Search the Community

Hello all! Newer member here (less than 6 months) but first time poster. Last fall I traded some work, sight unseen, for an old beat up, rusty (and broke as I later discovered) circa 1979 West Hurley 1927A1. At the time, I knew next to nothing about 'Tommys' other than they being one of the more iconic firearm designs. Being a big fan of C&R milsurps – especially US WW1 & WW2 milsurps – I jumped on the deal. The gun was wrapped up in a plastic bag and covered with motor oil. Upon cleaning it off, it was obvious why someone poured oil on it - the entire gun’s exterior was rusty. Tearing it apart to inspect the internals, I noticed that the bolt carrier had a major crack in it as well. After finding Douglas Richardson's website and trading a few phone calls with him, I had a replacement bolt carrier inbound. As the laws here in Cali were changing year end and not wanting to tap the receiver to install a bullet button, I temporarily bubba’d it up to comply with the new BS laws (Temp bubba = grip wrap on pistol grip and replaced the vertical forward grip with a horizontal grip). Now looking rough but ready, I hit the range and gave her a work out. All I say is ‘Wow’ - what fun it is to shoot the Thompson – even if just a rusted up SA version of it! Now, even though I technically have the Thompson hole in my humble collection filled, it is with an example that has a rough finish and sporting a neutered look = the more I look at it the less I am satisfied. I now intend to refinish the rifle and would like to get it to a less neutered look. Can’t decide if I want to blast and re-blue it to keep the classic 1927A1 look, or send it off to a gunsmith to shorten the barrel, blast and park it and possibly modify it to be more similar to the WW2 M1 look which is more in line with my interests in US milsurps. As my knowledge of all things Thompson is limited, I thought it time to make my formal appearance here and to engage and participate with this community and to hopefully glean some of the cognoscenti’s wealth of knowledge on all things Thompson. Reading up on the various threads, it seems like the member ‘Deerslayer’ is the ‘go-to’ Tommy gunsmith for this kind of work. I also see that he is offering a modification to make Cali based Thompsons comply with the new laws by breaking the action to drop the mag. This interests me as I would then be able to get rid of the awful grip wrap. Has any California based members hired him to perform this service? I appreciate any tips or recommendations members can give. Again, greetings all... -Randy