Bowman Arms imports

[Maine-iac]

Just received an email from Bowman Arms, it seems like they've come across a significant stash of lend lease Thompsons in the Balkans. Here's hoping that we can get some decent parts imported for a reasonable price soon!  The torch cut kits of course, are a damned shame. Not even the barrels are spared.

[TennesseeTaylor95]

I was equally excited to see the email and photos this evening as well. I can't tell if the actuator and bronze lock are in the baggie with the recoil spring and buffer guide rod (surely they are there and this is a complete kit minus the wood and some hardware). I would love to see some close up pictures or even a video of some of the kits once they come stateside to see their condition (a previous email from February 7th mentions them having bluing and being without pitting due to being in the deep flooded mine in the Alps). The one in the photos from this evening's email look like it is an early Savage Model of 1928 with a milled ejector if my eyes aren't playing tricks on me. However, I was a little disappointed to see that one of the torch cuts goes straight through atleast one section of roll marks, which he said he would try preserve in his February 14th email. Regardless, I am happy to see more 1928 thompson parts coming in, and I hope that I can pick up a parts kit when they become available.

[Got Uzi]

Due to import rules they can’t import live barrels so that’s why they are cut. Is what it is i guess. 

[Bayrain]

I'll still take lowers, matching USGI furniture sets and rear sights. RTI kits are overpriced as all hell. Bowman does a great job getting affordable kits.

[rpbcps]

On 7/17/2023 at 10:59 AM, Got Uzi said:

Due to import rules they can’t import live barrels so that’s why they are cut. Is what it is i guess. 

That is correct; I helped a UK based dealer sort through a lot of Bosnian Surplus weapons a good few years back. Just as he bought them, the laws for exporting to the US changed, and he had to cut the barrels, as well as the receivers. That was more work for him 🙄

 

[rpbcps]

Looking at the pictures of the stocks and foregrips, I note that some of these weapons have had the position of the sling swivels modified, in the British / Commonwealth fashion.

This reminds me of a book I read last year, 'No colours or Crest', wrote by Peter Kemp,  who served with the Special Operations Executive. During his service he was based in Yugoslavia helping the various Yugoslavian resistance groups fighting the Italians, initially, then the Germans, once the Italians surrenders. The book reminded me of the ethnic issues faced during the Balkans wars since the1990's. It the book he talks about thousands of Tommy Guns and Gold, yes Gold, being delivered by the British to a small guerilla group commanded by a communist called Tito. 

So, when I saw those pictures I thought of Peter Kemp's book.

 

Peter Kemp's first book, wrote of his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil war, 'Mine were of trouble', is an excellent read too. It was due to his guerilla war experience in the Spanish civil war, that he was recruited to help train the first British commandos in WW2, and eventually recruited for the SOE.

 

Now watching favourite gangster movie 🎥..., Bugsy Malone.

 

[APEXgunparts]

4 hours ago, rpbcps said:

That is correct; I helped a UK based dealer sort through a lot of Bosnian Surplus weapons a good few years back. Just as he bought them, the laws for exporting to the US changed, and he had to cut the barrels, as well as the receivers. That was more work for him 🙄

 

The machine gun "Barrel Ban" went into effect in 2005, so that would have been 18 years ago.
August 2013 then President Obama effectively banned the import of ALL US Origin surplus, including arms and parts.
Early spring of 2023 Bowman Arms merged with GALLO Inc. and became Bowman Armaments with Bob moving into an imports advisory capacity.
Early July 2023 Serbia announced that they will no longer permit the export of any arms and ammunition until the conflict in the Ukraine has ended.

Richard

Edited July 18, 2023 by APEXgunparts

[rpbcps]

S

32 minutes ago, APEXgunparts said:

The machine gun "Barrel Ban" went into effect in 2005, so that would have been 18 years ago.
August 2013 then President Obama effectively banned the import of ALL US Origin surplus, including arms and parts.
Early spring of 2023 Bowman Arms merged with GALLO Inc. and became Bowman Armaments with Bob moving into an imports advisory capacity.
Early July 2023 Serbia announced that they will no longer permit the export of any arms and ammunition until the conflict in the Ukraine has ended.

Richard

Yes, it would have been around 2005 when the Bosnian deal went through, how time passes.

[maxfaxdude]

6 hours ago, APEXgunparts said:

The machine gun "Barrel Ban" went into effect in 2005, so that would have been 18 years ago.
August 2013 then President Obama effectively banned the import of ALL US Origin surplus, including arms and parts.
Early spring of 2023 Bowman Arms merged with GALLO Inc. and became Bowman Armaments with Bob moving into an imports advisory capacity.
Early July 2023 Serbia announced that they will no longer permit the export of any arms and ammunition until the conflict in the Ukraine has ended.

Richard

I'll bet that "Barrel Ban" really cut down on the "gun crimes"...rolls eyes...

[shadycon]

How many Thompson's have been used in crimes since the 30's? Any idea of what the percentage would be!

[TennesseeTaylor95]

1 hour ago, shadycon said:

How many Thompson's have been used in crimes since the 30's? Any idea of what the percentage would be!

Now that's a statistic that I would like to know.

[Smith69]

Being new to the world of Thompsons,  I found it odd that buttplates are relatively scarce while stocks aren’t,  still haven’t been able to discern why but the pics above should certainly help that situation.   I certainly need one for my M1A and have had no luck so far.

[jim c 351]

Smith69,

Apparently the woodworking shops making stocks far out produced the metal working shops making  buttplates.

