My finished Thompson SBR

I've had my Auto-Ordnance M1 Thompson .45acp since the late 90s. Always loved them and wanted one and got one back quite some years ago. Actually it was a gift from my Dad who isn't around anymore. Too bad too because he would have been as tickled with this as I am now. It always been one of my prize possessions but it ALWAYS looked wrong to me with the goofy 16" barrel instead of the WWII style 10.5". It just really needed this face lift.

I applied for the tax stamp back in March and it took a long six months to finally get it. Once I had that in my hands I had to wait to find a weekend to get down to my buddy's house as he is a completely competant gunsmith in his own right and he wanted to help me do the work, but finding the right weekend with real life and all just took a bit. Well we got to working on it this weekend and this is the final product of our labor. I completely LOVE it now. It looks amazing and finally looks the way it's supposed to. It's really like having a whole new gun. I hope you all like it. There is just something iconic and amazing about the old Tommy gun.

Thanks guys.

In regards to the drum, the M1 model doesn't take drums, only stick mags for me.

It really turned out nice. We actually shortened the factory barrel instead of buying a replacement barrel and dealing with getting the old one off. Once the barrel was cut and milled we put the replacement sight on, pinned it, engraved my name and town according to ATF requirments and then blued everything that needed it. Took all in all about five hours total.

Shoots exactly the same too, I really didn't notice much difference at all between the old length and the new. It does handle a bit different though with the shorter barrel, that I could feel. Simply love it.

Figured I'd throw in a "Before" pic, just for fun and comparison.




"After"