#M1Thompson

The Ruger PC Carbine garnered plenty of aftermarket support, almost as soon as it was released, but tinkerers have been having their fun with it too.  Some of our TFB readers surely remember one such homemade Ruger PC Carbine project that involved using a surplus PPSh stock, but our friend Axel reached into more German and American roots when he began his homemade Ruger Carbine build.  We have featured another work of Axel’s doing, his sci-fi, double Marlin 60 rifle (make sure you check that out if you haven’t seen it yet).  Let’s see his take on the Ruger PC Carbine.

When I was a kid the Thompson sub machine gun was one of my favorite guns. It just looked cool in those old gangster and WWII movies with the drum mag and the foregrip. Unfortunately I’ll probably never own a real Thompson sub machine gun, they’re a bit out of my price range. If you’re in the market for one the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s office in Ohio will be auctioning off a Thompson Model 1921 that they’ve had in their possession for 83 years.

Previously on Operating Systems 101, we discussed the straight blowback method of firearms operation; today we’ll be talking about its close cousin, API blowback. “API” stands for advance primer ignition, which refers to the chief way that the mechanism differs from its pure cousin. We’ll get to that in a bit, but first we need to discuss the concepts of open bolt and closed bolt operation.