approx. 11 kg (24 lb) (M1922)
126-449: The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the " Tommy gun ", " Chicago typewriter ", or " trench broom ") is a blowback-operated , selective-fire submachine gun , invented and developed by Brigadier General John T. Thompson , a United States Army officer, in 1918. It was designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare of World War I , although early models did not arrive in time for actual combat. The Thompson saw early use by
252-410: A gas-operated , long-stroke piston rod actuated by propellant gases bled through a vent in the barrel. The bolt is locked by a rising bolt lock. The weapon fires from an open bolt . The spring-powered cartridge casing extractor is contained in the bolt and a fixed ejector is installed in the trigger group. The BAR is striker-fired (the bolt carrier serves as the striker) and uses a trigger mechanism with
378-659: A "cup" to support the stock of the rifle when held at the hip. In theory, this allowed the soldier to lay suppressive fire while walking forward, keeping the enemy's head down, a practice known as " marching fire ". The idea would resurface in the submachine gun and ultimately the assault rifle . It is not known if any of the belt-cup devices actually saw combat use. The BAR only saw minor action in France during World War I, being brought into action only as late as September 1918, less than three months before Armistice Day . The intentional delay had been inspired by General Pershing ,
504-515: A "submachine gun". Thompson intended for the weapon to provide a high volume of automatic, man-portable fire for use in trench warfare—a role for which the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) had been determined ill-suited. The concept had already been developed by German troops using their own Bergmann MP 18 (the world's first submachine gun) in concert with their Sturmtruppen tactics. The first Thompson entered production as
630-403: A cartridge malfunction ("jam"). Reloading an empty drum with cartridges was a difficult and involved process in which the 50 rounds would be inserted and then the magazine wound up until a minimum of 9 to 11 loud "clicks" were heard before seating the magazine into the weapon. In contrast, the "XX" twenty-round box magazine was light and compact. It tended not to rattle, and could be inserted with
756-567: A closed bolt. The Cook automatic rifle was 30 inches retaining the barrel length of 18 inches. The last US-made variant was produced in 7.62×51mm NATO , as T34 Automatic rifle . The BAR also found a ready market overseas and in various forms was widely exported. In 1919 the Colt company developed and produced a commercial variant called the Automatic Machine Rifle Model 1919 (company designation: Model U ), which has
882-511: A combined daily output of 706 rifles and a total of approximately 52,000 BARs were delivered by all sources by the end of the war. Between 1918 and 1919, 102,174 BARs had been manufactured jointly by Colt, Winchester, and Marlin-Rockwell. By July 1918, the BAR had begun to arrive in France, and the first unit to receive them was the US Army's 79th Infantry Division , which took them into action for
1008-576: A contemporary semi-automatic variant of the M1918 called "1918A3-SLR", and a much modified lightened version called HCAR (Heavy Counter Assault Rifle), which are legal for civilians without an FFL (federal firearms license) to own. Although the Colt Monitor version of the BAR failed to interest US civilian buyers in the midst of the Depression, the underworld was a lot more interested: in 1936
1134-549: A contract to make rifles for the Belgian government, acquired the Mayo Radiator Co.'s factory and used it exclusively to carry out production of the BAR. The first unit from this source was delivered on 11 June 1918 and the company's peak output reached 200 automatic rifles per day. Colt had produced only 9,000 BARs by the time of the armistice due to the heavy demands of previous orders. These three companies produced
1260-531: A different return mechanism compared to the M1918 (it is installed in the stock rather than the gas tube) and lacks a flash hider. Later the Model 1924 rifle was offered for a short period of time, featuring a pistol grip and a redesigned hand guard. These Colt automatic rifles were available in a number of calibers, including .30-06 Springfield (7.62×63mm), 7.65×53mm Belgian Mauser , 7×57mm Mauser , 6.5×55mm , 7.92×57mm Mauser and .303 British (7.7×56mmR) . All of
1386-579: A famous trick shooter of the early 1920s, purchased one of the first Colt-produced BARs to perform aerial target shooting exhibitions. Occasional BAR sales were made to civilian owners through distributors such as the Ott-Heiskell Hardware Co. In 1931, the new Colt Monitor was made available to civilians during the Depression at $ 300 each, including a spare parts kit, sling, cleaning accessories and six magazines, but Colt records indicate no domestic sales to individuals. After passage of
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#17327915590551512-596: A federal road in Sergipe was disrupted by armed Cangaçeiros in December 1937 who violently opposed any attempts to build roads near their territory. In 1938, the Thompson submachine gun was adopted by the U.S. military and was used during World War II . There were two military types of Thompson submachine gun: Over 1.5 million military Thompson submachine guns were produced during World War II. Military users of
1638-403: A fire selector lever that enables operating in either semi-automatic or fully automatic firing modes. The selector lever is located on the left side of the receiver and is simultaneously the manual safety (selector lever in the " S " position – weapon is s afe, " F " – f ire, " A " – a utomatic fire). The "safe" setting blocks the trigger. The weapon's barrel is screwed into the receiver and
1764-569: A mere 670 M1909 Benét–Merciés , 282 M1904 Maxims and 158 Colt-Browning M1895s . After much debate, it was finally agreed that a rapid rearmament with domestic weapons would be required, but until that time, US troops would be issued whatever the French and British had to offer. The arms donated by the French were often second-rate or surplus and chambered in 8mm Lebel , further complicating logistics as machine gunners and infantrymen were issued different types of ammunition. Browning began to design
1890-409: A rather heavy trigger pull and a stock with an excessive drop, increases the tendency for the barrel to climb off target in automatic fire. In 1927, the U.S. Navy ordered 500 Thompsons but requested a lower rate of fire. Thompson requested that Payne develop a method of reducing the cyclic rate of fire. Payne then replaced the actuator with a heavier one, and replaced the recoil spring with a stiffer one;
2016-440: A rear leaf sight with 100 to 1,500 yard (91-1,372 m) range graduations. As a heavy automatic rifle designed for support fire, the M1918 was not fitted with a bayonet mount and no bayonet was ever issued, though one experimental bayonet fitting was made by Winchester. During its lengthy service life, the BAR underwent continuous development, receiving many improvements and modifications. The first major attempt at improving
