Oh Dear God, The Horror!

[snipershot1944]

Only in West Virginia would they do this to a Thompson

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=118688384

[inertord]

 

YEE HA.............................. Buba

 

The sadist part is that someone was really proud of doing that work.

[full auto 45]

Did someone in WVa. do this, or some left coast perdy boy trying to make it look perdier? After all, it is in Orygoon.

I wonder if Z3 might of had something to do with this..........

[Norm]

Pimp my Thompson!

[reconbob]

Yes, a tragedy. But this gun may be salvageable, although I'd have to see it

up close. I have deplated dozens of guns over the years - mostly M1911 & M1911A1

pistols, but also Springfields and Garands for customers who wanted them returned

to their original parkerized finish.

I would say that 75% of the time, when you strip the plating, the suface is AOK

underneath. Most of the chrome or nickle plated M1911's had much of the original

finish underneath. You have to copper plate first, then chrome or nickle over it,

and the copper seems to fade the blue to a more silvery color. But other than

that if the gun was in good shape before plating, there is no need to polish it

before plating. The guns that are truly wrecked are the rusty/pitted ones that

get heavily polished, then plated.

This M1921 looks like it could be a winner under the plating. The engraving

does not have the blurred look you get when its buffed. So if it was in good shape

and not polished before plating, it might be respectable underneath.

The plating has to be removed with cyanide stripping solutions which are

as dangerous as it gets if not properly handled, ventilated, etc. But the beauty

of this process is that its completely harmless to steel, and there is no abrasives

or polishing invloved. The cyanide just disolves the copper and nickle. The process

does not dissolve chrome, but since it disolves the copper under the chrome, the

chrome just falls off in flakes.

I think the gun is over-priced, but it could have potential.

 

Bob

[Deathompson]

Did someone in WVa. do this, or some left coast perdy boy trying to make it look perdier? After all, it is in Orygoon.

I wonder if Z3 might of had something to do with this..........

 

 

I don't know who this Z3 character is but.... I think that gun made it down to the last SOFAST shoot.

 

It belongs to Carlos at West Coast Machineguns.

 

BTW I like it! It has a certain Left Coast ambiance.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Deathompson

[The1930sRust]

Bling-bling. You'll be seeing a lot of this sort of thing come Janurary.

[Ron Mills]

Many years ago at a gun show in Nebraska I saw an Tommy M1 that had such a bright nickle finish you could practically see yourself in it. I asked the dealer why he thought anybody would ever do that to a Thompson. He said something like "I don't know, but you'll notice I'm stuck with it for now".

But to do what the guilty party did to that 21? :banghead:

[full auto 45]

If I had a few extra buck lying around right now, I'd take it in a heart beat. That shiny crap will come right off.

[Norm]

I don't mind the nickle plating; I kind of like it- just not on an original Colt 1921!

[Mike Hammer]

Gordon Herigstad states in "The American Legend' that this gun is Nickel and Gold plated AND it has a bad bore, something NOT mentioned in the Gunbroker auction listing. I would think that that is pretty important information to anyone considering purchasing this gun.

 

Mike Hammer

[Arthur Fliegenheimer]

Whomever did the plating on West Virgina Colt TSMG #1293 must have also done West Virginia Colt TSMG # 1978 that Robert Silvers won in a JC Devine auction. They both have the same gold plated parts as well.

 

The 50 (?) examples of the W.V. State PD Colt TSMG's seem to have accumulated a lot of wear. It is doubtful that the condition of the finish underneath the nickle/chrome plating will reveal a pretty picture.

 

Mike,

 

I think you mean Tracy Hill states in "American Legend" about the condition of the bore. G.H. makes no such notation in his serial number periodical about #1293

Edited December 22, 2008 by Arthur Fliegenheimer

[Roland, Headless Thompson Gunner]

I'm with FA45. Not many Colts out there for 20k, which this could go for. If the barrel is truly shot that's a bummer but what about the wood, is that original? I'm guess not.

[reconbob]

I wrote the seller and asked if a) the parts were all original parts,

and 2) what was the condition of the bore. So far no answer.

 

Bob

Edited December 23, 2008 by reconbob

[Deathompson]

I wrote the seller and asked if a) the parts were all original parts,

and 2) what was the condition of the bore. So far no answer.

 

Bob

 

 

Do you have interest? I can go look at the gun and take pics..... That goes for anyone who truly has an interest outside of idle curiosity.