The Thompson Submachine Gun

The Thompson submachine gun

In 1915 General John Taliaferro Thompson began his research to create a submachine gun that would become the most famous and used submachine gun in the 1920's or the prohibition era. The prohibition era was during the 1920's and lasted till 1933. During that time there was an outbreak in violence, robberies, shootouts and gangsters.

While working on a semi-automatic rifle design, Thompson became fascinated of a locking gadget developed by U.S. Navy officer, John B. Blish. The blish principle used a sliding wedge as a locking device.

General John Taliaferro Thompson assembled a team of new designers and by 1919, founded new company called auto ordnance. Auto Ordnance was set up at Bridgeport, Connecticut. The first model the company ever made was M1921 of the Thompson machine gun. The company also made box magazines and novel drum magazine that would offer the best service for the Tommy gun. The magazine was either a circular drum that held 50 rounds or a box that held 20 or 30 rounds. In 1928 Federal Laboratories took over distribution of the Thompson submachine gun, When General John Taliaferro tried to distance his company from the negative image the gangsters are giving to the people about the Tommy gun. Over 1,700,000 of these guns were built by the Auto Ordnance Corporation and 1,400,00 were built by other companies for World War Two.

The Tommy gun has between 60 and 70 parts total. To build it there are 5 main stations. Workers at the factory are split up into 5 different stations; each station has a main part of the gun that they need to secure on it. The workers are paid by the piece, so they have to be fast and accurate. The workers have to have background in firearms and they have to go to a three month internship in order to work for the company.

The gun almost weighed 10 pounds. The Tommy gun was made out of mostly steel, with lighter alloys for small flexible parts such as springs. The stocks are made out of walnut, a traditional hardwood for gun manufacturing. The gun was approximately $200.00 when ford automobiles were $400.00.

Other Machine guns in World War 1 were large and immobile weapons primarily defensively. Thompson designed a gun with similar swift firepower, which soldiers could run with, and the use in offensive assaults. The gun itself was not quite a machine gun and not quite a pistol. The Tommy gun was easy to use and fired close range.

Law enforcement officers, gangsters, criminals, and soldiers favored this gun during the prohibition era. In the 1920's to 1930's famous people like Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Melvin Purvis all used the Tommy gun. The submachine guns were legally available at sporting good store. Gangster Al Capone supposedly stopped in at Chicago sporting good store to buy a Tommy gun and on April 27, 1926 it was Al Capons first Tommy gun killing. The guns went viral first in the Midwest, and then to New York. The Tommy guns were used in the St. Day Valentines Massacre in 1929 and then killers Bonnie & Clyde started to use the guns in 1930s. On March 31, 1934 John Dillinger and a