2142-629: A replacement for the M1918. The weapon also had a hinged shoulder plate and was adapted for use on a tripod mount. In 1932 Belgium adopted a new version of the FN Mle 1930 allocated the service designation FN Mle D (D— demontable or "removable"), which had a quick-change barrel, shoulder rest and a simplified take-down method for easier cleaning and maintenance. The Mle D was produced even after World War II in versions adapted for .30-06 Springfield (for Belgian service) and 7.92×57mm Mauser ammunition (for Egyptian service). The final variant in Belgian service
2268-596: A separate pistol grip and butt stock attached to a lightweight receiver, along with a shortened, 458 mm (18.0 in), barrel fitted with a 4-inch (100 mm) Cutts compensator. Weighing 16 lb 3 oz (7.34 kg) empty, the Monitor had a rate of fire of approximately 500 rpm. Around 125 were produced; 90 were purchased by the FBI . Eleven went to the US Treasury Department in 1934, while
2394-625: A shoulder-fired automatic rifle known then as the Browning Machine Rifle or BMR , both chambered for the standard US .30-06 Springfield (7.62×63mm) cartridge. Colt and the Ordnance Department arranged for a public demonstration of both weapons at a location in southern Washington, D.C. known as Congress Heights . There, on 27 February 1917, in front of a crowd of 300 people (including high-ranking military officials, congressmen , senators , foreign dignitaries and
2520-422: A spade-type grip to the rear of the receiver, moving the main drive spring under the barrel and, most importantly, changing the feed system. Sustained fire was practically impossible with the standard 20-round box magazine, so a new feed mechanism was developed that was added to the receiver as a module. It contains a spring-loaded, bolt-actuated lever that would feed a round from a 91-round pan magazine located above
2646-406: Is not quickly detachable. The M1918 feeds using double-column 20-round box magazines , although 40-round magazines were also used in an anti-aircraft role; these were withdrawn from use in 1927. The M1918 has a cylindrical flash suppressor fitted to the muzzle end. The original BAR was equipped with a fixed wooden buttstock and closed-type adjustable iron sights , consisting of a forward post and
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#17327915590552772-468: Is the first weapon to be labelled and marketed as a "submachine gun". The original selective-fire Thompson variants are no longer produced, although numerous semi-automatic civilian versions are still being produced by the manufacturer Auto-Ordnance . These models retain a similar appearance to the original models, but have various modifications in order to comply with US firearm laws . Brigadier General John T. Thompson , who spent most of his career in
2898-721: The FN Mle 1930 was developed in 7.65×53mm Belgian Mauser by FN Herstal and adopted by the Belgian army . The Mle 1930 is basically a licensed copy of the Colt Automatic Machine Rifle, Model 1925 (R 75). The Mle 1930 has a different gas valve and a mechanical rate-reducing fire control mechanism designed by Dieudonné Saive , located in the trigger guard-pistol grip housing. Some of these FN rate reducer mechanisms and pistol grip housings were later purchased by Springfield Armory for evaluation and possible adoption on
3024-619: The Browning BAR . The SLA converted a .30-06 Browning BAR hunting rifle and a .243 Remington Model 742 to automatic fire by filing down the sear, and it was these weapons that were used in the shootout. At its inception, the M1918 was intended to be used as a shoulder-fired rifle capable of both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire. First issued in September 1918 to the American Expeditionary Forces , it
3150-663: The Cuban Revolution , the Thompson submachine gun was used by both Batista 's army and Fidel Castro 's guerrillas. Both the latter and the Brigade 2506 also used some during the Bay of Pigs Invasion . During the Vietnam War , some South Vietnamese army units and defense militia were armed with Thompson submachine guns, and a few of these weapons were used by reconnaissance units, advisors, and other American troops. It
3276-657: The Democratic Army of Greece were also using Thompson submachine guns, either captured from government forces or inherited from ELAS . ELAS was the strongest of the resistance forces during the period of Greek Resistance against the Germans and Italians and were supplied with arms from both the British and the United States. After the demobilization of ELAS, an unspecified number of arms were not surrendered to
3402-681: The Korean War M1918A2 production was resumed, this time contracted to the Royal McBee Typewriter Co. , which produced an additional 61,000 M1918A2s. A bullpup prototype existed as the Cook automatic rifle during the 1950s. It was developed at Benicia Armoury by US Army ordnance officer Lauren C. Cook. It used the gas operation of the M1918 BAR with the trigger group in front of the magazine. The operation fired from
3528-572: The M60 machine gun in 1957. The US entered World War I with an inadequate, small, and obsolete assortment of domestic and foreign machine gun designs, due primarily to bureaucratic indecision and the lack of an established military doctrine for their employment. When the United States declaration of war on Germany was announced on 6 April 1917, the high command was made aware that to fight this trench war , dominated by machine-guns, they had on hand
3654-710: The National Firearms Act of 1934, civilian BAR ownership was restricted even further. Importation of machine guns for transfer between civilians was prohibited in 1968 and the production of machine guns for civilian transfer was banned in 1986 . However, machine guns produced prior to 1986 are still transferable, and fully-automatic BAR models exist and occasionally come up for sale to qualified buyers. Some companies continue to manufacture semi-automatic copies for sale to civilians, such as Ohio Ordnance Works, Inc. , in Chardon, Ohio. Ohio Ordnance Works produces
3780-750: The Owen and Austen . Thompsons were also given to the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy . In Burma and India, British forces largely replaced the Thompson with the Sten gun . New Zealand commando forces in the South Pacific campaign initially used Thompsons but switched them for the more reliable, lighter, and more accurate Owen during the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal campaigns. The U.S. Marines also used
3906-922: The United States Marine Corps during the Banana Wars , the United States Postal Inspection Service , the Irish Republican Army , the Republic of China , and the FBI following the Kansas City Massacre . The weapon was also sold to the general public. Because it was so widely used by criminals, the Thompson became notorious during the Prohibition era as the signature weapon of various organized crime syndicates in
