While this was a useful simplification of use it made for a more complex trigger mechanism. 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. The T2 also had a simplified magazine release just below the trigger guard.
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 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.
45 ACP and in 9x19mm which was favoured by the British and Commonwealth nations. 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.Īuto-Ordnance developed the T2 in both. The results of which were compared to the earlier testing of Hyde’s M2. In April 1942, the M2 submachine gun, designed by George Hyde, was adopted as a substitute standard to the Thompson.ĭespite the adoption of the M2 the Ordnance Department continued testing and in November 1942, the Auto-Ordnance T2 was tested. 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.įrom 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. 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’.