Cast bullets in a real Thompson

[straphanger]

I'm in the process of getting a real full auto 1921 Thompson. Question is has anyone run cast bullets through one? I can cast a lot of 34 H&G round nose cheap and would like to go that way.

As others have commented, no issues at all w cast in Thompsons. RN, H&G 68, all work w normal loads in 28s and M1s. The only problem you will run into is lead accumulation in the Cutts compensator if so equipped. My personal solution is to use "witches brew" (50/50 white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide) in a plastic cup and stand the stripped bbld receiver up with the comp submerged for about a half hour to remove the lead. I am sure the liquid residue in the cup when done is toxic . Dispose carefully. This has not harmed the finish on my 28 military Thompson compensator. The original finish on a 21 Colt Thompson, however, was "charcoal blue" and may react differently. Colt Thompsons are collector guns unless refinished, a few percent finish loss is big bucks in value.


My final comment is that the real risk of shooting cast bullets in a full auto is that of squib loads and double charges especially if they are reloads from a progressive press. If you are shooting an original 21 w an original barrel, the risk of wrecking the barrel from a reload mistake may not be worth the value saved v shooting Win white box!

Have fun and good luck!

[Outpost75]

One of the things we've always done is rig a dental mirror and penlight over the bullet seating station to permit easy, 100% visual inspection for correct powder fill of every charged case before inserting a bullet onto it. These days with tiny single AAA LED lights being readily available and inexpensive, I really don't see why Dillon and others don't set up their machines from the factory with this.

[straphanger]

One of the things we've always done is rig a dental mirror and penlight over the bullet seating station to permit easy, 100% visual inspection for correct powder fill of every charged case before inserting a bullet onto it. These days with tiny single AAA LED lights being readily available and inexpensive, I really don't see why Dillon and others don't set up their machines from the factory with this.

Clever technique and a good suggestion I would also like to see Dillon incorporate. I take similar precaution, but my technique is more crude. I just position a flex lamp to shine on the bullet load station and make it a point to actively look at the powder level before I place the bullet. So far so good!

As a practical matter, I saw a buddy fire a double charge in a Numrich M1a1 in full auto about 25 years ago. Loud bang and blew the end off the bolt, but didn't hurt anything else on the gun. Thompsons are way sturdy (even the post war ones) for the power of the round even w a double charge. I was told by an expert (Kent Lomont) that if it would have been a WW2 military bolt it wouldn't have been damaged. My friend replaced the damaged bolt w a WW2 Savage...

In the war story category, I recall seeing a picture of a sectioned Thompson bbl pulled off by ordnance in WW2 with around 6 bullets stacked up in the barrel...wonder when in the heat of battle that the shooter realized there was a problem! Must have been a really busy day at the front!

[JMax]

I have had a number of Thompson's over the years and had to sell them when my two sons went to college and my wife went back to school to get her masters all of them at the same time. But the decade or two before I needed to sell them we would go out and shoot buckets of cast reloads through them. I used an old H&G 292 mold (230 gr TC) on top of 5.2 gr of WW231or an H&G 68 on top of 5.7 gr of 231 w/o trouble. I still have a photo of my wife 8 months pregnant with my oldest son with a stream of brass in the air, giant grin as she emptied the 50 round drum. Eldest son is in his mid 30s now and has fond memories of playing with Tommy.

[43PU]

Mine gets a diet of lee 45 225 powder coated over 6 grn of unique sized to 453.