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The Tommy Gun was one of the VERY late guns in
the series. This is a Thompson Machine Gun replica. This is a small gun for
very young "gangsters" or "military men." (We're not politically correct on
THIS website!!!) Nichols made 2 Thompson 45 Machine guns, this one and the Fury
500 electric Thompson 45 Machine Gun.
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As I said, the Tommy gun is
small. It measures 20" long and 5-1/8" tall. |
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Nichols Stallion Caps and Roll
Caps
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| Since the Tommy Gun is one of those guns that
uses roll caps, this is probably as good a place as any to tell a little about
the caps used in Nichols Industries Cap Guns. (the following basic story is by
Robert Nichols) |
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I am not sure who came up with the 50 roll cap
first, but I don't think it was Nichols Industries. This is a part of the
history I don't know, but I'm sure Jim Sheyler would know (See: Backyard
Buckaroos his famous AUTHORITATIVE book on Cap Guns). Our Dad's (Lewis and
Talley), after introducing the single shot Silver Pony, shortly afterward came
out with the Silver Mustang. It was a 50 roll cap repeater as you know. At this
point however, I don't think they introduced the first 50-count cap roll. We
never heard any stories about them creating the idea of roll caps; it was
already out there and still is the standard of the industry. In trying to
develop a truly realistic gun they did a leap frog past the roll caps to the
round cap (with the introduction of the Stallion 45) and had patents on it
which they defended in court and won. This is about the time they developed a
relationship with Al Cohen of fireworks fame to produce the caps.
The Nichols
Industries tool shop had to produce and engineer the equipment for Al, but Al
produced the caps. Because of the patents, no one else outside their control
was allowed to produce them. They began producing a progressing variety of
round cap guns with occasionally 50 roll caps models. This era included the
pellet firing series. As the industry began to decline, they created the larger
count rolls. —RN |
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This is the trigger/magazine
assembly—extended up. The barrel is pointed down. This gun has never been
fired. |
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This is the trigger/magazine
assembly—extended up. The barrel is pointed left. |
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If you will notice the left photo above, there is
a cylinder that, when the trigger assembly is lowered, is sitting flush on the
top of the Tommy Gun. (You can see it on the top, in the middle, on the photo
that shows the entire gun.) This "cylinder" is how you pull out the mechanism.
The caps go on that little peg that is about 2" below the "cylinder." The caps
go up through the pusher mechanism and exit through the top.
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Here is
a Mint In Box (MIB) Nichols Tommy Gun. The box has to be one of the rarest of
all boxes! Complete with handcuffs, a badge and caps.
Photo thanks to
Rich Hall |
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