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 ...
I was about to say the same thing. With a stick mag, they are 12 pounds, with a drum it is a real bar-bell.
Same reason people don’t generally drive ‘57 Chevys as commuter cars.
They had a new one at Cabela’s several months ago and unloaded it was >heavy< - can’t imagine how much heavier it’d be loaded, it was the drum version - came in a violin case with the title “Chicago Typewriter” ... what a funny name to give it.
“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.”
Reminds me of what Mad Jack Churchill, the last man known to have killed an enemy soldier with a longbow, said about WWII:
“If it wasn’t for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years!”
I’ve got a semi-auto version of the M1A1 Thompson which wasn’t made to accept drums (neither were the military ones). The weight for the one with 12” barrel was 11 lbs. With the 16” barrel this one has, it weighs a little more.
Crazy-ass Scots. Love that story.
Just heft one of the original walnut USGI stocks. Just the stock by itself makes an impressive club.
With a 10 round Magazine
and a Bullet Button?
Somewhat annoying, but Cool.
I managed to lay my hands on one in the ‘Nam and figured it would be the ultimate brush-cutter.
The weapon plus the steel magazines weighed a ton (the ammo isn’t exactly light either) and kicked my butt on patrols.
Wnet back to my M-14 and didn’t regret it.
I have 20 round and 30 round stick magazines for it. I don’t live in a ‘bullet button’ state (Georgia).
If they weren’t that heavy they’d be even harder to keep the muzzle down while firing.
It would be a real work out for Arnold..... Arnold Stang that is. The other arnold, he can hike his sorry ass back to Austria.
Yes. They are a piece of art, really. Real steel and good tight walnut.
That’s where my buddy got his. With the violin case. And a drum mag.
A 45 mac10 is lighter. Would probably handle about the same
Do the old stick mags work ?
I hope to upgrade when I leave
this stupid gulag.
What happened to the Tommy gun?
Prohibition happened. The Mafia made them so popular that the Feds banned them.
The old fashioned Thompson is way too expensive for street level Chicago thugs.
It would be hard to shoot holding it sideways.
They don’t look modern gangsta enough either.
If you have the new M1A1 semi-auto from Auto Ordnance (which is nearly exact to the military version except for semi, barrel length and magazine catch), to use a real mag from WWII or after, you need to oval-out the mag catch hole in the magazine in the military version. A file or Dremel works fine. This done, they work just fine.
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