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Duke’s M1 Thompson is “select fire” meaning by the flipof a switch it can be fired either full-auto or semi-auto.The Thompson was effective incombat in World War II, but at 13pounds loaded it was a heavy itemfor already overburdened GIs.everything even vaguely associatedwith handguns hasbeen hung onto, around, ornear the Model 1911 pistolat one time or another. PersonallyI like my 1911splain. In fact my currentfavorite is a stock militaryColt made in 1918. But after sayingthat I have to brag I have now boughtthe ultimate 1911 accoutrement — aThompson submachine gun!That’s right, I caught the full-autobug and I’m not apologizing to anyonefor it. In 2009 I wrote up my 1941 vintageGerman MP40 9mm in these pages.My quest for World War II submachineguns only got started with that one. Abunch of assorted but mostly unusedguns from my collection were sold,which caused a feeding frenzy amonggun guys near and far. With money stillin my pocket after paying for the MP40I set about finding a Thompson.They are rather easy to find althoughdarned expensive. And of course, beingfull-auto they must be registered withthe ATF. I didn’t care and paid the exactsame amount for one that Yvonne and IThis stamping on the side of all Thompson submachine guns hasbeen a source of confusion for over a half century. Colt madesome early Thompsons. Later ones were made either by Savageor Auto Ordnance but all were stamped with this marking.WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 63