rpbcps

765 21D I am sure I recall watching an episode of Dads Army many years ago, in which Private PIke has a vertical fore grip on his Thompson. Perhaps my memory is incorrect, or perhaps they used more than one Thompson during the series. Stay safe Richard

TD, Thank you for that tip. Thirtyround, Thank you for the link to an interesting article, I wonder if any Swedish M/40's 'found' their way to Norway in 1940. Stay safe Richard

TD, I checked out the link and although the monthly subscription is very reasonable. However, I am paranoid about giving my credit card details out on line, hence I usually use Paypal to get around that for international purchases. As SAW does not accept payment by Paypal, I'll have to wait a little longer to find out the whole story I guess. Stay safe Richard

TD, Thank you for that information, could you provide me a link to where I can find the small arms review article? Richard

Is this a M1921 in the hands of a British Commando on the Claymore raid in Norway on 4th of March 1941, or a M1928 without a Cutts compensator Stay safe Richard

Indeed, I thought the same thing myself and I have already sent an email asking if they can supply a photo of their example. Unfortunately, I will be travelling to North Africa early next week, so would not have time to visit and take a look at it, if they agreed, until early January when I am back in England. We'll see what they come back with photo wise in the mean time. Stay safe Richard

Thanks for the post Newby1928. I just ordered one from IMA, and with the added cost of shipping to England and customs costs to pay this side of the Atlantic, I was worried I may have paid a lot for a poor quality case, but took a chance. Your post has reassured me it was a good decision on my behalf though. Mime was shipped only two days ago, so it will be January before I see it, as I am back in North Africa working next week, through till January. Stay safe Richard

My curiosity got the better of me, so I contacted Bapty & Co and they sent me this reply to my question on the M1921: "We still have this Thompson. However, it has been re stamped No. 66 as all the original numbers were ground off - even under the fore grip. The original number is not known. It is also in very poor condition and has been converted for blank firing only." The US 1928A1 mentioned above also had the original serial numbers ground off, something common with IRA weapons and the number '14' stamped onto it, which is the number that appears on the deactivation certificate. Stay safe Richard

Maybe off topic, I was reading an extract of a book called "The Gun in Politics: An Analysis of Irish Political Conflict, 1916-1986", in which it mentions Hemingway and his novel, 'To Have and Have Not'. 'The Gun in politics' was referring to the M1921 with serial number 66, that is pictured on the front cover of the 1960's Penguin edition of 'To Have and Have Not'. They author informs me that the M1921, serial number 66, was possibly the M1921 given to the British Government in 1921 in the hope of obtaining further orders. He goes on to say that, at the time of publication, that M1921 serial number 66 was owned by Bapty & Co of London. Bapty do sell on some of their stock from time to time however, as the seller of a former IRA US 1928A1 I bought, informed me he purchased the deactivation from Bapty & Co. Stay Safe Richard

I checked that out, and for a new specification, post 1995, deactivation in the UK with a drum magazine, that is about market value that they are looking for. D & B Militaria have one for sale with a drum for £795 at the moment: http://www.dandbmilitaria.com/deactivated-thompson-m1928a1-smg-SN.-DRM.html and one without a drum for £550: http://www.dandbmilitaria.com/deactivated-thompson-m1928a1-smg.html Stay safe Richard

The Photo I posted on the 17th February "Here is an earlier picture from 1940 in France" has the incorrect date. Further research today informs me the photo is called "Souvenir de Bonneville", and shows a non commissioned officer of the Gendarme "Escadron de la Garde", the name used during the occupation by the 'Garde Républicaine Mobile'. The photo, I am informed, dates from early 1944 and the Gendarme in question was participating in an operation against the resistance in the area of 'Haute-Savoie', Eastern France.

Here are a few more of French troops with what appears to be 1928A1's in Tunisia during WW2. and a couple more from Indo China in 1947.

