Shortly afterwards thealso ordered a large quantity.īut the Thompson was a difficult gun to manufacture the engineering processes were numerous and complicated and the materials used were of the best quality, a fact which was reflected in the price-almost £50 ( 240$, a price for which it was possible to become nearly nine German ). Eventually some experimentation showed that the removal of the H-piece made no difference to the functioning of the gun, except to increase the rate of fire.In 1939 the Thompson was the only sub-machine gun in production outside Europe, and as a result the government of Britain, France and Sweden hurriedly placed orders. But with more experience of submachine guns as time went on, the effect and desirability of this locking system began to be questioned. This system, known as the ‘Blish system’ from its inventor, was accepted as the gospel when the gun was first introduced, because a breach lock seemed to be a logical thing on any gun. Then, as the pressure dropped, the friction of the inclined faces lessened until the H-piece was able to slide and so unlocked the bolt. The H-piece was set at a carefully calculated angle, and the inventor claimed that this angle was so critical that when the maximum pressure of the explosion pressed against it, the result was to lock bolt and receiver securely together. This was achieved by a device called the ‘H-piece’, from its shape, which served to lock the bolt to the receiver at the moment of firing. The Thompson submachine gun is rather different from most other submachine guns in that it uses a delaying system in the action, to hold the bolt closed for a fraction of time while the cartridge clears the barrel.
The first official military recognition came when the United States Marine Corps were issued with a number of the 1927 model, which were officially named the Thompson M1928. The first production models appeared in 1921 and from then on manufacture was small but continuous throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
#AUTO ORDNANCE THOMPSON SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP SERIAL NUMBERS#
Thompson Machine Gun Serial Numbers Date Of Manufacture Named for General, the company’s design director, the first models were built-in prototype form in 1919.