Hudson M1A1 Thompson

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help. I've got a Hudson M1A1 Thompson that won't feed rounds. It picks up the first and jams it above the firing pin. The zinc bolt is pretty beaten but looks straight enough, the firing pin is perfectly straight also.
My thoughts are possibly a magazine feed issue or the bolt.

I've tried finding a steel bolt but they are impossible to find.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hello Martin,

The last Hudson M1A1s and other models also, did have very poor, weak zinc bolts. I remember mine, bought new, broke the cartridge feed lugs within 5 or 6 shots.
All zinc alloy bolts will wear out eventually, too soon in all honesty. Steel bolts cannot be bought "off the shelf" from any dealer or website. Every steel bolt you'll see within this Forum's articles will have been home made.

Your feeding issues could be the worn bolt not picking up the first cartridge correctly due to it's beaten up state. Maybe the cartridges are beaten up? If the hole in the carts' nose is beaten up it won't help it line up with the Detonator pin in the chamber.

Have you tried putting one cartridge in the magazine and feeding it into the chamber slowly by holding the charging handle and controlling the speed which it travels forwards?
Are you using Hudson magazines? They are different to MGC and genuine mags. 
Maybe the mag' isn't sitting in the well correctly.

This isn't a comprehensive list of feeding issues, just some possibilities and things to try.
Please keep us informed as to your progress and findings.

I have seen the fairly blunt nose of the Hudson/MGC carts catching the chamber lip at the top.

The other issue is the cart tip hole catching the detpin.

A couple of solution's.

1. File the chamber lip
2. chamfer the detpin tip
3. Open out the cart tip hole by 0.5mm
4. Change to another cart. CAW .45 if you can find them