My father was a WW2 vet with the 109th. Inf. Reg't., 28th. Inf. Div. As a squad leader of a 60mm. mortar crew, he chose to carry a Thompson. That was until he came to realize the weight of the Thompson and it's ammo. His brother O'Neill also in the 109th. was a radio operator in another company. My dad went to see his brother when he was hit buy German mortars. Dad noticed that he had a M1 Carbine and chose to switch. Yeah I know, I told him the same thing. "Are you nuts"! He told me they killed far more Germans with the 60 then any rifles they carried. Later he went to carry the M1 Garand. O'Neill never went back to combat after almost losing his left arm. My father went on fighting till the end of the war. He was wounded twice. Both served 20 years.
I used a 1928A1 with a Cutts compensator in Vietnam. I could pick my own weapon and had no trouble staying on target. I liked it for close range action and the heavy hitting power. If you have a good barrel and aim, body hits are easy at 100 yards. Usually a 3 round burst. I never shot long bursts like the movies and didn't subscribe to the Pray and Spray marksmanship. I also used a Stoner 62, 7.62x51.
@@moistexistence3090 not really the only problem I’ve personally seen with them they can be too fast to shoot and can be somewhat difficult to control full auto but if you shoot guns regularly its a blast and easy
I love the Thompson machine gun but in battle I definitely would choose the M-16 over the Thompson for accuracy, distance, reliability, FEET per second, easier to break down and again accuracy
@@juliorosenberg2222 When I was in VN, the M-16 had a terrible rep. In the jungle most combat is well under 100 yards. On missions to open areas I carried different weapons.
I got to fire a "Tommy Gun" once in 1990 when I was 20. My grandfather knew a gent that had a 1928 model, it was a blast. The older gent who was in his 80's said his dad bought it in the 1930's from Sears for $200.
my great-great grandfather had two of these, bought new in 1931, and then left them to my great grand uncle. the guy who was supposed to help him as his in home health care worker stole all of his stuff when they were putting him in a home. I got to shoot one when i was 12 and it made me feel like a 1920's gangster. the original drum was jamtastic, the stick mags were where it was at.
my grand uncle has been dead 20 years now. the guy got away with it all, even the antique matchlock from our ancestor that came over in the 1700's. the guy and his wife were using fake names and credentials as home health workers.
@@thh420 you need to find that bastard ,put this gun up his ass, & then (in the words of Jesus the bowler from the Big Lebowski)...'pull the trigger till it clicks'!
Thanks for sharing, My father trained with thompsons during WW2 he loved them they were fun, in sniper training they had all the ammo they wanted and a lot of the training was go out and shoot. That was just one weapon he trained with, he carried an M1 Garrand in combat which he said never failed. He was with the 1st Marine Division and was in lot of foul weather mud heat.
Imagine just going to the hardware store and seeing a shiny new Thompson SMG on the shelf with crates of .45acp, No ID, NO TAX STAMP, NO CAVITY SEARCH LOL, FREEDOM!!!
@Eric Tasaico you can still get them but the check is ridiculous I had to get grilled by my state and the atf they showed up and started writing down numbers of all my guns it sucked but i have one
About 18 years ago I was at a friend's house and I was talking to his dad and we started talking about WW2 and weapons of the era and I was telling him how I would have love to have used a Thompson gun and he got up went to his room and brought out a 1928 model Tommy gun with a fore grip and drum mag that his father carried in the Pacific theater.
@@hardcorehouse yeah it was surreal. I remember holding it and feeling so anxious that it was making the drum rattle from my hands shaking Haha. I was surprised by the weight of it too.
MMC SS well that’s the end of the story. After letting me hold it for a few minutes he got it and put it back in his room!! This was in 02 when WWII popularity was at its peak with Band of Brothers had recently came out and almost all video games were about it.
The knockdown, killing power of one .45 ACP round on a human is outstanding. 30 of them coming your direction at a rate of 650 per minute is absolutely devastating. What a brutal level of firepower to be able to carry in your hands.
The earlier version with the 900rpm was insane. I've seen a few of the modern semiautomatics but that 1921 full-auto was just unbelievable. Yeah, on my bucket list for sure!
Back in the day if you volunteered to go to war you were able to choose your weapon. Or so I've been told. My dad, at 17 YOA, volunteered for Korea. He choose the Thompson. Dad as on a Destroyer, the Leonard F. Mason, and went through some kind of special training which, of course, he never talked about. Dad didn't think he would ever use this training. One day the Mason pulled in off shore somewhere in Korea to pull some Marines off the beach. Dad said they were being pushed into the sea by the Chinese. Dad and some other men were sent to shore on the Captain's small boat (Gig) to rescue the trapped Marines. Dad said he remembered "firing into the bush" with his Thompson but didn't know if he hit anyone. Dad took a round in his right calf. He said it knocked his leg from underneath him but he got right back up. Dad told me he didn't feel any pain until they got back to the ship with the Marines. He said "it hurt like hell". Dad was sent to Tripler Army hospital in Hawaii. Dad said he was awarded the Purple Heart but declined it. When I asked why he said that he knew other veterans that were injured worse than he was that didn't receive the Purple Heart. The Purple Heart award is not on Dad's DD-214 but I've seen the scar on his Calf.
