Talk:Thompson Submachine Gun

A Scope on a Thompson submachine gun?

This is from the MGM film 'The Big House'. Has anyone ever seen a Thompson with this kind of scope in real life? Does anyone know anything about them? I've only seen it in the one filmFoofbun 11:10, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

A scope on a Tommy gun sub machine gun seem impractical back then.

I imagine a scope could be attached, but like the above poster said, totally impractical. --24.63.181.248 00:39, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

How come the military do not use the drum magazine that much? Isn't a large 50 round clip good?

First off its MAGAZINE not clip. Secondly there is a very good reason why Thompson owners prefer the 20 and 30 round stick MAGAZINES to the 50 or 100 round drum MAGAZINES. The Thompson Submachinegun is frigging heavy at nearly ten pounds of wood and steel. This means that while it is a good submachinegun people don'tr like to have to carry all those drums around. Plus the drums are less than reliable compaired to the stick magazines.Rockwolf66 04:27, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Those fifty and one hundred round drum magazines are also a real bear to load up and they're noisy if you need to be moving silently. The British found that out in the earl days of World War Two. All those cartridges have a tendency to move around and slap against the container. Oh and did I mention that with those drug mags reloading is a real chore. You really need a third hand to change them out. The stick mags are faster. Much faster. Watch Public Enemies.Almost none of those guys use the drum mags. Only the stick mags. Which I understand was historically correct. --Jcordell 04:48, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

The drum mags weren't very reliable. Turns out drum mags don't work too well. The design is just too complex to be practical and that's the reason you don't see much drum mags on SMGs and rifles. Plus after you loaded the Thompson's drum, you had to wind the bastard and it would come unspung and it wouldn't feed properly. Hughjefender

it look like the just use the drum in the start of attacks. once that dry, the use stick mags.

That's like how the Soviets used to handle mags with the PPSh, one drum mag, and then all box mags. And while we're here, is the guy in the photo Curly from the Three Stooges? --Funkychinaman 06:18, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Some people have no sense of history. That's Wallace Beery! I met a guy once that said that his Grandfather used to use a Thompson with a scope. He was a guard at a factory, and they used to place him on the roof during strikes. He said that his Grandfather claimed that the Thompson was very accurate on single fire. David.

The crew cut threw me off. All the pictures I've ever seen of Wallace Beery had him with a full head of hair. --funkychinaman 13:03, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

well..

I'm not saying it would ever be practical for a scope to be mounted on a Thompson, but it might be a slightly better idea to slap one on the Thompson M1A1. considering it has a lower firing rate than the "original" 1917 Thompson, and (in theory) a bit easier to control.

When SWAT was introduced did they ever used this gun or did they prefer the M3 "Grease" Gun?