40 Round Magazine

[TAXRX]

I have a 1928 Holland contract Tommy. I have 20, 30 rd. mags and 50 round drums. I have seen reference to 40 round stick mags in several places including "The Military Thompson Sub-Machine Gun." I can't seem to find them anywhere. Do they really exist?

Thanks

hn

[railroader]

I don't know about 40's, but I have a couple of 50 round stick mags that come with my West Hurley. Someone took a 20 and 30 rounder

and welded them together, then parkerized them both. They look kind of funny, but they work.

[DC Chris]

I suppose it depends on the era.

 

For war time - I have seen two 20 round sticks either taped or welded together (top to bottom and offset) so as you shoot the first 20, you would release the mag catch, reverse the magazine and shoot the second 20.

 

For post war - the Trast 39 round drum (based on a MGC drum) is sometimes called a 40 round drum.

 

Chris.

[Bounty1]

I have a 39 rd. drum I got in '81 from West Hurley....and it works!!! Could this be what you're thinking about?

[TSMG28]

TAXRX,

 

Chris is correct. The only "official' version of the 40-round Thompson mag that I know of was developed in WWII when they were looking for an upgrade for the XX mags (20-rounders). They welded two XX mags together front-to-front with one inverted from the other. The result was that it took almost as long to change this around as to replenish from a single XX mag. There was also a problem with the "top" of the one mag that faced downward picking up dirt if in the prone position. I have not seen it written anywhere, but I would suspect it would also have been a pain trying to carrying the dual mags in a pouch. Therefore, the XXX (30-round) mags became the standard.