Cutts Compensator Article from 1927

[Old Sensei]

Philip B. Sharpe wrote the following article on the Thompson submachinegun:

 

https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2366&context=jclc

 

In this article, he cites the following article:

 

Army Ordnance, Vol. VII, No. 41, March-April, 1927, Philip P. Qualey

 

The historian for Army Ordinance was able to attach some pdfs of the article. I am posting three of these here.

 

The "usefulness" of the Cutts on the TSMG has produced opposite opinions. It should be kept in mind that some of the earliest articles were written by men who had a direct or indirect financial benefit via good publicity.

p. 350.pdf

p. 351.pdf

p. 352.pdf

Edited February 6, 2022 by Old Sensei

[heavy artillery]

Good read. I wondered about the focus on the Peters shot load at the end; was this load actively used for riot control given the dispersion rate and accuracy impact?

 

Thanks for posting.

[reconbob]

Phil Sharpe worked for the U.S. Ordnance Department for

many years. Almost 20 years after this article - still with

Ordnance - he went to Europe after WW2 to examine

German WW2 small arms, industry, etc. Was he in some way

involved with Auto-Ordnance where he may have received

some direct or indirect benefit?

 

Bob

[Old Sensei]

I do not think Phil Sharpe was involved with any financial gain. As far as the effectiveness of the birdshot, this from the final paragraph of a 1922 article written by Eric A. Dime:
"​The gun will fire a magazine of 20 cartridges containing 120 No. 8 birdshot in 1 2/5 second, or 2,400 birdshot in a “burst” of 20 shots. No more than 20 birdshot cartridges are placed in the magazine so it requires four minutes to shoot 1,000 birdshot cartridges containing 120,000 birdshot. There is no other gun in the world that shoots both ball and birdshot cartridges. With ball cartridges, a policeman can fire 42 shots at six bandits armed with automatics containing seven shots each and shot for shot, have 58 shots without reloading when the automatics are empty. The gun has an accurate range of 2,000 ft. when military high-power cartridges are used, and with police ammunition, the accurate range is 1,500 feet."

 

I would suggest that Mr. Dime is a "tad optimistic." I do not know if birdshot was ever used in riots, but if it was, it possibly was aimed at the shins of the strikers by ricocheting or direct fire.

[Old Sensei]

I found an excellent article posted on-line by John Sheehan in Marine Corp History, Winter 2020.

 

[rpbcps]

6 hours ago, Old Sensei said:

I found an excellent article posted on-line by John Sheehan in Marine Corp History, Winter 2020.

 

That is a good article, thank you for posting the link.

Edited March 19, 2023 by rpbcps
Typo

[rpbcps]

On 2/8/2022 at 3:35 AM, Old Sensei said:

I do not think Phil Sharpe was involved with any financial gain. As far as the effectiveness of the birdshot, this from the final paragraph of a 1922 article written by Eric A. Dime:
"The gun will fire a magazine of 20 cartridges containing 120 No. 8 birdshot in 1 2/5 second, or 2,400 birdshot in a “burst” of 20 shots. No more than 20 birdshot cartridges are placed in the magazine so it requires four minutes to shoot 1,000 birdshot cartridges containing 120,000 birdshot. There is no other gun in the world that shoots both ball and birdshot cartridges. With ball cartridges, a policeman can fire 42 shots at six bandits armed with automatics containing seven shots each and shot for shot, have 58 shots without reloading when the automatics are empty. The gun has an accurate range of 2,000 ft. when military high-power cartridges are used, and with police ammunition, the accurate range is 1,500 feet."

 

I would suggest that Mr. Dime is a "tad optimistic." I do not know if birdshot was ever used in riots, but if it was, it possibly was aimed at the shins of the strikers by ricocheting or direct fire.

Over the years I have collected a number of old articles written about the Thompson in different publications from the 1920's / 1930's, and it is not uncommon for some of the information contained within them to be a "tad optimistic", including information given in some of the early AOC adverts.

The mention of the magazine containing 20 birdshot cartridges is not 100% correct either, although it may have been in 1922. The reason being, it was soon discovered that if the magazine was fully loaded with twenty round of shot shell ammo, the first two rounds fired often jammed. That was due to the paper nose of  the shells being crushed by the strong spring tension. There fore the third production Shot shell magazines were marked "For 18 Shot Cartridges". Despite this, the Thompson advert from the  Von Lengerke And Antoine Sporting Goods 1927 Catalog still advertises for sale “20 shot magazine for shot cartridges”.

 

The History of the Shot shell Magazines are discussed in Roger Herbst definitive guide of Thompson magazines. For those with an interest, it is worth buying a copy of "Thompson Submachine Gun Magazines: 1917-2021 - Feeding the Dragon for over a century". Prior to the book being published, I used to often bother Roger with messages requesting information about various magazines 🤫

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by rpbcps
Typo

[SP Sarge]

Good read thanks for posting