Years ago, there was a fellow here in Ohio who owned a boxcar full of new 28 stocks. After he died, his daughter was using these stocks to heat the house.

Jim C

[Rabbit57]

I always thought the barrel ban went into effect because so many people were using the “spare parts” clause of an NFA ruling that allowed “parts kits” to be imported to make sure spare parts were always available for NFA weapons.
a cottage industry sprang up and provided US made receivers and enough parts so that guys could use “parts kits” to assemble complete guns. The law never intended this, it was a loophole. It took the Government a little while, but they closed the loophole. We can still get spare parts, but assembling a complete gun is harder now, not impossible, but harder. 
I built a few FN/FALs and a number of AKs, semi auto of course. I think a lot of history was saved by building these guns, my Rhodesian FN is my best example. 

[signal_4]

If only there was a congressman/woman or organization  bold enough to try to get the Hughes amendment ….amended to allow C&R weapons like the WW2 guns to be registered, tax stamped, and rebuilt by regular people. Not only would it be saving a lot  of history but make things more affordable for people who have spouses that will never justify spending the todays price of a transferable. 🤪😂

Edited July 19, 2023 by signal_4

[CadetMahoney]

    As a military archeologist, I also have access to another forgotten lend- lease stash, in another location.
Some of my finds can be recovered, some are too far gone.
    See example if attached photos of some drum magazines I recovered recently. The bodies and covers are too far gone, but the internal parts were recoverable.
Likewise for Thompson gun parts, usually the internal parts are recoverable…

[Maine-iac]

5 hours ago, CadetMahoney said:

    As a military archeologist, I also have access to another forgotten lend- lease stash, in another location.
Some of my finds can be recovered, some are too far gone.
    See example if attached photos of some drum magazines I recovered recently. The bodies and covers are too far gone, but the internal parts were recoverable.
Likewise for Thompson gun parts, usually the internal parts are recoverable…

Now that's not something you see every day! Are those eligible for import into the US? Heck, that last one you have there looks pretty serviceable, if... "crispy".

[rpbcps]

Something I used to dream about, discovering a hidden Home Guard arms cache of Thompson Transit chests, complete with drum and XX mags... Only thing I 'found', well called out too, was phosphorus grenades / bombs buried by the Home Guard sometime in WW2. They were dug up by construction workers while widening of the main A1M road, running from London to Scotland. I was part of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team called out by the police to dispose of them.

[reconbob]

   Are there additional pictures not posted? All I see is wood, most of which with the exception of the M1928A1 stocks, looks pretty bad. The M1 stocks and forends in the condition shown are not worth what it would costs to ship them. Trigger frames, bolts, sights?

Bob

[SparksNArcs]

The email I got with those photos is just saying they located a bunch of surplus furniture for M1928A1s. The batch they're currently importing apparently have crap wood, so they wanted to have better wood to go with the kits. Supposedly the kits came out of a mine or something and didn't weather very well.

[SparksNArcs]

Well, they're here. And I'm broke from Christmas shopping so I can't buy one, but maybe folks here want to try their luck. Furniture is hit or miss, no guarantee you'll get all intact parts or a complete sight. Interestingly one of the photos shows a Savage M1928A1 with a matching lower, wonder how many kits in there are. They do mention extra receiver pieces will be included to make up for corrosion on ones already in the kit.

https://bowmanarms.com/parts-kits/1928-thompson-parts-kit/

 

 

[brveagle]

I know years from now this may be a good deal but that is one expensive parts kit given how rough the condition is. 

[colt21a]

Who will want it years from now.{ THAT IS A BAD KIT} the old and older days are long gone. quit dreaming on better STUFF or any law to change.

 

LIKE IN THE MOVIE IT'S A OVER JOHNNY!

 

BE GLAD FOR WHATEVER GOOD STUFF YOU BOUGHT 10 15 OR 30 YEARS AGO.THIS IS IT FOR 2023. AND YEARS IN THE FUTURE.  I ALWAYS LIKE BUYING SOMETHING AND RUST, PITS, AND CORROSION COME UP.

[Mike Hammer]

On 12/13/2023 at 2:33 PM, colt21a said:

Who will want it years from now.{ THAT IS A BAD KIT} the old and older days are long gone. quit dreaming on better STUFF or any law to change.

 

LIKE IN THE MOVIE IT'S A OVER JOHNNY!

 

BE GLAD FOR WHATEVER GOOD STUFF YOU BOUGHT 10 15 OR 30 YEARS AGO.THIS IS IT FOR 2023. AND YEARS IN THE FUTURE.  I ALWAYS LIKE BUYING SOMETHING AND RUST, PITS, AND CORROSION COME UP.

Ron, you are correct sir! These sets are pretty much junk. You would have to be pretty desperate for parts to buy this pitted, rusted crap. But I suspect that they will probably sell in this Bizarro world we now find ourselves in. $1500 bucks for a pile of junk, Bowman's probably marked these up more than 1000% for what they paid for them.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Mike Hammer

[TennesseeTaylor95]

It was interesting to hear the guy in the video talking about the condition of these guns mention that there are New York (these were the ones that originally piqued my curiosity) and Bridgeport addressed TSMGs as well as a mix on Lyman 55B and stamped Lyman "L" type rear sights in this batch. Did anyone else see the demilled "Tommy Gun" marked receiver in the video? I'm in the same boat as SparksNArcs in that I'm also tapped out from Christmas shopping, so I'm passing on the kit. Plus it was a bit of a bummer to see the condition as well as the receivers getting demilled over so many markings. 

Edited December 13, 2023 by TennesseeTaylor95
Spelling error.