Historical Firearms

Auto-Ordnance’s Budget Thompson - the T2

The US Army had initially been uninterested in submachine guns and it was only in the late 1930s that the Thompson was placed on the Ordnance Department’s ‘limited procurement list’. In September 1938, procurement of Auto-Ordnance’s Thompson submachine gun was green-lit but it was not until June 1939 that the first order for M1928A1s was placed.
From the outset the US Army had sought a cheaper alternative to the expensive Thompson and by 1941, they had begun the process of testing a number of alternative designs. In April 1942, the M2 submachine gun, designed by George Hyde, was adopted as a substitute standard to the Thompson.

Despite the adoption of the M2 the Ordnance Department continued testing and in November 1942, the Auto-Ordnance T2 was tested. The results of which were compared to the earlier testing of Hyde’s M2. The Auto-Ordnance Corporation had not wanted to lose out on lucrative contracts and had developed its own more cost-effective, faster to manufacture design; the T2.

Thompson M1 (source)

Auto-Ordnance developed the T2 in both .45 ACP and in 9x19mm which was favoured by the British and Commonwealth nations. The US Army, however, was not interested in the 9mm variation and did not test it. The T2 had a tubular receiver, fired from a closed bolt and used a blowback action. It fed from standard Thompson submachine gun magazines with the front of the trigger guard having the same interface for the M1/M1A1′s 20 and 30 round magazines. The T2 also had a simplified magazine release just below the trigger guard.

Unlike the Thompson M1, the T2 does not have a fire selector and instead has a pivoting two-stage trigger with fully automatic accessible by pulling the trigger completely to the rear. While this was a useful simplification of use it made for a more complex trigger mechanism. The T2 weighed 8.6 lbs unloaded and was just over 32 inches long, slightly shorter and 2 lbs lighter than the Thompson M1A1. The T2 was also slightly lighter than the M2 which weighed 9.4 lbs. The US Army’s testing noted that the T2 had a short length of pull and an unusual butt profile. Another notable quirk of the T2 prototype is the use of wingnuts to fix the receiver into the all wood stock - this would have certainly caught on troop’s clothing and equipment in the field and would have been altered before entering production.

Hyde M2 Submachine Gun (source)

During the mud test the T2 suffered from a series of failures to fire with mud preventing the bolt from going into battery for the first 4 rounds, however, the rest of the magazine was fired without stoppages. A fresh magazine was then inserted and two further failures were reported with a failure to eject and a failure of the bolt to go fully forward. When inspected it was found that very little mud had entered the T2′s action because it fired from a closed bolt and what did entered when the weapon was charged. The Hyde M2 ,which the T2 was tested against, had suffered badly during the mud test and could not be fired. A test of semi-automatic accuracy found that the T2 was more accurate than the M2 as it fired from a closed rather than open bolt.

A test of automatic fire accuracy found that the T2 suffered from greater muzzle climb than the M2 as at 50 yards the M2 put 99 out of 100 rounds onto a 6ft x 6ft target. The T2 managed 80 out of 100 rounds,, this may have been the result of the T2′s unusual butt profile which reportedly caused the weapon to slip out of the operator’s shoulder. During testing the T2 suffered from 60 stoppages and 2 parts breakages and after firing a total of 750 rounds the trigger housing cracked causing over half of the 60 stoppages. Once testing of the T2 at the Aberdeen Proving Ground had concluded an Ordnance Committee met on 19th November 1942 and recommended that Auto-Ordnance’s T2 receive no further consideration.

Marlin were contracted to manufacture 164,000 M2s at a cost of $36.76 per weapon beginning in December 1942. This was only marginally cheaper than the eventual production cost of the Thompson M1’s $44 per unit cost. Production delays meant the first M2s were not delivered until May 1943. Neither the T2 nor M2 were destined to be issued as the cheaper and easier to manufacture M3 ‘Grease Gun’ went into June 1943.