Thompson submachine gun - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-416: The "L" 50-round drum and "XX" 20-round box magazines were tested 6 December 1941, at Fort Knox, Kentucky . An extended thirty-round box magazine and a forty-round magazine, which were made by welding two 20-round magazines face to face, jungle style, were tested. The testers considered both superior to either the "XX" box or "L" drum. The 30-round box was approved as the new standard in December 1941 to replace
4158-752: The "XX" and "L" magazines. (The concept of welding two box magazines face-to-face was also carried over to the M42 submachine gun.) The staff of Savage Arms looked for ways to simplify the M1928A1, and produced a prototype in February 1942, which was tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in March 1942. Army Ordnance approved adoption (as the M1) in April 1942. M1s were made by Savage Arms and by Auto-Ordnance . M1s were issued with
4284-461: The "square" organisation of the time. When converting to the "triangular" organisation the separate BAR squad was eliminated with BARs going to each rifle squad. When the threat of a new war arose, Ordnance belatedly realized that it had no portable, squad light machine gun, and attempted to convert the M1918 BAR to that role with the adoption of the M1918A2 by the US Army on 30 June 1938. The BAR
4410-551: The .45 ACP cartridge. The Thompson was first used in combat in 13 June 1921, when West Virginia state troopers fired on the mountainside near Lick Creek, where striking miners were firing at passing cars. By the time of the Battle of Blair Mountain , 37 had been acquired by the West Virginia state police and 56 were in the hands of coal companies and local law enforcement. The guns were also shipped to various hardware stores in
4536-652: The 1960s. They shipped their remaining stocks to arm the forces of Lon Nol 's Khmer Republic in 1975. They were then captured and used by the Khmer Rouge . During the Troubles (1969–1998), the Thompson was again used by the Irish Republican paramilitaries. According to historian Peter Hart , "The Thompson remained a key part of both the Official IRA and Provisional IRA arsenals until well into
4662-711: The 1970s when it was superseded by the Armalite and the AK-47 ." The Thompson was also used by U.S. and overseas law enforcement and police forces, most prominently by the FBI . The FBI used Thompsons until they were declared obsolete and ordered destroyed in the early 1970s. Because of their quality and craftsmanship, as well as their gangster-era and WWII connections, Thompsons are sought as collector's items. There were fewer than 40 pre-production prototypes. The Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut
4788-622: The 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918 , chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed by John Browning in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe as a replacement for the French-made Chauchat and M1909 Benét–Mercié machine guns that US forces had previously been issued. The BAR was designed to be carried by infantrymen during an assault advance while supported by
4914-533: The 30-round box magazine and would accept the earlier 20-round box, but would not accept the drum magazine. The Thompson was used in World War II in the hands of Allied troops as a weapon for scouts, non-commissioned officers ( corporal , sergeant , and higher), and patrol leaders, as well as commissioned officers, tank crewmen, and soldiers performing raids on German positions. In the European theater,
5040-440: The 6.5×55mm-caliber Colt automatic rifles appear to have been sold directly to FN. An improved version of the Model 1924, the Model 1925 (R75), achieved the highest popularity in export sales. It is based on the Model 1924 but uses a heavy, finned barrel, a lightweight bipod and is equipped with dust covers in the magazine well and ejection port (some of these features were patented: US patents #1548709 and #1533968). The Model 1925
5166-725: The AEF commander, in order not to let the BAR fall into enemy hands too early. Fifty-two thousand BARs were available by the end of the war in November. During the interwar years, as the U.S. Army was reduced significantly in size, the BAR remained in the smaller extant Regular Army and by the 1930s, was also issued to state national guard units to be maintained at their armories . Given the part-time nature, smaller manning and lesser security of these national guard armories when compared to regular army installations, some BARs were subject to plunder by domestic civilian criminal elements. The BAR
Thompson submachine gun - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-598: The BAR series of firearms in Europe from Colt. The first BAR model sold by FN was the Kg m/21 (Kg— Kulsprutegevär or "machinegun rifle") chambered for the 6.5×55mm m/94 cartridge. The m/21 is a variant of the Model 1919 designed to Swedish specifications and manufactured initially by Colt's and later under license at the Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori in Eskilstuna. Compared to the Model 1919,
5418-419: The BAR's final design, correcting the drawings in preparation for mass production. Among the changes made, the ejection pattern was modified (spent casings were directed to the right side of the weapon instead of straight up). Since work on the weapon did not begin until February 1918, so hurried was the schedule at Winchester to bring the BAR into full production that the first production batch of 1,800 rifles
5544-604: The BAR's sights were redesigned to accommodate the heavy-bullet 172-grain M1 .30-06 ball ammunition then coming into service for machinegun use. In 1931, the Colt Arms Co. introduced the Monitor Automatic Machine Rifle (R 80), intended primarily for use by prison guards and law-enforcement agencies. Intended for use as a shoulder-fired automatic rifle, the Monitor omitted the bipod, instead featuring
5670-454: The BAR. Composed of a mixture of Bakelite and Resinox, and impregnated with shredded fabric, the stocks were sandblasted to reduce glare. The Firestone Rubber and Latex Products Co. produced the plastic butt stock for the US Army, which was formally adopted on March 21, 1942. The M1922 machine rifle was declared obsolete in 1940, but they were used by Merrill's Marauders in Burma later in
5796-623: The BAR. Troops from the First Battalion of the Sixth Marines had talked the "doggies" of the US Army's 36th Division into trading their BARs for their Chauchats. However, complaints from officers of the 36th resulted in the issuance of a command from Marine Lt. Col. Harry Lee on 9 October 1918: All Browning guns and equipment in Marine possession were to be turned in. The M1918 is a selective-fire , air-cooled automatic rifle using
5922-553: The Browning patents to produce the BAR that had been withheld from issue during the war. This allowed Colt to make the BAR available for commercial sale, including to civilian owners. The Colt Automatic Machine Rifle Model 1919, initially made up of overruns from the M1918 military production contract, was the first of several commercial Colt BARs that would follow. However, the high price of the weapon and its limited utility for most civilian owners resulted in few sales. Ad Topperwien ,
