Seaforth72

The British and Commonwealth armies (e.g. Canada) often modified their Thompsons this way - moving the sling swivels. An image of the Canadian Army modification instruction sheet for this change is in Tracie Hill's book. The reasons are that when the slings are on the underside, the weapon can be slung over the shoulder but it is not "ready" for instant action. By mounting the sling swivels on top of the butt and on the left side (usually) of the fore grip (be it vertical or horizontal), the Thompson Machine Carbine (as they originally called it) could be carried in the ready position with a sling over the shoulder, butt under the arm, hand on the pistol grip and muzzle pointing forwards. This modification would have started with the early deliveries of the 1928 Thompson guns to the British. The vertical fore grip did not have a sling swivel as delivered. You will see photos of Commando soldiers doing cliff climbing and river crossing on rope bridges with Thompsons slung so they had to be able to use a sling. Have a look at the photo on the cover of THE SUPER COMMANDOS of the First Special Service Force soldier carrying an M1 or M1A1 Thompson in this position but with the sling swivels in the U.S. position underneath. It can easily be seen that the gun would tend to flip over to the right if he did not restrain it. Many years later in Vietnam some soldiers modified their M16 rifles with slings that went on both side of the butt and joined on top, and with the front attached to the mount for the front-sight to get a similar ready carry position. My father was attached as a Lieutenant to No. 4 Commando but he refused to carry a Thompson. He preferred the Lee-Enfield rifle that he had salvaged after the Dieppe Raid when it was written off as damaged (I now have that rifle) partly because he was an expert shot (he outshot the unit's snipers who had the telescopic sights!) and partly because German snipers would target people carrying Thompsons as they were likely officers, NCOs or members of crew-served weapons. Colin

Having run a military pamphlet library for my regiment when I was the Intelligence Officer and having run archives, I agree that the stamped marking is when the manual was received by the library. The PIATs were pretty much out of service by the mid-1950s in the UK. Colin Stevens Canada

I live in Canada and my present Reising Model 50 (a dewat) SN 111115 (thus 1943 production apparently) has the "PM" stamp on top of the barrel. The last one I had also had the "PM" stamp and the buyer said he had found a reference on the web that this meant Para-Marines. I have not been able to find that reference and I question its validity as the Para-Marines used mainly the Reising Model 55 with the folding stock. I previously owned two other Reising Model 50 dewats. One I donated to the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Museum and Archives when I was Curator there. I do not know what markings they had. It appears from this forum that the PM and other marks are some sort of proof or inspector's markings, not a unit marking. Comments on the "PM" marking re: Para Marines? Yes; Maybe; Not Likely; No? By the way, my Reising has: Serial number 111115Secondary serial number below it stamped "RT199" (the R has an upcurved foot.) I do not believe that this is a Canadian marking.Three hole trigger guard14 cooling fins on barrelKnurled knob with slot for takedownTwo factory (I presume) reinforcing bolts through the stock )one just aft of the front sling swivel; one just aft of the takedown knurled knob)Sling swivels on the bottomPM stamped marking on barrel and a single punch mark just aft of that on the receiver.12 round magazine with the vertical grooves (pinned to 5 rds per Canadian law)Finger grip grooves in the forestockMetal butt plateNO issue marks of any kind in the wooden stock