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 ...
A most people I've see shooting one of those were just shooting up into the air after the first two or three rounds.
As the keys made their noise, it sent a real clear message.
I always thought that he carried a carbine, but Dad recently found some wartime pictures of him, and Grandpa was carrying a Springfield '03 in them. I know that he liked the '03, said that it aimed itself.
Originally, they were pretty cheap....nowadays, they are upwards of $1000 for semi-auto versions.
Im the movie the Godfather, if you think about Barzini’s boys at the weigh station pumping `Sonny’ Corleone with lead, they had their Thompsons canted at about 45 degrees.
But not sideways like a ghetto gangsta.
More people die every year in their own bathtub than are killed by rifles and shotguns combined.
Hercules in New York?...
Yeah, but were those tubs filled with water that came through lead pipes? Not to mention the inherent dangers of misuse of di-hydrogen monoxide.
It has been written by others that the Thompson was not a successful product when introduced. It had an innovative purpose for trench warfare but WW1 ended before it could be employed in the trench fight. The trench shotgun was another technological approach to trench warfare and had some success in WW1, but not the Thompson. By WW2, trench warfare was largely obsolete.
The Thompson came too late to serve its intended purpose. It was hard to sell the gun after WW1 because it was very costly, heavy, and there were few practical uses for it. Police agencies purchased some but the success of a weapon design requires large contract purchases by government organizations and it wasn’t until WW2 that such contracts could be obtained.
Gangsters rarely used them. Thompsons simply looked interesting in movies making them into something iconic. The 1934 law nearly eliminating access to many firearms was based on perception more than reality.
Yup, thats what I meant.
“I know that he liked the ‘03, said that it aimed itself. “
Thats the way I feel about the Garand
Funny recollection here. In 1969 after hurricane Camille tore up the Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Gulfport, Biloxi area, there was a Mississippi Hiway Patrol officer stopping traffic from crossing the Hwy 90 bay bridge from BSL to PC and he was holding a Tommy Gun to prove he was serious.
What? Firearms laws are based on perception more than reality?
This is my shocked face.
Heavy, expensive to make, expensive to buy, and expensive to shoot.
But you never saw Sgt. Saunders without his.
Always remember the cop’s line at the end of Little Caesar “Hand me that chopper”, where he then riddles the billboard that Rico is hiding behind using his Thompson. Always thought it was a pretty violent scene for a 1934 movie.
Combat!
Great show.
Alas, poor Vic Morrow....
I’ve never fired a real M-14 but I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to keep the muzzle down while firing .308 caliber on full auto.
A little Dremel Work,
Okay ,I’m good, Thanks.
10 round sticks look goofy,
but I got a great deal years ago.
See you at The Range!
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