When I was in Connecticut, Colt firearms MFG was one of the contractor for model 1921 and we have a lots of person who worked for Colt for many years. When a person that we know owned Thompson 1921 that Made by Colt die , the ATF took the firearms it and test fired the gun at my friend range in Milford, CT.
Back in the 50s I was in the first Marine division 7 Marines Regiment I remember once when I was on a navy ship I went down to the arms room and one side of the armor on the wall were all BAR and on the other side they were Thompson submachinegun in the rack. I just stood there and looked at them for use of a better way to explain it.I thought they were beautiful.
Still remember my grandad telling me he always felt more relaxed when he saw soldiers with Tommy Guns. He was an Army Captain in Europe in WW2. Would definitely love to fire one of the 1928s.
Williams, Arizona has a shop/range in the downtown called "Gunfighter." You can shoot all kinds of weapons. I fired the 1928 Thompson, an Uzi, and a Glock 17. Loved it !!! My wife caught the Thompson on video for me.
I've been wanting a Thompson for a long time now.. my grandpa has 1 since 1945.. he was a bodyguard for the dominican dictator trujillo. it was a personal gift from him. he dnt let no one touch it or shoot it.. wow what a piece of American history....
NEVER OBEY are you a us citizen? If not you can’t get a gun. If you are a citizen you’ll need to apply for a class 3 firearms license (automatics) and wait the mandatory 2 years for background checks etc, then the price for the gun. You’re looking at 10,000$ maybe more for something like this Thompson. Or instead of dealing with the ATF you could buy a cheap good quality Thompson, just seminauto, but they have double press electric triggers you can mount, totally legal, so for every pull of the trigger you get a shot, and every release of the trigger fires another, so essentially fully auto without the BS. You can even abort the shot ( say you have the trigger squeezed, which the device is designed to fire upon release of the trigger, there’s a button you press and it aborts the trigger release shot.check it out , a lot of people have em on all sorts of semis and totally legal
I put this on my favorites. Thanks to Steve from Virginia for letting us watch you guys play. A Cutts/Limon compensator should help with the barrel climb. Unless, Steve objects. I'd love to here his thoughts.
The necessity for the 'T' track on the magazine is aptly demonstrated by the mag's behavior at about 12:10. It was badly unsupported but that track kept it working. The long mag tunnel of the MP38 and 40 was used in the M3 and M3A1 which replaced the Thompson and the cyclic rate of fire was lowered even further, making it possible to squeeze off single shots in full auto.
I tried on of those during the war in Bosnia in 1993, for an old time weapon it was a very nice bit of kit. Most of those Thomson's came out of crates that had been stored since WW11.
Great Video Sir and Thank you for posting....I read that several ships that had a lot of Thompson Drums heading to England, were sunk by U Boats..thus making them even more RARE...do you guys knowing anything about that?
I understand that they made at least one of these fine weapons in .351 cal. for the Army, but declined due to increased stress on their supply chain of ammo.
In the 80's and 90's a friend of mine, a retired Army Col used to bring all his submachine guns to yearly shoot we had in AZ. His Thompson was Number seven of the prototypes. I had carried one in Nam in the 60's, but to shot this weapon was an exceptional joy. He allowed anyone at the 3 day shoot to fire the weapon. He provided the ammo. The only requirement was you had to load the mags when you were done. I used to help some of the children shoot the thing. I would tell them that when they went to school that they would probably be the only person to include teachers that had ever fired a Thompson. Accuracy was very good in single shot mode, and had great range for a .45.
I purchased one that was a reproduction and it was fun to shoot right up to the breach fire that sent a piece of the case into my forehead, a band aide and new gun latter (the store switched guns with me) I decided to sell it and the buyer told me latter on the barrel exploded. so if your going to by one invest in an original one they are expencive but so is my fore head
Very cool. I'm jealous of you guys. This must've been quite the experience. That older gentlemen seems to be a character. His ending quote truly says it all!
My neighbor and friend is a WW2 vet, Army G2. His two favorites were the Tommy and BAR. At that time the procedure was to fire 3 rounds and then let it settle down otherwise too hard to hold on target. He spent his later years hunting and sport shooting clays. He tried to get me to use a shot gun and I was a total flop being left eyed and right handed. Aside I had an eye doctor who checked vision for aerial gunners. First test was as above and they washed out first day. I think he was one of the Ritchie Boys but do not know for sure. Never would tell me. He wore no rank on his uniform and spoke many slavic languages. His commanding general was in Washington.Look up Ritchie boys on U tube.
I notice that unlike the AK47 and some other SMGs, the barrel is not waving all around the place when it fires on full auto. That would seem to indicate far greater accuracy of this weapon. Also how beautifully made and finished it is. One does not see such work much today!
when the AKM came out, it suffers from "Barrel Whip" The receiver bends when fired ( the AK47 had a machined receiver and did not do that). The Chinese type 56 had a thicker stamped receiver , which did not flex as much as the Russian variant. My dad was in the 82nd Airborne as a Bazooka man. His other weapon was a 1928 w/ a Cutts compensator.
So much cool in this one! Shared with at least 15 of my buds. "Only hits count" damn skippy! Wish I'd known y'all were coming to VA, I'm in Richmond, woulda had a free place to stay, maybe next time!
