Weapontech
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- On my way to Hell in a handbasket
Well, I have been accused of being a little OCD at times, especially when it comes to wanting a firearm to look as close to what you are trying to replicate as possible.
So when Mr AR15 brought out his M1A1 Trooper SMG kit some years ago, I knew I had to have one. In my opinion, it is by far the best single 10/22 kit that has ever adorned the Ruger 10/22 rifle. Sadly, it is no longer available.
After acquiring the kit some time ago, I have spent a number of sittings in the shop to get it to look even more like an original Auto Ordnance Thompson .22 variant.
I added a contoured steel butt-plate and a couple of other simple items including some original M1A1 mags attached to Ruger 10 rd rotary mags and original M1A1 sling swivels.
I also fabricated a barrel using a .22 blank (thanks Mitch!) and added a (remember I'm OCD) somewhat of a reasonable profile front sight. If you look at the pic closely, you will see that my tapering expertise on the barrel fell to my love of Tromba tequila on that particular day along with a finicky lathe.
My barrel is too thin; original Thompson M1A1 barrels were quite thick at the breech end, with a very distinctive bell-like taper.
The main issue with Thompson kits for the 10/22 is that in replicating the original barrel profile and attachement for the fore-stock, they have ended-up being very flimsy. Although the original Thompson M1/M1A1 used an identical attachment method, the original materials used were far superior in strength. In the case of the 10/22 Thompson kits that I've seen, if you attach a sling swivel and sling to the front grip and actually use the sling by tossing it over your shoulder - it will bend the attaching metal strap and pull the wood away from the barrel - not so good.
Anyways - I decided some time ago that I hated the fk'ing barrel and sight that I made, and decided to change it to something that is more like the original. I toyed with the idea of boring out an original M1A1 barrel and making an insert - but the idea of wrecking original Thompson hardware didn't sit well.
As circumstances would have it, the neighbor kid was tossing out his (God forbid....) airsoft M1A1 Thompson that he had crushed under his moms' SUV the summer before. (Ya they are wierd neighbours for sure - but lets get on with it). But the barrel on the thing was intact, Hmmmm....I tossed it in the parts bin for a future looksee.
After I tore the POS airsoft thing apart a few weeks later, I was a little inspired. Despite the fact that the barrel is pot-metal and would need some extensive mods, it is accurate to the scale of the originals. On top of that, I had managed to acquire an original M1A1 foregrip that required the 3-point gripmount that matched the one on the pot-metal barrel jacket. Although I hate to use anything airsquish on a real firearm, I couldn't think of a cheaper alternative that actually resolved all of the issues I was trying to fix.
The rest is history in a few pics. I tapered my original barrel blank down to an antenna shape that would fit inside the pot metal barrel body perfectly. After everything was aligned up - I used Acra-Glass bedding compound to bond the insert to the inside of the barrel body.
I made some mods to attach the new barrel assembly to the rifle, and also modified the fore-grip to accept a larger fastening screw and an under-plate to hide some of the exposed 10/22 guts.
The final product in a couple of pics -
I think it turned out reasonably well......
Now, if I could just get my hands on a replacement cocking handle that resembled the original, I'd be in business.
So when Mr AR15 brought out his M1A1 Trooper SMG kit some years ago, I knew I had to have one. In my opinion, it is by far the best single 10/22 kit that has ever adorned the Ruger 10/22 rifle. Sadly, it is no longer available.
After acquiring the kit some time ago, I have spent a number of sittings in the shop to get it to look even more like an original Auto Ordnance Thompson .22 variant.
I added a contoured steel butt-plate and a couple of other simple items including some original M1A1 mags attached to Ruger 10 rd rotary mags and original M1A1 sling swivels.
I also fabricated a barrel using a .22 blank (thanks Mitch!) and added a (remember I'm OCD) somewhat of a reasonable profile front sight. If you look at the pic closely, you will see that my tapering expertise on the barrel fell to my love of Tromba tequila on that particular day along with a finicky lathe.
My barrel is too thin; original Thompson M1A1 barrels were quite thick at the breech end, with a very distinctive bell-like taper.
The main issue with Thompson kits for the 10/22 is that in replicating the original barrel profile and attachement for the fore-stock, they have ended-up being very flimsy. Although the original Thompson M1/M1A1 used an identical attachment method, the original materials used were far superior in strength. In the case of the 10/22 Thompson kits that I've seen, if you attach a sling swivel and sling to the front grip and actually use the sling by tossing it over your shoulder - it will bend the attaching metal strap and pull the wood away from the barrel - not so good.
Anyways - I decided some time ago that I hated the fk'ing barrel and sight that I made, and decided to change it to something that is more like the original. I toyed with the idea of boring out an original M1A1 barrel and making an insert - but the idea of wrecking original Thompson hardware didn't sit well.
As circumstances would have it, the neighbor kid was tossing out his (God forbid....) airsoft M1A1 Thompson that he had crushed under his moms' SUV the summer before. (Ya they are wierd neighbours for sure - but lets get on with it). But the barrel on the thing was intact, Hmmmm....I tossed it in the parts bin for a future looksee.
After I tore the POS airsoft thing apart a few weeks later, I was a little inspired. Despite the fact that the barrel is pot-metal and would need some extensive mods, it is accurate to the scale of the originals. On top of that, I had managed to acquire an original M1A1 foregrip that required the 3-point gripmount that matched the one on the pot-metal barrel jacket. Although I hate to use anything airsquish on a real firearm, I couldn't think of a cheaper alternative that actually resolved all of the issues I was trying to fix.
The rest is history in a few pics. I tapered my original barrel blank down to an antenna shape that would fit inside the pot metal barrel body perfectly. After everything was aligned up - I used Acra-Glass bedding compound to bond the insert to the inside of the barrel body.
I made some mods to attach the new barrel assembly to the rifle, and also modified the fore-grip to accept a larger fastening screw and an under-plate to hide some of the exposed 10/22 guts.
The final product in a couple of pics -
I think it turned out reasonably well......
Now, if I could just get my hands on a replacement cocking handle that resembled the original, I'd be in business.
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(I'm kidding)) modifications and DIY fabrication. And it turned out great! The charging handle would probably be a piece of cake, unless I'm somehow mistaken...?