6048-669: The Colt Machine Rifles for sale abroad. All of the Colt automatic machine rifles, including the Colt Monitor, were available for export sale. After 1929 the Model 1925 and the Colt Monitor were available for export sale in Colt's exclusive sales territories per its agreement with FN. These Colt territories included North America, Central America, the West Indies, South America, Great Britain, Russia, Turkey, Siam (Thailand), India and Australia. A variant known as
6174-459: The Cutts compensator (a muzzle brake ) was offered as an attachment option for the Thompson. Models with the compensator were cataloged as No. 21AC , at the original price of $ 200. The plain Thompson (without the attachment) was designated No. 21A at a reduced price of $ 175. In 1928, Federal Laboratories took over distribution of the weapon from Thompson's Auto-Ordnance Corporation. The new cost
6300-487: The Korean War, US troops were surprised to encounter communist Chinese troops armed with Thompsons (amongst other captured US-made Nationalist Chinese and American firearms), especially during unexpected night-time assaults which became a prominent Chinese combat tactic in the conflict. The gun's ability to deliver large quantities of short-range automatic assault fire proved very useful in both defense and assault during
6426-464: The M1918 BAR's butt stock. The M1918A2's barrel was also fitted with a new flash suppressor and fully adjustable iron sights. Towards the end of the war a barrel-mounted carrying handle was added. Because of budget limitations initial M1918A2 production consisted of conversions of older M1918 BARs (remaining in surplus) along with a limited number of M1922s and M1918A1s. After the outbreak of war, attempts to ramp up new M1918A2 production were stymied by
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#17327915590556552-478: The M1918 as well, and by all accounts she was an excellent BAR operator. She used an M1918 on full-automatic to pin down unsuspecting law officers after they confronted the gang at a house in Joplin, Missouri . A Missouri highway patrolman at the scene, forced to dive for cover behind a substantial oak tree after Bonnie Parker opened up on him, later stated, "That little red-headed woman filled my face with splinters on
6678-545: The M1918 resulted in the M1922 machine rifle, adopted by the United States Cavalry in 1922 as a troop-level light machine gun. The weapon used a new heavy profile ribbed barrel, an adjustable spiked bipod (mounted to a swiveling collar on the barrel) with a rear, stock-mounted monopod, a side-mounted sling swivel and a new rear buttplate, fixed to the stock retaining sleeve. The hand guard was changed, and in 1926
6804-506: The M1928A1 units had complaints of the "L" 50-round drum magazine. The British Army criticized "the [magazine's] excessive weight, [and] the rattling sound they made" and shipped thousands back to the U.S. in exchange for 20-round box magazines. The Thompson had to be cocked, bolt retracted, ready to fire, in order to attach the drum magazine. The drum magazine also attached and detached by sliding sideways, which made magazine changes slow and cumbersome. They also created difficulty when clearing
6930-457: The M1928A1, and drum compatibility was not included in the design of the wartime M1 and M1A1 models. The Thompson was one of the earliest submachine guns to incorporate a double-column, staggered-feed box magazine design, which undoubtedly contributed to the gun's reputation for reliability. In addition, the gun performed better than most after exposure to rain, dirt, and mud. Blowback-operated Too Many Requests If you report this error to
7056-506: The M3/M3A1 never replaced the Thompson, and purchases continued until February 1944. Though the M3 was considerably cheaper to produce, at the end of World War II, the Thompson, with a total wartime production of over 1.5 million, outnumbered the M3/M3A1 submachine guns in service by nearly three to one. Thompson submachine guns were used by both sides during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war . Following
7182-424: The Model of 1921. It was available to civilians, but, because of the weapon's high price, initially saw poor sales. The Thompson (with one Type XX 20 round "stick" magazine) had been priced at $ 200 in 1921 (roughly equivalent to $ 3,416 in 2023) The major initial complaints concerning the Thompson were its cumbersome weight, its inaccuracy at ranges over 50 yards (46 m), and its lack of penetrating power using
7308-444: The Model of 1928. The Thompson saw popularity as a point-defense weapon for countering ambushes by Nicaraguan guerrillas (in the Banana Wars ) and led to the creation of four-man fire teams which had as much firepower as a nine-man rifle squad. Federal sales were then followed by sales to police departments in the US, as well as to various international armies and constabulary forces; chiefly in Central and South America. In 1926,
7434-429: The Swedish weapon has—apart from the different caliber—a spiked bipod and dust covers for ejection. The m/21 would become one of Sweden's main support weapons in the interwar years together with the water-cooled, belt-fed Ksp m/1914 medium machine gun (Swedish adaptation of the Austrian M07/12 ). Dissatisfied with the rapidly overheating fixed barrel of the m/21, Carl Gustaf began to design a new quick-detach mechanism for
7560-469: The Thompson as a limited-issue weapon, especially during their later island assaults. The Thompson was soon found to have limited effect in heavy jungle cover, where the low- velocity .45 bullet would not penetrate most small-diameter trees or protective armor vests. (In 1923, the Army had rejected the .45 Remington–Thompson , which had twice the energy of the .45 ACP.) In the U.S. Army, many Pacific War jungle patrols were originally equipped with Thompsons in
7686-407: The Thompson in small quantities for use by their armies and militias. In the 1930s, Taiyuan Arsenal (a Chinese weapons manufacturer) produced copies of the Thompson for Yan Xishan , the then warlord of Shanxi province. The FBI had also acquired Thompsons in 1933 following the Kansas City Massacre . A number of these guns were acquired by a construction company in Brazil, after construction of
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#17327915590557812-403: The Thompson was the only submachine gun available to the Australian Army for most of the vital Kokoda Track campaign in 1942. It became so prized that soldiers routinely picked up Thompson guns dropped by killed or wounded comrades. However, the weight of the ammunition and difficulties in supply eventually led to its replacement in Australian Army units in 1943 by Australian-made submachine guns,
7938-400: The U.S. and South Korean military, even though the Thompson had been replaced as standard-issue by the M3/M3A1. With huge numbers of guns available in army ordnance arsenals, the Thompson remained classed as Limited Standard or Substitute Standard long after the standardization of the M3/M3A1. Many Thompsons were distributed to the US-backed Nationalist Chinese armed forces as military aid before
