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Before World War Two, the Tommmy Gun was famous as the preferred weapon of Chicago gangsters, and G-men alike.
The M1928A1 "Tommy Gun", a delayed blowback submachine gun, was issued to armored and reconnaissance units. It was selective for semi- or fully-automatic fire. It fired a .45 cal. cartridge in 20- or 30-round magazines, or a 50-round drum. It had a leaf with aperture notch battle sight. It's rate of fire was 600-725 spm. The M1928A1 had a removable buttstock. Most had a horizontal fore grip, but some had a vertical fore grip. The M1928A1 was relatively heavy, and expensive in use of materials, machine time, and machine tools. The gun was reliable, and continued to operate when similar weapons would have failed due to exposure to battle-field conditions.
There were three models:
- M1928A1 - the original 1928 design
- M1 Thompson was a redesign of the model M1928A1 to simplify production. The M1 had a permanently attached buttstock and a spring-loaded firing pin like the M1928A1. The M1 would not accept the M1928A1 drum type magazine. The M1 had a simple fixed aperture rear sight.
- M1A1 differed from the M1 only in having the firing pin machined into the face of the bolt.
Information on this page courtesy of U.S. Army TACOM-Rock Island.