Sources:

Image Sources: 1 2 3
The Auto-Ordnance T-2 .45 Calibre Submachine Gun, Small Arms Review, F. Iannamico (source)

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4 years ago 105 notes

Tagged: #History #Military History #Firearms History #Thompson Submachine gun #Thompson T2 #Auto Ordnance T2 #Submachine Gun #SMG #M3 #WWII #World War Two #Second World War #George Hyde #Hyde M2 #Thompson M1

Hyde-Inland M2 Submachine Gun

The Hyde M2 is the missing link between the M1 Thompson and the M3 Submachine Gun. With the demand for the Thompson quickly outstripping existing engineering capacity US Army Ordnance began to seek alternate designs.

The experienced submachine gun designer George Hyde had submitted his Hyde 109, a refined version of the Hyde Model 35 for testing earlier in 1939. However, the weapon was rejected and the Thompson became the US Army’s standard issue submachine gun.

Hyde Model 35 (Source)

In early 1942 when it became clear that a STEN-like weapon which could be quickly and easily produced on a war footing was needed. Hyde continued working on submachine gun designs at the Inland Division of General Motors and was ready to submit his new weapon, the Hyde-Inland-1. US Army Ordnance tested the weapon in April 1942 finding it to be both accurate and extremely controllable in automatic fire due in part to its in-line stock, large bolt and slower cyclic rate of ~530 rounds per minute. During a test of fully automatic fire at 50 yards the Hyde-Inland-1 put 99 out of 100 rounds fired onto the 6x6-inch target, 50% more hits than the Thompson M1.

Some minor changes were recommended by the testing board including converting the Hyde to fire from standard Thompson stick magazines then in production. On the 30th April the Hyde-Inland was recommended for adoption by the US Army as the US Submachine Gun, Caliber .45 M2. It was adopted as the substitute standard to the M1.

The new M2 was used a blowback action and was lighter than the M1 weighing 4.19kg. While the design was relatively straightforward it was not easy to manufacture. It required skilled labour with the bolt’s diameter varying along its length. As a result the M2 required considerable amounts of machining and raw materials to produce. The US Army had adopted the complete opposite of what it has been seeking; a simple, cheap and quickly built weapon.

Marlin were contracted to manufacture 164,000 M2s at a cost of $36.76 per weapon. This was only marginally cheaper than the eventual production cost of the Thompson M1’s $44 per unit cost. Production of the M2 should have begun in December 1942 however, delays with sub-contractors and problems with new powdered metal processes meant the first M2s were not delivered until May 1943.

George Hyde’s simpler and more cost effective M3 (source)

In the mean time George Hyde, with the assistance of Frederick Sampson the chief engineer of the Inland Division of General Motors, had developed a new simpler design which could effectively be mass produced. This weapon, the M3 ‘Grease Gun’, was rapidly readied for production in June 1943. Marlin were only able to deliver a limited number of M2s for routine evaluation before issuing. During these evaluations the M2 was found to suffer from a number of problems including weak recoil springs and some other component weaknesses. With the cheaper and faster to manufacture M3 beginning production the US Ordnance Committee declared the M2 obsolete on the 14th June 1943.

The M3 became the new substitute standard and would eventually replace the M1. It is believed that only 400 M2s were actually manufactured and that none of these were issued or saw action.

Sources:

Images One & Two Source
Images Three & Four Source

The Complete Machine Gun, I. V. Hogg, (1979)
‘The Hyde-Inland US M2 Submachine Gun’, F. Iannamico, (source)
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)

5 years ago Reblogged from Historical Firearms 193 notes

Tagged: #History #Firearms History #Military History #Hyde M2 #SMG #submachine gun #M3 #George Hyde #blast from the past #WWII #World War Two #WW2 #Hyde-Inland M2 Submachine Gun #M2 submachine gun #Hyde-Inland M2

Hyde-Inland M2 Submachine Gun

The Hyde M2 is the missing link between the M1 Thompson and the M3 Submachine Gun. With the demand for the Thompson quickly outstripping existing engineering capacity US Army Ordnance began to seek alternate designs.

The experienced submachine gun designer George Hyde had submitted his Hyde 109, a refined version of the Hyde Model 35 for testing earlier in 1939. However, the weapon was rejected and the Thompson became the US Army’s standard issue submachine gun.

