Thompson Machine Gun

it's not the plastic that breaks but an alloy mounting bracket under the barrel , only the TM version is affected as far as i remember . the cyma or re brand version's come out of the box at about 400fps + so need a downgrade added to the price.

I've got a King Arms M1A1 and have got some great performance out of it over the past year. Mind you it was my first gun so I only have a small reference pool of hired M4's and G36's and my friend's Sten to compare it to! The 'normal' version with wood-effect plastic and a plastic lower receiver is still very solid: only the pistol grip tends to creak as there is a lot of weight focused on it. Though I suffered the barrel break problem from sling usage early last summer, but after rather unsubtly fully sealing the outer barrel on with epoxy I haven't had any problems since (maybe it will resurface in the long term however).

I got mine downgraded though it settled into a perhaps lower than intended 280 FPS, however it is very accurate and has a good rate of fire in a pinch.

a lot of us imported the ka fullmetal and wood from uncompany for about £210 i think and they are super , just redo the wood a bit , but there is a part in it that seems to be made of cheese so after a bit of use a lot of folks are finding they lose single shot and ka wont supply the part , we are looking at having some made (thankfully mine has not gone yet , but i know 4-5 folks that theirs has)

I have one or two guns, okay fifty(ish). Just under half are AEGs and six are Tokyo Marui. All have been down to component parts. There is no doubt that technically the TMs are some of the best constructed and accurate on the market - my normal skirmish gun is a venerable SIG 552 albeit fairly well modded. The King Arms full metal, full wood M1A1 though is one of the best out of the box I've used. You do need to mod or change the spring to get it to UK spec but it's easy to work on.
I would say though that if you want to weather the wood I found it's an all or nothing deal - either leave it alone or sand the whole thing down, walnut stain it and then linseed. Looked so good I couldn't bring myself to knock lumps out of it for that genuine at the front look It's also a very easy gun to fit a DIY blow back to as well.

KA for me.
I have plastic stock one,only thing I don`t like is the creaky pistol grip,but it was cheap enough,wood kit would be nice if I could find one.
Mines fitted with a Madbull black 6.03 barrel,makes hell of a difference.

I have just bought the KA Thompson M1928. I know its use in WW2 was quite limited but it was used by the US and British and to be honest it looks a more comfortable weapon to shoulder than the M1A1 version. I'm also having it downgraded and I'm hoping for a 330fps if possible. Anyway it looks like a real monster of a weapon and assuming that it arrives as promised on Saturday, I'm looking forward to Sunday's skirmish in Otley with it!

Nice! Is it their new 1928 with EBB? I've always liked that version of the Thompson alot. The M1A1 is quite overrespresented in WW2 airsoft, although I understand why that is.
If you swap out the foregrip for a horizontal one you'd end up with a M1928A1 (love that gun) which was relatively common. Especially with US troops.

just got an m1928 KA EBB. Yes the cocking handle is up top as needed. Off to skirmish tomorrow after having it downgraded from 450fps!

Hi guys, I'm looking to buy an M1A1 Thompson when I get paid at the end of the month, I've got a couple of questions myself (thought it would be easier to just post here then start a new thread).

The KA seems to be getting the vote here, but of the 3 Marui's I own (2 AEG's and 1 GBB 1911), I have never been let down by any of them performance-wise. The low out-of-box FPS does not bother me, though I can't say I'm much of a fan of their externals. Would it still be worth getting the TM based on personal preference, or would you say just ignore it full stop and get the wood construction KA instead? Pretty silly question I know, I'm just biased towards TM I think.

My other question is does anybody know what the compatibility of KA and TM hi-cap/mid-cap Thompson magazines is (not the drum-style ones, although I am tempted to get one drum hi-cap)? As in do both brands work in both guns or do the KA mags only kit in the KA gun and vice versa. The majority of retailers I've researched seem to be out of stock on either brand of mag, at least on UK sites anyway. It looks like getting some may be a chore.

Cheers,
Adam

The KA Thompson comes out a little hot out of the box at ~370fps. Considering the common limit for AEGs is 350, it'll need a bit of alteration to make it fit.

General consensus however is that the KA has higher quality internals, can be made to be top end (as opposed to low end) of FPS and who doesn't love a real wood kit, right?

When I get round to it, modding the KA Thompson is what I'm going to end up doing.

Both brand stick mags should work in either gun. I've used a high cap TM in my KA Thompson for a long time with no problems. That said, about 3-4 months since my post earlier in here, its trigger mechanism broke and was unable to be fixed or replaced by my local repair shop. So it lasted about 1.5 years, granted with some heavy open day use, so I don't know how that bodes for KA reliability in the long term. When I eventually get to replacing it, I'll still go KA I think, simply due to availability and price.

Thanks for the swift response guys. I will be looking out for a KA in the new year.