Well it's finally finished. 
Actually that's not entirely true as I still want to have some engraving done on the sides of the receiver, something that a real Thompson would have and I still need to put a sight on it. Not sure what kind of a sight I'm going to use but I'm not making it that's for sure 
. I may stick a little redot inside the site enclosure so you really won't see it all that much and it would work quite nicely.
So basically this is a 1.5" x 1.5" x 13" hunk of aluminum. The inside has been inletted to the outside dimensions of the receiver. It slips right in and then I use the pins that normally hold the trigger assembly to the Ruger receiver but I made longer ones that also go through the dummy receiver. The buffer pin has a hole on the left side to push it all the way into the Ruger receiver. There is a smaller hole on the right side so you can use a small diameter punch to push it out. The entire trigger assembly has a plate covering both sides and I do plan to add some of the fine detailing to both sides that you would normally see on the Thompson but there's no hurry to add that at the moment. I also want to have a small lever on the right side by the trigger to operate the "hold open" for the bolt. I have the auto bolt release so I don't need to worry about releasing the bolt. Speaking of which , I added a large knob to it more in keeping with the real thing.
The mag release is just an extended lever or knob, whichever you want to call it, that sticks out from under the trigger assembly. It makes mag changes very easy. The magazine is a standard 30 round Thompson stick mag that has a Ruger magazine epoxied to the end of it. I had to cut and inch off of the Thompson mag so I had an even surface to fix to the Ruger mag too. Real Thompson magazines have a dovetail that runs along its entire length. It slips into the front of the trigger to hold it from moving around because its so long and unwieldly. I made a small vertical grove in the front of my trigger assembly that holds the dovetail on the Thompson mag in place almost like the real one. It would be too easy to snap that mag off if you hit it on something so this just gives it s bit more support just in case.
The wood, the butt stock and fore grip are WWII surplus stocks. They needed some major cleaning but turned out ok and they were pretty cheap. I had to make the pistol grip from some walnut and then drill it out for a 1/4-20 cap screw to hold it in place. Some after though tells me I should have been more conscious of how it fit togerther with the trigger guard but I will remedy that when I build my next one. Yes there will be a next one as this was my "Generation One" to figure out what works and how things fit together. Its by no means perfect but I'm very pleased with it as it is and if I don't build a Gen 2 I will be quite content with I have now in front of me.
My last little detail was the flash hider and it was a fun little project on the lathe. It looks almost identical to the real thing.
So there you go folks. I've built a 1022 1917 water cooled machine gun,
a 1022 M1 Carbine
and now a M1A Thompson SMG all over the past 13 months. So I'm going to take a break now and shoot my new Sharps 45-70 Sniper for a while. After that I may build a second generation Thompson or maybe look for another 1022 project...
How about an MG-42 like the picture below
Thanks to all for looking. I hope you enjoyed the pics.
BTW, from across the range do you think my Thompson would cause ... "Hey Fred, that big guy with the beard... is that a real Thompson he's got over there..."
Actually that's not entirely true as I still want to have some engraving done on the sides of the receiver, something that a real Thompson would have and I still need to put a sight on it. Not sure what kind of a sight I'm going to use but I'm not making it that's for sure . I may stick a little redot inside the site enclosure so you really won't see it all that much and it would work quite nicely.
So basically this is a 1.5" x 1.5" x 13" hunk of aluminum. The inside has been inletted to the outside dimensions of the receiver. It slips right in and then I use the pins that normally hold the trigger assembly to the Ruger receiver but I made longer ones that also go through the dummy receiver. The buffer pin has a hole on the left side to push it all the way into the Ruger receiver. There is a smaller hole on the right side so you can use a small diameter punch to push it out. The entire trigger assembly has a plate covering both sides and I do plan to add some of the fine detailing to both sides that you would normally see on the Thompson but there's no hurry to add that at the moment. I also want to have a small lever on the right side by the trigger to operate the "hold open" for the bolt. I have the auto bolt release so I don't need to worry about releasing the bolt. Speaking of which , I added a large knob to it more in keeping with the real thing.
The mag release is just an extended lever or knob, whichever you want to call it, that sticks out from under the trigger assembly. It makes mag changes very easy. The magazine is a standard 30 round Thompson stick mag that has a Ruger magazine epoxied to the end of it. I had to cut and inch off of the Thompson mag so I had an even surface to fix to the Ruger mag too. Real Thompson magazines have a dovetail that runs along its entire length. It slips into the front of the trigger to hold it from moving around because its so long and unwieldly. I made a small vertical grove in the front of my trigger assembly that holds the dovetail on the Thompson mag in place almost like the real one. It would be too easy to snap that mag off if you hit it on something so this just gives it s bit more support just in case.
The wood, the butt stock and fore grip are WWII surplus stocks. They needed some major cleaning but turned out ok and they were pretty cheap. I had to make the pistol grip from some walnut and then drill it out for a 1/4-20 cap screw to hold it in place. Some after though tells me I should have been more conscious of how it fit togerther with the trigger guard but I will remedy that when I build my next one. Yes there will be a next one as this was my "Generation One" to figure out what works and how things fit together. Its by no means perfect but I'm very pleased with it as it is and if I don't build a Gen 2 I will be quite content with I have now in front of me.
My last little detail was the flash hider and it was a fun little project on the lathe. It looks almost identical to the real thing.
So there you go folks. I've built a 1022 1917 water cooled machine gun,
a 1022 M1 Carbine
and now a M1A Thompson SMG all over the past 13 months. So I'm going to take a break now and shoot my new Sharps 45-70 Sniper for a while. After that I may build a second generation Thompson or maybe look for another 1022 project...
How about an MG-42 like the picture below
Thanks to all for looking. I hope you enjoyed the pics.
BTW, from across the range do you think my Thompson would cause ... "Hey Fred, that big guy with the beard... is that a real Thompson he's got over there..."
