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Ok, how many times have you logged onto the board and seen a post like "Colt 21 NIB, one owner, must sell quickly, best offer over $3K' only to read the next post which is those two annoying little words (say them with me now) "emial sent"

 

My story is not nearly that good and my apologies to the guys at the TCA in August who heard this story one too many times over one too many beers. Back in April I logged on to Sturm and saw a new post to the effect "Savage M1, low serial number exc cond, 15k" I sent the guy an email and asked if he could send me some pictures and he said sure, send me your address and I'll put them in the mail. I thought, great that will take 3 days I figured someone could buy this sight unseen so I offered to give him a small non-refundable deposit if he would give me right of first refusal when I got the pictures. He didn't want to take my money but said he'd give me the first shot. In the meantime Buddy pulled his ad becuase he hadn't worded it right, you know how that goes, and I don't think anyone else ever saw it.

 

So I get the picture, looks real clean and I gave Gene in Georgia a call. He turns out to be a great guy, big time collector of militaria and of course guns, and especially Garands. He started off by saying it was a rewat and my heart kind of sank, I didn't really want a rewat, but he had gotten this in 1963 and it had been dewatted by spot welding a dummy barrel to the front of the receiver. He said it took him two minutes to tap off the weld and he put a finned barrel and a comp on it and had it as a display piece. In 1968 he registered it under the amnesty program. He said he was 73 and needed to start thinning out the herd so he had a new smooth barrel front sight put on it and had it re-parked so everything would match. I talked to the gunsmith who re-barrelled it and he said from the look of the receiver and the feed ramp, he didn't think it had ever been fired. I know Gene never shot it in the 40 years he had it.

 

It is SN 10956 which based on info in AT II puts it in the second or third week of production of the M1s. The lower does not match and of course it has been reparked. There is a bit of discoloration where the spot welds were on the front of the receiver but everything else ilooks great. Gene had obvous refinished the furniture but the pistol grip and foregrip are without a blemish, barely anything on the stock.

 

When Gene got his copy of AT II and saw Patton's M1 on page 229 with SN 21914 he decided mine should look more like that and swapped out the stamped swivels for milled ones and is sending me a bright M1 bolt in addition to the parked one. I'm also gong to swap out the pin levers for paddles as soon as I can get them parked. The lettering is pretty faint from the refinishing so some highlgihting will help but the GEG and RLB stamps are clearly visible.

 

So it wasn't a Colt but now I have a back up piece for the WH 28 which will be off to visit PK before too long for a face lift.

 

One of the best parts of this is I got to meet Gene who has a been a great resource for all things WW2 and more. I msitakenly sent him a picture of my two M1 Garanda and M1903 and he pointed out all that was wrong with them and it has cost me a fortune replacing lockbar sights, stamped trigger housings, serrated triggers, and refinishing stccks but its been fun.

 

If anyone happens to have the lower for 10956 I'll pay a premium for it. (It could happen)

 

The form went pending with the ATF on 22 July and Gene got the signed form 4 on Oct 1 so I figure about 10 weeks at the ATF with Ms. Alma McCoy and another month at the Maryland State Police.

 

Oh yeah, and Gene paid a whopping $50.00 for it in 63.

 

Here's some pics but they never seem to do them justice.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y123/wje2204/100_1448.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y123/wje2204/100_1455.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y123/wje2204/100_1447.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y123/wje2204/100_1446.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y123/wje2204/100_145.jpg

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y123/wje2204/100_1453.jpg

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Mr. Roland,

 

I am very familiar with this gun. I met Gene at the local gun show and he saw one of my Colt Thompson's. He then had asked me what they were bringing, so I gave him the ranges that the guns were at the time bringing ,and that I would be very intrested in purchasing the gun. Well to make a long story short, I told him I would like to buy the gun and we talked about a basic price. We met about a month later and I advised him to replace the barrel with the comp and to add the barrel that is presently on the gun, and to have it refinished. I then introduced him to Andy the gun smith who did the work.

 

I made him an offer and he told me he was going to shop it for a time, and would get back to me because I had the first right of refusal. He then had listed it and that is where you came in. He called me up and told me how much you were giving and did I want to match it, but at that time I declined because we were at a difference of price.

 

Long and short of this is yes the gun is a very nice looking piece, and is one to be proud of so congrats!!! to you on your new piece.

 

I since bought #231 M1 made most likely on the first day of production, and is also a gorgeous piece,

Good luck in the future with your fine M1 http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

 

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Very nice indeed. I enjoyed meeting you and your wife at the last TCA Show and Shoot. Hopefully you will be there next year because I would like to see that baby in person. Congratulations on a very nice Tommy Gun! It looks a lot better than Mike's http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif
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QUOTE (TD. @ Oct 4 2005, 08:39 PM)
Congratulations on a very nice Tommy Gun! It looks a lot better than Mike's http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

You know, if I had feelings I'd be hurt! http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif But I do agree.

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Thanks for the comments guys. I think I can now officially call myself a Thompson Collector. Though I don't get to shoot the Thompson as much as I would like I definitely believe a Thompson is like a fine woman or a fine piano and needs to be played once in awhile to keep them in tune.

 

Hyper, I'm glad you snagged another M1, for my sake and yours. Any premium I paid was justifed by the friendship I made with Gene. And with the asking price for a WH M1 at 18k I'm happy with what I paid (Dalbert's arguments on rarity withstanding).

 

TD, It was good to meet in August as well and the wife and I will definitely be back again and I'll be happy to let you play a few tunes on the new piano (the Thompson that is).

 

And liets not pick on Mike's M1, even if he did call another guys gun a turd (can you say that on TV?) his sings a fine tune.

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

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Roland,

I did not mean to say you payed a premium. Gene and I went around for about 5 months and of course in that time they had a big increase, and I had my limit at that time thats all.

 

Yes right now you http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/cool.gif would be hard pressed to find a gun that nice at that price! Enjoy your gun that is what it is all about my friend.

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Hey Hype Snipe. I ddin't mean to imply that you implied that I paid a premium. I was just trying to reiterate what a good guy Gene is.

 

I've tried to make a point on this site, with my limited experiece, that we shoudl be up front about pricing, both before and after the sale, so that we can let folks know what the true value of a Thompson is.

 

Current Value of a West Hurley 28 - 16k

 

Current value of a West Hurley C drum - 800

 

Thompson Grin on the face of your wife or girlfriend after her first drum dump - Priceless

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