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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.






As I said, the Tommy gun is small. It measures 20" long and 5-1/8" tall.


Nichols Stallion Caps and Roll Caps


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)
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

This is the trigger/magazine assembly—extended up. The barrel is pointed down. This gun has never been fired.

This is the trigger/magazine assembly—extended up. The barrel is pointed left.


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.





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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