Hyde Model 35 (Source)

In early 1942 when it became clear that a STEN-like weapon which could be quickly and easily produced on a war footing was needed. Hyde continued working on submachine gun designs at the Inland Division of General Motors and was ready to submit his new weapon, the Hyde-Inland-1. US Army Ordnance tested the weapon in April 1942 finding it to be both accurate and extremely controllable in automatic fire due in part to its in-line stock, large bolt and slower cyclic rate of ~530 rounds per minute. During a test of fully automatic fire at 50 yards the Hyde-Inland-1 put 99 out of 100 rounds fired onto the 6x6-inch target, 50% more hits than the Thompson M1.

Some minor changes were recommended by the testing board including converting the Hyde to fire from standard Thompson stick magazines then in production. On the 30th April the Hyde-Inland was recommended for adoption by the US Army as the US Submachine Gun, Caliber .45 M2. It was adopted as the substitute standard to the M1.

The new M2 was used a blowback action and was lighter than the M1 weighing 4.19kg. While the design was relatively straightforward it was not easy to manufacture. It required skilled labour with the bolt’s diameter varying along its length. As a result the M2 required considerable amounts of machining and raw materials to produce. The US Army had adopted the complete opposite of what it has been seeking; a simple, cheap and quickly built weapon.

Marlin were contracted to manufacture 164,000 M2s at a cost of $36.76 per weapon. This was only marginally cheaper than the eventual production cost of the Thompson M1’s $44 per unit cost. Production of the M2 should have begun in December 1942 however, delays with sub-contractors and problems with new powdered metal processes meant the first M2s were not delivered until May 1943.

George Hyde’s simpler and more cost effective M3 (source)

In the mean time George Hyde, with the assistance of Frederick Sampson the chief engineer of the Inland Division of General Motors, had developed a new simpler design which could effectively be mass produced. This weapon, the M3 ‘Grease Gun’, was rapidly readied for production in June 1943. Marlin were only able to deliver a limited number of M2s for routine evaluation before issuing. During these evaluations the M2 was found to suffer from a number of problems including weak recoil springs and some other component weaknesses. With the cheaper and faster to manufacture M3 beginning production the US Ordnance Committee declared the M2 obsolete on the 14th June 1943.

The M3 became the new substitute standard and would eventually replace the M1. It is believed that only 400 M2s were actually manufactured and that none of these were issued or saw action.

Sources:

Images One & Two Source
Images Three & Four Source

The Complete Machine Gun, I. V. Hogg, (1979)
‘The Hyde-Inland US M2 Submachine Gun’, F. Iannamico, (source)
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)

5 years ago Reblogged from Historical Firearms 193 notes

Tagged: #history #military history #firearms history #Hyde M2 #Hyde M2 Submachine gun #SMG #submachine gun #George Hyde #WW2 #WWII #M3 Grease Gun #Thompson submachine gun #Thompson M1A1 #Blast from the past

Hyde-Inland M2 Submachine Gun

The Hyde M2 is the missing link between the M1 Thompson and the M3 Submachine Gun. With the demand for the Thompson quickly outstripping existing engineering capacity US Army Ordnance began to seek alternate designs.

The experienced submachine gun designer George Hyde had submitted his Hyde 109, a refined version of the Hyde Model 35 for testing earlier in 1939. However, the weapon was rejected and the Thompson became the US Army’s standard issue submachine gun.

Hyde Model 35 (Source)

In early 1942 when it became clear that a STEN-like weapon which could be quickly and easily produced on a war footing was needed. Hyde continued working on submachine gun designs at the Inland Division of General Motors and was ready to submit his new weapon, the Hyde-Inland-1. US Army Ordnance tested the weapon in April 1942 finding it to be both accurate and extremely controllable in automatic fire due in part to its in-line stock, large bolt and slower cyclic rate of ~530 rounds per minute. During a test of fully automatic fire at 50 yards the Hyde-Inland-1 put 99 out of 100 rounds fired onto the 6x6-inch target, 50% more hits than the Thompson M1.

Some minor changes were recommended by the testing board including converting the Hyde to fire from standard Thompson stick magazines then in production. On the 30th April the Hyde-Inland was recommended for adoption by the US Army as the US Submachine Gun, Caliber .45 M2. It was adopted as the substitute standard to the M1.