The 21 is easy to control on full auto. A Cutts compensator helps. I'm surprised he didn't have one mounted on his gun. Here's a loading tip. Cock the bolt and engage the safety before inserting the magazine.
Correct, but the point I was trying to make is that a loaded box magazine can be inserted with the bolt closed. However, loading the firearm this way is more difficult because the top round in the magazine will contact the bolt before the magazine is fully locked in place. The shooter must overcome this resistance by pushing harder on the magazine, forcing the rounds to be further compressed over the magazine spring. When the bolt is to the rear, there is no such contact, therefore seating the magazine in its catch is much easier.
Actually the Curt’s was more of a marketing gimmick than a functional device in controlling muzzle rise; muzzle rise, controllability and accuracy is accomplished via trigger control and bursting shots in a string of 3-4 shots onto the target.
There's a photo in the Feb 2014 American Rifleman, page 24 of a U.S. Marine in Guadalcanal (or Solomon Isles) in WW2 hunting snipers with a 50rd drum mag
My favorite gun of all. The history, the look, and they are fun to shoot. I own a semi auto 1928. Shot a real WWII m1 full auto at the gun store store in Las Vegas a few years ago. Great great AMERICAN FIRE POWER
This is one of my favorites! Thank you for posting! what a joy it must have been to carry one type of ammunition in combat. I understand most men didnt have this option.
A Marine Col. who did the full ride WW2 , 9 Island Campaigns including Bouganville, said they would drop the back end of the sling, lengthened to put your foot on to prevent muzzle rise and let it rip.
I shot a 30 round magazine with the Thompson at an old water heater in a field once ,and the muzzle rise was intense. That’s why the old time OGs held this weapon sideways to get a full sweep of an area.
It started out as an option on the 1921 but almost all of the military models had them on the 1928. The M1 and M1A1 generally didn't have them or the finned barrels as production shortcuts proceeded, much like the 2 lands and grooves in the 1903-A3 barrels differed from earlier models.
so true. the beauty and craftmanship is unrivaled in the realm of submachine guns. Even my post WW2 era thompsons dont really compare in beauty to steves
What a brilliant video! Thanks. No mention of the Cutts Compensator. I think the 'ding' was when the target got hit! My father used to instruct on this gun in the Home Guard, in the UK (WW2). I did have a small manual, but lost it. My father did not get to keep the gun! Shame. I do have an AirSoft BB firing replica. (Single shot of course) Just imagine the weight of the gun with a 100 round drum! Gun alone: 10 lb.
That's not entirely true. Britain bought and used many thousands of 1928 Thompson's. They also manufactured 50,000 of the high-quality MP-28II copy, called the Lanchester for their navy. The Sten was primarily adopted for two reasons, one was to aid in replacing the massive quantity of arms that were abandoned at Dunkirk, and two, and more importantly, to supply European Resistance Groups. In order to, quoting Churchill, 'Set Europe ablaze!'
I live 15 miles from the old West Hurley, New York Factory. The irony with this nanny state is that EVEN with a Federal Firearms permit you can't own a Thompsons here.
There's photographic evidence that the US Marines used the "L" drum in the early days of the Solomon Islands campaign. "C" drums were never acquired, issued, or used in US military service.
i agree with you on the L drums, however over the course of the war their use compared to stick mags was almost nothing. Steve was merely pointing out how bad of a combat load they were
I can certainly see why. Since the 100 round C's were almost the diameter of a trash-can lid, were ridiculously slow to reload, and made the gun actually heavier than a B.A.R.
The U.S. military and the American mafia had a nicknamed the M1921 Thompson SMG "The Chicago Typewriter" because of it's high rate of fire of 800 rounds per minute.The rate of fire caused the gun to wander off target;the solution was to put a foregrip on it so you can pull the gun down to keep the gun on target.The M1928 model had a reduced rate of fire which means you don't have to use the foregrip.
Dad said they were junk in WW2 . He was promoted to a Sargent and put in charge of a special gun squad to pierce the line at Bastogne . He was handed one and fired it three times and handed it back . No sense to him with his M1 and 1911 to have any auto in the heaviest fighting in WW2 . Just a junk security blanket and many guys were found dead with no rounds or jammed still hanging on to their Thompson. Dad said it also drew fire . Him and his men took two SS squads with autos and all they had were semi autos , but you had to be a good shot 😎
@@redtra236 True indeed, but that thing will make you a fan if you ever shoot one. A modern version using lighter materials might make a good house to house weapon if civilians are in the area. That being said i did see a 45 ball round go thru 5 sheets of dry wall, a cheap door, and wood siding. Not sure how much oomph was left at the end but the distance traveled was 40 feet.