8064-427: The US Army. The army specified a need for a BAR designed to serve in the role of a light machine gun for squad-level support fire. Early prototypes were fitted with barrel-mounted bipods as well as pistol grip housings and a unique rate-of-fire reducer mechanism purchased from FN Herstal . The rate reducer mechanism performed well in trials, and the pistol grip housing enabled the operator to fire more comfortably from
8190-460: The United States in the 1920s. It was a common sight in the media at the time, and was used by both law enforcement officers and criminals. The Thompson was widely adopted by the U.S. armed forces during World War II , and was also used extensively by other Allied troops during the war. Its main models were designated as the M1928A1, M1 and M1A1 during this time. More than 1.5 million Thompson submachine guns were produced during World War II. It
8316-444: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 256885433 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:59:19 GMT M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle The Browning automatic rifle ( BAR ) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during
8442-423: The action in which it was used. During the failed 1924 Estonian coup , communists used Thompsons in an attempt to storm the Tallinn barracks; meanwhile the MP 18 was used by the defenders. This was possibly the first engagement where submachine guns were used on both sides. The Thompson achieved early notoriety in the hands of Prohibition and Great Depression -era gangsters and the lawmen who pursued them. It
8568-469: The agency. Some of the FBI's Monitors were distributed to field offices for use as support weapons if needed on a particular operation, while the remainder were retained at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia , for training purposes. Colt sold an additional 11 Colt Monitors to the US Treasury Department in 1934, while 24 guns were sold to state prisons, banks, security companies and accredited city, county and state police departments. At least one member of
8694-416: The ambush team that killed Bonnie and Clyde was armed with a Colt Monitor. Although it has sometimes been alleged that the M1918 or M1918A2 BAR was used by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in a shootout with Los Angeles police on May 17, 1974, no SLA members ever used such a weapon. The confusion arose out of Browning's decision in the 1970s to also designate its semi-automatic hunting rifle
8820-461: The barrel that mates the externally grooved chamber to a series of rotating flanges in the receiver operated by a locking lever. The barrel also received cooling fins along its entire length. These enhancements were incorporated into the fm/1935 prototype, which was favorably evaluated during trials in 1935. The final version was the Kg m/37, adopted for service in 1937, which uses a smooth-contour, unfinned barrel. Numerous m/21 guns were retrofitted with
8946-418: The belt-fed M1917 machine gun, the BAR came to be known as the M1918 or Rifle, Caliber .30, Automatic, Browning, M1918 according to official nomenclature. On 16 July 1917, 12,000 BARs were ordered from Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company , which had secured an exclusive concession to manufacture the BAR under Browning's patents (Browning's U.S. patent 1,293,022 was owned by Colt). However Colt
9072-490: The bolt safely closed. The box magazine was quickly attached and detached, and was removed downward, making clearing jams easier. The box magazine tripped the bolt open lock when empty, facilitating magazine changes. An empty box was easy to reload with loose rounds. However, users complained that it was limited in capacity. In the field, some soldiers would tape two "XX" magazines together, in what would be known as "jungle style" , to quicken magazine changes. Two alternatives to
9198-422: The changes reduced the rate of fire from 800 to the 600 rpm of the U.S. Navy Model 1928. Later M1 and M1A1 Thompsons averaged also 600 rpm. Compared to more modern submachine guns, the Thompson is quite heavy, weighing roughly the same as the contemporary M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle, and requires a lot of cleaning. This was one of the major complaints about the weapon by U.S. Army personnel to whom it
9324-542: The complexity of a recoil or gas-operated reloading mechanism. Blish's design (then known as the Blish lock ) was based on the supposed adhesion of inclined metal surfaces under pressure. Thompson gained financial backing from the businessman Thomas F. Ryan and proceeded to found a company, which he named the Auto-Ordnance Company , in 1916, for the purpose of developing his new "auto rifle". The Thompson
9450-617: The course of patrol and gunboat duty along the Yangtze River in China. The First Marine Brigade stationed in Port-au-Prince , Haiti, noted that training a man to use the BAR proficiently took a full two days of range practice and instruction, compared to half a day with the .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun. Prior to World War II, both the US Army and Marine Corps had a separate BAR squad together with three rifle squads in
9576-564: The discovery that the World War I tooling used to produce the M1918 was either worn out or incompatible with modern production machinery. New production was first undertaken at the New England Small Arms Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. (a total of 188,380 new weapons were manufactured). In 1942 a shortage of black walnut for butt stocks and grips led to the development of a black plastic butt stock for
9702-474: The early part of the war when it was constantly mobile and shifting back and forth. Many Chinese Thompsons were captured and placed into service with American soldiers and marines for the remaining period of the war. The Yugoslav Army received 34,000 M1A1 Thompsons during the 1950s as part of a US Military Aid to Yugoslavia Agreement. These guns were used during the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s. During
9828-518: The early phases of the New Guinea and Guadalcanal campaigns, but soon began employing the Browning Automatic Rifle in its place as a point defense weapon. The Army introduced the U.S. M3 and M3A1 submachine guns in 1943 with plans to produce the latter in numbers sufficient to cancel future orders for the Thompson, while gradually withdrawing it from first-line service. However, due to unforeseen production delays and requests for modifications,
9954-467: The fall of Chiang Kai-shek 's government to Mao Zedong 's communist forces at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 (Thompsons had already been widely used throughout China since the 1920s, at a time when several Chinese warlords and their military factions running various parts of the fragmented country made purchases of the weapon and then subsequently produced many local copies). During