The new M2 was used a blowback action and was lighter than the M1 weighing 4.19kg. While the design was relatively straightforward it was not easy to manufacture. It required skilled labour with the bolt’s diameter varying along its length. As a result the M2 required considerable amounts of machining and raw materials to produce. The US Army had adopted the complete opposite of what it has been seeking; a simple, cheap and quickly built weapon.

Marlin were contracted to manufacture 164,000 M2s at a cost of $36.76 per weapon. This was only marginally cheaper than the eventual production cost of the Thompson M1’s $44 per unit cost. Production of the M2 should have begun in December 1942 however, delays with sub-contractors and problems with new powdered metal processes meant the first M2s were not delivered until May 1943.

George Hyde’s simpler and more cost effective M3 (source)

In the meantime George Hyde, with the assistance of Frederick Sampson the chief engineer of the Inland Division of General Motors, had developed a new simpler design which could effectively be mass produced. This weapon, the M3 ‘Grease Gun’, was rapidly readied for production in June 1943. Marlin were only able to deliver a limited number of M2s for routine evaluation before issuing. During these evaluations the M2 was found to suffer from a number of problems including weak recoil springs and some other component weaknesses. With the cheaper and faster to manufacture M3 beginning production the US Ordnance Committee declared the M2 obsolete on the 14th June 1943.

The M3 became the new substitute standard and would eventually replace the M1. It is believed that only 400 M2s were actually manufactured and that none of these were issued or saw action.

Sources:

Images One & Two Source
Images Three & Four Source

The Complete Machine Gun, I. V. Hogg, (1979)
'The Hyde-Inland US M2 Submachine Gun’, F. Iannamico, (source)
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)

5 years ago 193 notes

Cutaway of the Day: M3 ‘Grease Gun’

The famously nicknamed ‘Grease Gun’ was officially designated the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M3, designed as a more cost effective alternative to the Thompson M1A1. The M3 was designed by George Hyde who had spent decades working on submachine gun designs including the Hyde Model 35, the Bendix-Hyde Light Rifle and the short-lived Hyde M2 which was adopted as a substitute standard in April 1942 before it was declared obsolete in June 1943.

George Hyde’s M2, briefly adopted by the US military (source)

The Hyde M2 was selected by the US military in April 1942 however, the weapon proved to be too complex to produce in the scale needed and the US Army Ordnance Corps began to seek an alternative. The British STEN was studied as an example of a simple, effective design which was easy to manufacture en masse and was also cheap to produce. Hyde and Frederick Sampson, the chief engineer of the Inland Division of General Motors, worked together on creating a simple design which could be mass produced. Hyde designed the weapon’s action with Sampson using his experience in production engineering to devise how the gun could be made in the huge numbers required. The designers took out patents covering the trigger mechanism, cocking mechanism, extending stock, bolt safety lock and the construction and fabrication methods for making the M3.

M3 in use in Vietnam (source)

The result was the M3, a simple blowback submachine gun made up of pressed and stamped steel parts spot and seam welded together which required very little time consuming machine time. The M3 had a wire collapsable stock, enclosed pressed metal trigger and its only safety was a safety lock protruding from the dust cover which locked into the bolt preventing it from moving when the cover was closed. The utilitarian design was in stark contrast to the wood and milled and blued steel of the Thompson. The M3 was officially accepted by the US Army Ordnance Committee in December 1942. Production was undertaken by General Motor’s Guide Lamp Division factory in Indiana which would also later manufacture the single shot M1942/Flare Projector Caliber .45 ACP ‘Liberator’ pistol and anExperimental Stamped M1911.

Perhaps the most complex part of the M3 was its cocking handle which used a crank action to push the bolt back and cock the action, this required approximately 18 lbs of force with the shoulder of the bolt being cut away to allow the pawl of the cocking piece to engage and push the bolt back. The trigger mechanism was also very simple with only fully automatic fire available. Once fired the bolt recoiled along two guide rods against two recoil springs. The weapon had a relatively cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute when compared with the Thompson’s 700 rpm.

A partially disassembled M3 (source)

In 1944 reports of issues with the cocking mechanism led to the design being refined further. The M1A1 was adopted in December 1944 and removed the cocking mechanism. Instead the ejection port was elongated to allow operators to simply push the bolt back with their fingers to cock the weapon. This also lightened the weapon from 8.2 lbs to 7.9 lbs and the safety lock on the inside of the dust cover was moved further back to ensure it engaged with the bolt better when closed.