Interestingly I've seen some other videos where instead of just doing mag/drum dumps (which is super fun), they try to use it in some semblance of a practical manner firing bursts & usually they found that the 1921's super high rate of fire made for many more hits when doing bursts, because it shoots so fast that the cumulative recoil doesn't cause the barrel to climb much until after the burst. In future vids you might want to try doing semi, burst, and full auto rather than just full auto; since most ppl in the military don't do that. It's only for the 1930s gangsters unloading on other mobsters up against a wall on Valentine's Day. Super cool to see such a pristine Thompson & both configurations of it with all the various types of mags and bits; hope I get the chance some day (doubtful), also cool to see and hear from someone so knowledgeable on it and experienced with it. Edit: ignore the "future videos" suggestion, just realized the video is several years old... I'm sure you've heard it all before. Keep up the good work. Also, Steve was a hell of a shot there at the end. :) Edit: Hadn't watched the "blish" comment at the end when initially commented. Some additional info: the reason why they took the Blish lock out wasn't because of what Steve said that the .45 was low power enough to not need it, and it is not an engineering marvel - it's actually a major engineering & scientific failure. The Blish lock is actually based on faulty physics and doesn't actually do anything - the guy who invented it thought he had discovered some new properties of metal (he thought if you slide 2 different metals against each other they'll have magic extra massive friction), but he was wrong; diff types of metal or same type of metal, no difference, and no extra magic friction. So... it really never did anything and when they hired better engineers to simplify the gun for WWII they were like "this doesn't actually do anything" and as Steve stated, it cost a lot of time & machining (& money) & extra different metals (brass) to build, so they just removed it. Got most of that info from Forgotten Weapons, and then researched it myself b/c it seemed crazy that an absurd idea like that would successfully get a patent and that a gun manufacturer would build their entire company around it without actually testing to see if it was real. But then again, this was so long ago that metallurgy and material science wasn't all that advanced yet.
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My father was a WW2 vet with the 109th. Inf. Reg't., 28th. Inf. Div. As a squad leader of a 60mm. mortar crew, he chose to carry a Thompson. That was until he came to realize the weight of the Thompson and it's ammo. His brother O'Neill also in the 109th. was a radio operator in another company. My dad went to see his brother when he was hit buy German mortars. Dad noticed that he had a M1 Carbine and chose to switch. Yeah I know, I told him the same thing. "Are you nuts"! He told me they killed far more Germans with the 60 then any rifles they carried. Later he went to carry the M1 Garand. O'Neill never went back to combat after almost losing his left arm. My father went on fighting till the end of the war. He was wounded twice. Both served 20 years.
I used a 1928A1 with a Cutts compensator in Vietnam. I could pick my own weapon and had no trouble staying on target. I liked it for close range action and the heavy hitting power. If you have a good barrel and aim, body hits are easy at 100 yards. Usually a 3 round burst. I never shot long bursts like the movies and didn't subscribe to the Pray and Spray marksmanship. I also used a Stoner 62, 7.62x51.
That’s pretty cool. How reliable were they in the forest? Always thought the Thompson was a little sensitive to stuff like that.
@@moistexistence3090 not really the only problem I’ve personally seen with them they can be too fast to shoot and can be somewhat difficult to control full auto but if you shoot guns regularly its a blast and easy
@@dea9800 hopefully if I get the chance I shoot one that has a compensator. :)
I love the Thompson machine gun but in battle I definitely would choose the M-16 over the Thompson for accuracy, distance, reliability, FEET per second, easier to break down and again accuracy
@@juliorosenberg2222 When I was in VN, the M-16 had a terrible rep. In the jungle most combat is well under 100 yards. On missions to open areas I carried different weapons.
I got to fire a "Tommy Gun" once in 1990 when I was 20. My grandfather knew a gent that had a 1928 model, it was a blast. The older gent who was in his 80's said his dad bought it in the 1930's from Sears for $200.
the Navy still used the M1s in the late 60's - pretty handy in the Mekong Delta.....
5:22 “Chicago typewriter” it really lives up to it’s name
my great-great grandfather had two of these, bought new in 1931, and then left them to my great grand uncle. the guy who was supposed to help him as his in home health care worker stole all of his stuff when they were putting him in a home.
I got to shoot one when i was 12 and it made me feel like a 1920's gangster. the original drum was jamtastic, the stick mags were where it was at.
That is a major felony, go to jail long time.
my grand uncle has been dead 20 years now. the guy got away with it all, even the antique matchlock from our ancestor that came over in the 1700's. the guy and his wife were using fake names and credentials as home health workers.
thh420 My condolences. I cannot abide a thief. In this life or the next, Karma will catch up to them.
I perform in nursing homes for 25 years. Not surprised
@@thh420 you need to find that bastard ,put this gun up his ass, & then (in the words of Jesus the bowler from the Big Lebowski)...'pull the trigger till it clicks'!
Thanks for sharing, My father trained with thompsons during WW2 he loved them they were fun, in sniper training they had all the ammo they wanted and a lot of the training was go out and shoot. That was just one weapon he trained with, he carried an M1 Garrand in combat which he said never failed. He was with the 1st Marine Division and was in lot of foul weather mud heat.
Imagine just going to the hardware store and seeing a shiny new Thompson SMG on the shelf with crates of .45acp, No ID, NO TAX STAMP, NO CAVITY SEARCH LOL, FREEDOM!!!
Love and friendship 😁😁😁😁
Irene Moran Yeah it’s torture to think about stop bringing it up.
@Eric Tasaico you can still get them but the check is ridiculous I had to get grilled by my state and the atf they showed up and started writing down numbers of all my guns it sucked but i have one
only thing is it cost the equivalent of $2,860 today ($200 in 1921)
@Eric Tasaico It needs to!
