Thompson Manual Books - "5 Complete Manuals"

[dalbert]

Everyone here has probably encountered one or more of the commercial paperback books that contain reprinted Thompson manuals from the WWII era. The most commonly encountered version has a bright yellow cover, and uses the target and TSMG's image from the 1936 Auto-Ordnance Catalog as part of the cover art. It is often encountered at gun shows, and on Ebay. I wanted to document the differences between the 4 versions of these books that I am aware of.

 

In a nutshell, all these books have the same content, in the same order, despite their different covers and publishers.

 

The content is as follows:

 

1. "The Thompson Mechanism Made Easy," originally a British commercial manual published for Home Guard use in 1941 by Gale and Polden. This is a great manual, and features close-ups of Colt Thompson #3386.

 

2. FM 23-40, 1940 - This was the first War Department Field Manual published for the Thompson.

 

3. TM 9-1215, March 1, 1942 - This was the War Department Technical Manual published for the M1928A1 Thompson.

 

4. TM 9-215, October 10, 1942 - This was the War Department Technical Manual published for the M1 Thompson.

 

5. 1936 Auto-Ordnance Catalog

 

Here is a picture of the books to which I refer:

 

http://www.sturmgewehr.com/dalbert/Thompson%20Catalogs/4_Manual_Books.JPG

 

From left to right, starting at the top, they are:

 

1. "Thompson Submachine Guns," Normount Technical Publications, Forest Grove, Oregon, published and copyrighted in 1967 by Donald B. McLean, sold by The Combat Bookshelf. It is listed as ISBN 0-87947-031-3. This one has a 1-page introduction by the person who put the manuals together, and the picture reproduction from the original manuals is very good.

 

2. "Thompson Guns - Thompson Submachine Guns 1921-1945," Anubis Press, Houston, Texas, no copyright, and no date, but estimate publishing date as mid to late 1970's, based on similar, dated books published by same company. I believe Fred Rexer may have produced this book. The picture reproduction in this book is not very good.

 

3. "ORD 9 SNL A-32" - No publisher or date listed. Whoever published this book used a WWII Standard Nomenclature List (SNL A-32) as the cover art. It does not contain any additional content from SNL A-32 besides the cover page. This can be misleading to a potential buyer on the web, who might believe they were purchasing an SNL A-32. This book contains the one-page introduction included in the Normount book, but does not credit anyone for writing it.

 

4. "Thompson Submachine Guns - Five Complete Manuals" - Desert Publications, Cornwall, Arizona, no date listed. It is also listed as ISBN 0-87947-031-3. This is commonly found for sale today, and the picture reproduction from the original manuals is very good, equal to the quality of the Normount book.

 

I'm submitting this post because I don't think the subject has been covered before, and I thought it might eliminate some confusion that may exist about these books. The content they reprint is good information for any TSMG enthusiast.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Can anyone recommend a good Thompson "shop manual" - detailed assy/disassy instructions in a form so simple a hayseed like me could follow them? I have an uncle's WWII field manual (23-40) which is OK for field stripping, but wanted something more detailed, preferably with lots of pictures.

 

I saw one on Doug Richardson's site and was wondering if it would fit the bill - also any opinions on the AGI video?

[dalbert]

Lone Ranger,

 

In my opinion, the best set of Thompson disassembly/assembly illustrations was published in a manual for the M1928A1 by the Armored Force School at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1941. This is a difficult original manual to find, but I believe Doug sells a reprint. Besides that, there is another excellent illustrated sequence included in The Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly, Part VI: Law Enforcement Weapons.

 

Most other Thompson military manuals have a brief summary of the dissassembly/assembly process, and do not include much in the way of illustrated sequences.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

[richard w.]

 

I purchased a copy of the FT Knox manual from Mr. Richardson a few months ago.

 

I agree that it is a very good reference.

 

[Merry Ploughboy]

Ranger,

 

The AGI video is good, once you fast forward past the history lesson.

 

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[The Lone Ranger]

Thanks for the info guys, it's appreciated. I "HOPE" to have a project to work on this winter or early spring.