Leaderboard

This weekend I was across in Dublin to attend the ceremony for the Battle of Camerone, held by the Irish French Foreign Legion Association. The parade was held in Collins Barracks, which is now a museum. It was only after the event I found out that there is a Model of 1921 on display in that museum. https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Experimenting-and-Innovating/Artefact/Thompson-sub-machine-gun/9f03b349-0506-4341-b25f-3e0c3bf2dd7f Something to add to my things to go and see next year. Yesterday, on my way to the airport, we passed Drumcondra station in Dublin, which jogged my memory, another historical site. It was there on the 16th June 1921, a Thompson was used for the first time in action. The IRA had set up an ambush with two Thompsons, and fired on a troop train travelling through Drumcondra station. The train was carrying British soldiers from the West Kent Regiment and injured three soldiers. The foot bridge, although I suspect this is not the original bridge, to the left of the picture from where the Thompson was fired. The 2nd Thompson had a feed problem, if I recall correctly. Stay safe Richard

The 1921 #847 in the Collins museum seems to have a WWII style frame grip. GH said #847 has a mismatched frame belonging to #407 and that the frame grip is "homemade." Colt 1921 #142 sold at a 2011 auction for 7,000 pounds. https://www.whytes.ie/art/1921-an-extremely-rare-low-numbered-thompson-submachine-gun-no-142-donated-to-the-cork-brigade-ira-in-1921-by-an-irish-american-sheriff/134777/?SearchString=&LotNumSearch=&GuidePrice=&OrderBy=&ArtistID=&ArrangeBy=list&NumPerPage=15&offset=292

Hi mcb230, The form is pretty straightforward and easy to fill out you can also electronically file it if you have an E form account with ATF. I did mine on e-forms. But there is also a PDF copy you can download and fill it out as a draft on paper. So then as you go through the electronic process, you already know what information to enter in the blocks they come up on the e-forms. E-forms also allows you to save your progress. So if you get to something on form and you can't remember, don't have the information handy, etc you can save it, log out of your account, and always come back to it later and resume. As far as dollar value, I have not seen anything in the regulations relating to an exemption to filing Form 6 for a financial amount. I did have to list on the form the price I paid for the item. As Richard said, dollar value may come in to play when it comes to customs and border patrol (CBP) When they inspect the package contents and decide by the value if it needs to have a duty placed on it. I've bought things from overseas before that have come in and gone through customs non firearm related. And they always have come through without duty. if it's from somewhere in Europe they allow for certain items and it really depends what they're made from. For example I bought 2 suits from a tailor in England. You were allowed so much for example a suit made of wool content, and if it was under a certain amount dollar value of wool there was no duty. So when it comes to a duty tax for CBP, It kind of goes by what country it's from because of our agreements with other countries what it's made from, and dollar value of how much of it you're bringing in. As far as an FFL, From what I've read so far in the regulations, to bring in parts it is not required as long as it is not a barrel, receiver, frame, things like those that are considered restricted items. Also as long as it's not a complete firearm, because if I recall correctly that requires an FFL and the use of an importer and/or customs broker. So as a private citizen and a non FFL you can apply as an individual to import a gun part type item without the use of a licensed importer. One exemption that I recall reading was if you have for example a modern made hunting rifle or something, and for example you broke the stock. A foreign manufacturer of the rifle who makes that stock can ship it to you without you having to do a form 6 application, because it's considered a repair item from the manufacturer. Also as an individual the item must be for personal use and not for resale. So in my case I am bringing in a wood rifle stock. I put down on the form it's for personal use as a replacement for an obsolete sporting rifle i have that's no longer in production. And they are specific in their definitions on what is a sporting rifle. It cannot have a pistol grip, it can't have a bayonet lug, can't have a muzzle device, etc. And as far as the process flow, I filled out and submitted the form 6 to ATF electronically. From what I understand so far, if and when it's approved, I have to send a copy of the approved form to the seller so that he can print it and put it in the box with the item before it ships. After its approved I also have to complete a Form 6a, which will then go to CBP. I'm gonna have to call the import branch to ask, because I'm a little confused on how I get the form to CBP. I don't know yet if it's a matter of send to it along with the copy of the original Form 6 to the seller, and having both documents put inside the box before it ships, or if I have to send the Form 6A directly to someone at CBP. But I guess I'll find that out in the coming weeks. CBP has to sign off on the Form 6A once it comes in and they return it the Form 6A to ATF documenting that the item entered the country. But all that being said, take into account that I am learning as I go. So I'm sure there are some people on here that may be have even more knowledge than what I've put out there regarding the topic.

