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Mister B,

You're probably not looking or searching in the right place or should I say a "way" of searching. Welcome to the board. This site as a whole is most unique and fascinating in the world of owning, collecting, and shooting firearms that have become our passion.

Although for the most part dedicated to the Thompson Submachine Gun, many other sections are available with the benefit of lots of information in the form of personal experience, conversations and photo's, all in a quest to gather more knowledge.

You wont find posted articles here off the internet but what replaces it is vastly superior.... friendly forum members here with an unequaled level of personal and professional knowledge when it comes to anything Tommy Gun.

I suggest you introduce yourself to the board, what your interests are and let out what you're trying to do specifically. In so doing, be prepared for informative information freely given with as much interest as you have in it as well.

What ever it is you're trying to accomplish with your Tommy, chances are high that its been done by some members here. Just give it a bit of time, you wont regret it. Good luck with your project, Cheers JB

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The info is here, Mr. B...like 30round said, you've got to dig deeper. I've done a tutorial or two about converting Kahr SA mag catches to accept FA GI mags, and one on replacing the stock springs with EZ-Pulls; this stuff has probably become buried through the years, but I'm sure it's still here.

 

Welcome to the fold. :)

 

Rob

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Thanks for the help, guys!

 

I just picked her up today. Supposedly it is used, but when I called Kahr with the serial number, they said it was made in February of this year, so that sure isn't very old at all.

 

There WAS one problem right off the bat when I was at the gun store taking delivery on it, and it was that the 30 round mag it came with didn't want to stay inserted. The store owner happened to have another mag, and it did the same thing. I called Kahr, and all they could do was tell me to send them the gun and they'd look at it. Gee, thanks. I decided to do some research on my phone while at the store, and long story short, the magazine it came with wasn't filed at the top of the hole enough to catch the mag release. We filed it down, and it inserts and stays put perfectly now. I can't imagine the short history of this gun, but I would suspect somebody got frustrated that the mag wouldn't insert, and just sold it to Bud's. Luckily, a few minutes with a file seems to have fixed it.

 

I'm definitely going to SBR it. I will probably go the route of buying a factory short barrel, and installing it myself if possible. Sounds like the original barrel can be tough to get off, and aligning the new barrel can be tricky, so I'll have more questions when the time comes. For now, guess I've got some paperwork to do.

 

As for original slings, I heard a lot of the ones for sale both new and WWII era are supposedly too short? How do I make sure I get the right one?

 

As for WWII wooden furniture, what is the process for installing a removable stock? Does that then make it a pistol, and create extra red tape? As for the rest of the furniture, do I just find a set and then file down the wood on the fore grip to get it to fit?

 

Here are some pictures I took today:

 

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r258/misterbphoto/20160803_150440_zpsfvag9gzi.jpg

 

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r258/misterbphoto/20160803_150747_zps8ticwms3.jpg

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I can agree with you, the search on this website is not the easiest to use and I sometimes have trouble finding what I need, or even looking up my own posts. But, maybe it's just me

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As a fellow newer member, I found it to be helpful to read through the threads one by one like a book. I got my hands on the very same type of AO Thompson as you, and ran it a couple of weekends ago. It is a joy to shoot, and immediately became my favorite "fun" gun.
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FWIW, as that is a semi auto replica of the WWII M1 Thompson, and the WWII M1 Thompson did not have a removable stock, it would not be "correct" to do the transformation to the trigger frame required in order to use a removable Thompson stock. That said, it's your gun so you can do whatever you wish.

 

In any case, enjoy your Thompson!

Edited by Merry Ploughboy
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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

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FWIW, as that is a semi auto replica of the WWII M1 Thompson, and the WWII M1 Thompson did not have a removable stock, it would not be "correct" to do the transformation to the trigger frame required in order to use a removable Thompson stock. That said, it's your gun so you can do whatever you wish.

 

In any case, enjoy your Thompson!

I definitely want to stay as close to correct for WWII as possible. Are you sure they didn't have a removable stock option during WWII? There is a GI case that holds the rifle plus some mags, and it will only fit in the bag if the stock is removed and placed in the pocket made for the stock. I doubt they would have a GI use a screw driver to take it down and then put it back together, but who knows

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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

Wow, what a beauty! That's basically what I'm after.