About 18 years ago I was at a friend's house and I was talking to his dad and we started talking about WW2 and weapons of the era and I was telling him how I would have love to have used a Thompson gun and he got up went to his room and brought out a 1928 model Tommy gun with a fore grip and drum mag that his father carried in the Pacific theater.
That must have been great
@@hardcorehouse yeah it was surreal. I remember holding it and feeling so anxious that it was making the drum rattle from my hands shaking Haha. I was surprised by the weight of it too.
Beautiful, but it wouldn’t take long to feel the weight.
Good grief Marx, you can't stop he story there.
MMC SS well that’s the end of the story. After letting me hold it for a few minutes he got it and put it back in his room!! This was in 02 when WWII popularity was at its peak with Band of Brothers had recently came out and almost all video games were about it.
The knockdown, killing power of one .45 ACP round on a human is outstanding. 30 of them coming your direction at a rate of 650 per minute is absolutely devastating. What a brutal level of firepower to be able to carry in your hands.
The earlier version with the 900rpm was insane. I've seen a few of the modern semiautomatics but that 1921 full-auto was just unbelievable. Yeah, on my bucket list for sure!
One of the better Thompson vids on youtube, mainly because of the comparison.
My great uncle carried a tommy gun in ww2. He said it saved his life a few times
Great video! Thank you for giving the Thompson more love! This gun is old but she's certainly not done yet.
"Back when men were men." Well said sir.
A.k.a the trench broom .
Pissed of Goose Amen to that shit .45 or you schoolgirl 9mm. Man up buttercups!!!!!
0:16 - what an outstanding looking piece of American hardware. These Thompsons are just fantastic looking firearms.
Back in the day if you volunteered to go to war you were able to choose your weapon. Or so I've been told. My dad, at 17 YOA, volunteered for Korea. He choose the Thompson. Dad as on a Destroyer, the Leonard F. Mason, and went through some kind of special training which, of course, he never talked about. Dad didn't think he would ever use this training. One day the Mason pulled in off shore somewhere in Korea to pull some Marines off the beach. Dad said they were being pushed into the sea by the Chinese. Dad and some other men were sent to shore on the Captain's small boat (Gig) to rescue the trapped Marines. Dad said he remembered "firing into the bush" with his Thompson but didn't know if he hit anyone. Dad took a round in his right calf. He said it knocked his leg from underneath him but he got right back up. Dad told me he didn't feel any pain until they got back to the ship with the Marines. He said "it hurt like hell". Dad was sent to Tripler Army hospital in Hawaii. Dad said he was awarded the Purple Heart but declined it. When I asked why he said that he knew other veterans that were injured worse than he was that didn't receive the Purple Heart. The Purple Heart award is not on Dad's DD-214 but I've seen the scar on his Calf.
I love Thompson machine guns and also I want to mention a Colt 1911 that goes wonderful as a sidearm for this big guy ............. Long live America.
SUB machine guns.
@@trikerider1038 Oh, fuck off. A sub machine gun IS a machine gun...
I believe you, but my Tommy gun don't
Madjo 1999 the only reason why I know that quote is because of Home Alone.😅
that must be a brand new comment
Keep the change, ya filthy animal.
Poifeck!
“Get down on your knees and tell me you love me.” 🤣
When I was in Connecticut, Colt firearms MFG was one of the contractor for model 1921 and we have a lots of person who worked for Colt for many years. When a person that we know owned Thompson 1921 that Made by Colt die , the ATF took the firearms it and test fired the gun at my friend range in Milford, CT.
Back in the 50s I was in the first Marine division 7 Marines Regiment I remember once when I was on a navy ship I went down to the arms room and one side of the armor on the wall were all BAR and on the other side they were Thompson submachinegun in the rack. I just stood there and looked at them for use of a better way to explain it.I thought they were beautiful.
then you'll understand when the jews come for your family
Still remember my grandad telling me he always felt more relaxed when he saw soldiers with Tommy Guns. He was an Army Captain in Europe in WW2. Would definitely love to fire one of the 1928s.
Williams, Arizona has a shop/range in the downtown called "Gunfighter." You can shoot all kinds of weapons. I fired the 1928 Thompson, an Uzi, and a Glock 17. Loved it !!! My wife caught the Thompson on video for me.
I'd love to see more videos like this with a variety of full auto weapons. Keep up the great work!!
We got more on the way!
I've been wanting a Thompson for a long time now.. my grandpa has 1 since 1945.. he was a bodyguard for the dominican dictator trujillo. it was a personal gift from him. he dnt let no one touch it or shoot it.. wow what a piece of American history....
NEVER OBEY that is awesome!!
NEVER OBEY.live in dye in L.A.......?!
That's an awesome story.
NEVER OBEY are you a us citizen? If not you can’t get a gun. If you are a citizen you’ll need to apply for a class 3 firearms license (automatics) and wait the mandatory 2 years for background checks etc, then the price for the gun. You’re looking at 10,000$ maybe more for something like this Thompson. Or instead of dealing with the ATF you could buy a cheap good quality Thompson, just seminauto, but they have double press electric triggers you can mount, totally legal, so for every pull of the trigger you get a shot, and every release of the trigger fires another, so essentially fully auto without the BS. You can even abort the shot ( say you have the trigger squeezed, which the device is designed to fire upon release of the trigger, there’s a button you press and it aborts the trigger release shot.check it out , a lot of people have em on all sorts of semis and totally legal
@@alexschenewerk7436 Try $40K
I put this on my favorites. Thanks to Steve from Virginia for letting us watch you guys play. A Cutts/Limon compensator should help with the barrel climb. Unless, Steve objects. I'd love to here his thoughts.
