Those banged up and broken Hudsons!

First off, except for the apparently fractured example, I have no complaints about the condition of the Hudsons, and welcome them into the armory for refurbishment and function checks before offering them for sale.

My observation is that in line with museums and armories, my goal is not to "erase" the history of the gun.  In fact I learned from the NRA Museum display of the most horrendously messed up Thompson I had ever seen.  I had to adjust my thinking that the NRA wasn't presenting perfect examples for my pleasure, they were displaying how the gun showed up, messed up.  According to renowned people in the Thompson community, the gun was fine, further if the gun was ever disabled it was at the hands of a "gunsmith".  Meaning the gun at NRA, may operate.

The MGC 1921s present no problem following armory principles, ie a cleanup with CLP, and the buyer can opt for a gloss or matte finish, or I can send it out with the history still intact.

With the MGCs I only lightly remove the butt plate rust, but otherwise I remove no material.

Well.....the Hudson will definitely have some material removed.....and, why do multiple examples have the cross bolt missing? 80 years after manufacture, USGI Thompsons return to the US with their cross bolt.

My armory is geared to serving the US market and is in no way a "modelgun" outfit, that said, it is certainly interesting to me to learn about how some of the pieces are used in Japan.

MGCs, of which I have approximately 20 examples, include US market and Japan market examples....almost universally defects are storage ie ugly surface corrosion, easily cleaned.  The Hudsons however, do not look like they did service in a damp closet, rather, it looks like they had a service career....doing something.  I now have one documented example of a US user subjecting his Hudson to heavy use.

One way to intrepret my presentation is to wonder if the MGC purchasers got their moneys worth...Cause the Hudson owners sure did.
I came over from the USGI side of Thompsons and blank firing guns....and many dreams died there when the interest could not be pursued, so no one seems to have it easy.

Ok, a few examples.  First we'll see the armory, to prove I'm not calling my living room and "armory".

Then a Hudson from my armory with a "combat" finish, superior IMO to the finish on the auctioned Thompson from Saving Private Ryan.




The benefit of an armory is I need one sample of everything
The Hudson is in a condition where it can be sold as is if someone wants an original battle tested example.  The stock does not quite match the fore grip, but it's not an armory issue...unless someone wants it altered before delivery


Sometimes an armory just has to stack their Thompsons during intake
We have an MGC and a Hudson on top, the Hudson not only looks like it was painted...but subsequent use chipped that same paint off.
Warnings about the frailty of Zemak did not reach this owner, or this user is one bad sucker
I've reviewed hundreds of US re-enactor images of the most gently handled "battlefield worn" Thompsons you can imagine.  There's nothing in the US to compare this piece to.
Of course the cross bolt is missing, and the butt plate also. One way to look at the Hudsons is to serve as examples of armory work.
As a service note, the armory has a library of parts derived from the original Thompson example.  The Japanese set up a cascade of unusually precise duplication of the original USGI platform. This makes service of any derivative Thompson fairly straightforward (*cough* not quite). .

This forum exemplar shows defects, and I can see why pursuing modelgun ownership involves tolerance to parts unavailability.{/size]
In the Japanese market, there were few Hudsons compared to MGCs.
The grand finale, first observation of structural failure in gun advertised in Japan-No I did not buy it!



Bonus image- defect in bolt.  Clear indication of usage seen in wear marks.



I'll post at a later time examples of inter-platform adaptability.

Without an armory as the setting to fix the pictured defects, I would never have acquired modelguns in numbers.

Regarding interchangeability, you might notice a similarity between the Japanese modelgun, airsoft, and it's USGI counterpart.

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