any attention. However if you bring in a barrel or a receiver, that would be another story.
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Great pics! Thanks for sharing. Looks like a super gun. Don't know all the rules on the importation issues but above is correct about SARCO for the pin and I've got a real nice buffer from SRT in Arizona. Below is their link. Have a great day, or rather night, as it is there now.

 

http://www.srtarms.com/

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Hi,

 

Nice pictures and gun. If it's legal to do somehow I would consider getting a new firing pin and a proper buffer (as other have already mentioned) before shooting it too much. You wouldn't want to damage such a nice piece of history with an improper buffer.

 

Good luck!

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On the receiver not being AO, who knows?. There is a town in southern Philippines called Danao that has a small cottage industry that produces copies of most firearms. They produce anything from zip guns to faithful copies of Mac 10s and just about everything in between. These are mostly family owned with very simple tooling. It is always possible that the reciever came from there (how can I know for sure?). The markings and proofmarks are consistent with those I've seen in books something that does not give me much comfort since these guys from Danao can reprocuce just about anything.
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  • 3 weeks later...
Hi jf Castro! Nice to hear that there's another tommygunner in these olde Philippines! I'm from Cebu ( where Danao's at , hehehe) and am part of a 3-man group of tommygunners here who absolutely love shootin', fondlin', and starin' at our Thompsons! I have a Savage 1928a1 with finned barrel and Cutt's Compensator ( ser.# s-135695 ) and my other buddies have an Ao and Savage M1 respectively. Got mine for 13t pesos ( 220 dollars to you yanks out there) and obtained a WWII Bridgeport L drum to go with it just 2 mos. ago. Had to have a repro made of the butt since only God knows where the original is now. Have shot more than 3000 rds ( mostly lead reloads ) thru it since then with nary a bobble and i just cant seem to stop! Here's hoping we can shoot together one day! What city you from?
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