10080-624: The first time on 13 September 1918. The weapon was personally demonstrated against the enemy by 2nd Lt. Val Allen Browning , the inventor's son. Despite being introduced very late in the war, the BAR made an impact disproportionate to its numbers; it was used extensively during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and made a significant impression on the Allies (France alone requested 15,000 automatic rifles to replace their Chauchat machine rifles). US Marines briefly took possession of
10206-658: The government but kept hidden and were later used by the Democratic Army of Greece. The Thompson also found service with the KNIL and the Netherlands Marine Corps during their attempt to retake their former colony of Indonesia. The gun was used by Indonesian infiltrators during the 1965 Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation . By the time of the Korean War in 1950, the Thompson had seen much use by
10332-600: The gun was widely utilized in British and Canadian commando units, as well as in the U.S. Army paratrooper and Ranger battalions , where it was issued more frequently than in line infantry units because of its high rate of fire and its stopping power, which made it very effective in the kinds of close combat these special operations troops were expected to undertake. Military Police were fond of it, as were paratroopers, who "borrowed" Thompsons from members of mortar squads for use on patrols behind enemy lines. The gun
10458-691: The mail from a spate of robberies. These weapons were loaned to the United States Marine Corps which was, at that time, tasked with guarding mail shipments; this prompted the US Navy to formally test the Thompson. The Navy requested a reduction in the rate of fire. Auto-Ordnance complied, modifying the weapons by adding a substantial amount of mass to the actuator. In 1927 a number of Thompsons would be shipped to Marines in China and Nicaragua . The Navy subsequently ordered 500 guns, designated
10584-575: The ordnance department of the U.S. Army , was the original inventor and developer of the Thompson submachine gun. He envisioned it as being a fully automatic rifle in order to replace the bolt-action service rifles then in use (such as the American M1903 Springfield ). Thompson came across a patent issued to the American inventor John Bell Blish in 1915, while searching for a way to allow his weapon to operate safely without
10710-406: The original M1918 BAR, the Colt Monitor machine rifle , remains the lightest production automatic firearm chambered for the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, though the limited capacity of its standard 20-round magazine tended to hamper its utility in that role. Although the weapon did see action in late 1918 during World War I , the BAR did not become standard issue in the US Army until 1938, when it
10836-513: The other side of that tree with one of those damned guns." As the use of automatic weapons by criminal elements in the US became more widespread, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered the agency to acquire and commence regular training with automatic shoulder weapons, including the Thompson submachine gun and the BAR. For its BARs the FBI turned to Colt, which sold 90 Colt Monitor automatic machine rifles to
10962-562: The press), the Army staged a live-fire demonstration which so impressed the gathered crowd, that Browning was immediately awarded a contract for the weapon and it was hastily adopted into service (the water-cooled machine gun underwent further testing). Additional tests were conducted for US Army Ordnance officials at Springfield Armory in May 1917, and both weapons were unanimously recommended for immediate adoption. In order to avoid confusion with
11088-504: The price of a black-market Colt Monitor was $ 5,000, with military BARs going for somewhat less. The army's M1918 was a favorite of gangster Clyde Barrow , who obtained his through periodic robberies of Army National Guard armories in the Midwest. Barrow liked to use armor-piercing (AP) .30-06 ammunition he obtained from armory stores, and frequently modified his BARs to suit his own needs. Barrow taught his girlfriend Bonnie Parker to fire
11214-674: The procurement of 10,000 wz. 1928 light machine guns chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser, which are similar to the R75 variant but designed specifically to meet the requirements of the Polish army. Changes to the base design include a pistol grip, different type of bipod, open-type V-notch rear sight and a slightly longer barrel. Subsequent rifles were assembled in Poland under license by the state rifle factory (Państwowa Fabryka Karabinów) in Warsaw. The wz. 1928
11340-533: The prone position. However, in 1939 the army declared that all modifications to the basic BAR be capable of being retrofitted to earlier M1918 guns with no loss of parts interchangeability. This effectively killed the FN-designed pistol grip and its proven rate reducer mechanism for the new M1918 replacement. The final development of the M1918A2 was authorized on 30 June 1938. The FN-designed pistol grip and rate-reducer mechanism with two rates of automatic fire
11466-649: The receiver and force the round into the feed path during unlocking. The machine gun was accepted in 1937 and ordered by the Polish Air Force as the karabin maszynowy obserwatora wz. 1937 ("observers machine gun model 1937"). Eventually 339 machine guns were acquired and used as armament in the PZL.37 Łoś medium bomber and the LWS-3 Mewa reconnaissance aircraft. In 1920, Belgian arms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN) acquired sales and production rights to
11592-787: The region. Some of the first batches of Thompsons were bought (in America) by agents of the Irish Republic (notably the Irish politician Harry Boland ). The first test of the Thompson in Ireland was performed by Irish Republican Army unit commander Tom Barry , of the West Cork Brigade , in the presence of IRA leader Michael Collins . They purchased a total of 653 units, though US customs authorities in New York seized 495 of
11718-406: The replacement of the iron sights with a smaller version and reshaping the butt to a fish tail. In the mid-1930s, Polish small-arms designer Wawrzyniec Lewandowski was tasked with developing a flexible aircraft-mounted machine gun based on the Browning wz.1928. This resulted in the wz. 1937. Changes included increasing the weapon's rate of fire to 1,100 rounds/min, eliminating the butt stock, adding
11844-569: The rest went to various state prisons, banks, security companies and accredited police departments. Although available for export sale, no examples appear to have been exported. In 1932, a greatly shortened version designed for bush warfare was developed by USMC Maj. H.L. Smith and was the subject of an evaluative report by Capt. Merritt A. Edson , ordnance officer at the Quartermaster's Depot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The barrel
