A Less-Lethal Thompson — The Peters Riot Cartridge

Have you ever ever appeared on the Thompson SMG and thought, “Hey, that may be straight pull bolt motion, less-lethal riot shotgun loaded with Peters Riot cartridges!” No, you haven’t since you’re a standard one who does regular issues and would by no means assume that a couple of submachine gun. That doesn’t imply nobody else would! The Nineteen Twenties and the Thompson went hand in hand. 

Whereas most individuals can image the drum-fed Thompson utilized by gangsters or the M1 mannequin utilized by troopers, many might not know that Thompson tried to be every little thing. Severely, there was an period the place they tried to provide a heavy Thompson as a proto-SAW, a mini Thompson for very shut quarters, and sure, even a riot gun model of the Thompson. 

The Peters Riot Cartridges 

Properly, not a lot a riot gun model, however a particular riot gun ammo that mixed with a particular journal. The ammo was referred to as the Peters Rustless Riot Cartridges, or the Peters Riot Cartridges, to avoid wasting your breath. These rounds had been produced for many years and had been first patented in 1925. 

The cartridge was longer than your customary .45 ACP spherical and required a particular journal. The cartridges had been brass cased with a cardboard-like sabot that appeared like a capsule. This cardboard capsule design held 120 pellets of quantity 8 birdshot. I do know what you’re pondering, it’s snake shot! You’re mainly proper, however they didn’t intend to make use of it for snakes. 

The Peters Riot Cartridges had been produced for the regulation enforcement and army realms with a particular give attention to corrections. Take into account that on this period, the phrases less-lethal or non-lethal and firearms weren’t linked. Neither of these phrases seems on the ammo field. 

The thought seems to be that the Peters Riot cartridge had much less deadly potential than a .45 slug. Whereas it’s doable to die for a low dose of No. 8 birdshot, it looks like you actually gotta be making an attempt to kill somebody to take action. The method on the time referred to as for skipping the shot off the bottom and into the rioting crowd. 

A Thompson gunner might merely swap mags and switch his regular SMG right into a straight pull bolt motion shotgun spraying birdshot. I think about firing from the hip and dealing the top-mounted charging deal with can be fairly simple. The journal effectively of the Thompson has extra room than essential for stick mags resulting from using drums, so the longer journal suits with out difficulty. 

Who used the Peters Riot Cartridge? 

That’s the million-dollar query. It’s exhausting to inform if any police or corrections businesses used them. It bears mentioning that somebody should have been shopping for the stuff because it was offered from 1925 to 1950. In 1934, Peters was offered to Remington, and the corporate continued to provide the spherical. 

We do know that the U.S. Navy bought some, however not for riot management. The Peters Riot Cartridge was bought in August of 1943 because the Cartridge Shot, Cal. .45 T26. By October of 43, it was standardized on the M12. Remington was now producing these rounds, and it appears there have been some modifications. The cartridges had been the usual size of a .45 ACP spherical, and the paper capsule now held 7.5 shot. 

This new Peters riot load was issued to pilots and air personnel and was designed to be loaded into their handguns. It was designed for looking sport. In reality, the cartridge packing containers had warnings in English, German, and Japanese to not use the cartridge towards enemy troops. Why? Properly, it’s not clear. Prone to keep away from breaking some odd rule of struggle. 

It was issued for a restricted time earlier than being changed by the .45 FMJ load. The overall purpose was that the cardboard was an enormous failure level in a wartime setting. 

Finish of the Line 

The Peters Riot cartridge pale from historical past and is pretty obscure and uncommon to return throughout now. Nevertheless, as everyone knows, snake/rat shot has gone on to reside a full life in tons of calibers. Whereas birdshot isn’t advisable for much less deadly functions like crowd management, it really works effectively to maintain the backyard and barn away from pests.