

Unfortunately, no one customer wanted enough of this new type of weapon in any variation to deplete the inventory. The Auto-Ordnance Corporation spent nearly twenty years trying to market the first production run of 15,000 Thompson submachine guns. 3 Commando armed with a ëTommy guní and wearing a balaclava, at Largs in Scotland, dated. Suffice to say, it worked well enough in the minds of Auto-Ordnance customers in the 1920s and 1930s. The effectiveness of the compensator for reducing muzzle climb during automatic fire has been debated for many years. Now with the option of a $25 accessory, sales of the Thompson gun were once again on the rise. The reasons were many but the high cost of the Thompson gun (retail price for the base “A” model was $175) was certainly a prime cause. Sales of the Thompson gun languished for several years. The Model of 1928 was announced shortly thereafter and the compensator became standard equipment on the U.S. Auto-Ordnance literature soon listed the “A” model – without compensator – and the “AC” model – with compensator. Lockeyear)Īuto-Ordnance immediately began attaching the compensator to the Model of 1921 submachine gun and the newly introduced Model of 1927 Semi-Automatic Carbine. This is a Savage Thompson with the New York, N.Y. 3 Commando allowed for the blow-up picture of the right side of the Thompson receiver. The excellent quality of the negative of Lt. General Thompson was very much impressed with this compensator and entered into a royalty agreement with Mr. This device, a compensator, vented some of the escaping gases in an upward direction thereby forcing the muzzle of the gun downward. Cutts approached Auto-Ordnance with a device that when attached to the end of a Thompson gun would reduce the climb of the muzzle when the gun was fired. From these original 15,000 guns, Auto-Ordnance created several different models and many variations. These 15,000 Model of 1921 Thompson guns would be the sole source of Auto-Ordnance inventory for the next 19 years. Auto-Ordnance Corporation had no manufacturing capability at this time and hired Colt’s to manufacture the first production guns. The first 15,000 Thompson Submachine Guns manufactured by Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company in 19 were not equipped with compensators. (SIG) The Compensatorīefore we begin, a brief recap of the history of the compensator is needed. The front sight on Colt Thompson submachine gun No.
