A few days later in early November of 1990, this writer was in Molaila, Oregon where I kept my Thompson Submachine Gun. I had a 1928 Al Thompson which fires at about 550 rounds per minute. The following is an explanation of the frustrations I encountered while I attempted to test this new Auto-ordnance "C" drum magazine.

The very first thing I tried to do was install the new A/O, West Hurley "C" drum into the receiver of my Thompson. It would not go into the receiver at all. The "body slide" of the drum was round instead of square and would not allow it to be inserted into the square machined grooves in the receiver. Upon examination of my other "L" drums, I could see that the "body slides" and "cover slides" were square, not round. Each one of these would slide into the receiver with precision.

To attempt to correct this situation slightly, I took a flat blade screwdriver and a hammer. By putting the flat of the screw-driver next to the Body and on top of the "slide", I hit the screwdriver handle. I worked both sides of the "slide" with the hammer and screwdriver until it was somewhat square. It would now slide into the grooves in the receiver. However, the drum would not slide in all the way because now the top of the Cover was against the bottom of the receiver. I adjusted this with a pliers. Now the drum would slide into the receiver and latch.

The next thing was to see what could be done about the overly tight Cover. I found after careful examination, that where the Cover meets the Body, it is not exactly round. So with my fingers I bent the edges of the Body to conform with the Cover. It also helped to bend the edges of the Cover out slightly with a pliers. Now the Cover would slide onto the Body with some ease. After putting the Cover on the Body, I had to push down very hard in the center area of the Cover to get the Key to latch onto the Hub. This tension was excessive. To correct this I laid the Cover by itself on the carpet in Mom's living room. I put my heel in the center of the Cover and put all my weight on it. I bounced on it. The center of the Cover bent down just slightly. I tried the Cover on the Body. It fit almost perfect. At this point the Cover and the Key seemed to work nicely together.

I slipped the drum back into the Thompson receiver. It looked great. I released the bolt slowly to make sure everything fit. The face of the bolt hit against the back of the drum slightly, on the left side. The drum was not aligned with the bolt. I took a rattail file and relieved this area so the bolt would slide through it freely.

I again removed the Cover from the drum. I wiped oil on all the internal surfaces. I put six dummy cartridges between the driver arms of the rotor next to the feed lips. I inserted the Key and wound it about ten clicks. I tried again to insert the drum into the Thompson receiver, simulating it being loaded. It would not slide into the receiver.

The first round was too high out of the feed lips. The cartridge hit against the bottom of the receiver in the magazine well. So with a pair of pliers, I bent the feed lips in or down slightly. Now the drum would slide into place in the receiver with the first round slightly touching the bottom of the receiver. I pulled the trigger and cycled the dummy rounds through.

THE "C" DRUM TEST:

The next day I took Thompson, drum and spare ammo to my favorite shooting place. I loaded the new A/O, West Hurley "C" drum with new factory ammo. I wound the drum fifteen clicks as per instructions on the "slide plate". I retracted the bolt on the Thompson and slipped the drum into place.

I pulled the trigger expecting a performance. The gun fired once, and then the bolt fell on an empty chamber. I retracted the bolt and again the same thing, one round. Then four or five went out and again it stopped on an empty chamber. Then it started firing six or more and then stopped. Each time I would retract the bolt, another round would fire. Then one or two again and sometimes six again and then stop., very sporadic. After I had fired forty or fifty rounds in this fashion, the bolt failed to pick up any rounds at all.