The necessity for the 'T' track on the magazine is aptly demonstrated by the mag's behavior at about 12:10. It was badly unsupported but that track kept it working. The long mag tunnel of the MP38 and 40 was used in the M3 and M3A1 which replaced the Thompson and the cyclic rate of fire was lowered even further, making it possible to squeeze off single shots in full auto.
RushBuzzin
I tried on of those during the war in Bosnia in 1993, for an old time weapon it was a very nice bit of kit.
Most of those Thomson's came out of crates that had been stored since WW11.
Great Video Sir and Thank you for posting....I read that several ships that had a lot of Thompson Drums heading to England, were sunk by U Boats..thus making them even more RARE...do you guys knowing anything about that?
One of the better videos on Thompson model comparisons thanks
Love the Thompson machine gun!! Wished they still made them!
I understand that they made at least one of these fine weapons in .351 cal. for the Army, but declined due to increased stress on their supply chain of ammo.
In the 80's and 90's a friend of mine, a retired Army Col used to bring all his submachine guns to yearly shoot we had in AZ. His Thompson was Number seven of the prototypes. I had carried one in Nam in the 60's, but to shot this weapon was an exceptional joy. He allowed anyone at the 3 day shoot to fire the weapon. He provided the ammo. The only requirement was you had to load the mags when you were done. I used to help some of the children shoot the thing. I would tell them that when they went to school that they would probably be the only person to include teachers that had ever fired a Thompson. Accuracy was very good in single shot mode, and had great range for a .45.
You guys are lucky to be able to play with these. My dad was trained (to kill) with the Thompson and the 1911 in the Air Force in the 40's.
Beautiful Weapon. Just the look on your face everytime you pulled the trigger was worth it. Still on my list to shoot.
Jack Mahan this gun was pristine. Please be sure to share the video around so more people can enjoy it
Yes, hope you get a chance to fire one!!!
I purchased one that was a reproduction and it was fun to shoot right up to the breach fire that sent a piece of the case into my forehead, a band aide and new gun latter (the store switched guns with me) I decided to sell it and the buyer told me latter on the barrel exploded. so if your going to by one invest in an original one they are expencive but so is my fore head
More I listen, see the demos, the more I love my '28 Tommy!
Damn! I knew the '21 had a higher rate of fire than the '28 but....DAMN!!!
Ah. Love those things. Those mags must be doggone heavy. Thanks for bringing such a "friendly" attitude to this, gentlemen!
In Chicago, they were known as a "Jumper" because of the Muzzle Climb...
"Dey hit 'em with Jumpers"
Very cool. I'm jealous of you guys. This must've been quite the experience. That older gentlemen seems to be a character. His ending quote truly says it all!
He is a great american. Stayed tuned to the VSO Gun Channel for more videos with our friend Steve.
A 1928 model from Sears sounds great for $200.
One bad ass piece of handheld firepower for sure!
I think they only sold the M1921 commercially
My neighbor and friend is a WW2 vet, Army G2. His two favorites were the Tommy and BAR. At that time the procedure was to fire 3 rounds and then let it settle down otherwise too hard to hold on target.
He spent his later years hunting and sport shooting clays. He tried to get me to use a shot gun and I was a total flop being left eyed and right handed. Aside I had an eye doctor who checked vision for aerial gunners. First test was as above and they washed out first day.
I think he was one of the Ritchie Boys but do not know for sure. Never would tell me. He wore no rank on his uniform and spoke many slavic languages. His commanding general was in Washington.Look up Ritchie boys on U tube.
I notice that unlike the AK47 and some other SMGs, the barrel is not waving all around the place when it fires on full auto. That would seem to indicate far greater accuracy of this weapon. Also how beautifully made and finished it is. One does not see such work much today!
when the AKM came out, it suffers from "Barrel Whip" The receiver bends when fired ( the AK47 had a machined receiver and did not do that). The Chinese type 56 had a thicker stamped receiver , which did not flex as much as the Russian variant. My dad was in the 82nd Airborne as a Bazooka man. His other weapon was a 1928 w/ a Cutts compensator.
Those ammo drums make the gun look so badass.
That is one of the most bad ass weapons there will ever be absolute awesome
Great video! Thanks Steve for sharing your knowledge with us - very cool
The 1921 Thompson's ROF was 800 rounds per min.
Remington Arms made the wood for these(1921s)
I love this. History, amazing machine and respect to the old timer.
So much cool in this one! Shared with at least 15 of my buds. "Only hits count" damn skippy! Wish I'd known y'all were coming to VA, I'm in Richmond, woulda had a free place to stay, maybe next time!
why no Cutts Compensator comparison?
The 21 is easy to control on full auto. A Cutts compensator helps. I'm surprised he didn't have one mounted on his gun. Here's a loading tip. Cock the bolt and engage the safety before inserting the magazine.
