My honey got to hold one at our Weapons dealer's place. He was asking @ 35K for this one.
Posted on 01/30/2015 7:22:17 AM PST by C19fan
On Jan. 29, 1945, First Sgt. Leonard Funk, Jr. faced a determined German army officer ready to kill him with a pistol.
Armed with a Thompson M1A1 submachine gun, the U.S. Army paratrooper had just led an assault against 15 houses occupied by German troops in Holzheim, Belgium. It was part of an operation by the 82nd Airborne Division to clear German soldiers from the area following the Battle of the Bulge.
Leading a makeshift headquarters platoon of clerks, Funk and his unit captured 30 prisoners. He left them with several dozen more prisoners—under guard—and returned to the fight.
While he was away, the German prisoners overpowered their guards and seized their weapons.
(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...
And as I understand, a full drum plus the gun weighed almost fifty pounds.
I have a semi-auto legal version from Auto Ordnance....a heavy shooter, for sure and it can shoot any kind of crap 45 ACP you can feed it. I’ve shot an M1A1 full auto with the 12” barrel and I loved it.
The only drawback to the legal version is the 16” barrel and that it (and the M1A1) wouldn’t accept a 100 rnd drum magazine. But overall, I think it’s the best of all of them.
A real M1A1 Thompson only shot 20 or 30 rd magazines. The firing pin was cut into the bolt which is a 2 lb (a guess) bolt assembly (a big ass bolt) that flung back and forth. Basically a slam fire operation. It’s heavy for sure, but not in the 50 lb range.
I really was astounded by the UZI. For such a “noisy” weapon it was accurate, “plinky” like a 10-22, and reliable like an AK variant. I have always wanted to buy one.
When I was stationed with the 5th ID in 1985 my primary weapon was the M3 Grease Gun.
I kid you not.
Overall length of gun with stock: 33 3/4”.
Overall length of gun without stock: 25 1/4”.
Weight (without magazine): 10 lbs.
Weight of gun with drum magazine, loaded:
50 rounds: 14 3/4 lbs.
Weight of gun with box magazine, loaded
20 rounds: 11 1/4 lbs.
30 rounds: 11 3/4 lbs.
Barrel length without Cutts compensator: 10 1/4”.
Barrel length with Cutts compensator: 12 1/2”.
Rifling, right-hand one turn in 16”.
Rate of fire, semi-automatic (single-aimed shots) per minute: Up to 100.
Cyclic rate of fire, fully automatic (approx.) 700 rnds. per min.
My father attributes the grease gun for saving his life in vietnam,, and that’s all he’s told me about that...
Maybe I should surprise him and buy him one. . ?
The HK is far better
Whats your defn is ‘best’?
Nowhere near that much. 20 lbs at most.
My honey got to hold one at our Weapons dealer's place. He was asking @ 35K for this one.
Well I read the history about the Thompson and the reason they went to “stick magazines” was because of the weight of a full drum magazine which when loaded plus the gun weighed in at 50 pounds.
Been a while since I read the book but that total weight of fifty pounds for gun and drum sticks in my mind.
But I might be wrong ...
They don’t know what they are talking about. The empty gun weighs in about 10 1/2 lbs. 40 lbs of ammo is a heck of a lot of ammo.
I wonder if there were two different sizes of those drums ....
The new guns with 16” barrels weigh in at 13lbs. with 50 rd drum. I don’t think 50 rounds of .45 weighs 35 lbs...so 50 lbs is way high. I’m putting the 12” barrel versions with a 50 rds loaded mag in the 15 lbs range
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