Hello, These rifles are for recreational target shooting at our public range. My wife uses a.22 Winchester pump. We do not hunt. The Thompson fires in semi-auto only, not in full auto mode. Hal
@Hal Pollner The original Thompson had a removable stock. Often wondered if the latter-day semi-only models have that feature, or might that not please BATFE? Frank
Frank, I don't recall if mine had a removable stock, but it sure attracted attention at the public shooting range! The accuracy was lousy, as it was meant to be a short-range bullet sprayer, but even in the semi-auto mode, I could make it burp reasonably fast! Hal
@Hal Pollner I owned one, S/N 152-A made by Auto-Ordnance Corp., West Hurley, NJ, which I obtained in 1975, and sold to a dealer in 1998. It fired full-auto at about 600 rounds per minute, .45 ACP caliber, of course. Fired from an "open-bolt", which I believe the new descendents do not. Frank
@Hal Pollner Thompsons were used rather extensively during WW-II by our military. Certain design changes were implemented, the main one of which eliminated the "Blish lock" mechanism which was supposed to keep the bolt from moving backward out of battery too early, which pressure was still high. It consisted of a complicated-looking squarish block of broinze which slid up and down in grooves in the bolt. The locking part is the uppermost left part just above the bolt. The Blish lock itself. I suspect the latter models also did away with firing from a closed bolt, but am not sure. During the War, Thompsons were likely built by any number of companies, even non-firearms concerns. Frank
Kitty, nothing wrong with hunting. Wife and I don't do it either, but we support hunting. We love going to any kind of Sportman's Show and seeing the latest stuff in hunting and seeing the head and full size mounts. Have gone to BassPro a number of times and they have all kinds of wildlife mounts there.
A number of the natives here use AR-15s to hunt caribou. In some areas of the state, they are allowed to take 10 animals a day, and with caribou, the problem is often finding the herd. Once you find the herd, harvest is easy. A .223 is fine for the caribou of the far North, so they can feed an entire community all winter with a few hunters.
I really don't know what motivated people to post the merits of hunting due to my post. Wish I hadn't mentioned it. I'm in a down enough mood as it is. Thanks.
Please do not take it to heart, @Kitty Carmel ! We all make life choices, and I am sure that everyone here respects your right to be a Vegan, eat a plant-based diet, and avoid anything made from animals, and did not in any way mean to offend you. However, we also should respect the life choices that others make, and there is no right or wrong life choice, just different belief systems. Since this thread is about guns and shooting, you can expect people to post about that topic here, and it has nothing to do with what you posted, really.
Of five siblings, all boys, I am the only one who doesn't hunt, but I am not opposed to it at all. I think it's a good tradition, just not one that I wanted to take part in. If I had to gut a deer, I'm not sure that I could eat it later, unless I was starving. I love the woods, and I like going out and shooting sometimes. But I'd rather walk around the woods with a camera than a gun.
If you ever saw wolves eat their prey alive or see a bear disembowel the prey, you would find that a well-placed bullet is far more humane than nature.
I was raised with guns in the house, and both of my parents were expert shots. During the depression, when people had to try and shoot deer to survive, the game warden would provide bullets to my mom and dad to shoot deer for other families that either didn’t hunt, or were poor hunters. The warden believed that it was far better to have the deer humanely killed by a good hunter than to be wounded by a hunter who was a poor shot, and then die miserably in the woods somewhere. As a teenager, I went to the local rifle range each week, and was a junior member of the NRA. I loved shooting at the targets and became proficient at doing that. Although I have shot and killed animals , I no longer want to do that, and I agree with @Ken Anderson , that if I had to do this, I can’t eat them afterwards. If it comes to that, I will be a vegetarian and live on plants, which is the direction that i am going in any case, just because of the health benefits.