Posted on 06/17/2016 6:25:09 AM PDT by rktman
No one uses Tommy guns anymore. Today's thugs sling lead at one another with their plastic wonder-guns across playgrounds and parks, with poor accuracy and less style. Desperados, the demented, and the depraved appear to have settled on the ubiquitous black rifle as their favorite fashion firearm. Even Chicago, America's Free Fire Zone, hasn't seen anyone mowed down with the fabled Chicago Typewriter in decades.
It is a puzzlement.
After all, the Tommy is an all-American weapon, an iconic symbol of American independence and ingenuity. General Thompson intended it to sweep trenches clear of enemy soldiers, but the Germans, rather inconsiderately, threw in the towel before development work was complete. Yet the general persevered, in due course bringing forth the Thompson Model 1919: genuine American walnut and intricately tooled, highly polished steel. Able to carry up to 100 rounds of .45 ammunition and spit them out at the rate of 600 per minute (1,200 in early models).
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Thats why you have that “shoulder thing that goes up” !
Just check the mag catch hole in the new 10 round mag and use the Dremel to make the original mags look like that. Works fine. It really isn’t that much grinding.
This thing ended up costing less than $10....
One of dad's brothers-in-law usually carried a 1911AI and/or an M1 Carbine, but he would borrow a Thompson from one of the vehicles when he was particularly nervous about the surrounding scenery or when he had to deal with POWs (he felt that the Thompson made a more "persuasive" impression on the average German).
If any of them complained about the weight, I can't recall it, but in comparison to an M1 Carbine, it does seem to be a bit of a brick. As far as current usage goes, there never were that many of them out there, and even fewer made it out of some sort of government custody. They - like the BAR - were a popular criminal weapon when one could be gotten, but if they hadn't been full-auto, they would have been pretty poor "working" guns.
Mr. niteowl77
Vic Morrow, right?
Read my tag line....
I’m here. No, wait, I’ve gone. I don’t know...
....nowadays, they are upwards of $1000 for semi-auto versions...
And last I looked, $25,000 and up, mostly up for a select fire.
You’re right. But I was talking about legal semi-autos without Class III.
I was thinking Chicago Piano but keys I guess work as well.
I hefted a drum model just last week,felt like 20 lbs.
Bolt handle on top ,16 in. Barrel and a Bullet Button.
1700 bucks.
I paid $450 for mine from a buddy that got tired of his. I made a killing, IMO. He even gave me a few “extras”.
Yup
They are bulky and weigh a crapton. A pistol-caliber “thug hose” like an Uzi is far more concealable and will send everyone around you (cops included) diving for cover just as well as the knock-you-off-your-feet slugs of the Thompson will.
I was in a Huey company in Vietnam and pilots competed for coolness with the weapons we took along.
There were M1A1 Thompsons, M3 grease guns, folding AK’s, M1A1 carbines, and the ultimate in cool, the Carl Gustaf or `Swedish K’. CAR-15’s turned up as well.
The grunts we carried made do with M-16’s. We pitied anyone we saw humping an M-60 or a baseplate.
I lifted one years at a gun show. Verry heavy and poorly balanced.
Next to it was another rifle based on a Mac10 frame with a 16 inch barrel and shoulder stock. Much better balanced!
...They had their Thompsons canted at about 45 degrees.
But not sideways like a ghetto gangsta..
Ghetto gangstas would probably prefer a 1911 with a 40 round drum. But, it would be almost impossible to hold gangsta style sideways at a 90° angle.
Back in the 1960s, there were some other brand Thompson style rifles on the market.
One advertised was the Apache. It sold well until the Feds found it would go full auto if you pushed the safety and pulled the trigger at the same time. One of these Apaches was used in an old POLICE STORY episode.
The AR is nothing unusual, it is just a modern rifle.
Similar to when repeaters started to replace muzzle loaders and single shot breech loaders.
As a ranch gun, it is ideal. You never see a pack of coyotes with just one yote. Same for feral pigs. It works very well on deer with the 300AAC loading.
Rifle competition is dominated by the AR, a result of its military use, its accuracy, and its popularity. You rarely see a Brown Bess at the rifle matches now, even though it was a military arm.
Time marches on, as does technology. Ask your buddy if he thinks auto design should have stopped with the VW Beetle, or computers with a 286 CPU and 1200 baud modems.
Bonnie and Clyde preferred a full auto BAR with two magazines brazed together.
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