The weapon was initially chambered in the standard US .45 ACP pistol cartridge however, by replacing the barrel and bolt and fitting an adapter the weapon could be converted to fire 9mm from STEN magazines. However, while this was possible it was not widely done as the British and Commonwealth forces which used 9mm had an ample supply of STENs.

M3A1 c.1950 (source)

Problems with magazine feeding beset the M3 throughout its service life. The weapon fed from a double-stack, single-feed 30-round detachable box magazine which often jammed when mud and the vulnerable feed lips could easily be bent. Despite this it replaced the Thompson as the US Army’s standard issue submachine gun in mid 1945 and remained in service during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Approximately 700,000 M3s were manufactured between 1943-1945 and during the Korean War. They remained in service well into the 1960s with some tank and engineer units being issued them as late as the 1990s. Some remain in use around the world with countries including the Philippines and Macedonia.

Sources:

Image One Source
Image Two Source
Image Three Source
Image Four Source

The Complete Machine Gun, I.V. Hogg, (1979)
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)
Rifles & Submachine Guns, F. Myatt, (1981)

5 years ago Reblogged from Historical Firearms 153 notes

Tagged: #blast from the past #M3 Grease Gun #History #Military History #Cutaway of the Day #Firearms History #M3 #smg #M3 submachine gun #Thompson submachine gun #WWII #WW2 #World War Two #Korean War #George Hyde #Vietnam War

Cutaway of the Day: M3 ‘Grease Gun’

The famously nicknamed 'Grease Gun’ was officially designated the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M3, designed as a more cost effective alternative to the Thompson M1A1. The M3 was designed by George Hyde who had spent decades working on submachine gun designs including the Hyde Model 35, the Bendix-Hyde Light Rifle and the short-lived Hyde M2 which was adopted as a substitute standard in April 1942 before it was declared obsolete in June 1943.

George Hyde’s M2, briefly adopted by the US military (source)

The Hyde M2 was selected by the US military in April 1942 however, the weapon proved to be too complex to produce in the scale needed and the US Army Ordnance Corps began to seek an alternative. The British STEN was studied as an example of a simple, effective design which was easy to manufacture en masse and was also cheap to produce. Hyde and Frederick Sampson, the chief engineer of the Inland Division of General Motors, worked together on creating a simple design which could be mass produced. Hyde designed the weapon’s action with Sampson using his experience in production engineering to devise how the gun could be made in the huge numbers required. The designers took out patents covering the trigger mechanism, cocking mechanism, extending stock, bolt safety lock and the construction and fabrication methods for making the M3.

M3 in use in Vietnam (source)

The result was the M3, a simple blowback submachine gun made up of pressed and stamped steel parts spot and seam welded together which required very little time consuming machine time. The M3 had a wire collapsable stock, enclosed pressed metal trigger and its only safety was a safety lock protruding from the dust cover which locked into the bolt preventing it from moving when the cover was closed. The utilitarian design was in stark contrast to the wood and milled and blued steel of the Thompson. The M3 was officially accepted by the US Army Ordnance Committee in December 1942. Production was undertaken by General Motor's Guide Lamp Division factory in Indiana which would also later manufacture the single shot M1942/Flare Projector Caliber .45 ACP ‘Liberator’ pistol and anExperimental Stamped M1911.

Perhaps the most complex part of the M3 was its cocking handle which used a crank action to push the bolt back and cock the action, this required approximately 18 lbs of force with the shoulder of the bolt being cut away to allow the pawl of the cocking piece to engage and push the bolt back. The trigger mechanism was also very simple with only fully automatic fire available. Once fired the bolt recoiled along two guide rods against two recoil springs. The weapon had a relatively cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute when compared with the Thompson’s 700 rpm.

A partially disassembled M3 (source)

In 1944 reports of issues with the cocking mechanism led to the design being refined further. The M1A1 was adopted in December 1944 and removed the cocking mechanism. Instead the ejection port was elongated to allow operators to simply push the bolt back with their fingers to cock the weapon. This also lightened the weapon from 8.2 lbs to 7.9 lbs and the safety lock on the inside of the dust cover was moved further back to ensure it engaged with the bolt better when closed.

