Colt Thompson 1921A in Sweden #3280

[Littledrummerboy]

Hi, 

I am new to this forum, but I thought I should make a contribution. 

I've always had a deep fashination for the Thompson submachine gun and, as I live outside of the US (Sweden), it was a dream come true when I had the rare opportunity to, at my request, not only hold but to fire a Colt 1921A Thompson fitted with a 100 round C-drum. The Thompson has serial no #3280. The gun and the magazine however was not matching, as the C-drum has serial #3618. I would not go as far as to say that the Thompson was in mint condition, but it was in a very, very good condition both esthetically and in functionality. Beautiful craftmanship.  

I can't really tell under what circumstances this arrangement took place, since it truly is in the interest of the government that it's whereabouts remain a secret. But I can go halfway and say that it ain't in a museum nor is it in "foul hands". The weapon is just one of the many inventories in an archive of reference materials. But rest assure that this weapon is indeed in Sweden. 

A little trivia though; Sweden bought several Thompsons from the US during WW2 of the model 1928 (more specifically the Colt model 1921 overstamped to 1928) and re-named it "Kulsprutepistol M/40" (basically meaning "submachine gun M/40"). It came with a horizontal foregrip and without Cutts Compensator. They were originally intended for use with the Swedish volounteer forces that were sent to Finland during the Finnish Winter War 1939-1940 against the Sovjet Union. Today, these "Kulsprutepistol M/40" are extremely scarce and I only know of one or two examples sitting in a museum. However, there is a swedish YouTube channel called "Retrobunker" where the star of the show, Melker, travels around Sweden to visit different unknown/secret military bunkers and underground basements. In one episode that I came across, he visits a weapon cache and at a certain time stamp and in a very brief moment, the camera cuts to show at least six or seven model 1921 Thompsons. They're lined up vertically next to each other and only visible from below, but since it's possible to make out the distinct hole in the Fire/Safe selector - it is safe to say that they are indeed the model 1921 since they were the only Thompson models that had this feature. This could possibly indicate that these Thompsons shown in the video are the wartime-imported "Kulsprutepistol M/40". 

Link to clip, time stamp 03:17:

 

I will say however that the Thompson I got to fire did not had the horizontal foregrip, but the vertical one - meaning that it couldn't (or at least shouldn't) have been one of the many imported "Kulsprutepistol M/40" intended for military use. I don't know the history of this specific Thompson and why it ended up in Sweden. 

Does anybody else know the history of this gun? Is the serial number mentioned somewhere in a book? 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ron_brock]

Added a copy of this post to the Colt serial number forum 

 

Ron