xracer

I am very particular about cleaning from the breech. My Dewey coated rod goes in through the hole in the breech end of the receiver. As an extra precaution to insure that it stays concentric with the bore I slip a .38 cal brass muzzle protector whose tapered body fills the hole in the receiver on to the cleaning rod. The muzzle protector is available from Brownell's.

Thanks for the good news. I was fearing the worst. Brian

I' sure that someone has posted something on this topic and I missed it. All of my bookmarks to Doug's site now point at some kind of arabic language site. Is Doug still around? hopefully he has just changed websites. Brian

I have a Colt 1928 with a Richardson barrel mounted as well as the original Colt barrel and a full set of Richardson tools to remount the barrel. I'm not looking to sell it but, if I were , would you recommend remounting the Colt barrel or sell it as is with the Colt barrel as a spare?

I just signed up for one in red.

I have number 121xx Navy Overstamp.

This makes me glad that I bought mine (all original, 90% gun) 5 or 6 years ago for $30K.

I use a plastic playing card along with mono filament fishing line. I snake the line under the ejector, run it up and wrap it around a piece of wooden dowel. I lift up the ejector with the line and slip the playing card underneath. Then pulling the line screws the ejector right out over the playing card. I used this to replace my Navy over stamp ejector with one from Gordon Herigstad who is missed. xracer

There two Thompsons up for auction at the November Amoskeag auction in November. They are a 1928 Navy overstamp and a Chinese copy, at least thats what I think it is. The is not much information on them now but that changes about two weeks before the auction when they have mailed out the catalogs. These guys are very good. They are located in Manchester, NH. I bought a lot of guns from them when I lived in Boston. I used to go up there to examine whatever I was interested in When I say examine I mean taking a bore light, range rods, go no go gauges and feeler gauges if it was a revolver. I never saw a gun that was not as described.

Greg, I would like the FBI case for my 1928 Navy overstamp. We exchanged emails a couple of years ago but none wwere available at that time. If you can send me a picture so I can make sure the case style is what I think it is,to btmadden@charter.net tomorrow or Monday morning I can get you off a Postal Money Order on Monday. Please let me know the the shipping charges to Reno, NV in your email. The reason for the rush is that I'm leaving to go elk hunting Tuesday and won't be back home until Friday or Saturday. Thanks, Brian

I found an interesting article written by the man who did the forensics work on the massacre. The article was written at the time. He details how he decided that the guns used were Thompsons, how many were used, and what type of magazines they had. Have a look here www.firearmsid.com Feature Articles for February.

Ron, I was pretty sure the case is a repro. The handle is plastic which I never really looked at ( I don't transport the gun in the case) but its a dead giveaway. I believe that I did get the cleaning rod from Doug but its been a while. With regard to the wood, that's just the way it came from Dan. All I had to do to it was some fitting in the bolt hole for the fore end grip.

Here's a somewhat better picture of the case. I had to send it from my phone to my gmail account to my regular email account so it took forever. I know its hard to comment on the case from the photos but, if anyone can give me things to look for to determine whether its original or a repro I'd appreciate it. Thanks, xracer

Thanks again for the nice words. The gun is a fairly late one serial 12xxx. It is all original although the drum in the picture is one I bought later. The original which has the nickeled rotor is stored away. I sent both drums to Merle to have them greased. I also bought the extra 20 round magazines from him. The gun was originally sold to the Rocky Hill police department. Counting them, I'm the third owner. I gave this information to Gordon Herigstad for his book. The compensator is properly pinned to the barrel. I had a really good gunsmith up in New Hampshire. I suspect the case is a repro but I don't know enough about the cases to say. The tool kit is one of Doug Richardson's Anyway here are a couple more photos.

Thanks for the compliments, My brother took that one but I'll take some more tomorrow and post them. I didn't mention that I occasionally shoot it with one of Merle Bitikofer's .22 conversions. I was horrified to hear about his accident. His conversion has always performed excellently and he has been a big help to me. I used to live in Massachusetts and although I had a Mass. license to possess a machine gun I couldn't legally have a new magazine that held over 10 rounds. When I got Merle's conversion it came with a new 50 round mag. I told him my problem and he took the magazine back and got me two WW II 30 rounders that he modified to shoot .22. How nice is that. Get well soon Merle.

This is my 1928 Navy overstamp with Dan's wood on it. It has just the right amount of figure for me, nice but plausible . All the original wood and all the original parts that could break are all bagged up. Besides the wood I have ( maybe Russian ? and Savage) internals, Gordon Herigstad's ejector, and a Doug Richardson barrel and compensator. It shoots great and its kinda pretty too.

I absolutely do. I took out all the original internals from my 1928 Navy overstamp and replaced them with a variety of parts some Savage some, I'm sure, WWII Russian surplus. All the original parts are bagged up including the wood and the barrel. I have a very nice set of wood on the gun from Dan Block. I use a Doug Richardson barrel and an ejector from Gordon H. I sometimes shoot the gun as a 1921 using Doug Richardson's actuator and spring. For the .45 I use Speer Lawman 230 grainers ( I got a real good deal on them) and for a lighter workout I use Merle Bitikofer's .22 conversion with CCI AR style .22LR ammo. They have a very round nose designed to cycle in the .22 conversions for the AR 15 and my gun feeds them perfectly.

I have been shooting Merle Bitikofer's .22 conversion in my 1928 Navy for a few weeks. He recommends using Federal Value Pack ammo which works very well in the slow fire (1928) mode but not quite so well in the fast (1921) mode. I should add that, since I live in Massachusetts, I can't use the nice new plastic magazines that come with the kit. Merle found me som WW II Crosby magazines ( obviously made prior to 1984) that have a .22 conversion insert in them that take 20 rounds. I came across CCI Tactical .22 made for the AR 15. It has a 40 grain bullet at 1030 fps which is about the usual. What's different is that the bullet nose is much more rounded than the Federal which I presume helps it feed in the AR. I fired 200 rounds of this yesterday in both modes and it performed flawlessly. The ammo comes in a 375 round pack and is a bit more expensive that the Federal.

I found some good information on oil and grease on Grant Cunningham's website www.grantcunningham.com . Click on Library. I have been using one of his reccomendations, Dextron ATF, in my 1928 Navy and it seems to work fine. Brian

I received my .22 conversion from Merle and took it to the range yesterday to try it out. I am really pleased. It was easy to install, Merle answered my questions and it ran with no problems. Since I live in Massachusetts I can't legally own the new hi-cap magazines that come with the kit. No problem. Merle got me two 30 round WW II Crosby mags ( legal in Mass. because they were made prior to 1984 obviously) that were converted to shoot .22s. He tested them before he shipped them and they worked just as he said they would. I can't say enough good things about Merle. He has been extremely helpful on this and a couple of other things for my 1928 Colt Navy. He always delivers on his promises plus he's a nice guy to talk to. Brian

Many of you probably already know this. If you clean your Thompson from the rear through the recoil spring guide hole at the rear of the receiver, it turns out that a Dewey .38 caliber muzzle guide (Dewey part C35 or Brownells part 234-018-035) is a perfect fit in that hole. Using it does a nice job of centering your cleaning rod and patch for its trip up the barrel and it saves wear and tear on a coated rod as well. Brian

Chuck, Northridge International has a complete GI compensator with front sight on their website www.northridgeinc.com. Click on parts then on Thompson. The price is $149.50 Brian

Chuck, Doug richardson has several front sight blades listed in his catalog (contact (818) 993-1753, website www.thompsonsmg.com). I have one on my 1928 Colt Navy along with his compensator and barrel. It works just fine. Brian