Mywifesgunakillme

Unfortunately, that sort of situation arises ALL the time. It's always best to have cash on hand ready to jump on an item for a price that you are happy to pay....even without attempting to barter the seller down a couple of hundred bucks, or win the firearm for the opening bid. I have lost many a firearm by bidding the opening bid, which would have been an excellent buy, vice hitting the Buy it Now option, which still would have been a good buy. Sometimes it pays, sometimes it doesn't and you lose out. You need to know which firearms you are willing to risk the possibility that it could be swiped up by another collector if you hesitate, or by trying to get it on the cheap side. The collectible firearm market has always been an excellent market for investment. Even guns that I felt I paid a little on the high side, are now unobtainable at the price I paid a few years back. Food for thought. With that said, who wants a nice Navy overstamp with no finish and smooth bore for $65K? I hear it's a great investment!

Agree $700 is over priced for the drum. They still sell for around $625 regularly. Be patient and they will come.

Is there a production variation between manufacturers that might allow for barrels to be slightly different lengths from one another? The barrels pictured are both mine and were both NOS USGI marked. The one mounted is slightly longer. How much so, I can't answer without removing the Cutt's, which I'm not about to do, but it is clearly longer than the second barrel pictured. I purchased barrel number two as a replacement for down the road and just noticed it was a bit shorter. Is it for an M1A1 possibly? Were they a different length than the 1928a1? Also, I didn't think the M1 variant had a threaded muzzle end. Anyway, barrel #2 is exactly 9 7/8" from where it locks up to the nose of the receiver, to the tip of the muzzle. Barrel #1 is slightly longer. maybe 1/4" or so. Any thought?

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I am wanting to replace the late war "L" style Lyman sight with an early style adjustable sight. Is this a task that can be done by just about anyone, or does this require the skills of a professional? Any specific tools required?

Did anyone see this auction last week? Someone is going to be very disappointed that they paid over $300 for a split grip that's not much better than a small piece of firewood. The entire right/top side of the grip is cracked from front to rear. You could easily break it apart with your bare hands from the looks of it. I asked the seller to verify that the crack that I had seen in one of his pictures did in fact run the length of the grip, and he did say it did, however, he never clarified the extent of the damage to potential buyers/bidders. It's a shame. I would have bid on it myself, but the entire thing would have needed to be glued in order to keep it together while firing. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thompson-1921-1928-original-vertikal-front-grip-TOP-no-repro-/221962408816?hash=item33adfd9370%3Ag%3AmJQAAOSwnH1WZcm2&nma=true&si=QLG6KojGNmq71ffZ4IBEg%252BFnDC4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Definitely has been refinished. Nice looking piece, and probably hasn't been fired ...since rebuild.

Wish $200 was too rich now!

I picked up this stock today at the Costa Mesa gun show. I was fairly certain that it is USGI and it had a really nice grain and color. I am unable to find any reference for the W&W 12 or W&W I2 marking, nor for the "D" stamped on the nose of the stock. I was guessing the "S" stamped on the butt end was for Savage. Thank you

Yes, the can does have the manufacturer marking stamped into the front side of the can. It is SH Ltd. I have not been able to locate any discernible broad arrow as of yet. It may be be hidden under some paint. Thanks for all of the information on the can.

Thank you for the info. I went ahead and picked up the can. Does anyone have pictures of the padding as it would have been issued? I would purchase some fabric to try and get it back to as close to the original configuration as possible.

It's not on eBay. I did see one on eBay a few weeks ago....... that was the one I was referencing as being painted. It appeared to be painted gold and non-legible. It went for over $200 I believe This one is for sale locally here in SoCal. He's asking $375+tax for it and I didn't know if that was a good deal, great deal or rip off. What kind of inner padding is it missing? It was bare metal inside from what I had seen.

I have an opportunity to pick up a nice condition WW2 British storage can and need some advice on value of such a piece. It looks like it holds 10 magazines inside along the side walls. I have referenced my Traci Hill Ultimate Thompson book, but it doesn't state approx. how many were produced, rarity etc... I know there are likely not many here in the U.S. as I have only seen one other one previously which had been painted over and used as a flashy decoration piece of some sort. This one has the original paint. Thoughts?

I've read the same about the Keepshooting.com drums. I'd like to get my hands on one or two really nice original drums if possible. I've seen them on Gunbroker, but I think 1k is a bit high for the current market.

I had envisioned the same thing happening with the drill as you described (riding high on the threads). I think I will use a small round hand file to get the desired finish. Thanks for all the tips.

I'm in the market for a high condition L drum. If anyone has a lead they care to share please advise. I'd prefer WW2 or earlier. Just like everyone else right!!!!!

The use of the old barrel as a modified tap worked like a charm! It went on with a little bit of extra leverage beyond the use of my hands. I used some Loc Tite to set in place. I eyeballed it into place and it looks good to me. I will let it sit overnight and drill out the pin hole tomorrow. I am really pleased thus far and can't wait to get it out to the range! Thanks for all of the advise! BTW I'm in the market for a nice "L" drum. If anyone has one for sale let me know. Also a vertical foregrip if anyone has a lead on one. I know the foregrips are really difficult to find. I can live with a repro if you have suggestions to the best made out there. Thanks again. I will be a regular here on the forum!

Perfect, I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks guys!

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Also wanted to add that the Cutt's seemed to be a bit difficult to thread onto the new barrel. It is definitely easier to get started by hand and turned a few rotations on the old barrel vise the new one. I don't wan to screw up the threads on either the Cutt's or the barrel. It seems to engage the first thread and go maybe about 1/3 rotation before it starts getting real tight. Putting the Cutt's on the old barrel, I can get a few full rotations before it gets too tight for hand turning. Has anyone experienced this before? All parts are USGI, so no issue between new manufacture items and old surplus.

New Member on the forum. I apologize up front if this has been discussed in length in the past, but I have been unable to locate any previous discussion in regards to pinning a Cutt's onto a 1928a1 barrel. I bought a new old stock USGI smooth barrel to replace the old worn out one currently on my Thompson. It's a shooter, so I'm not hurting the value by removing the original. Once the barrel was removed, I knocked out the retaining pin on the Cutt's and noticed a groove in the thread area for the retaining pin. The groove looks very clean cut and done at a factory. My new barrel has the threads, but doesn't have the pin groove pre-cut. What is the correct way to reinstall the Cutt's on the new barrel? I can't imagine you'd just beat the pin into the threads until it submits! I have read I need to install the barrel first, then install the Cutts's as the barrel doesn't have specific torque specifications and If you put the Cutt's on first it may not line up correctly once installed. Any advice you guys can give me with this process would be greatly appreciated.