Milsurp Picture of the Day

Rbelote wrote:Yeah that is awsome. Talk about working under pressure.

Yep he survived the War, Bastogne, the cold and all then went to visit Normandy in '77 and had a heart attack there and didn't make the boat ride back. I was born in '76 so I didn't get to know him. He was also the head Doctor out at the good ole State Hospital (Witfield) with all the crazys

Bastogne -- Interesting how he has the sling attached!!

John C. Garnad showing his "new" rifle to the military --

Know what these are?

captain-03 wrote:Know what these are?

Look illegal here in the free country

Especially like the Brit holding the Thompson!!

Austrian Armed Forces (Bundesheer) with M1 Carbines:

Hey, cap. Anyone who recognizes Ike, Churchill and Omar Bradley in the opening photo of this thread is certainly telling their age. I love these old photos and I'm a big student of military history. Keep them coming.

dhollis51 wrote:

captain-03 wrote:Know what these are?

Look illegal here in the free country

Those are Reising sub-guns, .45 ACP if I recall correctly.

Always thought they were kind of neat but have read that they were very unreliable.

captain-03 wrote:

Ahhh..... The BAR.

Now that's another full-auto I'd love to shoot.

Ahhhh...The BAR gave me the shakes....Those guys were bad A$$...Humping those heavy guns all over the hedge rows of Europe.

U wanna jump out of an airplane with a heavy ole M1 Garnad? Geeezzz what the WWII guys went through...

And we play patty cake now with a crazy man in N. Korea and Iran now.

Freedom is never Free....Thank you Vets!

Rbelote wrote:My grandfather carried a bar. THey say they are 20lbs unloaded. I never checked though.

Yep they we heavy - the M1918 model weighed 16lbs but the later M1928 model tipped in at 20lbs unloaded!!

John M. Browning and M. Burton (Winchester Arms) looks over Mr. Browning's BAR!!

Brutus wrote:

dhollis51 wrote:

captain-03 wrote:Know what these are?

Look illegal here in the free country

Those are Reising sub-guns, .45 ACP if I recall correctly.

Always thought they were kind of neat but have read that they were very unreliable.

The Reising is correct!! You win the prive - what prize?

captain-03 wrote:

Now I think that pic is bogus. (I realize it's just artwork and not combat photography.)

None of the WWII Thompsons were issued with the forward pistol grip, were they? Weren't the issued M1928s and M1 Thompsons both fitted with the standard horizontal fore-end?

Some History:

Model of 1928
The Model of 1928 was the first type widely used by military forces, with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps as major buyers through the 1930s. The original Model of 1928s were Model of 1921s with weight added to the actuator, which slowed down the cyclic rate of fire, a U.S. Navy requirement. It had the vertical foregrip and used drum magazines.

M1928A1
The M1928A1 variant entered mass production before the attack on Pearl Harbor, as on-hand stocks ran out. Changes included a horizontal forend, in place of the distinctive vertical foregrip ("pistol grip"), and a provision for a military sling. Despite new U.S. contracts for Lend-Lease shipments abroad to China, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as the needs of American armed forces, only two factories supplied M1928A1 Thompsons during the early years of World War II. The weapon was mostly used in the U.S. military by the Marine units in the Pacific Theater. Though it could use both the 50-round drum and the 20- or 30-round box magazines, active service showed the drums were more prone to jamming, rattled when moving, and extremely heavy and bulky, especially on long patrols, and they were expensive to produce. 562,511 were made.

In addition, the Soviet Union received M1928A1s, included as standard equipment with the M3 light tanks obtained through Lend-Lease. The weapons were never issued to the Red Army, however, because of a lack of .45 ACP ammunition on the Eastern Front, and were simply put in storage.

M1
Answering the call for further simplification, the M1 was standardized in April 1942 as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M1. Rate of fire was reduced to approximately 600-700 rpm. First issued in 1943, the M1 utilized a simple blowback operation, the charging handle was moved to the side, and the flip-up adjustable rear sight replaced with a fixed aperture (peep sight). Wartime production variants omitted the triangular rear sight guard wings. The slots adjoining the magazine well allowing use of the drum magazine were removed. The less expensive and more-easily manufactured "stick" magazines were used exclusively in the M1, with a new 30-round version joining the familiar 20-round type. The Cutts compensator, barrel cooling fins, and Blish lock were omitted while the buttstock was permanently affixed.

M1A1
The M1A1, formally adopted as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M1A1, could be produced in half the time of the M1928A1, and at a much lower cost. The multi-piece firing pin of the M1 was supplanted by a simplified firing pin machined into the face of the bolt. The 30-round magazine became more common. In 1939, Thompsons cost the government $209 apiece. By the spring of 1942, cost reduction design changes had brought this down to $70. In February 1944, the M1A1 reached a low price of $45 each, including accessories and spare parts. By the end of 1944, the M1A1 was replaced with the even lower-cost M3 (commonly called "Grease Gun").

British cartoon from WWII -- note the Thompson