There were special "sniper" variants of the M14, designated as the XM21, during the Vietnam era, usually fitted with a ART scope. During the U.S. involvement in the Middle East, M14s were pulled from storage, because of their longer range over the M16/M4, and fitted with modern optics. The ones I have photographed had the "M14" ground off and remarked XM21, all had selector locks. BTW the M14 in your picture has a selector lock on it, limiting its function to semi-auto. The images of the XM21 rifles have locks on them, the Winchester M14 has a selector lever on it. Most M14s were issued with selector locks on them due in part to their difficulty to control in the full-auto mode.

Hello All! I just bought a 1928 Thompson serial number 634A and I was just wondering if anyone knew the approximate age and an opinion of value. I paid $26k for it and it’s in good condition but it does have a few scratches. I was just wondering if that sounds fair or if they can be bought for less. Thanks in advance!

Well, if someone were to take a vacation to said asian country, and said person were to somehow carry a couple of M3 mags (in parts probably), in his/her luggage, and happen to meet up with the above poster said person might be persuaded to offer the M3 mags/parts for a fair price. Or not.

That’s called “I’m gonna make my Thompson into something it’s not and want $15k more than it’s worth” followed up with “no low ball offers-I KNOW WHAT I HAVE”

Kahr and west hurley thompson receivers all have the same acme threads. But some receivers are a bit tight and poorly done. My advice is if you can't screw a barrel in by hand, don't force it. The threads on the barrel may need dressing a little bit in all directions to ease assembly. Major and minor.. and sometimes even the width.

I want to give a big Thank You to Bill and Carol Troy, John and Diana Bosio, Roger Herbst, and all the other members who had anything to do with putting this event together. It was very informative and a whole lot of fun. Mark me down for next year. Larry Anderson

Thank you. Glad you all had a good time. It’s not as easy as it looks getting everything setup and running for the S&S.

deerslayer, I believe anytime you can obtain a complete Colt butt stock in good plus condition for under $3000 you have done well. Vertical fore grips in good plus condition can easily be $1500 plus and (pistol) grips in good plus condition can be $750 plus. It is very important when buying a Colt to know if the wood, one or all three pieces, are from the Colt era and are not sanded and/or refinished.

I will say a Big "Thank You" to all the people mentioned above also! Was a great show & shoot again and I enjoyed it all. I picked up some items to further my collection. Great seeing everyone again. look forward to next year!

This past Friday, I took out the Colt digger one last time as its soon to be going to its new caretaker….ran a short belt of PPU ammo in it for one last time. These guns just chug along so nice.

I'll send you a few links in a PM for the relevant regulations, etc. Also after digging more, I found the section about the $100 value thing, it's in in 27 CFR Part 447, Subpart E, specifically - Section § 447.41 “Permit Requirement”. If it is a "minor component" of a category 1(a) or 1(b) and the total value (purchase price) does not exceed $100.00 a permit (ATF Form 6) is not required.

Has anyone ever seen a wooden covered PPSH41 Stick Magazine before? It has wood that matches the Russian Rifle and PPSHs of the day. The two screws and hex nut holding on the two wooden "grips" for lack of a better term look out of place. Does anyone have another like this? Does anyone have photos from WW11 Showing this? Thanks in advance,Sandman1957

