One Piece At A Time....

[deerslayer]

http://images.andale.com/f2/126/125/4386526/1078035388078_1928partsgun2.jpg

An accumulation of neat parts!!

 

 

Warning… if you’re a Colt Thompson purist, you might not want to read any further.

 

I built it one piece at a time…. That how the old Johnny Cash song went I think. Anyway, I’ve got a post sample full auto Thompson that I can almost call my own. Its pretty much a parts mutt. Numerich frame, Phili receiver, unknown barrel, unmarked cutts, all savage internals, PK buffer (thanks PK), Kahr front hanger and rear sight (M1A1 type) and of course my own fancy walnut wood. I had picked up the parts here and there planning a dummy gun sometime in the future. That all changed when I had a conversation with a local class 2 dealer who was interested in having a 1928 type gun (he already had an M1A1) so I offered to pay for the machining of the receiver and supply the rest of my parts. So we both end up with a great deal. He gets a free gun to shoot, and I get to come shoot it anytime. I’ve said it before to people, but I think that most of the Thompson “nuts” I’ve ever met have to be in the top 1% of the truly nice guys in our population.

 

We just had a straight bolt channel milled with no provision for the blish lock. Then I put a nut and bolt in place to hold the actuator and bolt together (like the British did in the African Desert and shown in Tracies book).

 

So, today was the big day for testing it. There were probably a few “burs” here and there as the first couple “shots” were singles (not on purpose) with the bolt not quite hitting hard enough to fire the primer, just dent it. It would then go a couple short bursts and then stop, but after about 40 or 50 rounds, it ran almost flawlessly with either my L drum or a 20 round stick. I did try 100 rounds through my C drum but it hung up a couple times. Actually it was the drum not feeding shells fast enough and I think one “stovepipe”. The gun has a fast rate of fire (around 750 rounds per minute) and I don’t think the C drum was able to keep up. I had the suggestion of lubricating with a little STP oil treatment to slow down the bolt a little. But that will have to be a future project as we blew through about 600 rounds in short order and were then out of ammo.

 

The M1A1 type site shot just a little high and the gun thus need a 6 O’clock hold. We’ll have to do something in the future, maybe weld shut the peep and drill a new one a little lower.

 

I’ll have a video of a couple drum dumps later this week on my website.

 

 

Finished gun.

http://images.andale.com/f2/126/125/4386526/1081480450130_finished28.jpg

[Gunner]

Dan,

 

Congratulations! That's a great achievement! And a nice showcase for your wood as well. Thanks for sharing.