Everyone, Thanks for the continued interest and support in making my dream gun a reality. Unfortunately, I appear to have hit a snag. Although I have nearly all the resources at my disposal to complete the project, I am unable to find anyone with the necessary experience and expertise in completing the project. Local gunsmiths possess the tools to finalize my project, however, I personally feel because they are not Thompson aficionados, they misconstrue the true intentions of my final project. (I.E. they think I'm trying to trick them into helping me make an illegal/unregistered machine gun). From my understanding, it is possible to transform a newly-made 1921 Colt-style receiver into a legal working semi-auto. If a firearm gunsmith/Class II manufacturer follows the Richardson Semi-Receiver blueprints then it is legal correct? I am fully prepared and willing to complete all necessary paperwork for this project. After calling at least 20 gunsmiths in my area, I am no farther along than when I first placed my order for a Repro receiver. I have had some folks completely misconstrue my requests and frankly, appeared downright rude when I sought clarification of BATF gun manufacturing laws. Perhaps you folks can clarify the situation: What is different about about my project and someone who desires say... a custom safari rifle machined from an existing receiver? From my understanding---if done properly---it is legal to have a custom gun made as long as it's not a machine gun. I'll leave those $50,000 beauties for the big boys. For now, I'm just hoping for someone to help re-create a working1921 Colt (which Kahr and Auto-Ordnance don't offer). I could probably fit the barrel for blanks and afterwards, register it with a Form 4 trust so I could pass it down to my children. After doing research, I understand that is legal for individuals to make their own guns (NON-NFA), they just can't ever sell them. I would do the all the finer machining myself however, like--Doug Richardson himself--I am partially blind. I suffer from myopic atrophy which is a form of extreme nearsightedness. It makes running a milling apparatus a tricky and potentially dangerous endeavor. I am capable of shooting safely at reenactments, but have difficulty with very small print or minute/precision type machines. Thanks for any advice and I will continue to keep you posted. --Michael