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Ron, Wow, your memory is far better than mine reading that post " is all by memory tonight to have to check on those numbers, but %99 might be right". Hats off to you sir.... Tom, I agree 100% with what Johnsonlmg41 wrote: "Thanks for keeping up the research and your writings! I've learned a bunch over the years". Here here, every day is a 'school day' for me. It always amazes me the knowledge and fresh information that comes up on this forum.

Roger Herbst's book Thompson Submachine Gun magazines 2917-2021, has the full story..

Couple came up for sale last year and I grabbed them

Those French Contract 1921 Thompsons are a rare breed. Most saw service with French paramilitary police during German occupation, and also I have seen some photos of Germans with them. After WW2, loads ended up in French Indo China where they never returned from. So printed handbooks, if they were shipped across the Atlantic would have probably had a short life too. Remember back then, Thompson enthusiasts like ourselves, were a rare breed, so they were just another weapons handbook/manual. During my service I saw many military manuals used and abused. I agree with you though, finds like yours is what keeps us Thompson enthusiasts interested.... new things, to us, surprisingly keep turning up.👌

That one has a different version cover than the one pictured in David and Michaels 'Thompson Manuals, catalogs and other paper items', so that would indicate that there were at least two French edtions of the Handbook produced. Excellent addtion to your collection, I am really envious now!👍 When did AOC relocate from the 31 Nasau Street address to the Broadway address? I am wondering if your handbook was produced to go with one of the 3,000 Model of 1921's ordered by France in Nov. 1939. The Swedish handbooks dated 1940 had the Broadway address on them. If there is a link, there may have been 3,000 of those French handbooks originally produced.

As a former French Foreign Legionnaire, everything related to the Thompson and France is of Interest to me. I have seen a picture of a French language 1921 handbook cover in the past. It is on page 10, together with a picture of the cover of the French language 1921 AOC Catalog, of Thompson Manuals, catalogs and other paper items by David Albert and Michael Sigillito. What a find, I am envious of your collection 🤫

The same happened to me a few years ago. I stumbled upon a first edition 1921 handbook which was listed on eBay.fr. The seller was based in the UK and was clearing out his grandfathers affairs and found loads of firearm and artillery catalogs / brochures for early Vickers produced weapons . The grandfather had been an engineer at the Vickers Crayford factory in the UK, and had worked closely with their Drawing Department, from were he had obtained all of the catalogs / brochures in his collection. The 1st edition 1921 handbook is a beauty, so I made an offer, which was accepted. A few months, later the same seller listed a catalog from the same source, an AOC Thompson Gun Model 1921-1923 Catalog , which like the 1st edition handbook, was in very good condition, so I made an offer for that, which was accepted and added that to my collection too. Initially, with the 1st edition 1921 handbook, I could not believe my luck, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice

I guess that is training. Last year I was borrowing some 9 mm blank pistols from the Belgium Police training school for our own training nearby. For even those, it is 2nd nature for me to check if loaded. Same when handing back to armourer, mags off and opened slide to show the weapons were empty.

Devin, That is an excellent addition to your collection.

Well after just 13 years on the forum and having read over a dozen books on the subject of the Thompson gun, I thought there could not be any more information and history to learn about the Thompson, but how wrong I was. Following receipt of ‘Thompson: Colt's, West Hurley's & More’ by Tom Davis Jr., I have learned a lot of new information, thanks to Toms extensive research. In particular I found the chapter on the British proofed Colt manufactured Thompson guns very interesting. The pictures, and story, of the New Mexico Prison Model of 1921’s are excellent, as is the chapter on the Colts in the US Army. I’d definitely recommend this book, to anyone who has an interest in the history of the Colt Thompson and it accessories. The book itself, the European version printed in Poland, is very good quality and very well bound, indeed produced for many hours of reading, which it well get.... I even 'wore out' my original copy of The Ultimate Thompson Book, I leafed through, and referred to it, that often. Tom, thank you for an excellent book.

All sold now. Richard

Only no.2 left now.

Two happy enthusiasts on this forum have received some Breech oilers from me, but still have four left if anyone else is looking for one.

R Roger you understood correctly, as I said in the above topic, "In June 1941, the decision was taken that the Thompson guns would be issued as a personal weapon and therefore the chests were no longer required, so the contracts were cut short. The War department then looked at converting the transit chests to hold box magazines and also 50 round ‘L’ drums, and drawings for the conversions exist". So the chest for the Model of 1928’s were discontinued prior to the M1's were shipped to Britain. The M1 chest holding two weapons, which I posted in the above topic, was what I call a 'fantasy piece' produced by D & B militaria in the UK.

I've been looking for one for my collection for years, without success. Guess I am on the wrong side of the Atlantic 😟

Troy I couldn't open the picture in your post, but I am presuming, maybe wrongly, that the sight in question is the same one that has been discussed before, see link below. Richard ,

Keep them coming....

Thanks for posting. 388, so that is the highest we know about, to date.

Welcome to the forum. To answer your question, "Does that entail grinding away the original mag catch rails, and welding in a spine style rail section like you might find on a stick mag...." It looks like that is exactly how the drum is modified.

Wishing you all the best for 2024, let us hope the year is kind to us all. 🍀 My last bottle of wine from the Foreign legion vineyard in France, to toast the year in. Also an excuse to make another trip to France soon 👌

SparksNArcs thank you for posting that, it is a lovely item; it'll probably see a lot of Thompson enthusiasts bidding against each other. Back in April 2013, that happened on an eBay auction for an early edition of 'Army Ordnance magazine Nov-Dec 1920', which features the M1919 Thompson gun in an article, a very historical article. It also has an advert with the 5th Avenue address on the rear of the magazine, some would argue it is the first advert for the Model of 1921. After I won that auction, I discovered I had been bidding against at least one other prominent Thompson collector/ Author.

Still got a couple of original breech oilers, if anyone is interested PM me Stay safe Richard

Great advice. This post reminded me that I have a 148 year old Martini Henry, MKI converted to MkII; and I have had a MK1 butt plate to replace the MK II butt plate for some time, but never goy around to swapping them over.

Excellent work, you have done a very good job on that chest 👍

Wishing you and your families a happy Christmas and let us hope 2024 is kind to us all Stay safe Richard