atensioncenter
12099
481
14
The infamous Tommy Gun!
Jul 12, 2026 10:33 PM
atensioncenter
12099
481
14
The infamous Tommy Gun!
Petemccabe
The old man is still a master with the Thompson. l
Hrafna55
From what I understand, the original model was extremely well made and therefore incredibly expensive. Something like the price of a car at the time. The later models focused massively on simplification in manufacturing to drive down the cost.
SleepyHollowAppleTree
wetsquirrel
SandyTentaclez
Im not into guns. But this is sexy!
DonkeyGoat
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1MW1uN2lvZmFzbzc5bHd0d3g4Z3U1cTNxeXN3aHp1emZidmJ0amFmZyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/blGej3lmV32TK/200w.webp
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
Sorry kid the dog was rabid had to put it down.
HisRoyalMajestyKingV
Scahrossar
Munchkin! <3 (God, I used to love Dork Tower)
Filanwizard
Sound on.
FScottFitzhardly
dragoncloud9
austinyc
Keep the change, you filthy animal!
mikeatike
It was only a few years ago that I found out this movie doesnt exist.
psmith00
a classic.
BallsLikeWatermelonsPeckerLikeAThimble
I want a full auto Thompson so bad, but that $50,000 price tag is $49,500 more than I have.
alienstomper
Fun fact, a pre-war thomson at the time sold for roughly $200, or about $4000 today.
spattr
Chicago experienced a lot of mob violins in the 1920's.
elcanon04
How quickly can it be put together?
TheDogEnd
hhager23
FYI that whole thing weighs over 40 #.
hogeyegrex
I remember working in a restaurant that hosted a meeting of the “Italian Walking Club of New Orleans.” Basically a bunch of old mob. I said to the bartender, “anybody comes through that door with a violin case, I’m over the bar and back there with you.”
Futchm
I love the sound of a finely tuned violin
Hashbrown123
LetheTheArtificer
Great artist
HuskyPirate
Useless trivia alert... The M1A1 variant was the base for the Pulse rifle used in ALIENS, along with Remington M870 as the grenade launcher with a reversed Franchi spas-12 cage and shortened pump handle to cover it...
HuskyPirate
brownribbon
Definitely buying one if I ever win the lottery.
Ooti
Tolocamp
Some pawnshop on TV will surely give you 2.50 $ for it, maybe even 3.75 $ if you have certificates this Tommy Gun was used in the Valentines day massacre.
Just kidding, but it is no wonder they are swimming in money.
lonelyrangerofthedreams
Using it for… violence
LogicDude
The Chicago Typewriter!
Bytencoder
For letters and such...?
codasquid
“To whom this will concern….”
rusty42marlin
Yeah, hate mail. Especially around Valentines Day.
MyGreatestFearBoner
Hate mail. Classic.
SharkoutofWata
Nothing says F U like a Chicago Typewriter.
Goatfer
It sends a message.
FreakyFerguson
decarnatedame
More like Morse code. But the words all have to have letters made of dots.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
"SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH"
ID1746
Resignation letters.
MrHappySmiles
I shit one at a gun range. That thing is a beast to be tamed!
MrHappySmiles
Or shot, Mayhaps…
Zalminen
In Finnish we have the idiom "Eats iron, shits iron chain " (referring to a real tough guy). That just sounds like the US version of that.
ThatOtherGirlYouKnow
No, no, I like the first mental image better.
Range owner: "Hey, Happy, what the hell have you been eating?"
You: [Sounds of straining out gun parts]
Range owner: "Just wash yer hands when you done, ok?"
You: [Tears in eyes] "Uh... oh... kay..." [Sound of receiver assembly splashing into toilet bowl]
Heelcat70
Either way, it can hurt.
bippityboppitybuttsex
'Hidden'... Auto-Ordnance literally sold them in these cases.
Also, the Thompson is a lie based on a falsehood perpetrating a scam... the Blish System is just frauds, all the way down....
Hell, the M1 Thompson mid-war redesign just ditched it cuz it was a lie.
dingybasement350
I want to know who figuratively sold them in these cases.
bippityboppitybuttsex
The new ones are pretty shitty
https://shopkahrfirearmsgroup.com/cases/thompson-t30-violin-case-thompson-rifle-t30.asp
Athol
I've heard the 'Blish Principle' works...if you're dealing with naval scale artillery, and even then only kind of.
bippityboppitybuttsex
So, for high-pressure rounds like 30-06 (see the Thompson auto-rifle of 1923) where it sort of worked as a delayed blowback (just from angular forces).
But for low-pressure applications (like 45 ACP in the Thompson), it did basically nothing and it was the mass of the bolt that operated as a straight blowback... and that is why Savage Arms yanked that shit out and just threw a massive bolt in there (and dropped the weight by 12.8 ounces)
rusty42marlin
I love shooting machine guns, I love even more that somebody else pays to feed them.
bippityboppitybuttsex
I have fired an M1 Thompson, they are not good.... they are heavy as fuck.
I carried an M249 SAW and I would take that any day of the week over the Thompson.