11970-567: The screw-on receiver extension and quick-change barrel and renamed the Kg m/21-37. The m/37 remained in service until replaced by the FN MAG, but was still in second-line use until 1980. Carl Gustaf also developed a belt-fed prototype; however, it was never adopted. The Chinese Nationalist Army used the FN Mle 1930 throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War . 29,550 were bought from Belgium between 1933 and 1939. The Chinese BAR
12096-614: The simplified World War II M1 and M1A1 variants (without the Blish lock and oiling system). A Model 1921A believed to have been owned by Bonnie and Clyde , but without historical documentation to substantiate this provenance, sold at auction on 21 January 2012, in Kansas City for $ 130,000. Early versions of the Thompson, the Model 1919, had a fairly high cyclic rate of fire, as high as 1,200 rounds per minute (rpm), with most Model 1921s at 800 rpm. This rate of fire, combined with
12222-490: The sling over the shoulder, or to be fired from the hip. This is a concept called " walking fire "—thought to be necessary for the individual soldier during trench warfare. The BAR never entirely lived up to the original hopes of the War Department as either a rifle or a machine gun. The US Army, in practice, used the BAR as a light machine gun, often fired from a bipod (introduced on models after 1938). A variant of
12348-695: The units in June 1921. The remainder found their way to the Irish Republican Army by way of Liverpool, England, and were used in the last month of the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921). After a truce with the British in July 1921, the Irish Republican Army imported more units, which were used in the subsequent Irish Civil War (1922–1923). The Thompson was not found to be very effective in Ireland; having only caused serious casualties in 32 percent of
12474-586: The war as a slightly lighter alternative to the M1918A2. Production rates greatly increased in 1943, after IBM introduced a method of casting BAR receivers from a new type of malleable iron developed by the Saginaw division of General Motors , called ArmaSteel . After it successfully passed a series of tests at Springfield Armory, the Chief of Ordnance instructed other BAR receiver manufacturers to change over from steel to ArmaSteel castings for this part. During
12600-406: The war ended two days before prototypes could be shipped to Europe. At an Auto-Ordnance board meeting in 1919, in order to discuss the marketing of the "Annihilator", with the war now over the weapon was officially renamed the "Thompson Submachine Gun". While other weapons had been developed shortly prior with similar objectives in mind, the Thompson was the first weapon to be labeled and marketed as
12726-464: The war, Thompsons were issued to members of Israel's elite Unit 101 , upon the formation of that unit in 1953. During the Greek Civil War , the Thompson submachine gun was used by both sides. The Hellenic Armed Forces , gendarmerie and police units were equipped with Thompson submachine guns supplied by the British and later in the war by the United States. The opposing Communist fighters of
12852-469: The weapon later known as the BAR in 1910. He demonstrated the prototypes to the US military, which did not see an immediate use for the weapon until 1917. In 1917, prior to America's entry to the war, John Browning personally brought to Washington, D.C. two types of automatic weapons for the purposes of demonstration: a water-cooled machine gun (later adopted as the M1917 Browning machine gun ) and
12978-454: Was accepted into service with the Polish army in 1927 under the formal name 7,92 mm rkm Browning wz. 1928 and—until the outbreak of World War II—was the primary light support weapon of Polish infantry and cavalry formations (in 1939 Poland had a total of approximately 20,000 wz. 1928 rifles in service). Additional detail modifications were introduced on the production line; among them were
13104-702: Was already producing at peak capacity (contracted to manufacture the Vickers machine gun for the British Army ) and requested a delay in production while they expanded their manufacturing output with a new facility in Meriden, Connecticut . Due to the urgent need for the weapon, the request was denied and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company (WRAC) was designated as the prime contractor. Winchester gave valuable assistance in refining
13230-580: Was also depicted in gangster films during this era, most notably regarding the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre . The Thompson guns used in the massacre are still being held by the Berrien County Sheriff's Department. The Thompson has been referred to by one researcher as the "gun that made the twenties roar ". Around 200 Model of 1921 Thompsons were sold in 1926 to the United States Postal Inspection Service so they could protect
13356-580: Was also standard issue to US naval landing forces during the period. The weapon was a standard item in US warship armories, and each BAR was accompanied by a spare barrel. Large capital ships often had over 200 BARs on board, with many of the US Navy BARs remaining in service well into the 1960s. The BAR also saw action with US Marine Corps units participating in the Haitian and Nicaraguan interventions, as well as with US Navy shipboard personnel in
13482-471: Was based on the concept of "walking fire", a French practice in use since 1916 for which the CSRG 1915 ( Chauchat ) had been used accompanying advancing squads of riflemen toward the enemy trenches, as regular machine guns were too cumbersome to move with the troops during an assault. In addition to shoulder-fired operation, BAR gunners were issued a belt with magazine pouches for the BAR and sidearm along with
13608-755: Was chambered for the German 7.92×57mm Mauser round, the standard rifle cartridge of the National Revolutionary Army . After the outbreak of the Pacific War , the Chinese Expeditionary Army in Burma was equipped with American BARs. Towards the end of World War II, small quantities of American equipment, including the BAR, made their way into mainland China. With the cessation of WWI hostilities, Colt Arms Co. received
13734-575: Was contracted by the Auto-Ordnance Corporation to manufacture the initial mass production of 15,000 Thompson Submachine Guns in 1920. An original Colt Model 1921 A or AC, Model 1927 A or AC, Model 1928 Navy A or AC, properly registered in working condition with original components can easily fetch from US$ 25,000 to $ 45,000+ depending on condition and accessories. For WWII, approximately 1,700,000 Thompson Submachine Guns were produced by Auto-Ordnance and Savage Arms , with 1,387,134 being
13860-548: Was delivered out of spec; it was discovered that many components did not interchange between rifles, and production was temporarily halted until manufacturing procedures were upgraded to bring the weapon up to specifications. The initial contract with Winchester called for 25,000 BARs. They were in full production by June 1918, delivering 4,000 units, and from July were turning out 9,000 units per month. Colt and Marlin-Rockwell Corp. also began production shortly after Winchester got into full production. Marlin-Rockwell, burdened by
