Used and abused Model of 1928

[rpbcps]

This old model of 1928 has just come up for sale in the UK, obviously deactivated.

Wonder where this one has been hiding, and someone will their work cut out, cleaning it up.

[rpbcps]

Looking at S- 52127, leaves me curious. This example, has a matching receiver and trigger frame, so why would it have a magazine catch with a tooling hole?

Information I have on file was that:

“S-71263 has the flat ejector, down diamond safety and selector, and a magazine catch without the tooling hole .  S-93258 has the same, except it has the magazine catch with a tooling hole. So somewhere in between, that feature changed”.   

So, S-52127 must have had its magazine catch changed, during its lifetime.

[inertord]

Most curious is the screw in the front grip mount resting bar 

[TSMG28]

Not only has the magazine catch been replaced, several other parts also appear to be replaced, including the safety and all of the wood.  The buttstock has the typical British mods (swivel relocation and reinforcing screws), and I think I can see an anchor on the front under the slide, which would mean it is a Colt stock.  Closer inspection would need to confirm this.  The rear grip has either been significantly sanded, and/or is of a very different vintage from the gun.  The vertical foregrip is wrong in several aspects, including: the squared-off back, additionally notched for some reason (placed too far back on the grip mount); the front profile, which is severely altered; and the overall appearance.  It looks like this may be what we call the slab-side grip common on WH and Kahr guns.  Again, closer examination would be required to fully understand what is going on with the foregrip.

The overall finish on the magazine catch and safety suggest that they may have been with this gun for awhile, so who knows when or why they were changed.

[TSMG28]

Inertord,

I suspect the screw at the back of the grip mount may be related to the strange foregrip.  It is reminiscent of the quick-change barrel modification used by some folks in the U.S.  It may be necessary to retain the grip mount for whatever changes have been made to accommodate the vertical foregrip.

FWIW...

[rpbcps]

Lots of questions, thankyou both for your comments and Roger, for your eagle eyes in spotting that list of items. 

Early old specification deactivactions in the UK are often found with bits on them changed for various reasons by previous owners or dealers. The new specification deactivations have the receiver welded to the trigger frame; so they can not be stripped, have less items that can be changed. Usual the wood furniture. A lot of owners like their Thompsons to have vertical foregrips, to give it the traditional 'Tommy gun' look. So it is not uncommon to find them added and changed, over the years. 

On this example, looking at the corrosion, it appears it has spent some time with the right hand side in water. That being the case the wood furniture may have rotted. Hence mismatched furniture being added by a dealer / collector after they acquired it? Just a thought.

The screw in front grip mount resting bar, I wonder if it is part of the early deactivation process to block the chamber. Back then a lot of the deactivation process was simple things, which a determined person, with limited skills, could fix and 'reactivate' the weapon.  Hence the laws and standards became more stricter from 1995.

Edited January 17 by rpbcps
Typo

[Frankford]

It looks like it's been thru a war.

[rpbcps]

3 hours ago, Frankford said:

It looks like it's been thru a war.

The majority of those early Model of 1928s were pushed straight into service as soon as they arrived in the UK, shipped to all theatres of the war that British and Commonwealth forces fought in. So we don't come across many pristine Model of 1928's this side of the Atlantic, but this one has suffered from bad storage, as well as war use during its life time.

Reminds me of many recovered Irish Republican Thompsons, and other weapons, which spent more time under the ground than above it.

A good read on the Thompsons supplied and used by the British, and an example of an Irish Republican 3-digit serial number Model of 1921 is shown, in Tom Davis's Great Britain - The Tommy Gun Story. A book I'd recommend and I often refer to, as a good reference on the subject.

[TD.]

S-52127 is definitely an old war horse. The stories it could tell. Thank you for sharing.

I agree about the safety lever and magazine catch. I believe the vertical fore grip is a SILE reproduction fore grip.  The ejector is the early milled type and the actuator is knurled so both correct for this time period. While undiscernible, the right side receiver should have the New York address. I also believe it should have a Type 2 compensator. The GEG inspector mark on the left side receiver is still visible. I believe I see where the original sling swivel location cut out at the bottom of the butt stock has been filled with a wooden plug - excellent workmanship.

S-52127 is a Cash & Carry British Ministry of Supply (MoS) purchase that was probably manufactured around December 1940. I would buy S-52127 for a display piece if I could get approval to import it into the USA. 

[rpbcps]

Yesterday, I tried to get more info. and photos of S-52127, but it has already been sold.