Question on WWII Thompsons
I was watching Ken Burns "The War" and saw what looked like a Thompson with a drum magazine in some footage taken at the battle on Peleliu. I thought the WWII Thompsons would only accept stick mags. Could it have been a commercial version pressed into war service?
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I am sure there were 1928A1 military Thompsons still in use, guns that would take the drum magazine. What surprises me is that there were any drums left for them.
(The M1 and M1A1 Thompsons were simplifed and would not take a drum.)0 -
The Marines had problems with the submachine gun they specifically adopted early in the war. It was named the Reising after the man who developed it.
It proved to be to complicated and fragile for the war in the jungles of the South Pacific. I would imagine that after the failure of the Reising, they used any submachine gun the could get their hands on.0 -
1928 Thompsons were used early in the war. The M1 & M1-A1 versions were later variations for increased wartime production. 0 -
The drum or box magazine capable 1928A1 was adopted several years prior to our entry into WWII, but by early to mid-1942 the less expensive ($70 compared with $209 for a 1928A1), quicker to produce, box magazine only M1 was introduced. In early 1944 the even more simplified M1A1 ($45 including accessories) was fielded.
Besides being more costly to produce, our Marines found early on in their island hopping campaign that those drum magazines suffered reliabilty issues under such rough conditions.0 -
fwiw; we had all three in Viet Nam, I had to 'make' a firing pin for a 1928a1. 0 -
There is a well known photograph of Winston Churchill with a cigar in his mouth and cradling a 1928A1 Thomson. I believe it was about the time of Lend-Lease with Great Britain. There was also a variant of the 1928A1 which transitioned to a horizontal forend and could accept 50 round drums, and 20 and 30 round stick magazines. The drum were a heavy, bulky, and prone to jamming so weren't in favor of someone who walked patrol or recon. There were only about 600,000 of these manufactured.
The Thompson M1 and M1A1 were different animals with many manufacturing shortcuts to make a more affordable submachine gun. This was the version that also lost the Cutts compensator. Rate of fire was reduced to 600 to 700 rounds/minute whereas the Model 1919 could do 1500 rounds/minute and the charging knob was moved to the side. The Blish lock was also omitted on these models.
I have shot the M1A1 and I liked it! I wish I owned one.
Best,
Heavyiron0 -
Around 570,000 Model 1928 TSMGs were produced, which made it the most numerous of the three variations officially adopted into US service. The design was rather more complicated than the later versions but it remained very popular with troops who much preferred then top mounted cocking handle to the side cocking handle found on the M1 and M1A1. There was also a small faction of users who liked the 50 round drum magazines, especially raiding parties who wanted a lot of firepower fast and quick without the need to change magazines. The development of the 30 round box magazine made the 50 round drum more or less redundant and when Uncle Sam stopped buying the drums it was only a matter of time before the drums disappeared from service. Although the later M1 and M1A1 designs were intended to replace the Model 1928, the 1928 remained in service and was not withdrawn. All TSMGs were declared obsolete in the Spring of 1945 but these SMGs would remain in US inventories until early in the Vietnam War. The M3/M3A1 "Grease Gun" which was intended to replace the TSMG was never as popular and saw limited use during WWII. 0 -
Tommys are a lot of gun in many ways. If you really want to it spit lead, use two bucker plates. If you want to control it, undue the rear sling, extend the sling and step on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_submachine_gun0 -
quote:Originally posted by heavyiron
There is a well known photograph of Winston Churchill with a cigar in his mouth and cradling a 1928A1 Thomson. I believe it was about the time of Lend-Lease with Great Britain. There was also a variant of the 1928A1 which transitioned to a horizontal forend and could accept 50 round drums, and 20 and 30 round stick magazines.At the time Lend-Lease began the 1928A1 was the only Thompson model in our inventory, so this was the type we sent over to Britain in large quantiies.
At their request these guns were shipped equipped with the older style (and civilian model) vertical foregrip rather than the horizontal forend found on US military Thompsons. This was one of the requested changes made to their Model 1921 as part of our adopting it as the 1928A1.
Though sometimes mistaken as an actual Thompson model variant, these Lend-Lease guns were later modified by the Brits adding a sling swivel to the side of this foregrip and moving the buttstock swivel to the top.
All 1928A1's would accept drums. The M1 and M1A1 were the only Thompsons ever produced which weren't capable of using their drum magazine.0 -
The 1928A1s accepted both stick and drum mags.
I inherited two versions finned barrel 1928A1; with and without compensator and the M1A1. They were all captured from Chinese and Korean forces. The only magazines in the theater were 20 rounders.
They were a blast to shoot semi and full auto with never a jam if mag lips were straight. On semi we found them surprisingly accurate.
On a trip to Seoul, a hometown tough guy spotted me. He was a member of General Maxwell Taylor's personal bodyguards. Staying overnight in his barracks I saw a rack of about 20 brand new Thompsons. He traveled about in a jeep with white slipcovers and three UN bodyguards,one of which was an American. They weren't TO&E for US forces since WW2 and none were supposed to be in US use.0
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