The weapon was initially chambered in the standard US .45 ACP pistol cartridge however, by replacing the barrel and bolt and fitting an adapter the weapon could be converted to fire 9mm from STEN magazines. However, while this was possible it was not widely done as the British and Commonwealth forces which used 9mm had an ample supply of STENs.

M3A1 c.1950 (source)

Problems with magazine feeding beset the M3 throughout its service life. The weapon fed from a double-stack, single-feed 30-round detachable box magazine which often jammed when mud and the vulnerable feed lips could easily be bent. Despite this it replaced the Thompson as the US Army’s standard issue submachine gun in mid 1945 and remained in service during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Approximately 700,000 M3s were manufactured between 1943-1945 and during the Korean War. They remained in service well into the 1960s with some tank and engineer units being issued them as late as the 1990s. Some remain in use around the world with countries including the Philippines and Macedonia.

Sources:

Image One Source
Image Two Source
Image Three Source
Image Four Source
The Complete Machine Gun, I.V. Hogg, (1979)
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)
Rifles & Submachine Guns, F. Myatt, (1981)

5 years ago 153 notes

Thompson Look-a-likes

The three submachine guns above all share a striking resemblance to John T. Thompson’s eponymous submachine gun. They share the same basic layout and configuration with a pistol grip, a forward vertical grip in the classic Thompson style and a wooden butt stock attached to the receiver.

Classic Thompson M1921 (source)

The first, the Hyde Model 35 was designed by George J. Hyde in the early 1930s with the financial backing of Romanian businessman Jean Koree. Rather interestingly Koree had made several attempts to purchase the Auto-Ordnance company from Thomas Fortune Ryan. However, unable to purchase an interest in the Thompson Submachine gun producing company Koree met with Hyde whom had his own promising design. The weapon’s design was subsequently patented under Koree and Hyde’s names and Winchester was approached to produced barrels while the Hyde Arms Corporation was to assemble and sell the weapon.

The Hyde Model 35’s original patent drawing (source)

Hyde’s submachine gun used a simple blowback action firing from an open bolt. Unusually the charging handle was positioned at the rear of the receiver and while it was non-reciprocating it did move with the gun’s recoil. This was later reported during a number of trials as being distracting to the operator firing the Model 35 as the charging handle rested within their line of sight. The weapon shares a distinct resemblance to the contemporary Thompson’s however, it was considerably lighter weighing just under 10 lbs.

The Model 35 was demonstrated to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who commented that the weapon had “little or no kick notwithstanding its lightness in weight” when compared to the heavier Thompson M1921’s then used by the Bank. In 1939 the Model 35 was evaluated during the US Army’s submachine gun trials at Aberdeen Proving Ground however it was found to suffer from a number of problems in the firing mechanism and magazine. The British Army also tested the weapon and found many of the same issues.

Patent diagram showing the Model 35’s internals (source)

It is thought that just over 100 Hyde Model 35’s were produced by 1939 when George Hyde began working on other designs. He developed the short-lived Hyde M2, the M3 submachine gun and the Bendix Hyde Light Rifle which was beaten in trials by Winchester’s carbine which became the M1.

The second submachine gun pictured is the Ingram Model 6 in its police configuration, designed by Gordon Ingram of later MAC-10 & 11 fame. Again the gun’s profile bears a striking resemblance to the iconic Thompson. Developed in the late 1940s production of the Model 6 ran between 1949 and 1952. Manufactured by the Police Ordnance Company the weapon was sold to several US police forces as well as the Cuban Navy and the Peruvian Navy as well as the Thai military. It is estimated that up to 20,000 were produced. The weapon’s design is straightforward using a blowback action fired from an open bolt. It weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was quick, easy and cheap to produce using steel tubing rather than stamped or milled parts.

‘Military’ configuration Ingram Model 6 without the vertical 'police’ foregrip (source)

The Model 6 was chambered in a number of calibres including .45 ACP, .38 Super and 9mm. It had a two stage trigger that allowed semi and automatic fire depending on how far the trigger was pulled. In 1952 the Model 7 appeared with a number of fundamental changes. The Model 7 fired from a closed bolt and had a more conventional selector switch.