 

I can't blame you for the light pull Springs. Man, I thought people were just being soft when they installed those Springs, but after getting my Thompson in hand, I can totally see why. Damn, it almost doesn't seem right that it's so hard to pull back, and I'm a strong guy. Do the stock Springs lighten up over time at all?

 

Is there by chance a longer charging handle (whatever it's called on this gun)? It is way too small for my hand.

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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

Wow, what a beauty! That's basically what I'm after.

 

I can't blame you for the light pull Springs. Man, I thought people were just being soft when they installed those Springs, but after getting my Thompson in hand, I can totally see why. Damn, it almost doesn't seem right that it's so hard to pull back, and I'm a strong guy. Do the stock Springs lighten up over time at all?

 

Is there by chance a longer charging handle (whatever it's called on this gun)? It is way too small for my hand.

 

Nope, those springs never loosen up. :) Some guys use a short section of wood dowel or metal rod to assist, and I believe someone made a longer charging handle at one time, but I can't swear to it.

 

If you can luck up on a set of EZ-Pulls, you'll not regret it...I can pull my handle back with two fingers, almost as easy as an FA gun.

 

Rob

Edited by ghostsoldier
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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

Wow, what a beauty! That's basically what I'm after.

 

I can't blame you for the light pull Springs. Man, I thought people were just being soft when they installed those Springs, but after getting my Thompson in hand, I can totally see why. Damn, it almost doesn't seem right that it's so hard to pull back, and I'm a strong guy. Do the stock Springs lighten up over time at all?

 

Is there by chance a longer charging handle (whatever it's called on this gun)? It is way too small for my hand.

 

Nope, those springs never loosen up. :) Some guys use a short section of wood dowel or metal rod to assist, and I believe someone made a longer charging handle at one time, but I can't swear to it.

 

If you can luck up on a set of EZ-Pulls, you'll not regret it...I can pull my handle back with two fingers, almost as easy as an FA gun.

 

Rob

That is crazy. Were they this stiff for our boys during WWII, or is that a Kahr side effect?

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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

Wow, what a beauty! That's basically what I'm after.

 

I can't blame you for the light pull Springs. Man, I thought people were just being soft when they installed those Springs, but after getting my Thompson in hand, I can totally see why. Damn, it almost doesn't seem right that it's so hard to pull back, and I'm a strong guy. Do the stock Springs lighten up over time at all?

 

Is there by chance a longer charging handle (whatever it's called on this gun)? It is way too small for my hand.

 

Nope, those springs never loosen up. :) Some guys use a short section of wood dowel or metal rod to assist, and I believe someone made a longer charging handle at one time, but I can't swear to it.

 

If you can luck up on a set of EZ-Pulls, you'll not regret it...I can pull my handle back with two fingers, almost as easy as an FA gun.

 

Rob

That is crazy. Were they this stiff for our boys during WWII, or is that a Kahr side effect?

 

It's a Kahr thing; we have a couple of Savage's in our WW2 museum collection that we shoot regularly, and both are easy to pull.

 

Rob

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I've never seen an M1A1 with a removable stock.

 

Rob

 

>I've never seen an M1A1 with a removable stock.

 

Rob

This is the bag that has me confused http://www.ebay.com/itm/322212007587

 

 

The answer is in the eBay description: That case is for the '21 and '28 models (not the M1A1), which had detachable stocks.

 

Rob

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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

Wow, what a beauty! That's basically what I'm after.

 

I can't blame you for the light pull Springs. Man, I thought people were just being soft when they installed those Springs, but after getting my Thompson in hand, I can totally see why. Damn, it almost doesn't seem right that it's so hard to pull back, and I'm a strong guy. Do the stock Springs lighten up over time at all?

 

Is there by chance a longer charging handle (whatever it's called on this gun)? It is way too small for my hand.

 

Nope, those springs never loosen up. :) Some guys use a short section of wood dowel or metal rod to assist, and I believe someone made a longer charging handle at one time, but I can't swear to it.

