Pimp my Tommy

[RandyM]

Received my Bridgeport gun in last week.

At one time someone refinished it, adding nickel accents and "jeweling" both side of the drum.

Also the right side has been milled down?

Anyway all markings are gone on the right side, and the contour matches the lower, looks good, but I can only guess why that was done.

Ran a drum and some stick mags through it runs great, sure is a heavy thing.

 

http://s95.photobucket.com/user/rsm127810/media/Tommy%20Public/RandyTommy1_zpsqjqkwmwi.mp4.html

 

http://s95.photobucket.com/user/rsm127810/media/Tommy%20Public/RandyTommy2_zpsjchyyc2t.mp4.html

 

 

 

 

[Kocapuff1]

Wow! You weren't kidding! If your looking to make it look more original a couple of recommendations are: Just buy a complete NOS lower with all the parts to swap it out, unless the lower receiver serial # matches the upper receiver; if that ask PK what he can do for re-work. The stampings on the lower fire safe were re-done. The missing stampings on the right side you can ask Reconbob (bob) at phila ord to see if he can re-make the original right side markings on your receiver for you. Since PK does complete bluing jobs you could maybe send the whole gun out to get rid of nickel, etc; he also works on drums.

 

It is cool, if your into Nickel and not original. Congratulations on your puchase! I like the original "Tommy Gun" marking on the upper receiver.

[ron_brock]

Now there's something you don't see everyday!! Love the drum.

 

Ron

[laurencen]

what were they thinking, why would you mill down the side? the left side of lower is also milled and hand stamped, must have had a reason maybe he was going to nickel plate the whole thing and came to his senses, the drum finish is engine turning, basically take a dowel, add some grinding paste and using a drill press apply pressure and you get the swirl, by moving its position you get the geometric pattern, did a lot of molds that way and get pretty good at it over time.

 

I think the nickel plating can be removed pretty easily, if it was me I would look for another set and keep the plated hardware for conversation times at the range

[RandyM]

The part numbers match, and it runs good, LOL.

It may not be a collector, but its a solid gun.

[TD.]

Randy,

That is one interesting Savage Thompson. You have a great shooter! I love the drum. Let me know if I can trade you out of it

 

Congratulations!

[Paladin601]

I kind of like it, 1970's. apiece of history that works. Nice score

[06AngusSG]

If it's not a cabinet trophy why not do something cool with it? If it's original you want redo it... If not... just enjoy it and have it be even more of a conversation starter at the range.

Congrats on the cool score!

[cubguy]

Congrats on a cool Thompson!

[shadycon]

Conversation piece? Put an old style "MATTEL" logo on the right side. While in the Army in the early 70's I got a Mattel sticker of a toy package and put it on the buttstock of my M16. My drill sgt. didn't think it was funny! By the way, nice tommy,have fun! GK

[Colt Chopper]

Very Nice, I'd leave it the way it is, shoot it and enjoy !!!!!

[bug]

Conversation piece? Put an old style "MATTEL" logo on the right side. While in the Army in the early 70's I got a Mattel sticker of a toy package and put it on the buttstock of my M16. My drill sgt. didn't think it was funny! By the way, nice tommy,have fun! GK

 

So YOU'RE the guy who started that rumor...

[Motorcar]

Savage marked "Tommy Gun"...love it. You won't find another drum like it, congrats!

[hntrdarren]

Nice Savage Randy, but love that Drum !

[buzz]

The side was probably sanded to remove pitting.

 

a lot of these guns spent a few years getting rained on in the field

 

 

get a caliper and measure the receiver width, that'll probably clue you in.

 

there was a time when screwing up military guns with ugly embellishments was a hobby for a lot of kitchen table gunsmiths

 

old timers didn't like a military finish, they called surplus guns "a poor man's gun"

 

 

If it was my gun I'd do what I could to undo the "customizing" and return it to milspec

 

I wouldn't spend a vast fortune on it but I'd spend the money to have it re-engraved and refinished

 

and swap out the parts that are ruined

 

 

the good thing is that these guns are so overbuilt that there's probably plenty of metal left

Edited May 13, 2015 by buzz

[reconbob]

I wonder if the trigger frame has been welded? There is no other reason I can think of

for the necessity of re-doing the FIRE/SAFE markings.

 

You can plate over bluing. Quite often if you strip the plating chemically you may find a

nice original finish underneath. Back in the day we received a lot of nickel and chrome

plated M1911's and M1917 revolvers for Parkerizing. Probably 1/2 the time the surfaces

underneath the plating were undamaged.

 

The process for stripping involves cyanide, but any good sized plating shop should have

this available. (Plating shops have to strip plating all the time when they make mistakes.)

You immerse the parts in the stripper which dissolves the plating but doe not

harm the steel at all. I would look into this before spending hundreds dollars on replacement

parts. Looks like you could also get the actuator stripped in addition to all the trigger frame

parts. If the bluing is worn underneath you can dip/blue the parts without polishing and they will

come out looking great, perhaps even new...

 

Bob

[mnshooter]

I didn't know the Kardashians had owned a Thompson.

Edited May 13, 2015 by mnshooter

[KR09]

I looked at purchasing this gun last year and had the opportunity to examine it in person. I was not informed that the right side stampings were missing before I looked at it . We did measure the width of the receiver with a dial cailper against two other 1928 guns on hand and did not see enough variation to conclude that the side had been milled off. The nickle plated parts are easily replaceable.

[giantpanda4]

A GI parts kit and you are in business.

Then I might want your nickel parts!

 

 

[shadycon]

 

Conversation piece? Put an old style "MATTEL" logo on the right side. While in the Army in the early 70's I got a Mattel sticker of a toy package and put it on the buttstock of my M16. My drill sgt. didn't think it was funny! By the way, nice tommy,have fun! GK

 

So YOU'RE the guy who started that rumor...

I didn't know it was a 'rumor'? Thanks for letting me know!!

[full auto 45]

I think Colt Chopper needs that magazine to go with his "Golden Gun" pimped out engrave in gold Tommy.

[Thompsonlover]

Congrats on your Tommy!!

[reconbob]

KR09 - Do you recall what the measured width of the receiver was? The engraving is usually

no more than 0.003" deep. Also, the fact that there is no engraving on the side of the receiver

indicates that something had to be done to remove it.

The drawing for the receiver has the width of the receiver at 1.810" - 0.010". So a receiver

could be within tolerance and yet still have had the engraving ground off.

 

Bob

[Karatebear]

On my WW2 Savage I put Doug's scope mount site so I could run an eotech since I will be taking the comp/front sight off to run a suppressor, just waiting for a 3/4-28 to 5/8-24 thread adapter I ordered. I had to use my dremel and trim the side of his mount as it was too wide for the eotech mount, nothing a little tinkering couldn't fix. Shooting the drum without a vertical front grip is a pain in the butt!!! I was thinking of mounting a rail to the bottom of a spare horizontal grip I have.

 

+1 I like the polished/jeweled look.

[KR09]

Reconbob - I don't recall the dimensions as this was done last fall. We were thinking that the engraving would be a little deeper than that. This issue took us by surprise so we didn't research it in advance. It just seemed very odd given the nice condition of the rest of the receiver and the good condition of the left side stampings. The customized drum was very cool looking as was the nickle plated stick magazine.