Deactivated Thompson

[KradSPam]

Hi guys, I recently acquired this Thompson M1 & would appreciate your opinions. I'm a helmet guy mostly but I've always dabbled in De-acs. From what I know it's a lend lease example that was never used by the Russians.

It is a recent UK deactivated so no moving parts, you can only change the magazine on it. Still, it looks nice on the wall

What would the value be in this condition?

[sneakerd]

Terrible waste of a classic American streetsweeper.

[MikeP]

A lot of these were imported sawed pieces in new condition as the Russians did not care for them.

I think there should be a special section for dead molested weapons where only the interested should have to look at them.

[Darrell]

Better de-activated than chopped up and destroyed.

[Arran]

Better de-activated than chopped up and destroyed.

I totally agree. It still is what it is. Is a non-flying Sopwith Camel in a museum any less an historic aircraft because it doesn't fly? And conversely, would a collector ever consider firing an early European wheel-lock? Of course not- ability to fire does not a firearm make. That said, if I was in possession of a rare firearm (say, a Borchardt pistol in its case , would I turn it in to be de-activated? Hell no!

[KradSPam]

Well, quite the polar debate.

It should be pointed out that In the UK there is almost no other way for collectors to handle weapons like this, aside from deactivation.


I consider it a sleeping old soldier, rather than a "dead, molested" item. I do however agree that there ought to be a section for dewat weapons.

[james m]

I will try to answer this as best I can from the American gun collector point of view.
Even though your Thompson is de-activated to your Countries specification it would be illegal to own here in this configuration. Our requirements are that the receiver be torch cut into multiple pieces ito make re-activation unlikely. At that point it is no longer considered a firearm.
We do have the following options:
1. Spend around $15,000 for a live Thompson in those States where ownership is permitted.
2. Built a display Thompson from a parts kit on to a replica receiver.
These generally come in two comfigurations:
A. Build it with a surplus parts kit on to a dummy solid aluminum receiver.
An example such as this would be in the $1,000 range retail
B. Build it with a surplus parts kit on to a dummy 80% machined receiver.
An example such as the one I own would be in the $1500 range(see below).

The extra expenditure for a steel receiver was worth it to me because you have to actually pick the gun up to tell it's just a display example.

This is a bit apples to oranges since your example is a M1A1 and mine is a 1928 model.
Prices on these as kits have been going up as our BATFE will no longer permit the importation of kits with usable barrels.
I hope this answers your question to a degree.
Jim