Mag Catch/Mag Catch Spring Question

[Grease Gunner]

My Thompson M1a1 appears to be missing the Mag Catch Spring since it flops around

SO, Two questions : It was there to begin with. How did it come out?

 

Next when i try to replace it, Does the pivot plate and the the other parts come out in order to get the mag catch out?

 

Thanks

 

Haris

[ppgcowboy]

If it was there it could not come out on its own without removing the mag catch. The part of the spring that attaches to the mag catch may have broken. It is a little tricky but it is independent of the rest of the housing. No need to worry about having to remove the pivot plate. I would recommend getting the dvd from AGI about the Thompson, it tells you everything you need to know. Edited August 24, 2022 by ppgcowboy

[TennesseeTaylor95]

The spring might be broken rather than missing, or the spring and magazine catch could have been reinstalled incorrectly at some point in time not allowing the spring to keep pressure on the magazine catch to keep it in it's proper place. The removal of the mag catch will be the only way to tell for sure what's going on.

 

To remove the mag catch, you can push the rounded ends of the pivot plate that stick out on the left side of the trigger frame into the trigger frame just enough so they are flush or just under flush with the surface of the left side of the trigger frame. This should allow you to rotate and remove the magazine catch without having to remove all of the internals from the trigger frame.

Edited August 24, 2022 by TennesseeTaylor95

[Grease Gunner]

i have a new spring and got the mag catch out but when i put it back in it flopped around

I guess there is a trick to getting the spring under tension as it goes back in

i will keep monkeying around

[TennesseeTaylor95]

I have had good results with putting the spring on the mag catch shaft and getting the mag catch started into the trigger frame hole. Once the mag catch can almost make contact with the front of the side of the trigger frame, rotate the magazine catch in a clockwise motion to get the little tab on the mag catch spring end to catch into the smaller hole beside the mag catch shaft hole. The spring has to catch that area in order to function properly. Once that is done, you should be able to rotate the mag catch counterclockwise, under spring tension, so it will clear and go into the trigger guard and then you just have to wiggle the magazine catch all the way into place. That's the best way I can describe it and you will probably get it if you fiddle around with it enough.

 

I should have added earlier that you will need to remove the rocker pivot, rocker, and safety from the trigger frame (off the receiver, naturally) to get the rocker plate to push into the frame far enough to install or remove the magazine catch, but I imagine that you have already figured that out.

Edited August 24, 2022 by TennesseeTaylor95

[Grease Gunner]

that part i figured out (how to get the mag catch out

got everything out and just placed the spring onto the catch and slid it in

 

I need to get the spring to catch into the smaller hole

the spring that came out looks like my new spare spring so it wiggled out of the hole

will tackle it tomorrow !!

Thanks Tennessee!!

[TennesseeTaylor95]

Happy to help when I can (if you could even call my rambling replies that haha). I'm sure you will get it squared away tomorrow.