 

If you can luck up on a set of EZ-Pulls, you'll not regret it...I can pull my handle back with two fingers, almost as easy as an FA gun.

 

Rob

That is crazy. Were they this stiff for our boys during WWII, or is that a Kahr side effect?

The effort to cock a full auto Thompson is considerably less. The heavy recoil spring force is due to the semi auto being a closed bolt design which was dates from back in 1975 (well before Kahr bought out the company in 1999). The design was, I believe but I'm not sure, required to be closed bolt to get BATF approval.

The 27A1 model used to have a longer charging handle (sometimes called the "cheese grater") but that model has the charging handle on the top.

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Kahr sells an extended bolt handle on their site; not sure if it's in stock or not. Someone on the boards mentioned leaving the bolt locked back for a week or so, i did that and it *seemed* lighter, but it could've just been my imagination.

 

In any case, i made my own quick-detach bolt extender out of a 1/2" hex bolt cut down, with a neodynium magnet epoxied on the end. I mention quick detach since it's only held on by a magnet, and the bolt handle reciprocates, i suspect it'll fly off while shooting. I stick it in the bolt handle when i'm charging or locking the bolt back. Works fine so far.

 

Take a basic 1/2" partially threaded hex bolt from the hardware store and cut it right at the threads. This is important because there tends to be a slight chamfer from the threads to the solid part of the bolt. The chamfer will help the extender sit better in your bolt handle. Then cut it again to the length you'd like to make it useable. Mine is eyeballed to be like 3 finger width.

 

Once it's cut, smooth out the rough edges. Optionally, get a small neodynium magnet (rare earth magnets that are very strong for their size), and counter-sink the right sized hole in the tip. Epoxy the magnet in there and let it cure. When it's cured, you can go ahead and use the extended bolt handle. DO NOT SHOOT WITH IT IN PLACE.

post-260643-0-84987400-1470347792_thumb.jpeg

post-260643-0-83572900-1470347793_thumb.jpeg

post-260643-0-81942300-1470347794_thumb.jpeg

post-260643-0-86293000-1470347795_thumb.jpeg

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I've never seen an M1A1 with a removable stock.

 

Rob

>I've never seen an M1A1 with a removable stock.

 

Rob

This is the bag that has me confused http://www.ebay.com/itm/322212007587

The answer is in the eBay description: That case is for the '21 and '28 models (not the M1A1), which had detachable stocks.

 

Rob

Interesting. Ok, so did they use a different model maybe near the start of the ear, that bad the detachable stock and maybe even the drum mag?

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Nice one, Mr. B. :)

 

Mine's a Kahr SBR with GI wood, EZ-Pull springs, FA mag catch conversion and Kerr sling:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/ghostsoldier/My%20Impression%20stuff/My%20Weapons/IM000955.jpg

 

Rob

Wow, what a beauty! That's basically what I'm after.

 

I can't blame you for the light pull Springs. Man, I thought people were just being soft when they installed those Springs, but after getting my Thompson in hand, I can totally see why. Damn, it almost doesn't seem right that it's so hard to pull back, and I'm a strong guy. Do the stock Springs lighten up over time at all?

 

Is there by chance a longer charging handle (whatever it's called on this gun)? It is way too small for my hand.

 

Nope, those springs never loosen up. :) Some guys use a short section of wood dowel or metal rod to assist, and I believe someone made a longer charging handle at one time, but I can't swear to it.

 

If you can luck up on a set of EZ-Pulls, you'll not regret it...I can pull my handle back with two fingers, almost as easy as an FA gun.

 

Rob

That is crazy. Were they this stiff for our boys during WWII, or is that a Kahr side effect?

The effort to cock a full auto Thompson is considerably less. The heavy recoil spring force is due to the semi auto being a closed bolt design which was dates from back in 1975 (well before Kahr bought out the company in 1999). The design was, I believe but I'm not sure, required to be closed bolt to get BATF approval.

The 27A1 model used to have a longer charging handle (sometimes called the "cheese grater") but that model has the charging handle on the top.

That's good to know. I was wondering why in some youtube videos, it looks super easy to pull it back

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Kahr sells an extended bolt handle on their site; not sure if it's in stock or not. Someone on the boards mentioned leaving the bolt locked back for a week or so, i did that and it *seemed* lighter, but it could've just been my imagination.