The drum mag had to be loaded in the 1921/28 with the bolt to the rear.
Correct, but the point I was trying to make is that a loaded box magazine can be inserted with the bolt closed. However, loading the firearm this way is more difficult because the top round in the magazine will contact the bolt before the magazine is fully locked in place. The shooter must overcome this resistance by pushing harder on the magazine, forcing the rounds to be further compressed over the magazine spring. When the bolt is to the rear, there is no such contact, therefore seating the magazine in its catch is much easier.
Actually the Curt’s was more of a marketing gimmick than a functional device in controlling muzzle rise; muzzle rise, controllability and accuracy is accomplished via trigger control and bursting shots in a string of 3-4 shots onto the target.
Al Capone just sat up in his casket!!
I made a wooden Thompson 1928 with drum it came out pretty good my grandpa helped me too!
There's a photo in the Feb 2014 American Rifleman, page 24 of a U.S. Marine in Guadalcanal (or Solomon Isles) in WW2 hunting snipers with a 50rd drum mag
Surprised no one commented how heavy they are. First thing people say when picking up my SBR M1.
This gun in this configuration in particular is my all time favorite gun and it's not really close. Give me this over the fanciest AR any day
Very cool video, that was awesome of the owner to let you have at it with this fantastic machine gun
Man look at that bolt slamming into the back there and then slamming in to the front position.
No wonder it's hard to control.
There's little to no muzzle rise that I can see. Very controllable!
WW2 Thompson 45 1921 .....They work just fine, ask the Marine Veterans at Iwo Jima
Stranger, stranger, now that's a weapon!
The original and the best sub machine gun! Would LOVE to have an M1A1
The mp18 and there was an Italian sub machine gun that both came before this
My favorite gun of all. The history, the look, and they are fun to shoot. I own a semi auto 1928. Shot a real WWII m1 full auto at the gun store store in Las Vegas a few years ago. Great great AMERICAN FIRE POWER
All he needs now is an M1A1 Thompson! Then his collection would darn near be complete
One of the few pistol caliber carbines id ever consider owning. And i still believe its by far the coolest.
why didn't you have one that had the compensated tips on the barrel like the gangsters used ??
This is one of my favorites! Thank you for posting! what a joy it must have been to carry one type of ammunition in combat. I understand most men didnt have this option.
Chip Saunders wants his Tommy back , great show great cast.
I wondered why they didnt use the drum. This video demonstrates why very well.
*There's nothing prettier than the sun glistenin' down on the barrel of your Tommy at sunrise*
Serene Marine
Something every housewife should experience!
Ooh-Wee!
A Marine Col. who did the full ride WW2 , 9 Island Campaigns including Bouganville, said they would drop the back end of the sling, lengthened to put your foot on to prevent muzzle rise and let it rip.
I shot a 30 round magazine with the Thompson at an old water heater in a field once ,and the muzzle rise was intense. That’s why the old time OGs held this weapon sideways to get a full sweep of an area.
I never heard of anyone holding a thompson sideways to fire it. I heard that came from the full auto C96
Oh, how I love 5:21 - 5:26.
I have the BB Legends 1928 replica, still looks amazing. Shoots BBs at 450 FPS, very detailed metal construction.
By the time your're finished winding the drum in the battle field, you really are Finished! If you know what I mean LOL
What people don’t know is how heavy the Thompson is! It’s quite a handful,but the weight helps manage recoil.
Hard to shoot with the muzzle lift. Full auto is amazing. Takes some skill to use it effectively.
Which gun had the cutts compensator to help muzzle jump????? The 1921 or 28??
The '28. I think it was far more common for the '28 to have cooling fins on the barrel too, but don't quote me on that.
1928
Both did. It wasn't until the M1 models that the military decided they were necessary since the Thompson was already pretty controllable.
The 1921c was the first one actually with the best compensator and all 1928s did
It started out as an option on the 1921 but almost all of the military models had them on the 1928. The M1 and M1A1 generally didn't have them or the finned barrels as production shortcuts proceeded, much like the 2 lands and grooves in the 1903-A3 barrels differed from earlier models.
this are 100% the most beutiful and best of all rifles in the world ever
so true. the beauty and craftmanship is unrivaled in the realm of submachine guns. Even my post WW2 era thompsons dont really compare in beauty to steves
Joe Guzman thay arent rifles
yeah dude real nice rifle
What a brilliant video! Thanks. No mention of the Cutts Compensator. I think the 'ding' was when the target got hit! My father used to instruct on this gun in the Home Guard, in the UK (WW2). I did have a small manual, but lost it. My father did not get to keep the gun! Shame. I do have an AirSoft BB firing replica. (Single shot of course)
Just imagine the weight of the gun with a 100 round drum! Gun alone: 10 lb.
Sweet gun, but Great Britain could not afford the $300.00 or so apiece for one select fire Thompson!:( That's why the Sten was developed-John in Texas
That's not entirely true. Britain bought and used many thousands of 1928 Thompson's. They also manufactured 50,000 of the high-quality MP-28II copy, called the Lanchester for their navy. The Sten was primarily adopted for two reasons, one was to aid in replacing the massive quantity of arms that were abandoned at Dunkirk, and two, and more importantly, to supply European Resistance Groups. In order to, quoting Churchill, 'Set Europe ablaze!'
