Hey guys I didn't want to start a new thread, but which is the preferred AO Thompson between these two;  a T1 or M1?

depends what you want.
one is the later military version and the other is the civilian/earlier military version.
they function the same, with a few minor cosmetically differences.

Yea I figured it was mainly cosmetic, but I wasn't sure about the ability to use drums, etc.
Based on more reading it sounds like the drums are a PITA anyways.

Are the Auto Ordnance thompsons regarded better today, than they were in the past?  Steel vs aluminum receivers?

aluminum receivers are to be avoided.
i have not followed the quality issues(or lack there of) on them in about 5-6 years now. they had some issues, but they were easily worked out.
drums are not a pita, cumbersome maybe. i prefer the looks of the cutts compensater. the t1 can be made to look like a civilian gun or a military version and can use drums or not. the m1 is what it is and not a lot else.

About 6 or 8 years ago I purchased the aluminum alloy 1927A1 version and sent in my Form1 to SBR it.  After running only about 500 rounds through it the upper stretched very badly and the upper to lower fit was so sloppy that drums no longer worked in it and it even had problems feeding from stick mags.  I had BATFE amend the Registry to show it was being sold as a Title I weapon and not NFA.  I sold it for $300 more then what I paid so after taking into account the cost of the tax stamp I still came out $100 ahead.

I just purchased another 1927A1 but this time an all steel frame.  I have a couple thousand rounds through it so far and everything is still very tight.  I will be sending in my Form1 to SBR it shortly.  That was the last time I will try and save a few pounds on a weapon that was designed to be a heavy beast.

Came here to say this.  My drum was also unreliable.  I had to modify the USGI stick mags to make them work.  

Banging steel at 25 yards as fast as you can pull the trigger is a lot of fun, but what a heavy bitch.  I miss my .45acp  AR-15 much more, which is what I sold to buy the Thompson.

Here are some pics I got from the engraver showing the work done.  It's at Deerslayers from the MG boards now getting further treatment and SBR'd.

The arrow for the selector switch is a bit too low which irritates me as I was very descriptive about where it should be.  But it will not matter too much once the switch is installed. My only other complaint is that the markings are way too deep for what they should be but that one is on me as I did not know I could choose to make the markings more shallow.

Inspector marks and a rebuild mark with ordnance wheel.


US Property mark


Selector markings.  The selector will be installed and be able to turn but will of course be non functional.

Where is a good place to pick up some usgi Thompson mags?

Go to http://whatacountry.com/thompson.aspx  I got some 20 rounders with the 1920 patent dates on them!