TheArrestingAbhorrentArrantAbominableAlliterator
Almost like technology advances, huh?
bippityboppitybuttsex
It sure does.... and the Thompson wasn't even that good in the 1920s... the MP18 was better in every way... and predated it by half a decade.
rusty42marlin
If you like the SAW, try a Mk48 if you ever get the chance. Oh Baby! what a monster.
bippityboppitybuttsex
I got out in 2002 and by that time I was in a Public Affairs unit that only had M9s in its arms rooms (our plan was to 'borrow' rifles if we needed them, and there I was, asking where the machine guns were?... used to an infantry arms room with M240s and M2s)
I have never seen a Mk48, but we turned in our M60s to get 240s right before I left USAREUR
rusty42marlin
Thank you for your Service.
FeloniousMonk13
50 rounds (100?) of 45 cal is some serious fucking firepower
MrFancyPanzer
The 100 rounder is larger, it looks comically large
bippityboppitybuttsex
The US Army refused to issue the 50 round drum cuz it required a lot of skill to load and was not fit for combat (no good ammo pouch to carry them, very prone to dirt)... which is why only 20 round sticks were issued...
InTangier
I can't imagine that mag had any real place on a real battlefield, now that you mention it. The wear and tear alone, reloading those finicky mechanisms, all the gunk that will eventually clog them... There won't be the ideal level of maintenance required.
And nobody will trust their life to a mag that can jam constantly.
bippityboppitybuttsex
So, the objections were far greater than any advantage... having a 16 pound SMG (weight of M1928A1 with 50 round drum) is stupid... the drum rattles when loaded, it takes 5 minutes to reload (and has to be done carefully or it just jams), the pouches were massive and rattled while you walked.
Vs, carrying 6 20-round magazines, flat... the M3 was better in every way (except the magazines which were double stack, single feed vs the thompson's double feed)
ElbowDeepInUserSub
Drum mags and helical mags are all fussy and unreliable, but they sure do look cool.
bippityboppitybuttsex
Sure, but like the drum mags for the M16/M4, the US Army has shown, in testing, that they offer nothing... a 90-round drum in a massive pouch vs three 30-rounders that fit in mag pouches... an argument has been made for the person on point to have one loaded, but the weight is ridiculous... and it is much better just to put a guy with a SAW next to him.
MrFancyPanzer
There are quad stack casket mags with 50+ capacity, like with the suomi or the Sites Spectre M4, but i have heard that they are difficult to load because of the spring pressure
bippityboppitybuttsex
Yeah, I spent 4 years on active duty in a US Army infantry battalion, the 200-round box for the M249 SAW (two per squad, six per platoon) was plenty of automatic weapons firepower.
A reminder that full auto is only useful for enemy suppression or a break contact drill... Semi-auto is how you put down effective, aimed fires from rifles.... let the machinguns do the machine-gunning... that is what they were designed for.
jsg6228
Buddy had a new Tommy gun and had the drum.
Fully loaded, it is fricking heavy and loud. The bullets move when you walk and make a bunch of noise.
bippityboppitybuttsex
Yeah, it is clicky as fuck
VegaJuniper
The military version used during WW2 also has a significantly lower rate of fire.
bippityboppitybuttsex
I mean, it is kind of the opposite.
M1928A1 was 600-725 cyclic rate... M1 was 700-800 (with some up to 920)... this was because of the change out from that Blish thing to just straight blowback and a lighter bolt (a reduction of almost 12 ounces of total weight)...
They realized this was insane and the M1A1 Thompson dropped it back down to 600 RPM by increasing bolt weight. The M3 was at 400-450 RPM and is ideal for close combat... remember ladies and gentlemen, short, controlled bursts.
bippityboppitybuttsex
I once fired an MG3 (aka an MG42 in 308) to get the Schutzenschnitzel ... that fucking thing fires around 1300 RPM... it is silly... it is what happens when an idiot takes an aircraft machinegun and puts a stock and a bipod on it.
Yes, I know, it was designed as a ground MG from the start, but holy shit that thing is stupid.
I can squeeze off single shots from an M60, M240, M249... the same, 'release the trigger when you feel the sear slip' lets off 3-5 rounds on the MG3.
keebs63
And yet it was extremely effective for what machine guns are designed for: suppressing the enemy. It sounds fucking terrifying when you're on the receiving end of it so you kept your head down. There's a reason why it's still in service 80+ years later.
r0b0tc0rpse
Originally as M1928A1, it could take and was issued with both box and drum magazines. The M1/M1A1 simplified the design and removed the provision to use the drum magazine. The army versions had reduced rate of fire for the bean counters and old men who thought everyone should be a marksman, but the lower rate of fire actually spoiled the natural handling of the Thompson under full auto fire. The higher rate of fire was actually more controllable in practice.
avastmehearty
My father trained with one, probably when he enlisted as a sailor, he said he had to lean into it to counteract the recoil.
r0b0tc0rpse
With the original rate of fire, it was very controllable after the initial push, it was like a pressure washer. When they slowed it down, the recoil impulses were so spread out, it actually ruined the effect. Just goes to show, good weapons aren't designed by bureaucratic committees.
avastmehearty
He enlisted in the late 40s so probably use the newer less optimal version
bippityboppitybuttsex
Pre-war, the US Army did stock the drums but found them heavy, bulky and unreliable... also, each M1928 was costing $202, vs the M1 Thompson only costing $45 and an M3 Grease Gun at $21.
The numbers needed didn't make sense at those costs.
For comparison, M1 Garands cost $114 pre-war, and after simplifications, got it down to as low as $31 by war's end.
r0b0tc0rpse
M3 stuck around for a long time.
bippityboppitybuttsex
It did... I saw the tankers from the MS ARNG had them at NTC when we augmented them in 2000.