33 replies to this topic

[Supershooter]

Sportsmansguide.com is getting in some like-new WWII drums for $400, $360 for club members (Its $30 to join). They expect to ship them by Sept. 15.


WWII Thompson Drums

How much is a working Kahr drum worth now?

Will there be a temporary glut of WWII drums?

Would now be a good time to sell your WWII drum of lesser condition and trade up?

Rich

[Z3BigDaddy]

Thanks for the heads up... I just ordered ten of them..... No billing til it ships, "or so they say"... Some people have not be totaly happy with them, but I'll give it a shot.

[Mike Hammer]

Already sold out, damn!

Mike Hammer

[dalbert]

Supershooter,

Thanks for the notice on the SG drums. I ordered one.

Z3BigDaddy,

I hope they fill your order for 10. A friend of mine tried to make a similar order once for FN-D magazines (I think he ordered 20 of them), and they would not fill it because they considered him a "dealer" due to the quantity ordered. He wanted the FN-D magazines for his FN-D, not to resell. I don't know if this may happen in your case, but don't be surprised if it does.

Thanks!

David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

[Lancer]

Thanks for the heads up.
It appears I got my order in before they sold out. Only ordered one.

[21 smoker]

Be sure you guys give the rest of us a quality review on these supposedly WWII drums...S.G. is notorious for `bait and switch`tactics...$20 bucks says they send a kahr and if you want to return it,you gotta pay shipping... ...I hope they do send you the real deal,it would be nice to know that members here got a good deal...

[deerslayer]

They got 28 bolts and a few small parts too.
Dan

[Lancer]

WTF,
SG sends me an e-mail (below) saying that 50rd drums are resticted in my area code(Ohio) . Anybody know what the deal is? According to SG all you guys going to the TCA shoot better leave your drums at home.



"Unfortunately, the following items are restricted to your billing zip code,
therefore we can not ship these items to you:

- NEW THOMPSON 50 RD DRUMS

We have not billed your charge card for any restricted items. We are
sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you."

[Elbow]

I ordered one and they said they won't ship it till Sept.15. Which is fine for me at 360.00
I also asked them if they where the Kahr junks and they said it's really from Europe.I will let you guys know if it's the real deal or not.

T.

Edited by Elbow, 26 July 2005 - 12:02 AM.

[TD.]

Is it possible someone has found a catch of WWII drums overseas and figured out how to legally import the drums back into the USA? If so, I believe we will be seeing more vendors with Thompson drums for sale in the near future. It certainly will be interesting to see how this deal pans out. Perhaps the days of high priced Bridgeport's and Seymour's are soon to be a thing of the past!

[gijive]

QUOTE (Z3BigDaddy @ Jul 25 2005, 11:18 PM)

Or they realiZed their pricing error and held em back to sell at a higher price later.  Which is what I'm worried about here....

Big D,

Sportsmans Guide isn't out to gouge customers like dealers at gunshows. They got these things cheap and priced them accordingly. I know you have made it clear in the past that you would buy WWII drums all day for $600.00 to $800.00 dollars apiece. That is probably the prevailing price, but I wouldn't call that a great price for a sixty year old piece of metal.

Sportsmans Guide price is reasonable, not underpriced, considering they probably paid less than $100.00 apiece for these things. The same concerns arose on this list a couple of years ago when SG had a cache of WWII surplus blued 1928 Thompson bolts. They were all new old stock (NOS) and priced reasonably. Many list members fretted that they were reproductions. As I stated then, who in their right mind would tool up and make reproduction 1928 Thompson bolts. It's not like every household in the country is looking for that item. The bolts turned out to be Savage made bolts and they were quickly out of stock, just like the current WWII drums they advertised because many people ordered them by the dozen to turn a profit.