13986-436: Was done on the project. The M1918A1, featuring a lightweight spiked bipod with a leg height adjustment feature attached to the gas cylinder and a hinged steel butt plate, was formally approved on 24 June 1937. The M1918A1 was intended to increase the weapon's effectiveness and controllability firing in bursts. Relatively few M1918s were rebuilt to the new M1918A1 standard. In April 1938, work commenced on an improved BAR for
14112-452: Was found that the only cartridge then in service suitable for use with the new lock was the .45 ACP . General Thompson envisioned a "one-man, hand-held machine gun" chambered in .45 ACP to be used as a "trench broom" for the ongoing trench warfare of World War I . Oscar V. Payne designed the new firearm along with its stick and drum magazines. The project was titled "Annihilator I". Most of the design issues had been resolved by 1918; however,
14238-440: Was issued as the sole automatic fire support for a twelve-man squad, and all men were trained at the basic level how to operate and fire the weapon in case the designated operators were killed or wounded. At the start of the war, infantry companies designated three-man BAR teams, a gunner, an assistant gunner, and an ammunition bearer who carried additional magazines for the gun. By 1944, some units were using one-man BAR "teams" with
14364-462: Was issued to squads as a portable light machine gun. The BAR saw extensive service in both World War II and the Korean War and saw limited service in the Vietnam War . The US Army began phasing out the BAR in the 1950s, when it was intended to be replaced by a squad automatic weapon (SAW) variant of the M14 , and as a result the US Army was without a portable light machine gun until the introduction of
14490-426: Was issued. Although the drum magazine provided significant firepower, in military service it was found to be overly heavy and bulky, especially when slung on the shoulder while marching. The M1928A1 Thompson drum magazine was rather fragile, and cartridges tended to rattle inside it, producing unwanted noise. For these reasons, the 20-round and later 30-round box magazines soon proved most popular with military users of
14616-501: Was less accurate when fired from the shoulder, and had a loud report combined with a fierce muzzle blast. Attaching a Cutts compensator materially reduced the muzzle blast, but this was more than offset by the increase in smoke and dust at the muzzle when fired, obscuring the operator's vision. Nor did it improve control of the weapon when fired in bursts of automatic fire. Though the report recommended building six of these short-barreled jungle BARs for further evaluation, no further work
14742-499: Was listed as $ 225 per weapon (equivalent to $ 3,992 in 2023), with $ 5 per 50-round drum and $ 3 per 20-round magazine. Thompsons had also been widely used throughout China, where several Chinese warlords and their military factions running various parts of the fragmented country made purchases of the weapon, and subsequently produced many local copies. Nationalist China acquired a substantial number of Thompson guns for use against Japanese land forces. They began producing copies of
14868-615: Was not widespread. In the Malayan Campaign , the Burma Campaign and the Pacific Theater , Lend-Lease-issue Thompsons were used by the British Army , Indian Army , Australian Army infantry and other Commonwealth forces. They used the Thompson extensively in jungle patrols and ambushes, where it was prized for its firepower, though it was criticized for its hefty weight and poor reliability. In New Guinea,
14994-638: Was partially replaced by the MAC-10 , albeit during Vietnam, the fully automatic fire provided by the M16 made the Thompson less effective than it previously had been. Still, not only did some U.S. soldiers have use of them in Vietnam, they encountered them as well. The Viet Cong liked the weapon and used both captured models as well as manufacturing their own copies in small jungle workshops. The Australian government destroyed most of their Thompson machine carbines in
15120-462: Was primarily developed in Cleveland, Ohio . Its principal designers were Theodore H. Eickhoff, Oscar V. Payne, and George E. Goll. By late 1917, the limits of the Blish lock were discovered (which is essentially an extreme manifestation of static friction ), and, rather than the firearm working as a locked breech, the weapon was instead designed to function as a friction-delayed blowback action. It
15246-605: Was prized by those lucky enough to get one and proved itself in the close street fighting that was encountered frequently during the invasion of France. A Swedish variant of the M1928A1, the Kulsprutepistol m/40 (machine pistol, model 40), served in the Swedish Army between 1940 and 1951. Through Lend-Lease , the Soviet Union also received the Thompson, but due to a shortage of appropriate ammunition, its use
15372-595: Was produced in various calibers, including .30-06 Springfield (7.62×63mm), 7.65×53mm Belgian Mauser , 7×57mm Mauser , 7.92×57mm Mauser , and .303 British (7.7×56mmR) (no Colt-manufactured Model 1925 rifles in 6.5×55mm appear to have been sold). A minor variant of the Model 1925 (R75) was the R75A light machine gun with a quick-change barrel (produced in 1942 in small quantities for the Dutch army ). Between 1921 and 1928 FN Herstal imported over 800 Colt-manufactured examples of
15498-409: Was shelved in favor of a rate-reducer mechanism designed by Springfield Armory, and housed in the butt stock. The Springfield Armory rate reducer also provided two selectable rates of fully automatic fire only, activated by engaging the selector toggle. Additionally, a skid-footed bipod was fitted to the muzzle end of the barrel, magazine guides were added to the front of the trigger guard, the hand guard
15624-409: Was shortened nine inches (229 mm) at the muzzle and the gas port and gas cylinder tube were relocated. The modified BAR weighed 13 lb 12 oz (6.24 kg) and was only 34.5 inches (880 mm) long overall. Though it proved superior to the M1918 in accuracy when fired prone in automatic mode and equal in accuracy to the standard M1918 at ranges of 500–600 yards (460–550 m) from a rest, it
15750-441: Was shortened, a heat shield was added to help the cooling process, a small separate stock rest (monopod) was included for attachment to the butt and the weapon's role was changed to that of a squad light machine gun. The BAR's rear sight scales were also modified to accommodate the newly standardized M2 ball ammunition with its lighter, flat-base bullet. The M1918A2's walnut butt stock is approximately one inch (2.5 cm) longer than
15876-849: Was the Model DA1 chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge and feeding from the 20-round magazines for the FN FAL battle rifle. In 1922, the French Army considered the introduction of the BAR or of the Fusil-mitrailleur MAS modèle 1922 , a copy of the BAR produced by the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne . The FM 24/29 light machine gun was eventually adopted. Production of the BAR in Belgium began only after signing an agreement with Poland (on 10 December 1927) involving
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