Machineguns prior to the NFA?

S

ScottRiqui

New member
Before the National Firearms Act, am I understanding correctly that anyone could buy/own fully-automatic and select-fire weapons?

If so, where did you go to buy them? I know that you used to be able to buy pistols and long guns at places like general stores and hardware stores, but did they stock full-auto guns as well?

I'm just curious where the average non-criminal would go to pick up a Tommy Gun, pre-NFA.
 
I remember reading that one of the gangsters of that era - not sure which one - bought his Thompson in a pawn shop for $200.
 
Same place you used to buy your Heroin, Cocaine, and Dynamite. Down at the general store. If they didn't stock it they would special order it.
 
The Thompson Submachinegun used to be advertised in magazines as a home defense weapon for folks living out in rural areas where it may take law enforcement a long time to come to your assistance. You could probably order them directly from the manufacturer.
 
I wasnt around in those days, but thought you could order them out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog. USPS would drop it off at your house.
 
Auto Ordnance advertised them as an effective coyote control method. Indeed they are. They could be ordered by mail directly from the manufacturer and delivered by mail. Ah the good old days!
 
Don't forget that the NFA was enacted in 1934. The Thomposon sub-machine gun really didn't even go into production until 1921 and didn't become available for purchase until some time between 1921 and 1926. As someone mentioned, it originally cost $200. For perspective, a Ford automobile sold for $400. That means that by today's standards, Several years ago, some were still selling for the same amount of inflation-adjusted money - $10,000+/-. Now, they seem to have gone up to about $15,000-18,000 on the low end.

In any event, they didn't get easy to acquire until the late 20's, early 30's. Other than arguably the Browning Automatic Rifle (really heavy), there just weren't a whole lot of machineguns available prior to 1930 or so.

So, other than former military BAR's and Thompson's, there really weren't a lot of machineguns in civilian hands prior to 1934.
 
Don't forget about the Colt 1917 water cooled machinegun.

The first (only) batch of 1921 Thompsons didn't completely sell till well after the NFA was past.
 
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Don't forget about the Colt 1917 water cooled machinegun.
Click to expand...

These things didn't get any attention, because they couldn't be operated and easily carried by one person. If there was nothing but 1919's and water-cooled 1917's, I doubt that you would even have the NFA. The Tommy Gun, and maybe to some much lesser extent, the BAR, was what the thugs were using and the media was sensationalizing. Basically, "Assault Weapons" of their day - not the cumbersome belt-fed machineguns.
 
The traditional way to get them was to raid the local national guard armory. These days what you do is to find a car belonging to a federal law enforcement agency.

I have a reproduction Sears special catalog of military goods dated either 1917 or 1918. It's one of those "original source" reference publications. Sorry, no Springfield rifles but they listed Colt pocket autos and Colt PP or PPS revolvers, both at what sound like very low prices (don't have the catalog with me). It is only a dozen pages long. But they also had the Colt machine gun (the potato digger) with tripod at an incredibly high price. Again I don't remember how much but I'll dig it out.

Just like today, however,because something is listed in a catalog doesn't mean you'll ever see one in a store. Skeeter Skelton mentioned that fact once or twice in his books, referring to the 1940s and earlier, and he was referring to revolvers.
 
One of the most popular full auto weapons of the pre-NFA era was the Colt Monitor rifle. It is the civilian version of the model 1918 BAR.
 
The one that stuck in my mind..

cowboy.gif


A plethora of others...

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=thompson+submachine+gun+advertisement&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
 
At one time, it cost more to buy the stamp for a MAC-10 than it did to buy the MAC itself.
Wish I had precognition.
Click to expand...

It would have been nice to even have a pile of approved form 1's prior to May 19 1986...
 
My uncle told me along time ago that you could go into the local "Western Auto" store and buy your self a Thompson ! He carried one in WWII in France.
 
"At one time, it cost more to buy the stamp for a MAC-10 than it did to buy the MAC itself.
Wish I had precognition. "

$200 MAC + $200 stamp = $400

MAC today - $3000

If you think that was bad, in the mid 1980's it cost more to buy a sear for an HK than it did for the stamp. Right after the closure of the registry, I've got friends who said "$200 for a sear and $200 to register it? No thanks!"

$200 HK sear + $200 stamp = $400

HK Sear Today - $13,000

Yeah.
 
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Many weapons handguns, rifles, shotguns and yes submachineguns such as the Thompson were readily available at your local hardware store or as mentioned earlier the general store.

The story I've always heard about the NFA of 1934 was that the tax on machine guns was $200 dollars because that was the retail price of the thompson at the time.

What many people don't know, but has been documented on the History Channel, is that both John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde didn't purchase their BARs or Thompsons they stole them from the police.

Most hard working honest folks couldn't afford a thompson and they were never a problem that the government made them out to be during the period when the NFA was enacted.
 
I've often wondered if full-auto Mauser pistols were at all popular during this era. The kinds with the wooden holster-stocks are certainly notable and collectible, but I've never figured out if they made a real splash in the marketplace during their day. Also I don't know if there were many weapons imported from Germany to the United States in those days.

I gather that surplus WWI weapons sometimes made it into the US civilian market, but as has been noted there wouldn't have been too many full-auto man-portable weapons in that mix. Maybe some Berettas and Bergmanns, and certainly some Lewis and Chauchat guns. If I were writing a gangster movie I would give the bad guys lots of Chauchats; it would make it easier to justify the good guys winning all the gunfights.
 
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