I bought one of those Japanese replica Thompson's many years ago when I lived In NY State. After I escaped from there in 95 the first Class III I bought was a Colt 21/28. Love that MG. It's one I'll never sell. Still have the Japanese replica.

I bought this from family of former KCPD officer stated was the officers while on KCPD.

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SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

When I was on the USS Hawkins (1972), they would bring out a couple Thompsons, and let us shoot at trash boxes tossed over.
We could shoot as long as we were not on duty, and as long as our thumb could last reloading the magazine.

I was not a gun nut then,, I probably shot ~1,000 rounds total,,,

My neighbor recently (several years ago) sold his, to get the cash to buy a VW diesel,,,

He likes the diesel, I still tell him he is crazy,,,

He says he got enough cash to buy the VW and a half dozen handguns.
He feels he gets more entertainment out of the handguns, he shoots them more often.

Here's mine. I use it to pluck Cicadas off our trees and shoot the feral cats that come around.

The son of a friend of mine showed up at my house and said he wanted to show me his AK-47. He said he had been working on it. He pulled it out and proceeded to show me that me had made it into a full auto - he shot it at MY HOUSE because his dad had dared him to shoot it at their house. Gee thanks pal. When the neighbors call the fuzz and they show up I'll be sure and mention your name and you can pay for a lawyer for both of us. Except he couldn't afford a lawyer for himself much less me.

What did I do? I figured I was already at risk so I fired it myself just for the giggles and then I sent him down the road. I would have still flipped on him if the feds showed up. Luckily my neighbors didn't call the cops. They have their own legal issues "ahem".

I also worked with a WWII Vet who was shot in the face by a German soldier. He lost part of his jaw and was scarred up. We worked at the Tank Plant by Cleveland Hopkins Airport and were in Plant Protection. Allison Division, which was running the plant, got a contract to build a Main Battle Tank in co-operation with the Germans. The guy I worked with was sitting at a desk in the main lobby checking personnel in, and when some of the German engineers came in, he made some very snide remarks about Germans. They had to remove him from the post because of his language towards the German personnel, and was not allowed to work that post again. He was a good guy, but carried a deep and hateful grudge against the Germans because of what happened.

Some years ago, there were two gun shops in Vegas with indoor ranges (don't know if they're still there; NV is still a red state, I hope). One could select from a bevy of automatic weapons. I fired two sticks through a Thompson. What fun, but it does walk up.

I was in a one man FBI Resident Agency (RA) in Twin Falls, and had 8 counties in my territory. I was my usual charming self and made pals with 7 Sheriffs and a couple of dozen Chiefs of Police, but one Sheriff was a tough nut to crack. He had no use for the Feebs, and he would actually have his guys follow me to the county line whenever I was in his county.

Then, I had our HQ send me this:







I showed up with it and a case of .45 ACP ammo and asked how would like to give it a try?

Soon we were at his range. Deputies showed up, then had their kids come. We burned up that case of "liaison ammo", then broke out another.

He may have still not liked me after that, but his guys did, and they stopped following me everywhere I went.

I retired over a year ago. I refused to have a retirement party, as I had refused going-away toodoos whenever I had transferred. I don't like being the center of attention, and I really don't like guys younger than me (everyone) digging into their pockets for a gift. On my last day I found this on my desk, with no comment from anyone.





Its not a real Thompson, but it's damn close. It weighs the same, and the bolt and magazine work. The knuckleheads dug into their pockets and got it for me.

The saying goes: I grew to hate the circus, but I always loved the clowns.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Can someone simply summarize the differences between the M-1921 and M-1928?

The M-1921 was the first Thompson submachine gun commercially produced. Exactly 15,000 were made during 1921-22 by Colt under contract from Auto-Ordnance Corporation (which had no production capability). Their serial numbers ranged from 41 to 15040. These were all built for speculation or inventory and were warehoused by Auto-Ordnance. Sales trickled out but were not robust. There were no military contracts at this time.







The firing rate of the M1921 is 800 to 900 rounds per minute.

In 1928 the U.S. Marines were having a little "police action" in the jungles of Nicaragua. Wanting a better close combat automatic weapon than the BAR, they bought a few M1921 Thompsons for trial. They liked it but thought it was wasteful of ammunition. They agreed to buy a quantity provided the firing rate could be reduced to about 600 rounds per minute.

