Thompson Autorifle

The Thompson Autorifle, also called the Thompson Model 1923 Autoloading Rifle, was an American semi-automatic rifle designed between 1923 and 1929 by Auto-Ordnance using a Blish lock to delay its action, chambered originally for .30-06 with a 1923 version also offered in 7.62x54mmR. Auto-Ordnance submitted prototypes for United States military trials, including a 1929 version in .276 Pedersen that competed against John C. Garand's gas-operated design, but the rifle was never adopted, in part because it needed lubricated ammunition to function and ejected spent cases violently enough to endanger bystanders; the trials it lost were eventually won by Garand's M1 rifle. It fed from 5 or 20-round detachable box magazines by delayed blowback. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/