Thompson (MGC???)

***Originally posted by robie-1 ***




Morning everyone from sunnny California-out here in the desert. I'd like to ask a question (newbee here) thats prob. been asked 100 times but here goes. I would very much like to order a Thompson from Model Guns Co. UK. I have talked to "Jay" several times about this gun, extra caps, cartridges but I'm still up in the air about the customs thing. Jay has told me he sends his products to the US all the time with no prob. but his site doesn't show any red paint on the barrel tip or a flame red plug in the end of the barrel. I'm also concerned about the lettering on the sides being legal (read somewhere about this) Another concern is the shipping of the "caps" as the united states post office wont ship caps & I believe with the gun come a box of caps & I want to order more. I ask because I really hate to send that large amount of money only to have my package confiscated by the customs guys. I plan to ask Jay about this before I send the money but it'll be the end of next week before that happens & finding your great web fourm here thought I'd drop it on ya. 1 more question if I may. I also like the Mac-11 full set he has & thinking of it to but heard it may have firing problems???? Hows the Thompson for reliable firing?? I'm learning more all the time but the more I read the more I have to learn about things like "paper caps" "plastic caps" "o-rings in the cartridges" Jay has some really nice "real look alike" cartridges I may also get a few of. Thanks for all your time. Now that I found your site I'll be here alot reading up on things----Robie-1

***Originally posted by madmike ***




Hello and welcome to the forums!
As I live in Germany I am not the one to help you much either.
But Mark lives in the USA and has lots of modelguns and caps, mostly imported without problems. I expect him to answer your questions soon. Claymore lives in the UK and has bought quite a lot modelguns from Jason at modelguns.co.uk, so he can tell you about that. Anyway the prices there are rather high, perhaps you could get that Tommy cheaper from HK or Japan.

***Originally posted by mark ***




Hi Robie-1,

Welcome to the forums!

First, You are of course, in California where these modern replicas are unfortunately-illegal via state law.

Second, the MGC Thompson does not have any protected trademarks on it to worry about so customs won't confiscate it for those reasons however, the orange muzzlemarkings/muzzle plug are required by federal law and must be present or it will be confiscated..

Third,As for the caps, yes, they are prohibited by USPS as they are an explosive and cannot be mailed by the USPS system. UPS may ship them but that will have to be looked into and it may cost lots of money.

The later MGC Mac-11's are great and they are relieable if the cartridges are loaded correctly although, they can be a pain at times, they still work great!

The MGC Thompson is very relieable as long as you load it and maintain it correctly i have fired my MGC Thompson for a long time now and i must have fired at least 500-800 caps through it..The "real look" .45 cartridges are meant for the 1911 Goverment models and not really for the Thompson but they may work (i don't have any to try myself)

There is allot of information for you to learn in these forums on the modelguns and accessories....