1928a1 Butt Stocks

[Gunner]

I've got a nice 1928 butt stock w/o crossbolt, and a spare on the way. I'd like to trick out my 28 Westie to look like a WWII 1928A1, and I've noticed that the milled butt plates I've acquired (didn't come with the wood) are a little smaller than the thickness of the wood. There's a 1mm rim of unprotected wood running around the edge of the butt plates. Is this typical? In other words, would war-time production result in some less than elegant wood-to-metal fits? Or should I sand down the stocks to match the butt plates? Thanks, guys.

[TommyGunner]

Gunner,

 

This is pretty typical. What we do for the best fit is put all the hardware on the buttstock. Then sand right up to...even scuffing the metal. Then finish the stock and refinish the metal. If done right you can have a very nice fit. If you were to do this production style you would want to number the hardware to the stock when it comes off for refinishing. It is my understanding that this is how it was done and works the best.

 

Damon

[Bill-banger]

I ended up with a 1928 buttstock w/ crossbolt but no other metal that I can't use, and my TSMG is an M1A1. I'd gladly let anyone have it for $20. Very nice wood stained dark walnut.

[TSMGguy]

The wood should be slightly bigger than the butt plate. It's a mistake (if you care about authenticity) to fit the wood to the buttplate as is done on civilian guns. The military always specified the larger wood to accomodate future sanding and refinishing. This was the case all the way back to the Civil War and before. The buttplates were never modified and what fitting that was done was done to the wood.

[Gunner]

Thanks, guys.

[AZDoug]

QUOTE (TommyGunner @ Feb 9 2005, 05:14 AM)

If you were to do this production style you would want to number the hardware to the stock when it comes off for refinishing. It is my understanding that this is how it was done and works the best. Damon

That seems to be the reason the Colt buttplates and stocks were numbered, so after they were all fitted, the plate went to bluing, and the stock to stain/linseed oil or whatever they did, and when everything was done, teh proper plate was mated to it's correcponding stock.

 

Doug

[TSMGguy]

Doug has it just right. Of course the Colt guns were produced as civilian pieces, with a great deal more care in fit and finish than the WWII guns, which were produced under gov't contracts. Slightly oversized wood is the rule for these, including the grips. No serials appeared on the slides, wood, or butt plates on these WWII produced TSMGs. 21/28 overstamped and early Savage guns are the obvious exceptions. A neatly fitted butt plate is otherwise a sure sign of refinishing or tampering. Hope the project comes out well!

[gijive]

QUOTE (TSMGguy @ Feb 10 2005, 08:35 AM)

No serials appeared on the slides, wood, or butt plates on these WWII produced TSMGs. 21/28 overstamped guns are the obvious exceptions.

TSMGguy,

 

With all due respect, I have to disagree with your assesment that the WWII production 1928A1 butt stocks were not numbered. I have had, and refinished, many early WWII buttstocks and all have numbered slides, wood and butt plates. The numbers don't also match, due to rebuilding programs, but many of the early Savage 1928A1's came with numbered butt stocks.

 

There is a common misconception that only the Colt buttstcocks had numbered wood and butt plates. There is even a non-cross bolt stock on Ebay that the seller is representing as a Colt Thompson stock. It isn't, it's an early 1928 or 1928A1 stock. The hand stamped numbers in the wood are consistent with the early WWII Thompson stocks. The stamped numbers on Colt Thompson wood and butt plates are larger than the WWII stampings. Also the Colt made slides are not numbered, just the wood and butt plate. The early WWII stock slides had numbers to match the wood and butt plate.

 

I agree with you, however, about later replacement stocks (crossbolt and non-crossbolt) not having the same fit. They are slightly larger and the butt plates from earlier type stocks normally don't fit properly without some adjustment to the butt plate. They also have some extra wood around the butt plate fit as you described. The dimensions of the butt plates vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and the later un-numbered plates don't always fit the earlier numbered stocks properly.