Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmyj
Wasn't there a bayonet and a 100 round drum magazine for a Thompson?
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The bayonet was only for the 1923 Military Model, which really didn't take off. It was chambered in 45 Remington Thompson, which was a larger more powerful cartridge than the 45 ACP. They were trying to make the gun better, but that would have added another cartridge to the Army inventory, and they didn't want that.
Yes, there was a 100 round drum.
Originally there were XX (20 round) stick mags, L (50) and C (100) drum mags and a special stick for the 45 shot cartridges. I believe it was an 18 round.
Along came WW2. They used the XX and the L mags. Cs were too heavy, when loaded. They modified the gun, as the original was very labor intensive and expensive to make. The new guns would not accept the drum, so they came up with a new stick, the XXX (30 round).
Much later in its life, Auto Ordnance redesigned the drum's internals, and came up with what they called the XL (even though it only held 39, not 40). Then when the assault weapons ban came in, they redesigned the XL to only hold ten, and it became the X drum.
This is a pic of one of the guns used in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and it has both an L and a C drum in the picture.
More than you wanted to know, probably.