[skimbell]

Doesn’t sound right to me. At that time Capone, or anyone for that matter, could have walked into a hardware store and bought all of the Thompson’s they wanted for about (IIRC) $30 a copy. No questions asked.

[Lockbar]

Actually, a Model 1921 Thompson sub-machine retailed for about $225-$250 back in the 1920’s. Pretty pricey for the average guy. Most were purchased by folks with “deep pockets”.

[MasterGunner01]

I hate to disillusion you, but the Tommy Gun was one of the most expensive, complex, and difficult to manufacture submachine guns ever built. Expense was its biggest problem — it did NOT (initially) find the customers who could afford it. Without the customers, neither Auto-Ordnance (owned production rights to the TSMG) and Colt's Firearms (who produced the M1921 model) nearly went broke.

Your figure of $30 for a Thompson in the 1920s is NOT correct. A Colt's Model 1921 TSMG cost $200 (without accessories) and that was a huge amount of money in the 1920s. Only government agencies and large police departments could afford them.

The TSMG enjoyed only modest sales to various U.S. government agencies and the U.S. military. Thompson sales were so slow that the Colt Company mothballed crates and crates of these guns — until the start of World War 2. The British suddenly needed all manner of small arms and Colt's found a ready buyer for its entire inventory of Thompsons. Moreover, Auto-Ordnance received huge orders for more guns from the U.S. and foreign militaries (because it was the only SMG in production in 1940).

Through out its World War 2 production life, the Thompson was redesigned for faster and cheaper production. The hard to produce M1928 and M1928A1 models were redesigned — the expensive Lyman rear sight was replaced by a stamping; the expensive Cutts compensator was eliminated; provision for the expensive an unreliable 100 or 50-round drums was eliminated; a new, 30-round magazine was issued; the expensive Blish locking system was eliminated and the bolt assembly was totally redesigned; the detachable butt stock assembly was replaced by a simple fixed butt stock. The new TSMG was type standardized as the M1 in 1942. The M1 became the M1A1 in 1943 when the bolt was redesigned to use a fixed firing pin.

Even with wartime construction contracts and redesign the unit cost of a single M1 or M1A1 Thompson was $225 in 1943 dollars. That is why the Thompson was superseded by the M3 and M3A1 “Grease Gun” submachine guns that were made mostly from stampings. The 1943 production cost of the M3 (later M3A1) was $20.