 

In any case, i made my own quick-detach bolt extender out of a 1/2" hex bolt cut down, with a neodynium magnet epoxied on the end. I mention quick detach since it's only held on by a magnet, and the bolt handle reciprocates, i suspect it'll fly off while shooting. I stick it in the bolt handle when i'm charging or locking the bolt back. Works fine so far.

 

Take a basic 1/2" partially threaded hex bolt from the hardware store and cut it right at the threads. This is important because there tends to be a slight chamfer from the threads to the solid part of the bolt. The chamfer will help the extender sit better in your bolt handle. Then cut it again to the length you'd like to make it useable. Mine is eyeballed to be like 3 finger width.

 

Once it's cut, smooth out the rough edges. Optionally, get a small neodynium magnet (rare earth magnets that are very strong for their size), and counter-sink the right sized hole in the tip. Epoxy the magnet in there and let it cure. When it's cured, you can go ahead and use the extended bolt handle. DO NOT SHOOT WITH IT IN PLACE.

Nice job finding a solution

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Interesting. Ok, so did they use a different model maybe near the start of the ear, that bad the detachable stock and maybe even the drum mag?

 

If you get a chance, get a copy of American Thunder: The Military Thompson Submachine Guns, by Frank Iannamico, an excellent resource for all of the variations of the military Thompsons, and their interesting history...it will answer a lot of your questions. :)

 

https://www.amazon.com/American-Thunder-Military-Thompson-Machine/dp/0982391870/ref=oosr

 

Rob

Edited by ghostsoldier
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I've never seen an M1A1 with a removable stock.

 

Rob

>I've never seen an M1A1 with a removable stock.

 

Rob

This is the bag that has me confused http://www.ebay.com/itm/322212007587

The answer is in the eBay description: That case is for the '21 and '28 models (not the M1A1), which had detachable stocks.

 

Rob

Interesting. Ok, so did they use a different model maybe near the start of the ear, that bad the detachable stock and maybe even the drum mag?

M1921/M1928 Thompson's had detachable butt stocks, could take drums (either 50- or 100-round) or stick magazines. They were wider and had a different operating mechanism than the M1s. Their cocking handle was on top of the receiver

 

The M1/M1A1 Thompson was a simplified version of the M1921/M1928 in an attempt to speed up production and reduce the cost. They did not have a detachable butt stock, they could not take drum magazines, redesigned the internals and their cocking piece was now on the right side of the receiver. These went into production in late '42/early '43. With the doing away of the drums, they increased the stick magazine capacity from 20-rounds, to 30. The earlier guns can take any magazine.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'll admit I spend little time on the Semi-Auto Thompson board. I check it from time to time. I do own a semi-auto WH Thompson, in addition to my WH M1 full auto. That being said, it doesn't mean I don't want to make the semi-auto forum better...It's developed its own following of dedicated SA Thompson owners, and I appreciate that.

 

So, if there's content here that should be listed as reference material for a pinned post, by all means, let me know, and I will make a pinned post with summaries and links to the most useful topics on this board.

 

I'm going to pin this topic temporarily until I have developed the content links to the most useful topics on this board. Feel free to reply with your suggestions.

 

Thanks!

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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I'll admit I spend little time on the Semi-Auto Thompson board. I check it from time to time. I do own a semi-auto WH Thompson, in addition to my WH M1 full auto. That being said, it doesn't mean I don't want to make the semi-auto forum better...It's developed its own following of dedicated SA Thompson owners, and I appreciate that.

 

So, if there's content here that should be listed as reference material for a pinned post, by all means, let me know, and I will make a pinned post with summaries and links to the most useful topics on this board.

 

I'm going to pin this topic temporarily until I have developed the content links to the most useful topics on this board. Feel free to reply with your suggestions.

 

Thanks!

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

 

If I can ever find that old thread of mine about the mag catch conversion, I'll replace the photos with working links, and have you sticky it to the reference section, Dave. :)

 

I've been searching, but haven't had any luck finding it so far.

 

Rob

Edited by ghostsoldier
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