I have been working in what little spare time I have on an original quality, original specification M1921 actuator. My plan of attack is to first figure out how to machine the ball knob. The pear shaped sighting slot is easy - that is straight up-and-down machining. The knurl is no problem, other than you can't get the original 32 lines per inch knurls, and so have to use 36 line per inch knurls. Even the 36 line knurls are $850 a set. But even though I have the original tooling from Doug, I have not been able to hollow out the ball as called for on the original drawing. I won't go into boring detail, but I think I have figured this part out. Once the ball knob is figured out then I will work on complete actuators, although I plan on doing Colt M1928 actuators first (I have the original drawing) and then converting them by machining away the body. I may have mentioned - Doug did not make his actuators. He provided special tooling but the actuators were made by two other shops out in LA. I checked to see if they would make more, in one shop the guy had passed away, in the other they remembered the job and wanted no parts of it. Way back I talked to Doug about his actuators and he knew about the problem with the ears breaking off. He offered to make them stronger, but said that everybody he talked to wanted them to be exactly like the original, so that is how he made them. Bob

Nice. I paid $7,500 for mine about 7 years ago, and I thought I did REALLY good. Haha!

Got Uzi. Thanks, that’s the picture I was referring to. Also this version with the modified stock was referred as the M75 police model. Later versions had the selector locked to semi.

The stock was made in such a way that it was a two piece.

Sean the late issued police issued guns were black, usually with a detachable top strut on the stock to fit the ballistic helmet.

The trick to popping them in and out is lining up the spring and twisting the V clip in a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation, whatever is easier for you.. you have might have to compress it and then twist it in.

New member here. One of my regular range rifles include this Winchester M14. It's an early one, December 1960 under barrel. Local range max distance is 500 yrds, although the open sights keeps accurate to 300 yrds (for me). Converted to semi auto. Great stock and a pleasing heavy rifle to hold & shoot. When I locate a Springfield scope mount I'll should tighten the groups. Best

Here you go.

Some common and not-so-common grease guns

The tube ID is also smaller so a standard K bolt won’t fit inside either. The semi auto bolt body is roughly .100 smaller than the standard K bolt. Thats the major denial block. The angle is somewhat of a “wtf” moment when you can’t get a tune from them and using specs you dug up from different sources. I’m working on a new set of prints for the semi tube and a new process sheet for order for the operations. I welded the gap instead of using a filler piece only because I wanted to play with my welder and test settings since I’m in my new shop. The amperage settings indeed are different now that I’m in town vs being in the country. I ground the weld seam to blend it in where the lower section meets the tube. I’m going to look at it again today to see if I like the results of that.

Tom, Just received the reproduction Ft. Knox manual from Amazon. Congratulations you have done an excellent job reproducing what David said above, is the best Thompson instructional manual out there. Now I'll keep my original safe, and display the reproduction at my next display at the Blyth Battery Museum later this year. I highly recommend this manual to anyone who owns a Thompson, I especially love the picture on page 21, using a nail to help retain the compressed recoil spring when stripping the weapon. I had forgotten that picture,and the one page 22, were in the manual, makes you wonder why we, the British, went to the expense to make an actual tool for this purpose. Thank you for going to all the effort to reproduce such an excellent manual.

One more part you need to consider replacing. If your 28 has a cast WH actuator (easily recognized by the mold lines and absence of milling marks) you will eventually want to swap in a GI actuator. The WH actuators sometimes break at the blish lock slot. BTDT.

Chappy, It was a pleasure, and I am happy that the flyer arrived safely. What goes around comes around, as they say. Over the years there are many on MGB who have helped me out with my collection. Indeed following posting this topic, a few members of the board have reached out to assist. One member has donated an item which is very poignant, for my planned 'show and talk', during the summer. Tom Davis has also gone over and beyond by donating a copy of ’Great Britain- The Tommy Gun Story', for display at the event. At the conclusion of the event, the book will then be donated to the Blyth Battery Museum library. Thankyou Tom 🫡 We are all playing our parts, to keep the Thompson history alive.

In general sharp inside corners are not your friend in terms of longevity. They generate fatigue cracks even when lightly loaded The one on the extractor hook itself needs to be there but the other two could easily be radiused on any future runs

Volume 7 ordered and can hardly wait to read it.