Aka, 'Chicago Typewriter'. "Dear Sirs, we object to your trespass..." lol
Thank you.
I live 15 miles from the old West Hurley, New York Factory. The irony with this nanny state is that EVEN with a Federal Firearms permit you can't own a Thompsons here.
NY and California. Worst of the worst. 2 nd amendment Forget it.
Thompson & M1 Garand are the 2 best weapons the US has ever made
There's photographic evidence that the US Marines used the "L" drum in the early days of the Solomon Islands campaign. "C" drums were never acquired, issued, or used in US military service.
i agree with you on the L drums, however over the course of the war their use compared to stick mags was almost nothing. Steve was merely pointing out how bad of a combat load they were
I can certainly see why. Since the 100 round C's were almost the diameter of a trash-can lid, were ridiculously slow to reload, and made the gun actually heavier than a B.A.R.
A vid with the legend
amir sabbagh please share this video around. I think a lot of people would appreciated this one
5:23 - here’s the full-auto action
The U.S. military and the American mafia had a nicknamed the M1921 Thompson SMG "The Chicago Typewriter" because of it's high rate of fire of 800 rounds per minute.The rate of fire caused the gun to wander off target;the solution was to put a foregrip on it so you can pull the gun down to keep the gun on target.The M1928 model had a reduced rate of fire which means you don't have to use the foregrip.
I remember when I was a kid in the 60's seeing in boys life magazine, tompsons for sale for $25 dollars wow what a life.
You need the Cutts compensator.
These are toys! Its fun to play with these anywhere!
Dad said they were junk in WW2 . He was promoted to a Sargent and put in charge of a special gun squad to pierce the line at Bastogne . He was handed one and fired it three times and handed it back . No sense to him with his M1 and 1911 to have any auto in the heaviest fighting in WW2 . Just a junk security blanket and many guys were found dead with no rounds or jammed still hanging on to their Thompson. Dad said it also drew fire . Him and his men took two SS squads with autos and all they had were semi autos , but you had to be a good shot 😎
Great Video ! I was thinking the M1928 was shooting from the closed bolt position.
The owner seems like a cool guy
Beyond cool. If you only knew. I need to get an audio recorder and just sit back. I could just air blacked out videos with gargled voice.
Very nice firearm...very informative between 21 vs 28 and magazine differences...thank you...
Got to shoot a 1928 back in the 80s. Very fluid feeling. Often wondered why we don't still use them for mount ops.
An M4A1 does about the same thing with less weight and way better range
@@redtra236 True indeed, but that thing will make you a fan if you ever shoot one. A modern version using lighter materials might make a good house to house weapon if civilians are in the area. That being said i did see a 45 ball round go thru 5 sheets of dry wall, a cheap door, and wood siding. Not sure how much oomph was left at the end but the distance traveled was 40 feet.
Worth every penny I bet.
Awesome video! I own an original M1 Thompson and love it! Maybe one day I'll be able to add a 21 or 28 Thompson to the mix! Thanks for the great info!
What a beautiful weapon. It's up there with P08 Lugar and an old Winchester lever action rifle from an industrial design standpoint. IMHO
Interestingly I've seen some other videos where instead of just doing mag/drum dumps (which is super fun), they try to use it in some semblance of a practical manner firing bursts & usually they found that the 1921's super high rate of fire made for many more hits when doing bursts, because it shoots so fast that the cumulative recoil doesn't cause the barrel to climb much until after the burst. In future vids you might want to try doing semi, burst, and full auto rather than just full auto; since most ppl in the military don't do that. It's only for the 1930s gangsters unloading on other mobsters up against a wall on Valentine's Day. Super cool to see such a pristine Thompson & both configurations of it with all the various types of mags and bits; hope I get the chance some day (doubtful), also cool to see and hear from someone so knowledgeable on it and experienced with it.
Edit: ignore the "future videos" suggestion, just realized the video is several years old... I'm sure you've heard it all before. Keep up the good work. Also, Steve was a hell of a shot there at the end. :)
Edit: Hadn't watched the "blish" comment at the end when initially commented. Some additional info: the reason why they took the Blish lock out wasn't because of what Steve said that the .45 was low power enough to not need it, and it is not an engineering marvel - it's actually a major engineering & scientific failure. The Blish lock is actually based on faulty physics and doesn't actually do anything - the guy who invented it thought he had discovered some new properties of metal (he thought if you slide 2 different metals against each other they'll have magic extra massive friction), but he was wrong; diff types of metal or same type of metal, no difference, and no extra magic friction. So... it really never did anything and when they hired better engineers to simplify the gun for WWII they were like "this doesn't actually do anything" and as Steve stated, it cost a lot of time & machining (& money) & extra different metals (brass) to build, so they just removed it. Got most of that info from Forgotten Weapons, and then researched it myself b/c it seemed crazy that an absurd idea like that would successfully get a patent and that a gun manufacturer would build their entire company around it without actually testing to see if it was real. But then again, this was so long ago that metallurgy and material science wasn't all that advanced yet.
I love both versions of the Thompson and paired with a colt 1911 can't go wrong with that package