A U.S. naval advisor to South Vietnam's Coastal Force keeps his Thompson submachine gun at the ready during an operation ashore
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He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
The choice of caliber and the weight of the gun make this one of the lightest recoiling firearms I’ve ever fired. The gun just doesn’t move, even during sustained full-auto fire. The only time when there is any appreciable recoil, as evidenced by the video, is when the heavier modern loads slam the bolt all the way to the end of its travel and make it slam into the back of the receiver. Otherwise, the moving mass of the bolt keeps the recoil extremely light.
While the recoil is downright pleasant, the ergonomics aren’t so much. The gun was designed to be fired from the hip and you can feel it when you shoulder the gun. I’m a pretty big guy and the gun felt big and bulky in my hands. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like in the hands of my relatively malnourished and stunted grandparents when they shipped out. Plus, the angle of the stock compared to the action was extremely awkward and didn’t provide a good cheek weld at all.
Despite the poor ergos, the gun is amazingly accurate. In semi-auto mode, from 50 yards away, I was consistently nailing a B/C zone steel USPSA target, which is roughly the shape of the vital organs in a human. If you’re testing the combat effectiveness of a firearm, that’s the gold standard benchmark of combat effectiveness — the ability to put rounds in a vital area of a target.
The accuracy of the gun was exceptionally surprising given the operating mechanism. Open bolt guns are notoriously inaccurate, since the “lock time” from when you pull the trigger until when the gun goes off is many times longer than a closed bolt gun. There are a lot of moving parts acting on the gun to throw off your aim. But since all of the parts are in line with the bore of the gun, it all stays on target which is great for accuracy. It was a really pleasant surprise.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
Yes, I've shot the '28 and M1 Thompsons extensively and have absolutely no grief with them. They don't climb or kick the crap out of you and their weight is a boon. I love 'Em all, all patterns of T Guns...I owned a 1928 for 22 years I think it was...
Yes, I've shot the '28 and M1 Thompsons extensively and have absolutely no grief with them. They don't climb or kick the crap out of you and their weight is a boon. I love 'Em all, all patterns of T Guns...I owned a 1928 for 22 years I think it was...
Nice guns!! I have to agree with you about the climb and kick of the 28 and M1 Thompsons. You probably seen the "experts" who tell about the Thompson climbing all over the place. I have to laugh at them. The only one that I have seen climb was a Chinese copy of the M1921 which had no compensator and a high rate of fire about 800 rounds per minute. As you known the Colt M1921 are quite rare and the Chinese version more so.
There was one around here for many years and then the owner got into crap and the police seized it...and that was that... I would also like to examine some of the offshore copies that have been captured, RVN, China...
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