Another Thompson gun
By the outbreak of WW11 the Thompson submachine gun was already 20 years old, Colt had been struggling for some years to sell off their remaining stock of some 4,700 guns, and the company was in dire straits. Its main problem appeared to be one of its image as a 'Gangster' gun, and it was one that Colt was finding very difficult to shake off. In the late 1930's, the British Ordnance Board described the gun as having; 'no military service requirement', and of being a 'gangster gun'. Even after it was eventually adopted by the British military, one of the Small Arms Training pamphlets referred to it as... 'The Thompson sub-machine gun is the gangster gun of the American films. Its light weight and ease of handling makes it very suitable for engaging opportunity targets at short range, and the heavy bullet gives it great stopping power.'
In 1939, businessman Russel Maguire purchased shares in the ailing company and amassed a 50.8% controlling share. Maguire eventually gained complete control after the death of Marcellus Thompson in October 1939, and then John Thompson on June 21st 1940. The outbreak of WW11 dramatically turned around the fortunes of the reformed company when Britain and its allies started placing large orders for the Tommy gun. The initial order from the British was placed on January 24th, 1940 for 750 guns with an unspecified amount of magazines and three million rounds of .45 ammunition. Further orders for more guns, drum and stick magazines would soon follow in the rush to re-equip the British army. Initial orders for the 'MODEL OF 1928' were placed directly with the manufacturers, but after the introduction of the 'Lend - Lease Act' on March 11th, 1941, all further purchases were made via the U.S. Government.
From now on the guns would be stamped with: 'U.S. MODEL OF 1928 A1' to show that the guns were the property of the U.S. government. Certain changes were made to cut the cost of the guns, and by Contract number G-7 of March 1941 the vertical fore grip had been replaced with a horizontal grip, and the adjustable Lyman sight was replaced with a simple battle sight. By June 1942, the M1 version started to replace the older version, and my example of the '1928' is likely to be from one of the last batches made before the changeover.
Of greater significance to me on my example is the re-positioned rear sling swivel. This modification was only done by the British and Commonwealth forces, and it was usually associated with special forces use. The front swivel was sometimes - but not always - repositioned too. This allowed the gun to be supported from the shoulder at a height a little above the waist for a 'point and shoot' stance. This gun shows signs of heavy use and damage repair, and although not the finest of examples, it just oozes character. One thing that I did notice was that the last digit of the serial number on the side of the receiver seems to be spaced slightly further apart from the rest of the numbers, and the serial number on the grip frame seems to have had its last number struck out and replaced with another number to match it up to the receiver.
The 50rd drum magazine which was originally used by the British was found to be noisy... the ammunition rattled, and it also added more weight to what was already a quite heavy gun. So the drum magazine was replaced with 20 and 30rd stick magazines. Below are a selection of the various companies which made them. Also pictured is the early pattern oiler bottle and a U.S. five cell 20rd magazine pouch which was also used to house the 30rd magazine. Click on all pictures to enlarge.
Cheers,
Steve
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by frostjs
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