I don't think SG misrepresents anything they sell. It is surplus stuff that they locate, buy it cheap and sell it reasonably for a profit. I don't think you have to worry about them getting Thompson Greed and cancelling your order because someone whispered in their ear that the drums were priced too low. They knew the demand when they bought these things and anticipated they would sell quickly at the price offered. The ad even states , "they won't last long."

Relax and quit worrying, you'll make your profit when you resell them.

[Sgt]

I'm not sure I understand. I thought importation of Thompson drums was prohibited. Does this fall under what happened with the recent partkits? According to some of you, the recent importation approval of Thompson partkits was some kind of oversight, allowing a bunch of them in the country. Surely, they didn't do that with drums also. I've always thought the drum was considered a Thompson part, or does it fall under a different purview?

[msfhotrod]

sorry, item is sold out thats what the link says now

[First Sergeant]

Lancer,

I too was advised it was a restricted item for Ohio. (?) In speaking with Customer Service Ted I. (ext. 5309) he stated anything over 30 rds are restricted for Ohio yet could not explain why I could order a 32 rd 9mm mag for an M16. He also wanted to know if the Drum mag I had wanted to order was going to be used in a semi-auto Thompson. When told it would be used in a FA he was speachless. The link also indicates ammo won't be shipped to Ohio??? They shipped me a case of 45acp a couple of months ago. Does anybody know why the change in policy? They don't !!

[Lancer]

First Sergeant,
I also talked to customer service to no avail. I spoke with a supervisor who was totally ignorant of Federal law as well as the Ohio Rev. Code., didn't know what a form 4 was or a C&R FFL. He refused to believe that someone from another state could sell me and UPS me a TSMG. Unfortunately, he was quite comfortable in his ignorance.

Ignorance is bliss!

[Bob]

Hey, for what it's worth...they won't ship to Washington State either.

Got an email refusing to ship to my zip code and so I called. Talked to two seperate people and was told "company policy". I said check again, she said she called the ATF and was told "anything over 30 rounds is a machinegun" and "we don't ship machineguns to Washington State". Somethin' fishey here, bet we'll hear more stories about this sale. I for one just cancelled my "membership" and told them to take me off their mailing list.

BTW, I thought Ohio was a C3 state, wonder if they told Bob or Elizabeth at OOW yet.

[bigred]

Could it be that they are trying to come up with as many excuses as possible to not ship these, so they can come back in a month or so and charge a much higher price?

They say they don't have any left, but there sure seems to be alot of orders that they have since invalidated to still have no more. Sounds bad kind of fishy.
Jaron

[gijive]

QUOTE (Z3BigDaddy @ Jul 26 2005, 01:08 PM)

[Owww  Harsh....  I didn't think my post was that negative but sometimes I misjudge. I just got off the phone with SG and they were more than helpful.  As far as profiteering(sp?), that is hardly my intention.

Big D,

Didn't mean to suggest your post was negative. I was just repeating an anecdote regarding some previous Thompson parts that Sportsmans Guide had a couple of years ago and some similar concerns from list members.

Nobody can fault you for attempting to make a profit from some fairly priced accessories, but obviously purchasing ten didn't lead one to believe they were strictly for personal use.

These things are so rarely seen lately at fair prices that it's unfortunate that more collectors couldn't benefit from SG's offer. They were only listed on their email special postings and not on the regular site. This indicates they knew they would sell out quickly. I wonder how many they are importing?

No offense intended by my response to your original post.

[Lancer]

QUOTE (Z3BigDaddy @ Jul 26 2005, 02:08 PM)

As with the semi cocking knobs, the drums I don't want will go to the sponsor board members first.

Big D,
If you have any extra, I'll take one.

[Z3BigDaddy]

QUOTE (Lancer @ Jul 26 2005, 01:52 PM)

QUOTE (Z3BigDaddy @ Jul 26 2005, 02:08 PM) As with the semi cocking knobs, the drums I don't want will go to the sponsor board members first. Big D, If you have any extra, I'll take one.

Easy boys, lets see if I get em first....