Home Defense | Thompson 1927A-1 vs AR15

I like shooting my Thompson- but as you observed- its a real pain to rack, heavy, and mags are pricey and sometimes not the most reliable. Mine is a dedicated fun gun and i'm glad i have it, but its not something that i would go to first or even second in a self defense situation.

They're a bit unwieldy, for sure.

If your family's plan is to have one room in the house that every one holes up in, I'd just keep it in that room. It'd be devastating at "in the house" ranges, and 45 is a low pressure round, so yours won't be bleeding once the smoke clears.

BUT! Ive heard a bit about reliability issues with that particular beast, so I'd definitely want to run it a bunch first, to check for reliability issues.

if your plan is to be on the move.... AR all day. (And I'm not an AR fanboy)

A Thompson has been on my wish list since I watched Combat! as a kid.

That said.......oh heck no. While the heft of a Tommy gun would be a benefit in full auto, no way in the world would I want to lug around a semi auto that weighs over ten pounds EMPTY.

I can think of dozens of carbines, braced pistols, SBR's I would choose before choosing a semi auto Thompson.
My "home defense" guns include handguns and SBR's. My 11.5" AR in 5.56 with a silencer and Aimpoint stands ready. With a loaded thirty round mag it doesn't weigh what a Thompson does unloaded. And its shorter, quieter, more accurate and has greater range.

In the last fifteen years I have read far more negative reviews of Kahr/Auto Ordnance reliability than positive reviews.

IMO....keep the Thompson as a cool gun, but buy another gun for home defense.

I had a 1927A1 years ago (1981) that I bought for $125 from a shipmate that needed money. The deal included two stick magazines and a drum magazine. I think I shot a box or two of ammo through it before I sold it to somebody else. It was beautiful, but as you observed, heavy. It was an impulse buy. What I found interesting was shooting it at 100 yards - it seemed like 230gr bullets took forever to travel that distance.

I suggest you go shoot it and then make a decision as to what you want to do with it. Good luck!

No. The best thing for home defense is a typical handgun, or a shotgun. Be aware that whatever gun you use is likely to be seized by the police as evidence in case of an actual shooting.

(BTW, we don't discuss SHTF scenarios in this forum.)

A pistol caliber carbine or a pistol caliber charger (PCC) like the Ruger with a folding brace could be a good alternative, especially with a similarly magazine equipped handgun

I will offer a contrary viewpoint...

I put a horizontal foregrip and sling on my Kahr 1927A1. It has been 100% reliable with the stick mags and standard 230 gr ball. It's gone on many an outdoor adventure, including pig hunting in TX. It currently sits in my bedroom "ready use" RSC in Condition 3 with a 20 rd mag. I wouldn't hesitate to grab it if needed for social concerns.

try shooting it for awhile. see if you like it.

ZenRooster said:

PS — I think my greatest concerns in a SHTF carbine or rifle are reliability, durability, and ammo availability. (Basically, any of the usual -ilities.)

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Ammo availability in such a situation is likely to be the same for any popular cartridge: you have what you have, and you're not getting any more. The one time you might get more ammo is if you also happen to get another gun with it; from the guy who just lost a gunfight. So stock up on whatever cartridges you have guns chambered in, and don't worry about availability issues too much.

Reliability and durability are certainly valid concerns. I prefer the concept of low maintenance and adequate performance. As far as durability goes, I don't see round count being an issue, so much as the toll adverse conditions and harsh environments may take. If you don't think a particular firearm would handle being dragged through mud, sand, and snow very well, you might look for something that you think could.

Don’t those have suspect reliability?

Heavy does not equal reliable, or even durable for that matter.

If you want to go vintage WW2, an M1 carbine loaded with soft points makes a convincing argument.

While the Thompson would work.. An AR15 will have notable advantages.

Lighter weight, rail to mount a Red Dot Sight on ( and a light ) as mentioned, a noticeably faster / flatter flying bullet ... the list could go on, but ultimately the AR is a natural progression on Capabilities.
An AR certainly has more blast and noise than a 45 ACP... but ...

At the very least, the OP should try both.. and see what works best for them.

Hmmm. I've been on this forum a while and have never seen a Thompson 1927-A1 vs. AR15 for home defense thread, thank you for such an interesting inquiry and thread topic. Should be interesting.

The Thompson is probably a lil less practical, but still a very capable rattle gat, 50-100rds of 230gr of slow moving headache medicine will certainly make adjusting the outcome in your favor a breeze, even if you can only sling hardball, it would still be effective. I might be worried about penetration whereas the AR15's .223 projectile is pretty safe indoors, I know, it sounds counter intuitive, you would think the slow and fat .45 would be the safer bet indoors as opposed to a SCHV round but lots and lots of indoor barrier/drywall testing proves it, drywall does a pretty good job of defeating a lead core jacketed .223 and pass through penetration concern is much less than when considering even most popular handgun cartridges.

