The Tommy Gun Lived Up To Its Original Name: The Annihilator

Despite what many think, the Thompson submachine gun was not the first submachine gun.

But many will argue it was the best submachine gun ever put in the hands of fighting men – whether they were “good guys” or “bad guys.”

Well-made, robust, capable of firing more than 800 rounds a minute in some models and chambered for the man-stopping .45-caliber ACP round, the gun lived up to one of its original names: The Annihilator.

“I knew several soldiers who used Thompson’s for special operations in Vietnam,” said Alan Archambault, a retired U.S. Army officer and former supervisory curator for the U.S. Army Center of Military History. “Even in the 1960s, the Thompson was still an iconic weapon for U.S. soldiers. Often, when one soldier would rotate to the U.S., he would pass the Thompson on to another soldier in theater.” Read more >