I've never been a fan of modern reblues of vintage NFA items. Such remained the case with me until I encountered this bnz 43 C&R MP40 (#1726 N). Upon closer exam, it became apparent (and I solicited opinions from several old-school collectors) that the finish loss and resulting rust was not due to in-service use, but due to someone post-war attempting to strip the gun down to in-the-while in prep for a homemade reblue job that never materalized. In fact, if you look closely, you can see scratch marks from steel wool or some other abrasive pad that were created when "Bubba" (which was most likely the WWII bring-back vet, per family history) rubbing away at the original finish. Thus, once I was convinced that a current reblue would not be erasing legitimate wear and tear from wartime military service, I was good to go with the reblue option. I am very pleased with the results and truly believe the gun was enhanced by the reblue. The bolt, firing pin and recoil spring tube mechanism were left as-is original finish, as they had not been altered.

I want to share my Thompson model 1928 Savage her in this forum. As I am in Belgium and have a legal gun license for the gun, it has professionely made only to be used as 'SINGLE' without damaging the mechanics. (photo 3). It is 'MODEL OF 1928 NO. S-30578'. That makes it an early Savage, as I researched it. In the forgrip and buttstock, there are 2 holes drilled. I can't find any explenation for these holes. (photo 1) Any suggestions?? The only stamps are on the left side: GEG, George E. Goll (photo 4) , on the right side: English gunmark (crown, F 7, E) , and a umbrella shaped mark. What does that umbrella mark stands for?? (photo 5) Note the round S on the barrel and de square S on the front gripmount. (Photo 6) That's from the two Savage factories. Please feel free to comment or share hints According this gun. I have more detail pictures of the gun, compensator and magazines I can share if asked for.

Patrick, I understand your concern about spring damage on your drum. There is a way to add grease to the spring cup to help protect the spring. If you wish to investigate this, I suggest you search this board for references to drum greasing. It is easy to create a drum greasing tool with off-the-shelf (at least in the U.S.) items, and I recall that some of the postings show how to create a greasing setup at home. That said, a number of Thompson enthusiasts have fired many rounds through their WH L-drums for years before the idea of greasing the spring came up, so unless you are firing 1000's of rounds, you should be relatively safe even without greasing. My earlier comment about the rail alignment is easy to check. Just take a cartridge and by hand move it around the body tracks to see if there are any narrow spots. Since you say that 25 rounds feeds without problem, it is possible that there is a narrow spot beyond the 25 round location. Worth a check. Since you wind to the full 11 clicks for 25 rounds, you should be able to do the same for 50 rounds without greater risk to the spring as long as there is not a narrow area of the tracks. In fact, winding to 11 clicks for only 25 rounds actually puts greater stress on your spring. The winding instructions are for a full drum. If you insert only 25 rounds, when the drum is empty, the additional spring tension remaining is unwound suddenly, creating greater stress on the spring. I suggest you investigate how many clicks are necessary to move the 25 rounds reliably, without leaving significant extra spring tension when the drum is empty. All of that said, I agree with Tom that if you can find a WWII drum, that would be preferable. He is correct that the United Specialties (United Air Cleaner plant) drums are historically a perfect fit, but you could also use a Crosby drum with silvered rotor. That would also be correct for your early gun. I wish you luck in your search. Happy shooting!

Patrick Vdv, Thank you for the additional picture. I have little doubt your Savage Thompson was used by British forces during World War II. The military in Great Britain was asking for more and more Thompson guns when your Thompson was shipped to Great Britain in 1940. Each one was very valuable. No doubt it was put to immediate use. I would guess the original finish showed a lot of wear when the decision was made to re-blue it. I know the fore grip is not original. I would guess the same for the (pistol) grip and butt stock. That said, you have a very nice example of an early Savage Thompson with a New York address. If I lived in Belgium, I would try to buy it from you. TSMG28 is the authority on everything drums and magazines for the Thompson gun. If me, I would not use the West Hurley L drum and find a WWII L drum. You can always sell the WH L drum to offset some of your costs. Generally speaking, the WWII L drums fit and run nicely. One with the "U" marking (United Air Cleaner) on the faceplate would be perfect for your early Savage Thompson. Many other Savage Thompsons do have more markings on the left side receiver. The Thompson submachine guns purchased by the U.S. Army will have "U.S." and "A1" nomenclature markings added as well as ordnance inspectors' initials (for example: R.L.B.) and an ordnance mark (wheel or flaming bomb). Some guns purchased by the British under Cash & Carry will have the W or Woolwich mark inside a Crown stamped on the left side receiver, usually near the GEG stamp. Guns from other Allied forces may have different markings. Welcome to the wonderful world of Thompson submachine guns!

