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English Sling Relocation


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Does anyone have pictures of a sling on a British Thompson? I'd like to see the arangemnt of the sling through the swivel on the top of the buttstock?

 

I read in American Thunder how they favored this position because the weapon would hang down at the hip ready to fire.

 

My '28 and the M1 I have in transfer both have the swivel on the top. I'd like to put slings on them but would like to see pictures of how they were arranged. I just don't think it will ever be as attractive as the original US type arangement.

 

Michael

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Michael, if you find a book by Ian Skennerton titled " Australian Service Machineguns", you will find pictures. Australian Thompsons had the same modification, as well as the forend sling swivel relocated to the left side of the horizontal foregrip. However, they didn't use ( to my knowledge) the Kerr sling. Rather, the SMLE .303 sling was used, which should be in plentiful supply still. Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

Ken

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  • 2 weeks later...

It appears that the Brits weren't consistent with sling swivel placement on the vertical front handgrip. My reprint of a WW2 vintage Brit training manual shows the front sling swivel on the right side and the normal bottom of stock placement for the rear swivel. I've also seen vintage film of commando raids in which you can see the right side swivel placement.

 

Frank's book has photo's of the left side and top side modifications. Maybe the mods were done on a unit by unit basis?

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I have seen pictures and own examples of the placement on both the left and right side of the foregrip. This is true for both the vertical and horizontal foregrips. On two of the horizontal grips I have, they used the Enfield swivel. On two others, they reused the standard Thomspon swivel. Therefore, it appears there were a number of inconsistencies in this modification, as noted by gspc32.

 

I have heard that the placement was either personal preference (of the armorer? of the shooter?) or left-handed vs. right-handed shooters, though I don't have any documentation to support that.

 

If someone knows how to contact Peter Laidler, perhaps he could shed some light on this.

 

Roger

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It's more frequently seen on the right; if you have it on the left of the vertical grip it is very uncomfortable to the hand. However it can sometimes be seen on the left.

http://www.fototime.com/4D4473703798609/orig.jpg

here is a detail from a photo taken on 20th Aug 1942, on the return from the Dieppe Raid

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