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Auto ordnance tommy guns full auto


kirk in wisc

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can someone help me out with identifying and putting a rough value on 2 thompson machinegjns. Sorry, no pics are able to be obtained right now. 

 

Person has 2 auto ordnance tommy guns. Select fire, transferable.  He has owned them for at least 25yrs or more. They both are in fbi cases with 50rd drums and a few stick mags each. Both have been fired, but not since he has owned them. He swears they are salesman samples,  but have no other markings on them except auto ordnance west hurley. 

They are consecutive serial numbers which are 

789a and 790a. I would like to know if possible what year they were made and roughly value. 

He thinks they are worth 100,000 for the pair, and claims he was offered 75,000.00 for the pair about 10yrs ago. 

Thanks for any info. Kirk in wisc. 

 

 

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West Hurleys are not valued that high. He should have sold it to that guy who offered $75k!

If he hasn't fired them, you can't even tell if they run. WH are known to have issues so i would want to test fire it to ensure that it runs or you might get some headaches of a buyer complaining about it not working.

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I'm not a expert at pricing WH. Prices I've seen for them are $14k to $19k. This is SMG with magazines.  The FBI cases, are they reproduction or the real thing?  

What type of drum does he have? I know some by themselves can be expensive ie Colt marked.

I'm really new to the Thompson game. I've read there can be a lot of variability in value based on where made, who made, and even who has worked on it. (ie if PK worked on it, the value goes up because he's a master at getting WH up to spec and running perfectly)

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I would recommend going on to http://www.machinegunboards.com/forums/.  There is a wealth of information on Thompsons there.

Oh I forgot to answer your question about the manufacturing date. I believe it was manufactured 1979.
Data from: http://www.machinegunboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19790

BTW The owner may be mixing up prices between Auto Ordinance, Bridgeport vs Auto Ordinance, West Hurley.  West Hurley typically are considered "not" Thompsons by some collectors, hence the lower value.. which is great for new buyers since they are considerably cheaper.

Also I just want to re iterate that I'm not a expert on Thompsons. I just got into them 8 months ago when I purchased a WH.

Edited by Ryo
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Are the handles plastic or heavy leather?  Plastic repro.   Does the interior look like pool table felt or velvet?   Pool table interior, repro.  I'm quite sure if they are WH guns, they are repro cases. 

Legit AQ drums can be very expensive,  Numrich drums not so much?  Normally the guys bought the package back in the day so it's all effectively repro.   The guns are C+R and depending on condition could be 15K+.  Consecutive number WH,  add $7, it's hard enough selling one, much less two! LOL

 

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I've sold two 1928 West Hurley's Thompson's' within the past 6 months. One went for $16K and the second one for $16.5K. Both were in really good shape. No drums just stick mags and no Thompson Display Case. Just sold a Colt 1921 a few weeks ago which was on the board for 4 hours, sold for $37.5K. Had two folks offer me the asking price, it came with a drum, display case, and stick mags.

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