M1 Thompson: Savage Simplifies the SMG
308,728
Published 2024-04-28
weaponsandwar.tv
The Thompson submachine gun struggled to find a market when it was originally produced, with the first batch of 15,000 Colt-made guns not finally all selling until the late 1930s. By that time, the clouds of war were gathering, and demand for submachine guns finally began to really grow. The US military had some Thompsons, and the British began buying as many as they could. The US wanted to increase production, and that meant simplifying the gun, both to reduce cost and to increase manufacturing efficiency. Talks to this end began in late 1941, and by February 1942 the engineers at Savage had a prototype of what would become the M1 Thompson.
This new version simplified almost every element of the gun, but most significantly it replaced the 3-piece Blish lock bolt with a solid one-piece affair that just worked as a normal blowback action. Unnecessary elements like the vertical front grip, Cutt’s compensator, quick-detach stock, and fancy contoured selector levers were discarded. The adjustable Lyman rear sight was replaced by a single metal tab with an aperture (quickly given a set of protective wings though, as the tab alone proved too fragile). The recoil guide rod was simplified, the oiling pads inside the receiver removed, and a simpler recoil buffer designed. The capability to use drum magazines was also discarded, and a new 30-round box magazine took their place.
The M1 was adopted in the spring of 1942, and July saw the first major delivery, of 48,000 guns. Simplifiecation work continued, however, and by the end of October a yet-simpler M1A1 pattern was adopted. This model replaced the hammer mechanism with a fixed firing pin. As a result, M1 production lasted only about 5 months. A total of 285,480 M1 Thompsons were made, but most of these were retrofitted to M1A1 configuration by simply swapping in the simpler new bolt. Finding intact M1 configuration guns is rather unusual today as a result.
utreon.com/c/forgottenweapons/
www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
www.floatplane.com/channel/ForgottenWeapons
Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! shop.forgottenweapons.com
All Comments (21)
-
Us: "we simplified the Thompson at great expense" The British about to invent the sten: "haha, toob"
-
I am approaching 60 years old....when I about 8 years old my father had one of those Shop Smith wood working machines......He made me an all wood Thompson....Many years later I purchased a 1928 Semi Auto Thompson.......I have half a dozen pictures of my father shooting the Thompson with a grin that you could not erase
-
I got to use one in Vietnam, it was a real A1, some one just showed up with 2 of them and 12 Magazines one day. He needed some Penicillin for the "Love Flu" and didn't want it on his Medical Records. So being the wise Corpsman I treated him for the prescribed amount of time and got the guns and gear. The Unit Armorer gave them a once over and they became very popular for patrols. They were still serving the Marines when my tour ended in 70.
-
My grandfather (Beds & Herts Regiment) joined up in 1939 and was issued a Thompson. His only confirmed kill with it was as the pointman, creeping along a wooded road in France. A battered and bruised lone German officer stumbled out of the bushes and rapidly fired off his sidearm at point blank range. He somehow missed my grandad and his men, and the Thompson dropped him. Grandad said he emptied his entire mag into the German, then puked his guts out immediately while getting a pat on the back from his guys.
-
The rear sight is actually riveted in place, not spot welded. I own an M1 Thompson. It's a nice firing weapon. I actually have 3 bolts for my gun. The one shown here is the "shiny" bolt, and I have a shiny bolt, a blue bolt, and an M1A1 fixed firing pin bolt. I usually run it with the blue bolt and the hammer system which it came with when I bought it. I keep a couple spare barrels too just in case something tragic happens, and a lot of spare parts. Never needed them though. My dad carried an M1 Thompson in WWII. I have pictures of that, it's cool history.
-
I know this channel was originally for obscure weapons, but I really enjoy the episodes on much more common weapons too.
-
Praise Ian for including SMG in the title. Otherwise I would have thought he was talking about the M1 rifle, or M1 Carbine, or M1 helmet, or the M1 bayonet, or iconic the M1 latex condom.
-
I think Savage is one of the unsung heroes of WW2 production. They made a million Lee Enfields between 1941 and 1944.
-
Beware the “I needs my money, see?” To “Buy war bonds” pipeline
-
I’ve had a thing for the M1 Thompson ever since I saw Clint Eastwood carrying one around in Kelly’s Heroes. I first saw the movie when I was a kid, and 40+ years later the film (and gun) is still one of my favs.
-
the Thompson might be the only gun that have a bad guy and good guy variant.
-
“Part sinner part saint.” “The Thompson truly was the gun that made the Twenties roar.” -Ahoy
-
Years ago, I saw a set of a Thompson and a 1911 that were made to be sold as a package. I remember it being $1000. The day after the show, I was wondering if I should have bought that set. Now, I wish I would have.
-
according to my dad, this was my great-grandfathers favorite gun in ww2, he fought on Okinawa. Pretty crazy how if he didnt make it back i wouldn't be typing this comment right now
-
"Savage's Engineer" sound pretty based on a CV!
-
When Fuddblasters did their episode on the Thompson and mentioned the Savage simplified version was the best one, I had to look through your old archive of Thompson videos for more info. Thanks for this video.
-
I have seen period photos of M1928A1s with the L shape rear sight, no fins on the barrel, and no cuts compensator, or some combination of those features. It just goes to show how Savage and Auto Ordnance were trying to ease production difficulties.
-
Cool. My M1A1 started life as an M1. It then had an A1 crudely stamped on it when it was converted to M1A1
-
Just told my wife who asked what I’m watching - The Bob Ross of Machine guns!
-
I had completely forgotten about the oiler pads on old-school Tommy-guns! With their relatively long and illustrious career, it's easy to forget they're interwar guns. The simplified iteration is still so massively intensive in terms of requisite tooling and machine-hours, Savage's optimistic projection of 125k/mo. production boggles the mind.
