For the gun enthusiasts here

[PeriscopeDepth]

I'm wondering, why did drum style magazines go out of fashion? They seem to be a great solution for situations where you want to have a large amount of bullets and not be reloading as often. Sure, they're big and bulky. But the positives would seem to outweigh the negatives for close quarters stuff with an SMG.

PD

[Mush Martin]

in close quarters its easier to fold you and six thompsen clips into a corner
than two thompsen Drums

[waste gate]

Where did you get the idea that drum style magazines went out of fashion?

Go to any gun show outside of Kalifornia and you will find them for sale.

As far as military use, remember that in the US military, every soldier is a rifleman first. Controlled, aim and fire; One target one shot.

[PeriscopeDepth]

I was thinking military use, not just the US military though. Thanks for that Mush, that makes sense.

PD

[TteFAboB]

Drum magazines for the Thompson can be a nightmare, but maybe that's because they're so old and battered by now.

Won't a very large drum magazine melt a puny SMG? Don't you need a heavier barrel for continous fire? Especially one that can be replaced.

[waste gate]

FYI you can get drum mags for AR-15s, M-16s, and other wepons, not just Thompson MGs.

[Jimbuna]

http://www.arizonagunrunners.com/Products/betacocmag/body_betacocmag.html

[Yahoshua]

If I remember correctly, Drum magazines also had a higher rate of FTF (failure to feed) due to dirt and grime (soldiers who didn't clean their guns and amgs properly). And the machining was setup at the time (WWII) for single stack 20 round magazines for the thompson (30 rounders didn't play a major role until around 1944). Production efficiency and magazine repair was a nother issue.

It was easier to make a single stack 20 round magazine than it was to make a 50 round drum with a spring that would be as tall as your leg.

[bookworm_020]

Drum mags also tend to make more nosie when moving, due to the rounds having extra room to move compaired to a standard mag.

[fatty]

They seem to be a great solution for situations where you want to have a large amount of bullets and not be reloading as often.

This is a role that is largely fulfilled by the squad's automatic rifleman. And wastegate is right - one target one shot - spraying and praying is not great for the locals or collateral damage control. I suppose that if a soldier finds himself in a situation where he needs to be firing 30+ rounds in a short period of time he should consider retreating to find some buddies.

[Chock]

The drum magazine on the 1920's-era Thompson machine gun was (and still is) expensive to produce in comparison to the 30 and 20-round box magazine versions (although most early versions of the Thompson could use both types of magazine). The drum magazine actually needed to be wound up with a clockwork mechanism in order to provide the spring pressure to feed the rounds too, which as you can imagine was part of the reason for its expense, as well as being massively complicated, which is one of the chief reasons why the military version of the Thompson used the box magazine instead. It's also much easier to carry box magazines on your person than drum mags, and drum mags are tedious and slow to reload in comparison to 30-round box mags.

Having said that, many WW2 German troops would happily pick up and use a Russian PSP sub machine gun if they could find one when fighting house-to-house, as the rate of fire and capacity made these drum-fed weapons good for assualt, where advancing under covering fire was more important than perfect accuracy.

The drum magazine does, however, have one other advantage in comparison to high capacity box magazine-fed weapons, which is also the same reason why bullpup designs are now popular with the military, in that they can be easily fired whilst lying down. If you've ever tried to fire an AK-47 from a prone position, you will know what I'm talking about here!

:D Chock