The final submachine gun is the Spitfire Submachine Gun, chambered in .45 ACP fed from M3 box magazines. The Spitfire appeared in the in 1966 sold by the Spitfire Manufacturing Company based in Phoenix, Arizona. It was produced in a number of barrel lengths including 16-inch. It traded directly on its appearance being similar to the Thompson quickly becoming known as a 'poorman’s Thompson’ selling for just under $90.

Spitfire Submachine Gun (source)

Production of the Spitfire ended in 1968 when the ATF deemed it a machine gun because of the ease with which it could be made to fire fully automatic. In 1969, Volunteer Enterprises began producing the Volunteer Carbine as well as the Commando MkIII & MkIV chambered in .45 ACP and 9mm respectively. The design was produced until 1978 by Commando Arms.

Source:

Image One Source
Image Two Source
Image Three Source
Military Small Arms, I. Hogg & J. Weeks, (1985)
The Hyde Model 35 Submachine Gun, Small Arms Review, D. Albert (source)

5 years ago 147 notes

The Bendix Hyde Light Rifle

Chambered in .30 carbine the Bendix Hyde Light Rifle was designed by George Hyde, the chief designer of the M3 ‘Grease Gun’, for the Bendix Aviation Corporation. It was entered into the US Ordnance’s Light Rifle trials in 1941, as a rival to the designs offered by Winchester, Harrington & Richardson, Savage and High Standard. It was Winchester’s design which was finally adopted by the US military in 1942, as the M1 Carbine.

The Hyde LR fed from 5, 10, 15 and 20 round box magazines and used a gas operated system. It operated well in the Army’s tests, who were impressed by its light 5.35 lbs weight, durability and light recoil. The Hyde LR was the only prototype carbine offered that had a pistol grip which, along with its trigger group and receiver shares a passing resemblance with the Thompson M1A1. Several suggestions were made by the Army to improve the rifle, these included strengthening the recoil spring and a switch from the full grip stock to a more traditional semi-grip stock.

Magazines of varying capacity trials with the Hyde LR

When the suggested changes were made however, the resulting rifle was not only heavier, weighing 5.8 lbs, but also more difficult to disassemble. The improved Hyde also proved disappointing in trials and was rejected in favour of the carbine developed by Winchester. Hyde made a second attempt at developing a carbine in 1944, with the pressed steel M1944, but this too was rejected.

Images Source
Source

6 years ago Reblogged from Historical Firearms 121 notes

The Bendix Hyde Light Rifle

Chambered in .30 carbine the Bendix Hyde Light Rifle was designed by George Hyde, the chief designer of the M3 ‘Grease Gun’, for the Bendix Aviation Corporation. It was entered into the US Ordnance’s Light Rifle trials in 1941, as a rival to the designs offered by Winchester, Springfield Armory, Harrington & Richardson, Savage and High Standard. It was Winchester’s design which was finally adopted by the US military in 1942, as the M1 Carbine.

The Hyde LR fed from 5, 10, 15 and 20 round box magazines and used a gas operated system. It operated well in the Army’s tests, who were impressed by its light 5.35 lbs weight, durability and light recoil. The Hyde LR was the only prototype carbine offered that had a pistol grip which, along with its trigger group and receiver shares a passing resemblance with the Thompson M1A1. Several suggestions were made by the Army to improve the rifle, these included strengthening the recoil spring and a switch from the full grip stock to a more traditional semi-grip stock.

Magazines of varying capacity trials with the Hyde LR

When the suggested changes were made however, the resulting rifle was not only heavier, weighing 5.8 lbs, but also more difficult to disassemble. The ‘improved’ Hyde also proved disappointing in trials and was rejected in favour of the carbine developed by Winchester. Hyde made a second attempt at developing a carbine in 1944, with the pressed steel M1944, but this too was rejected.

Images Source
Source

6 years ago 121 notes

Tagged: #History #Military History #Bendix Hyde Light Rifle #George Hyde #World War Two #Second World War #WWII #.30 carbine #M1 Carbine #M3 Grease Gun #Hyde M1944 #Bendix Aviation Corporation #Light Rifle Trials #firearms #prototypes #firearms design #firearms development #Rifle #Carbine