David, I bought one of those 'pull throughs' from a seller in Canada a while back, he had a few, but only one tag, and would let me have that, so I only got photocopy of it! Richard

As always, good to get back home, especially when there are some Thompson items awaiting me. As well as finding the deactivated 'IRA' 1928A1 awaiting me, I also got the opportunity to read the article and advert on the Thompson, in the 1920 edition of 'Army Ordnance', that I was fortunate enough to win on eBay about 7 weeks ago. The two, of the three editions of the French Thompson manual, featured on page 286 of the 'Ultimate Thompson' book that were also in the pile of mail, are also a nice addition to the collection, thanks to David for one of those. Stay safe Richard

]Just back in the UK, and although I did not find the elusive cache of French 1921's in Algeria, I did have a few surprises awaiting my return. One, was a deactivated 1928A1 with the serial number ground off, which also has an improvised fire selector. I was told it was a former IRA Thompson by the seller. What also caught my attention is the Bridgeport XX magazine that came with it, appears to have 'similar' damage to the XX mag already posted, am I just unlucky when it comes to magazines? Stay safe Richard

Gordon, I am glad I bought mine from you last year, I am very happy to own one of the two you told me were shipped to the UK. It is a high quality case, and worth every dollar paid for it, even with the few pounds added that H.M. Customs and Revenue stung me for!! There will be a lot of sad collectors in the future, now you are not going to manufacture another run of these, they are a classic. Richard Proud owner of case #119

Thanks Bob, these days we only find AKs, although back in the 1980's in Chad we did come across caches of WW2 stuff, including Thompson's and MP40's, even the odd MP44.

Back in the day with the EOD, we used a portable machine to X Ray captured weapons, in case they were booby trapped, a 'trick' some of the opposition used to use. We had some taken of Thompson's captured in Ireland, but I never thought of keeping them, in fact the only one I have is a training X Ray of an AK..

Frank, Bob & Paladin 601, thanks for the replies, all of which are very interesting. I will be unable to access the forum for 4 - 6 weeks from tomorrow, as I will be back at work in North Africa and the company has a 'political correctness' block on the server, for websites the company considers contravenes their IT Policy. The down side for me is that most of the websites that I am interested in, like this one, are blocked, such is life. Have a good weekend & stay safe Richard

Gentlemen, The British transit chest I bought contained five XX Magazines, four Bridgeport and one Seymour. The Seymour appears to have some damage to the outside, perhaps from when it was manufactured. See attached and your thought would be appreciated, perhaps someone has seen something like this before? I stripped the Bridgeport XX mags I have and found two stamped with 'USCO' on the inside, and two stamped 'MSCO', and all the rest have no stampings in them. Stay safe Richard

Rodger, I have just cleaned up the grease on the Seymour drum, BUT can not find ant 'S' stamped on the rotor face. Does any one have an example of the stamp on the rotor face for my reference? One of the three Crosby L drums just received with the transit chest has a Seymour cover and key, so maybe it has a Seymour rotor too, need to find more time to clean the grease of that one now. When the transit chest set was advertised as coming with three L drums, I was hoping I'd struck lucky and would find three elusive WPS Co L-drums, one can hope... The NY NY drum, there is nothing stamped on the drum face under the key, as you suspected. Stay safe Richard.

Back home and a few more goodies waiting for me. Better pictures of the Bridgeport L Drum with the Bullet mark: Two Patent date magazines that arrived with the AO drum: Nice case direct from the USA, with my deactivated 'Tommy Gun' stamped 1928A1: and the transit case with three Crosby L Drums that arrived in the mail this morning: as did the following Thompson paperwork/Manuals: I am advised this 1940 manual with the NY address is one of the rarer versions Stay safe Richard

Nice! First time I have seen a Thompson with two sling swivels on the fore grip too. Stay safe Richard

Brilliant, wish we could get something similar for the thousands of 1928s/1928A1's that were shipped. Stay safe Richard

Came across this photo recently. The caption said it is French troops in Algeria, so that would date this to the early 1950's, judging by the uniforms. The weapon being carried by the soldier in front of the 'cavalry' is the one that has stumped me though, is it a German MP 44, I need to get my eyes tested perhaps? Stay safe Richard