Patrick, As you have learned from the responses to your query, you came to the right place for information about your Thompson. Welcome! Your gun was most definitely purchased by the British early in WWII, marked as a military arm, and put into use. How it eventually got to Belgium, was refinished and converted, will likely never be known unless your can track it back from whoever sold it to you. As far as current value in Belgium, it is difficult to say, as most of us on this board are familiar with pricing in other countries. Some dealers in Luxembourg might be able to assist you with current pricing. I believe Luxembourg still allows full-auto Thompsons to be owned. The swivel that is mounted on the top of your buttstock is also a replacement. It is the stamped metal design used on Thompson later in the war, especially the M1A1 models. The original buttstock for you gun would have come with a milled swivel, which the British armorers would have moved to the top and filled in the bottom recess, as was done on your stock. Since the vertical foregrip is a replacement, it is hard to say when or why the holes were drilled on the left side for mounting a swivel. When the British armorers made this modification in 1940+, they installed an offset Enfield swivel on the Savage vertical foregrips. None of the original Savage vertical foregrips came with swivels mounted, as far as I know. The swivel bases of the Enfield swivel are different from the Remington swivel installed on the buttstock, so the hole separation and overall length is different. Enfield swivels have a holes separation of ~1 inch, and an overall length of ~1.5 inches. The Remington swivels have a hole separation of ~1.125 inches, and an overall length of ~1.625 inches. I suggest you measure the hole separation of your buttsock screws and compare it with the hole separation on the foregrip. If the separation is the same, whoever did that was probably planning to install a standard milled swivel. If the separation is different, an Enfield offset swivel would be required there if you ever decide to add one. As has been noted by several other people, your L-drum magazine is modern reproduction sold by Numrich in West Hurley, New York, starting in 1988. Be aware that some of those drums had serious manufacturing defects, preventing them from working properly. Many actually work quite well, at least in semi-auto guns. A few had the faceplates installed incorrectly, preventing the drum from even being inserted into a gun. Hopefully yours inserts properly and feeds your ammo reliably for semi-auto fire. Your latest pics do show your compensator is a Type II, consistent with the period your gun was made. As has been discussed, your magazine catch, selector and safety have all been replaced with later versions at some point. Perhaps this was done during the semi-only conversion by people who did not know the difference. Perhaps whoever did it actually did know the difference, and knew that those early parts are much more valuable, at least in the U.S. market. Pilfering of higher value parts for resale has been common, especially with all of the surplus Thompson that were released from the salt mines in Ukraine in the early 2000's. I am interested in the modification to semi-automatic only. Installing the blocking pin certainly accomplishes the intended purpose of preventing the selector from being moved to full auto. A similar modification was done with some L1A1 and FAL rifles to prevent full auto operation. As Tom Davis noted, I have not seen that before, but it is definitely preferable to welding internal components as is done in some countries. However, I am wondering what happens with your rocker when you disassemble the gun. Standard procedures for full auto guns is to always have the selector in full auto and safety off when removing the trigger frame for cleaning/maintenance. This keeps the rocker lowered to avoid interfering with other components. Since that pin prevents this, do you have any issues with interference when trying to remove the trigger frame from the receiver? Again, welcome to the board, and enjoy your gun. It is part of WWII history, and it is great that at least you get to fire it in Europe, which has become very difficult. Roger

