For Sale: Thompson SMG Drum Mags

[rob love]

Not exactly true on the links.....the exemption says that the belts, of either metallic or non-metallic type, must not be reproduction and made for a gun in production prior to 1945. So a link made in 1950 for a M1919A4 is fine, as the gun was in production prior to 45 and the links are original. Where the problem comes in is the NATO links......they were designed for the M-60, which is a post war gun. Later the Cdn M1919 (C1 or C5A1) were adapted to take that link, but the origin of the link is for a post 1945 gun, so they would be limited to 5 rounds.

The automatic Enfield you are thinking of is the Charlton, and it was because of that gun that they exempted the Enfield mags to 10 rounds. Not really necessary since the Enfields are a bolt action magazine, and therefore already exempt. Doubtful that a special run of magazines were made for the Charlton.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by rob love

The automatic Enfield you are thinking of is the Charlton, and it was because of that gun that they exempted the Enfield mags to 10 rounds. Not really necessary since the Enfields are a bolt action magazine, and therefore already exempt. Doubtful that a special run of magazines were made for the Charlton.

The Charlton was designed to use the 30 rd (or28) Bren mag, and will not accept a 10rd SMLE mag. If you are curious, there has been a fully functioning example for sale in NZ for some time now. I have seen this rifle when owned by it's previous owner (and maker), and it is superbly made to original blueprints, but unfortunately Aust's gun laws are quite more restrictive than NZ.

[rob love]

Tony
We are both right on this one. The Charlton which used a Lee Metford action had the Bren magazines. But there was also the Charlton based on the SMLE, which used the regular magazines.

There was also the Howell which was the conversion that used the standard Enfield mags.

Whoever wrote our gun laws knew just enough to realize that these examples existed, and rather than ignore them, they wrote in the exemption, which really did not have to be written since the mags were already exempt as having been designed for a bolt action rifle.

[Colin Macgregor Stevens]

Regular barrel length Lugers ( the common model) are "prohibited" in Canada (!!!!) but the Artillery and Navy long barrelled Lugers are simply "restricted". One can switch the short barrel for a new barrel that is a few millimetres longer and then the Luger is "restricted".

There is a Charlton automatic rifle in the Canadian War Museum collection.