buzz

Anyway, that's my take on it

As far as the government making transfers illegal goes - I'm not worried. These guns are very very expensive now and are basically rich guy's toys. Just like 1969 hemi chargers are sitting in rich guy's garages and not doing burnouts at the 7-11. Rich guys don't get their hobby taken away by the government. They own the government. Also, the crime rate with these collector items is zero point zero. And you have to go through a lengthy approval process, something that liberals love. NFA guns are really not a political hot potato. You never really hear those leftist scumbag politicians whining about full auto.

My neighbor just bought a $45,000 SUV. Lost $15,000 on it the first five minutes he owned it. I drive a 14 year old minivan with good paint, good tires, and a good engine. I just bought a Thompson for at least $3000 less than I could sell it for tomorrow on gunbroker. One of us, either me or my neighbor, is a real chump in my humble opinion. Our whole society is just a brainwashing machine designed to get people to buy more and more "stuff". Do you even want a car with a rear view camera in it? Last time I checked my head and eyeballs could be turned. No camera needed. These guns are like a piggy bank, they accumulate money that probably would have just been pizzled away otherwise. That happens with a lot of collectors. They eat PB&J sandwiches so they can buy another porcelain figurine or a fender for their 69 hemi charger, etc. And then one day they wake up and realize they have $100K worth of stuff that's going up in value 5K a year. Not exactly a heartbreaking moment.

the guy started the auction at one penny, and it topped out at $23,000 Well, what conclusion would you draw from that? Who set the final price? The seller or the buyers? Everyone forgets that gunbroker is a national swap meet, the prices are set by the two guys out of 350,000,000 who want the gun the most. Those two guys are probably not going to be Thompson experts and they're not going to be guys who sweat over a couple of grand The fact that you're bidding against uninformed buyers can work in your favor. If the seller posts up an ugly picture of a valuable gun, he might not get many bidders and you might walk away with a real bargain. I bought a gun on gunbroker for $750, a couple years later took some excellent pictures in strong sunlight and got $1600 for the gun.

Thanks for the replies Looks like a year's wait ahead of me

Are there any magazines I should avoid? Which ones are the best value for the $$$?

I got the gun for pretty cheap so I'm not afraid of spending some more on it to fix this and that. But I am starting from ground zero, I've never even seen one before in person. Supposedly the early guns have a lot of USGI parts but we shall see. Right now I'm still waiting for the dealer to dealer transfer to happen. When it shows up at the local dealer I'll strip it down and take some pictures. So I guess I have 9 months or more to collect parts and read up on it. I'll have to cut and past this thread so it doesn't get lost down the internet memory hole.

My dreams of owning a Thompson have finally come true. Managed to buy a WH 1928 at a good price, still waiting for it to show up at my class 3 dealer. Apparently I'm the second owner since new and the gun has definitely not seen a lot of use. It's an early gun, serial number ranger in the 3XX zone. What should I do now? What parts kit should I get, where should I get it and how much should I pay for it? How about drums and stick mags? Where to get and how much should I pay? My goal is to make a reliable shooter out of the gun, plan on shooting it as much as my ammo budget will allow. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

You must be right because otherwise PA C&R FFL guys would be unable to buy any C&R handguns without going through a dealer, and if that was true then you'd hear every PA C&R FFL holder complaining loudly about it. But since you hear virtually nothing about it at all, it's obviously OK for a C&R FFL to buy C&R handguns directly. And of course that would include the NFA stuff that falls into the same category under the PA law.

This is a PA state police type deal, has nothing much to do with ATF. I'll have to call the state police and see if I can find anyone who actually knows the answer. It really not explicitly addressed anywhere in the PA code as far as I can tell. So probably nobody will know the answer. There probably is no actual correct answer because nobody thought of it when they were writing the state laws.

Well, if a C&R handgun purchase required a C&R FFL license holder to also use a dealer to make a purchase, it would sort of render having the C&R FFL to be pretty useless. I imagine we would have heard about it already from other PA C&R FFLs, because it would be a big deal.

Thanks for the replies. I guess the Thompson must be treated similar to a C&R NFA handgun in PA. The reason for my concern is that usually gun laws applying to regular guns don't apply to machine guns. It being an NFA machine gun is supposed to trump all other considerations. Like for example, you can stick a shorty upper on an M16 without making an illegal SBR because the m16 isn't legally a "rifle," it is a "machine gun" with completely different rules. But in PA, a short barreled m16 would fall under that weird 'firearm" definition. So I imagine that if you sold a short-barreled M16 to a neighbor in PA you'd need that state police form filled out in addition to the ATF NFA paperwork.

My feeling on restoration is that I would only refinish a gun that where the "patina" was the result of abuse rather than honest wear. I saw a heavily pitted Mauser C96 pistol get restored very nicely, in that case the restorer made a useful and attractive gun out of a piece of junk. Many a man has put grandpappy's heirloom gun into a fabric gun case and had condensation ruin the finish. I don't think that counts as a "patina". Or as the other poster mentioned, if someone altered and "customized" a gun in a foolish way, technically by un-customizing it you're just reversing a mistake. Unless the customizing has some historical property, like a flintlock being converted to percussion.

Do people restore Thompsons much? I thought that was sort of verboten. How much would a restoration on a Thompson cost typically?

I did not realize that you are the owner of the gun. Where would you find the original parts? Who's PK and what would he do with the gun? Thanks for answering, I'm not quite up to speed on Thompsons.

I got a bunch of newbie questions for you guys. Who is Omega? What exactly would you do with those two guns? Have them refinished?

I was not sure how PA state laws affected acquiring guns with the C&R FFL. Since the Thompson has a 10" barrel, I guess it would fall under the PA rules governing handguns and short barreled rifles and shotguns: The Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act defines “firearm” as “any pistol or revolver with a barrel less than 15 inches, any shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches, any rifle with a barrel of less than 16 inches or any pistol, revolver, rifle or shotgun with an overall length of less than 26 inches.” Usually an MG is considered to be in a class by itself as a "machinegun", but I'm pretty sure in PA it also has the "firearm" status as indicated above.

Another question - The ad said the gun came with a west hurley drum mag. What type would the original mag have been?

What are the normal price ranges for Colt navy overstamp guns?

If I was to buy a Thompson from out of state, could it be transferred directly to me if I have a C&R FFL license? I am a PA resident. PA gun laws are somewhat confusing so I figured I better ask and be 100% sure. Thanks.