Welcome to the forum Patrick, Yep, the buttstock reinforcing screws were a common British modification on their Thompsons and I also agree with JJX, on the British broad arrow mark. The buttstock screws were a British 'Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer' (REME)’ workshop modification adopted for reinforcement to prevent the buttstocks cracking. This is an example of the 2nd version of a ‘Cash & Carry’ AOC New York address Thompson ‘MODEL of 1928’. This version replaced the first Savage Thompson Model of 1928's produced with the 12 patent dates marking stamps, with the 13 patent numbers. The Model of 1928’s which had the 13 patent numbers began from approx. S/N 26732 I read, maybe in the definitive book wrote by Tom Davis Jr. on the British Thompsons, 'Great Britain – The Tommy Gun Story'‘, which I would recommend. If not, maybe the information was in the book written by Frank Iannamico, 'Amercan Thunder 3', which is another good reference book on my bookshelf. To note, Savage placed an incorrect patent number on their Model of 1928’s, (and later US 1928A1) receivers. Patent # 1,403,492 was omitted and in its place patent # 1,403,623 is stamped. This patent describes the use of belt fed cartridges fitted into a magazine designed to hold the belt. This was a development in the Model of 1919 guns, as they evolved from the belt fed ‘Persuader’ to the magazine fed ‘Annihilator’. Both patents were issued on the 17th of Jan 1922, despite 1,403,623 being applied for on the 19th of Dec. 1919, hence the origin of the Savage mistake. The block style ‘S’ (square), is that of the J. Stevens Plant that provided parts for Savage. Does the serial number on the trigger frame, found under the butt stock, match the one on the receiver? The early New York address Model of 1928s usually did not have magazine catches with tooling holes in the knurled area. Savage continued to use the ‘no hole’ model up until the 70,000 serial number Model of 1928’s, when they were modified and produced with the tooling hole in them. Also the safety and selector levers were knurled on the early Model of 1928's, not smooth as the ones found on your Model of 1928. These modifications were introduced on guns produced later in the war, as cost cutting measures. Field armourer repairs and depot level refurbishments often resulted in receivers and trigger frames being mixed up, so it is not unusual, a few examples in my collection have mismatched receivers and trigger frames. The armourers priority during the war, was to keep the weapons in working order and therefore matching serial numbers were not important to them. You have a really nice example, is this Model of 1928 deactivated to the EU standards?

You are in the correct forum now. There are a couple of members on here from the UK who may be familiar with Belgium and other European values. S-30578 is one of the earlier Savage Thompsons and I expect Tom, one of our members with a passion for them, will chime in shortly. I own S-33791 and expect to see a lot of similarity with yours. And upon posting I see Tom (TD) has arrived!

Super MG42 users manual, great images - note - in German! US$125 including postage Mark

Amazing what you come across, when looking for something else. Following my imprunto display at the Blyth Battery Museum, I was looking for some items to compliment what I already have, for the planned display in June / July, date tbc. Thanks to some board members a few items are enroute 🙏🏼 One other thing I have been looking for, was a 30 rnd Thompson /M3 mag bag, to compliment my display of the evolution of Pattern 37 webbing for use with the Thompson 30 rnd magazine. See story in Chapter Three of Tom Davis's book, 'Great Britain - The Tommy Gun Story'. The idea is to show the comparisons between pouches used for XX mags, 30rd mags and L drum mags by the US and British forces. Anyway an original US Thompson 30 rnd mag bags in the UK are very expensive; for my needs, to expensive. Reproductions are relatively cheap, but I loath to buy repro stuff. Then I stumbled upon a compromise on a French website. A French made copy of the WW2 US made 30 rnd Thompson / M3 mag bags. Produced in France for use in Indo China, hence posting in this topic. I was not aware France had produced these pouches for their troops in Indochina. So that was a pleasant surprise when I stumbled upon it. Overall I think it is a good compromise for my future displays and collection

tal35, If you own a M1A1 Thompson with the serial number 703XXX, you need to purchase a copy of Frank Iannamico's, American Thunder, Third Edition. In hardcover for 40 bucks, it is the best deal in the Thompson community. This book is the authority on the World War II Thompson guns. It will tell you all you need to know about your M1A1. I would get one while still available. When this book goes out of print, the price will be much higher.

That story, last cavalry charge intrigued me so I was looking for more information. "Shortly after the Japanese Army invaded the country in December 1941, the combined US and Filipino forces were being gradually overrun and General Douglas MacArthur moved his troops to the Bataan Peninsula in an attempt to hold out until a relief force could be sent from the US. Japanese forces started a siege of the peninsula on 7 January 1942, and launched an all-out assault on 3 April, a few months after the Battle of the Points, Battle of the Pockets, the attack down Trail Number Two, and a half-dozen other brutal battles.The Bataan campaign was the last time a regular cavalry unit of the U.S. Army, the Philippine Scouts 26th Cavalry, was used as a horse mounted fighting unit. On the morning of 16 January 1942, Lt. Edwin Ramsey led the last cavalry charge into the town of Morong, routing the advancing Japanese infantry. As the troops on Bataan were continually reduced in rations, the horses were eventually slaughtered to feed the starving soldiers. The majority of the American and Filipino forces surrendered on 9 April and were forced to march more than 62 miles from Bataan to Capas, Tarlac, which became known as the Bataan Death March." I am guessing Lt. Edwin was not captured in April 42, if he led the guerilla war against the Japanese.