Auto-Ordnance modified existing M1921 guns to slow their firing rate. Doing this they added mass to the actuator (riveted on a bar of steel), and replaced the recoil spring, its guide rod and buffer. The Marines liked it and initially ordered 500, adopting it into the military as the "Model of 1928."

Auto-Ordnance filled this order from existing inventory of M1921 guns, modifying each as mentioned. On each gun so modified they hand stamped an "8" over the "1" of the "Model of 1921." rollmark. Above this modified rollmark they hand stamped "U.S. Navy". They also offered the same modification commercially, marked the same way. Collectors refer to these as the 1928 Navy or the 1921-28 overstamp. All of these came from original inventory of 15,000 guns and bear their original serial numbers. These all have the Cutts Compensator, whereas some of the original 1921 guns were sold without a Cutts (another whole story in itself).

This is a photo from a Julia auction:




The modification required absolutely no change to the receiver or lower frame. Thus, owners of a M1921 can switch to M1928 firing configuration simply by switching the original Colt internal parts mentioned with army surplus M1928A1 parts (actuator, recoil spring, guide rod, and buffer). The gun then shoots exactly as a M1928. For someone as clumsy as me it takes about 2 minutes to switch back and forth.

The original inventory of 15,000 Colt made guns was still slow to sell during peacetime between WW1 and WW2. However, as WW2 started brewing in Europe in the late 1930s, interest developed in this weapon. With the opening of hostilities, orders soon exhausted Auto-Ordnance's inventory. Still having no production capability, they sought new production by a contractor.

Colt refused to make any more Thompsons, saying the "gangster era" had nearly ruined their reputation. To this date Colt has never made another Thompson; thus, the original 15,000 Colt guns are the darlings of collectors.

Savage took up the contract and eventually made close to 1.5 million Thompsons. These began with the serial number 15041. They were made to M1928 specs and initially were marked "Model of 1928". On adoption by the U.S. Army they became the "Model of 1928A1". Later in the war Auto-Ordnance developed manufacturing capacity and produced several hundred thousand of these.

The Model of 1928A1 went through several design changes, becoming the Model M1, followed by the M1A1.

The only M1921 Thompsons ever made were the original batch of 15,000 made in 1921-22.

That's the short story. For full details there are quite a few reference works out there.

Curl

A follow-up to my last post.

Here's a photo of my assembled 1921 upper.




Here's a photo of my 1921 upper disassembled. Those parts circled in red are the ones that were modified in the 1928 conversion.



Here's a photo of what appears to be an original converted 1928 actuator (not mine). Notice the extra steel and rivets. All actuators made later were made in one piece. Only converted Colt actuators are riveted like this.



And here's a diagram of 1928 parts that are substituted in the conversion:



I would attach a photo of mine assembled in 1928 configuration and the 1928 parts, but I don't have time this morning to pull it out, make the switch, and take a photo.

A final comment. I much prefer firing mine in original 1921 configuration than in 1928 configuration. The faster firing rate makes it much smoother and easier to keep on target. The slower 1928 firing rate makes it feel choppy and jerky in comparison. John Thompson got it right in the 1928 configuration. It is an awesome weapon.

Curl

One more interesting fact. My M1921, No. 6835, was delivered from Colt to Auto-Ordnance on October 31, 1921 (Happy Halloween!). Auto-Ordnance sold it to the Grosse Point Shores, Michigan police department. Eventually I became its custodian on November 7, 2011 just after its 90th birthday.




Curl

Curl-

Thanks! That was a superb summary!

My father was in a POW camp in Epernay, France. In that camp troublemakers and die hard SS hiding among the regular Wehrmacht prisoners often had to deal with a Garand or a 1911.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

Any idea who made the OP's gun?

Many eons ago I was issued a Thompson M1928 which was replaced by a Thompson M1, and then by a M1A1 (Grease Gun). I was a young 135#, 5'8" 18yoa "Coastie" with pimples. Being a "Non Gun" person I liked the M1A1 Grease Gun because of the lighter weight and easier field stripping. After the Grease Gun came a M2 Carbine which was yet lighter !