Legend In The Making!

Paddy Egan gets first dibs on the Umarex M1A1 Tommy Gun

- Paddy Egan

Here we have the eagerly awaited M1A1 Thompson Gun, known as the ‘Tommy gun’. Umarex already have a model of the M1A1 released in America, but these guns have full auto capability, so they are not legal here in the UK. I contacted Umarex to ask if they had plans to make a model for the UK market, just as they did with the MP40, and they said, ‘most definitely’ and that I would be given the opportunity to try one as soon as they came into the UK. True to their word, the M1A1s became available in the UK on Monday the 27th of July, and I received mine to review on Thursday the 30th. A big thank you to Claire from John Rothery Wholesale, and Bevin from Umarex, for sorting me one so efficiently.

BRIEF HISTORY LESSON

The M1A1 was a further development of the original M192 model invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, and then the M1928, and they were known as the ‘Chicago typewriter’, often seen in gangster movies. They have a ribbed barrel, forward pistol grip, top cocking handle and drum magazine capability, whereas the M1A1 was standardised in 1942 during WW2 when the cyclic rate was reduced, the bolt, barrel, and foregrip all changed, and sights simplified to reduce costs and allow easier production. Even the retention slot for drum magazines was taken out, so only stick magazines could be used with all models chambered in .45 ACP.