Was blessed to shoot a Thomas today :)

[SRGTO04]

Here is some more interesting facts about the Thomas Rifle. Again from the GTA forum December 2013

 michaelthomas

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Re: My Field Target Project« Reply #201 on: December 23, 2013, 02:59:00 PM » A while back I said that I would post some drawings of the rifle.

I am currently making 8 more of these, so I will post the drawings of the pieces as I go. If you have a lathe, and a mill......you should be able to make these parts without too much trouble.

I milled the first Maple stock on my CNC mill.......but had a friend mill the last few Walnut ones on his CNC Router. He said he would mill them for anyone for $150.00 plus the wood cost. That's not too bad, really.

All in all, a person should be able to duplicate this rifle for around $500.00 or so in material.

If you can follow along piece by piece.....it shouldn't take too long, either. 

The first two parts are the reservoir end cap and the tube coupler. The regulator will slide inside the coupler. I have built my own (reg), and have used a Huub. If you wish to use the Huub......he can turn the body of his reg to fit .800" ID and supply the proper Orings. Material is 6061 aluminum. 1.5" 6061 bar should cost about $6.00 per foot.

I order the foster fittings from Mac1.

I will probably be selling a few of these to help pay for my FT donor rifles and the other stuff I need to get FT matches going here in Montrose next summer. If you may be interested in a rifle.....please PM me.

Mike

 

[Coldking]

Seems like somebody has an axe to grind? Hmmmm
funny though that this RAW BenchRest rifle was humming along with what I guess we know now, were inferior barrels? Not capable of accuracies nesasary to be competitive 
so RAW needed to copy The polygonal barrels of the Thomas to obtain accuracies in the competitive range ?
maybe you guys that bought RAW rifles with the inferior barrels should ask for the new and improved polygonal's at no additional cost?
also try shooting at the regulation 25 meters instead of 25 yards --
'and yes the RAW is nothing more than an old rapid from years gone by --
Nothing special as I can tell -
and in the end the proof is in the pudding as they say -- maybe see yah on the firing line in the future --
you take care now -
CK

 

[SRGTO04]

Here are some pictures of a hybrid EV2 / USFT MAC 1 he used for his design

 

[Coldking]

And The Thomas 

striking resemblance ?
;-)
CK

 

[Coldking]

But in the end all rifles be they firearm or air rifle tend to look similar -butt plate receiver breech block barrel etc ---
the real question to be asked is why hasn't any of these rifles including your RAW set world records? 
Only the Thomas has set/broken indoor and outdoor world records --hmmmmmm
CK

 

[zebra]

I have nothing to contribute to a RAW / Thomas argument but I am fairly sure that they both buy their barrels in from a 3rd party so nobody is copying anybody's barrel design. 

Now that I have seen his pic, I remember reading some of the Thomas guys posts on the other forum. He really knows his stuff. His knowledge of barrels and air rifles in general is impressive. I remember him telling someone that LW barrels dominate world BR competitions so he probably uses them. 

My understanding is that how the barrel is machined / crowned and selected can make a noticeable difference to accuracy. Somebody with his knowledge and skill could probably do more than other manufacturers with the same barrel maker (as well as weed out any that aren't up to scratch). 

Nobody can can argue with the results. That Mac1 guy also seems to do very well in competitions.

 

[Coldking]

I have no Dog in this hunt - my only interest is in BenchRest competitions -
but do wonder why the attacks on the Thomas rifle in this post ?and its Maker?
what is the personal motivation of this individual ?
seems really strange unless your a paid spokesperson or stock holder ?
and yes the barrels do come from LW -but are specially machined to the specifications of each vender -
if it were so easy to just buy a polygonal barrel- off the shelf - well everybody would already have done this -
I'm sure there is much more behind the scenes taking place - 
but again my interest is in buying on;y the best possible equipment be it Glass -optics to dedicated rifles for specific disciplines -
if I thought RAW were the best -I'd already own one 
regards 
CK