Mystery 20rd. Thompson Magazine

[TehVice]

First off, my apologies for the immediate lack of pictures. I don't have the magazine with me at the moment, but my curiosity has had me meaning to make a thread about this for a while, and I wanted to finally follow through while I happened to be both thinking about it and had the time to sit down and do so. I'll follow up with pictures tomorrow (Thursday) evening.

 

I bought a 1928A1 parts kit a little while back. Judging from the black paint remnants scattered about some of the metal parts, I'd guess it was one of the ones to have come out of Russia. It came with an unmarked 20rd. magazine. I noticed a few peculiar design features on the mag and have done my best to try to identify its origin using the resources here on the forum and elsewhere online, but haven't been able to turn up any leads. I'm hoping that someone more knowledgeable than me (admittesly not hard to accomplish) might be able to shed some light on my mystery.

 

So, the magazine:

 

To start off, it is absolutely devoid of any manufacturer's markings. Not a single letter or number is marked on any of the parts, with the exception of a large, askew letter R crudely scratched into the finish on the left side of the mag body. (Obviously not a factory marking, but unique nonetheless.) The finish on the body, follower and floorplate is a bluish black oxide.

 

The floorplate is the "dimpled" type, which I understand to be a feature of some Seymour magazines.

 

The follower is peculiar in that it has no 'hold-open' tab at the rear, where one would normally expect to find such. Not like "it broke off"; it appears to have been made without that feature.

 

The magazine body has the typical four witness holes on its left side. (I'll check size/position of the holes with calipers and update tomorrow evening.)

 

The feed lips are dissimilar to every other Thompson mag (of any capacity) that I can find photos of, in that rather than being what I would describe as 'closed off' at the rear (e.g.: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1524/1342/products/mutsmg1001__3.jpg?v=1571453926), they're open through the length of the top of the magazine body, in the same fashion as the feed lips on original Colt/USGI 20rd M16 magazines (https://www.thoroughbredarmco.com/stores/2018/08/15/1/catalog/products/img/IMG_6930.jpg)

 

Each one of these things individually is a bit strange to me, but all together they have me completely perplexed. My best guess at this point is that perhaps it's a Russian or other eastern-European state produced magazine? (Or possibly '40s - '50s Chinese manufacture?) I don't know whether there was ever any known production of Thompson magazines in these regions, and I've found no convincing evidence--circumstantial or otherwise to support this. However, the unusual feed lip geometry, lack of a hold-open tab on the follower, and absence of markings make sense in the context of simplifying production, which would make sense for local foreign manufacture.

 

Hopefully the written descriptions above are enough to spark someone's memory, but as I said, I'll update with pictures shortly.

 

Thanks!

[giantpanda4]

Could be a MGC mag.

[gijive]

Could be a MGC mag.

Agree with Mike. Model Guns Corporation (MGC) "dummy" magazine made for the MGC replicaThompsons in the 1960's and 1970's. Have fooled a lot of people over the years.

[TehVice]

I guess that would likely explain the combination of aggressive gouging/scratching wear at the back of the mag, above the mag catch hole (from repeated mag insertion/removal) and complete lack of finish wear/brass lines on the follower or inside of the feed lips.

 

That was pretty easy, then. Thanks for the insight!

[securityinfo]

MGC magazine.

 

 

 

[jim c 351]

toy gun.

jim c

[ron_brock]

Yeah its definitely an MGC mag, the scallops on the feed lips are a dead giveaway

 

Ron

[colt21a]

And for a minute you figured you had the Famous 'Kalashnikov" magazine. that was in his T-34 tank when he got wounded. no prize. But a good cracker jack gift/

 

They made those by the hundreds.Funny thing at the time you could have bought a real 20 round mag for 5 bucks. which was the order list for these also in the 1968 /69 era.

 

MGC models guns have been out that long.The MP-40 model also. many a gun show had a few MP-40 mags as real.. you do have a piece of History from Japan.RON K.

Edited August 29, 2020 by colt21a