Post by schmitty on Jan 10, 2007 22:40:50 GMT -5
Most people who own (or know someone who does) The Marui M1a1 Thompson AEG are very familiar with the broken barrel or fore grip problem. Basically the connection between the barrel and receiver is very weak. And the fore grip is also prone to break off especially if a sling is used.
I recently acquired a broken Thompson from Hellmutt and needed to fix it for someone to use at our upcoming "Long Winter" game. I still had a non broken Upper receiver and barrel from my old M1a1 (my first airsoft gun that I used for a year without it breaking
) that was converted to an M1928. But I decided I better figure out a way to strengthen it before I loan it to someone. Here's a couple very easy ideas I came up with that can be used to strengthen a non broken gun or even repair a broken one.
First disassemble the gun. Put the lower receiver with gearbox off to one side and remove the barrel. Using a piece of 1/2" electrical conduit I JB welded it into the receiver. The piece was a total of about 75mm. It was a very tight fit and I actually pounded it into the receiver. Leave the piece long to begin with then once it is pounded and glued in cut it so that 47mm extends from the receivers extending tube. Some brands of electrical conduit my vary in outside diameter so it would be a good idea to take the receiver with you to the hardware store and check. If it's too tight you can belt sand, grind or hand file it down to fit inside the receiver but make sure it extends a decent distance into the receiver. Drill a hole through the top to line up with the existing hole where the little allen screw goes I then used a longer allen screw that goes through all three tubes (loctite in place). Put JB weld on the exposed end of the conduit tube. Test fit the barrel over the tube, It should fit tight and require a little pounding (use a wood block between the hammer and barrel)to push over the conduit. Put the two screws back in the tab on the bottom.
Your barrel should now be much stronger. The next problem is the foreword hand grip. The fake wood grip is held on by one screw to a long piece of metal that has two very thin bits connecting it to the barrel. What where they thinking?
If you look closely you'll see that the threaded screw hole for the wood grip actually extends into the barrel but the screw provided is very short. If you simply replace the screw with one that extends into the barrel you've just added a ton of strength and made your gun sling safe ;D. The screw I used is 6mm diameter 1.00 pitch thread by 25mm long (not counting the head). Just be sure the screw does not touch the inner brass airsoft barrel. Install the screw with the barrel removed then insert the barrel
These simple tricks will help your Thompson live a long and far less troublesome life.
Schmitty
I recently acquired a broken Thompson from Hellmutt and needed to fix it for someone to use at our upcoming "Long Winter" game. I still had a non broken Upper receiver and barrel from my old M1a1 (my first airsoft gun that I used for a year without it breaking
) that was converted to an M1928. But I decided I better figure out a way to strengthen it before I loan it to someone. Here's a couple very easy ideas I came up with that can be used to strengthen a non broken gun or even repair a broken one.First disassemble the gun. Put the lower receiver with gearbox off to one side and remove the barrel. Using a piece of 1/2" electrical conduit I JB welded it into the receiver. The piece was a total of about 75mm. It was a very tight fit and I actually pounded it into the receiver. Leave the piece long to begin with then once it is pounded and glued in cut it so that 47mm extends from the receivers extending tube. Some brands of electrical conduit my vary in outside diameter so it would be a good idea to take the receiver with you to the hardware store and check. If it's too tight you can belt sand, grind or hand file it down to fit inside the receiver but make sure it extends a decent distance into the receiver. Drill a hole through the top to line up with the existing hole where the little allen screw goes I then used a longer allen screw that goes through all three tubes (loctite in place). Put JB weld on the exposed end of the conduit tube. Test fit the barrel over the tube, It should fit tight and require a little pounding (use a wood block between the hammer and barrel)to push over the conduit. Put the two screws back in the tab on the bottom.
Your barrel should now be much stronger. The next problem is the foreword hand grip. The fake wood grip is held on by one screw to a long piece of metal that has two very thin bits connecting it to the barrel. What where they thinking?
If you look closely you'll see that the threaded screw hole for the wood grip actually extends into the barrel but the screw provided is very short. If you simply replace the screw with one that extends into the barrel you've just added a ton of strength and made your gun sling safe ;D. The screw I used is 6mm diameter 1.00 pitch thread by 25mm long (not counting the head). Just be sure the screw does not touch the inner brass airsoft barrel. Install the screw with the barrel removed then insert the barrel
These simple tricks will help your Thompson live a long and far less troublesome life.
Schmitty
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