The one benefit to the Thompson is that should you encounter an intruder you will have the distinction of being the most cinematic self defense shooter in the country. This is especially true if you happen to be smoking a cigar and are wearing a robe over your skivvies when the intruder comes in. Very imagistic, very cool gun.....

(Sorry, don't mean to make light of what is very serious, a lil levity but in all seriousness, nothing wrong with protecting the homestead with a thompson).

Get an AR, but keep the Tommygun.

The Thompson is a cool gun, but for defense I would absolutely go with an AR.

For your major concern of reliability, I would lean to the AR, though to be fair I’m a little biased against guns with major changes to the operating system. In my opinion that gun isn’t a Thompson, it is some semi-auto closed bolt gun dressed up to look like a Thompson. Now the gun might be reliable, but we don’t know if YOUR gun is reliable and the AR is generally a known quantity.

Beyond that, an AR let’s you easily mount optics like a red dot. If you’ve never tried it, the difference between using irons and using a red dot in a stressful situation, while moving, at night is absolutely massive. Plus a light (you want to see who you’re pointing a gun at, right?) is a good addition to a defensive weapon. It’s going to be hard to add those to a Thompson.

And one most people don’t think about… a sling. Carry a rifle in your hands for 10 minutes while walking around and you’ll never have another long gun without a sling. It’s easy to add a good, modern fighting sling to an AR, but with that forward pistol grip on the Thompson you’ll have a much more difficult time mounting a sling.

Imagine your a thief and you round the corner into a bedroom and you see a guy in his underwear with a tommy gun and drum mag in his armpit, a fedora on his head, and a cigar in his big smiling mug.

I once had an actual WW2 Thompson that I briefly considered for home defense purposes. Silly me. I got over that thought quickly.

Same for aiming a Browning watercooled at the front door.

Reliability would be my #1 concern, and I don't know if the Thompson holds up to that. If it can run a couple hundred rounds without choking, I'd give it a thumbs up, but I heard mixed things from a friend who owned a Kahr-Thompson from about 10 years ago.

If you want to buy a gun for HD, there are plenty of pistols and carbines in 45 ACP that would do. I've never looked into them personally, but I'd trust anything that feeds from a Glock mag. Magazines are the weak link in almost any autoloader and Glock's are excellent.

someguy2800 said:

Imagine your a thief and you round the corner into a bedroom and you see a guy in his underwear with a tommy gun and drum mag in his armpit, a fedora on his head, and a cigar in his big smiling mug.

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Mosin Bubba said:

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Too bad AC ain't in charge no more......

I’ll go against the popular opinion and say keep the Thompson. Practice enough to be accustomed to its handling quirks, make sure it operates reliably, and call it good.

I have fired a .45 ACP indoors with no hearing protection. It’s loud but not painful. There is no way in hell I would ever want to have to fire an AR-15 indoors. Not with standard 5.56 or .223 ammo. No way. My hearing s jacked as it is.

If you want a rifle or carbine why not a .45 ACP PCC as @armedwalleye mentioned?

I am VERY big on PCC's for home use. Have been all my life. The one you bought is a great "fun gun" but for reasons you mentioned would not be on my list to use for this. Now as to selling it? Up to you of course, they are a TON of fun. I have several PCC's. For home use my favorite is still an old Kel-Tec Sub 2000 in 9mm. Its so damn light and short its almost as easy as a hand gun to get around with but I can easily mag dump if needed and hit what I shoot at within ranges in the home. Have one of the Ruger's that Wife loves. Little bigger, very little recoil. Place in OR makes one, they call a survival rifle. Have one that I can shoot .45 or 10mm out of. Great idea, light and small. Sadly the Co is owned by a guy who is to be avoided. Another co called Just Right makes a close copy of these. Then there are several more to choose from now that this market really took off. The main thing is you want lighter and easy to use for home protection. AR's can be had in pistol caliber of course and work great for this.

While I've never fired a Thompson style firearm I have handled a couple and will offer the following.

The well built AR is the superior platform in every way, shape, and form based on the criteria presented.

Ease of maintenance, lighter weight, low recoil, availability of ammo, and endless options for personal configuration make a good case for the comparrison.(owned several AR's, fired many)

Don't get me wrong, I would consider a Thompson a grail item, but it would be a safe queen and range toy.

I enjoyed this discussion. I always liked the looks of the Thompson but surprised to learn how impractical they are.

Telekinesis said:

And one most people don’t think about… a sling. Carry a rifle in your hands for 10 minutes while walking around and you’ll never have another long gun without a sling. It’s easy to add a good, modern fighting sling to an AR, but with that forward pistol grip on the Thompson you’ll have a much more difficult time mounting a sling.

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Easily solved...

https://shopkahrfirearmsgroup.com/f...m1sb-23-horizontal-foregrip-27-23-tm1-pre.asp

https://shopkahrfirearmsgroup.com/firearm-parts/thompson-m1sb-24-horizontal-screw-27-24-tm1.asp

Exactly what I did to mine.