I hate to break it to you, you're definitely not gonna' get him one in Canada
Well that may not be entirely true. My partner and I have just finished designing a kit for a 10/22 that will turn it into a .22 10/22 Thompson M1A semi auto machine gun. We will be building the prototype over the next month and a half. The intent is to drop a highly detailed CNC machined fake receiver over top of the 10/22. It will require the owner to remove the factory stock and then drop the new fake reciever over top of the 10/22 receiver. The two factory pins that hold the reciever and trigger group together will be replaced with longer pins that we will supply. Those two pins will then not only hold the trigger group/recevier together but also keep the new fake reciever attached to the 10/22. The kit will include the new reciever and trigger guard, all wood components and modified stick mags that will hide the Ruger factory mag. As a matter of fact, the wood furniture may actually be original Thomson stocks.
We have been advised by the RCMP that this kit will not contravene any laws nor will it change the non-restricted classification of the Ruger 10/22. No modifications to the 10/22 will be required and you will be able to change back to its original configuration with no problems.
From the left side of the gun, you will not be able to tell it is a Ruger 10/22 except for a small window in the receiver that allows the Rugers serial number to be displayed. On the right side will you notice a small ejection port that we need to provide. Otherwise it should be vitually identical to the Thompson. Maybe a tad lighter as we are building the prototype from aluminum although steel is my preference when we start producing them. We are also planning on using the Thompsons cocking knob to operated the Ruger bolt. There will also be several options for sights ranging from original Thompson sights to predrilled and tapped mounting holes for a small picatinny rail for mounting a variety of modern sights (red dots, small scopes etc.).
Once the prototype has been field tested we will be producing kits hopefully by the summer. We haven't established pricing yet but I expect it will be more than a Krinker Plinker kit since the quality of the product will be that of a real Thompson.
As soon as the prototype has passed our testing, our web site will be up and I will be posting pictures and trying to get a feel for how many people might be interested for our first production run.
Our goal was not to create something that looks similar to a Thompson but to produce an almost identical reproduction and since we will only deviate a little bit from the original Thompson, it should prove to be a great little kit that is as authentic as is possible.
