Post picture of your Thompson(21,28,m1,m1a1) submachine gun

Mine is a good example of what Steve mentioned earlier. It appears to have lead a hard life. I don't know its history, but I could easily imagine that it has seen plenty of action in WWII, Korea, and maybe a few 3rd world countries before finding its way to Canada.
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You can see the only visible weld in this picture (below). Weimejack did the deactivation, the bolt does not move, but it is a very neat job compared to some deactivations I have seen.
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I just got this sling in the mail, it is pretty dirty. My question is: should I try to clean it, or leave it as is:
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Given the way the laws are structured for FA in the US, there must be a good number of civvy Thompsons down there - they weren't even controlled until '68 and then they were available new until '86. Hmmmmm.
 
when i was 10 years old or around there in Wpg I remember Conklin shows would set up for the Red River Ex. One of the games in the midway was to shoot the star out of a paper target using a thompson that shot bb's. Anybody know or remember those guns. Can anyboby here enlighten me as to what they were?
 
enefgee said:
Given the way the laws are structured for FA in the US, there must be a good number of civvy Thompsons down there - they weren't even controlled until '68 and then they were available new until '86. Hmmmmm.
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There are. I've pretty much always been able to find one for sale in the US if I looked hard enough. The price, however, is....not what I would call affordable. Also, with that said, there's a lot less available to qualified civilian buyers than there could or should be. The UK, and tons of other friendly countries kept Thompsons that they had in stocks until the 60's, and of course, by that time they couldn't be imported back into the US unless it was going to go to a law enforcement organization, and by the 60's the venerable old Tommy Gun was outdated enough that most LE agencies wouldn't bother.

I'd imagine some of the ones that couldn't go the US post '68 came here - not that that turned out too well for us.
 
pw58 said:
when i was 10 years old or around there in Wpg I remember Conklin shows would set up for the Red River Ex. One of the games in the midway was to shoot the star out of a paper target using a thompson that shot bb's. Anybody know or remember those guns. Can anyboby here enlighten me as to what they were?
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I remember those (1970's - Ray Cammack Shows) and they were hooked up to a compressed air hose. I think it was a new made-somewhat of a resemblance to a Thompson BB gun. They had a brass tube filled with about 100 BB's to fill the internal storage magazine. They had a good kick which reduced accuracy and made a good full auto sound! The spray pattern was all over the page. Very tough to shoot out the red ink stamped star on the piece of heavy paper, or cut the card in half, although the carnival guy could do it perfectly every time as he lured you in for your 50 cents or so!
 
pw58 said:
when i was 10 years old or around there in Wpg I remember Conklin shows would set up for the Red River Ex. One of the games in the midway was to shoot the star out of a paper target using a thompson that shot bb's. Anybody know or remember those guns. Can anyboby here enlighten me as to what they were?
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as far as I know, Calaway Park just outside Calgary has an old time shooting gallery setup and they have exactly what you have mentioned. old thompsons with the cutts compensator powered by air and firing a steady stream of BBs. whenever I could tear myself away from the trout pond at Calaway, I would go to the shooting gallery.
 
I remember going to a "Steam Fair" in England with my dad in about 1970. The steam engines, tractors etc were OK, but the highlight for me was firing a full auto thompson at a target to try and win a prize. It was a very similar setup to the air powered BB guns that I have seen many times in Canada, but this fired .22 gallery short. I WAS HOOKED.
 
pw58 said:
when i was 10 years old or around there in Wpg I remember Conklin shows would set up for the Red River Ex. One of the games in the midway was to shoot the star out of a paper target using a thompson that shot bb's. Anybody know or remember those guns. Can anyboby here enlighten me as to what they were?
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We used to have those at the Royal Easter Show as well. Was the highlight of the show!
 
While I promise to get a picture up soon, I have a question about my M1A1. I believe it was manufactured by Savage, and it has a flat metal band around the end of fore stock and barrel. Do any of you Thompson gurus know of a specific reason this was added, or by who? It is definitely not a bubba addition.
 
myenfield said:
While I promise to get a picture up soon, I have a question about my M1A1. I believe it was manufactured by Savage, and it has a flat metal band around the end of fore stock and barrel. Do any of you Thompson gurus know of a specific reason this was added, or by who? It is definitely not a bubba addition.
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What you have described is a clamp made to reinforce the riveted foregrip mount that is usually found on the M1A1 Thompsons. The foregrip mount on the 28's and M1 where milled and much stronger. The riveted mounts did not hold up well and where prone to breaking so the clamp was developed to hold it all together. They were usually added in the field and, as you note, it is not a bubba addition.
 
Magnum PI said:
What you have described is a clamp made to reinforce the riveted foregrip mount that is usually found on the M1A1 Thompsons. The foregrip mount on the 28's and M1 where milled and much stronger. The riveted mounts did not hold up well and where prone to breaking so the clamp was developed to hold it all together. They were usually added in the field and, as you note, it is not a bubba addition.
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Were the bands used strictly by the US? Was there a particular period where they came into use (WWII, Korea, etc.)? By the way, here are some photos of my M1A1 and some close ups of the bands.

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The forend bands were added also by both the Canadians and British. Years ago I bought a box of them at a surplus store and it took me a while to figure out what the h*ll they were. The box had a Canadian 25 COD number on it.
 
I would be tickled if my M1A1 was Canadian or British issued. Unfortunately I don't know much about these beasts. Other than something obvious like a "C" broad arrow or broad arrow, would there be any other indicators of Commonwealth issue?
 
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