They say that westie barrels have bad chamber dimensions sometimes might want to have that checked while the barrel is off the gun

A real beauty. Love the brass accent pieces.

That's awesome. Just beautiful and clearly from another era.

It is something that I do not normally comment on, because the answer is not what people want to hear. Implement and articles of war is the phrase, ITAR is the regulation. Most people that have their items seized by US Customs get a visit by Homeland Security agents, who show you the regulation in writing, have you read it, sign the document and ask if you will sign a surrender document so the item that has been seized can be destroyed. Otherwise it set in US Customs bond for 5 years. The presumption being that the person doesn't know they were attempting to smuggle controlled parts into the USA. Sometimes it is export related, like the gent that sold / shipped a German WW2 98K stock to Canada and posted about the visit he had from Homeland. It is rare that people relate this experience on web posts. Locally a collectors shop got caught up with selling a world war bayonet to China. Chinese customs caught it, refused it and shipped it back. US Customs refused to pass it thru because it didn't have the proper paperwork required to import a military bayonet and contacted the shop who originally shipped it. They had to refund the buyer, pay US Customs fees for storage and surrendered it for destruction. Most recent changes is the 10% blanket tariff on everything imported, starting at dollar value 1. Antique firearms, parts, everything, with no exception. No more duty starts if the item costs over $100, it is any value. US Customs also maintains a data base of shippers and receivers. Any contraband found is noted and and any other packages to / from those addresses get scanned. Just go to "WWW.Forfeiture.Gov" and read thru the categories. It is amazing the amount of goods that US Customs seizes. Using the form 6 for imports and knowing the US regulations is the way to go. Do not export, its a different deal outside the USA and in some cases you can violate international law. I know of a gent that was compelled to travel to the UK and face charges for the modified paintball guns he exported. In court with the company that imported them from him. All travel and court costs came out of his pocket. He got off with a warning to never do it again, but the process was the punishment. You do not want the US State Department looking at you because of a formal complaint lodged by a foreign Govt. If you spend some time digging around on the web you will find US Gov't sites with records of successful prosecutions of export and import violations. Some are what appears quite insignificant, like selling 3 Leupold scopes to Canada which got Brownells a $660,000 fine (they self reported the violation) Another piece of advice, lying about the contents of a package on a US Customs (Federal) form is a federal offense and also shows intent. Its why they have you sign them. OK, I wrote more than I intended, its a lengthy topic. Richard

Note the MP38 misidentified as a "Bergmann".

Is that an Auto-Ordnance West Hurley or Kahr Arms C drum in that video? Why display this experimental Thompson with a modern-day C drum for something designed to be tested and possibly used during World War II with L drums or magazines. The Hill family All Thompson Show & Shoot in 2025 is the place to be if you want to see an aluminum Thompson submachine gun in-person. One of the very few aluminum survivors is part of the All American Thompson Collection. I bet Tracie would take it out from behind glass for a group show and tell session. You should have been there when he passed around NO 41. It was a fantastic show & tell session. Many of the Thompson guns you see pictured in The Thompson Encyclopedia series will be on display. I guarantee a great time!

Hi Frank, Love your books.....

Although not in the U.S., I have two 20mm FLAKs. I live in Switzerland, there are quite some private owned 20mm guns around, since the swiss army sold them to collectors years ago. Currently they're not even treated as weapons by law, although fully functional. My two guns are a Model 1938 Waffenfabrik Bern, belt fed, and a Oerlikon Model 1953 with 50rds drum mag. Life rounds are quite rare and expensive. The big problem here is that there aren't any shooting ranges wich allow bigger than .50 BMG, and full auto shooting is also difficult here. So the two guns stand in my barn and wait...