22 replies to this topic

[catnipman]

PieceOcrap

I can see why the "winner" is being kept secret!

[Arthur Fliegenheimer]

That will wind up in ebay bidder "AIRMECHWWII" collection.

[PK.]

Basil, this may be the real thing, there are photos of Thompsons in use in the pacific with this type of foregrip. He doesn’t say weather this one is original or re-pro, but the concept is WWII

[Ron Mills]

I had one of those and sold it to Tracie Hill. I got mine from Sarco for $9.95, as I recall. Does anybody know if those actually made it to the battlefield (for mounting, as opposed to kindling)?

[21 smoker]

I wonder if it is an original vintage POS....HMMMMMMMM...

[catnipman]

Well, that's good to know, PK, but damn is that an *UGLY* mother!

[PK.]

No argument there!

[Hawkeye_Joe]

I remember seeing a combat photo with a Thompson with this type of grip mounted.. Was in a sandpit I believe on a beach or something.. the caption pointed out the strange foregrip. I've looked in the old Thompson Newsletter archives where I thought I saw it but I can't find it..

[Z3BigDaddy]

I'm a little confuZed... So is this an ugly collectible, or a bogus POS?

[TSMG28]

Like Hawkeye, I have seen a WWII photo showing a grip like this. However, this particular one "appears" to be of more recent manufacture. Who knows....

No question about the "ugly" description!

[gijive]

There is photo documentation from WWII of the Marines using an identical grip on their Thompsons in the Pacific.

Best estimates are that it was a "rigger" made item and not a standard procurement item.

[hawksnest]

I've seen the WWII pacific picture of a marine using this grip. I have also seen a picture of Churchill holding one. Sarco had them for sale a few years back. Don't know if they have any more.

[catnipman]

You know, gijive, the rigger-made idea makes sense. This might be something a soldier would do if they wanted the vertical front grip and all they had were the horizontal ones. It would be easy enough to hand carve one from some local exotic wood and use wood screws to attach the two parts. Even if they had a factory-made vertical front grip, they might not have the long machine screw to attach it with.

[TommyFan]

Sure is an UGLY design on what looks like walnut with a nice, quarter sawn grain. It looks as if somebody took the rear grip and squared off the top of it to fit the horizontal front grip.

[gijive]

Here is a photo I located showing a US Marine in WWII with his dog on Bougainville with a modified Thompson. This isn't identical to the grip on Ebay, but there are pictures from later in the war of Marines with a grip identical to the one shown on Ebay. Sutton Coffman had a picture at the last TCA Show showing that grip.

[Walter63a]

gijive, what a great WWII photo! The young Marine looks a little emaciated, as many servicemen of that era did. Many were poor, jobless and half-starved, due to the Great Depression, yet they bravely fought for freedom, democracy, and a morally right cause. Well, at least, he had man's best friends with him, in the Tommy (ugly grip and all) and the beautiful German Shepherd. Regards,Walter

[Ron Mills]

I'll add my kudos to gijive for a great photo! Looking at that picture, I've wondered so many times how hard it must've been (and likely still is) to haul your weapon, pack, ammo, canteen, etc., and still be expected to be "on guard" all the time. Bless 'em all.

Here's another question that I've been meaning to post: Did mags, either stick or drum, ever arrive "loaded" when they reached the troops on the line, or was it just crates of ammo and empty mags? I wonder how it's done today.

[full auto 45]

My buddy that just got back from killing off several Mudslim bastards, I asked him if his mags came loaded or empty. He told me they all came loaded. He never had to load a mag while over there. Empty a mag, pitch it in a bag grab another. At the end of day, someone picked up the mags and dropped off new ones. Got to love the Marines.
My Grandfather said all his M1 Garand mags were loaded when he got them in Italy.

[Incomplete]

I don't know if they come loaded the first time you get them, but when my grandfather got his 45ACP, he had to hand load it. He talked about somehow loading 51 bullets in a L drum and it getting jammed and stuck in the gun. What made it better is he was being bonzi(spelling?) charged.

Edit: Now that I take a second look at that foregrip, it looks like a magazine wouldn't fit in the gun when it is. The forward pistol grip appears too far back.

Edited by Incomplete, 12 February 2004 - 11:08 PM.

[hawksnest]

The great picture posted by gijive looks like they took a vertical foregrip, cut the top off of it and then used a vertical foregrip screw to hold both grips on. I have a verticle foregrip screw that is about 3/8 " longer than a normal vertical screw. Hmmm.