POTD: It’s a Thompson! – Never Mind, It’s a Ingram M6
Sam.S 09.28.22
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a submachinegun that looks a lot like the iconic Thompson…but it is not. This is a Police Ordnance Company Ingram M6. Gordon Ingram was a World War Two veteran who, when he got home from the war, thought he would try his hand at making military-style small arms. After a few failed attempts at rifles and light machine guns, he landed on a submachine gun in 1951 and it would be named the Ingram M6. It obviously draws a lot of features and looks from the Thompson submachine gun but it was much cheaper to produce and cheaper in overall fit and finish. They were made in several variants harkening the Thompson’s many variants and making very little sales domestically. Ingram would eventually find some commercial success with Peru ordering 400 copies and asking for a license to manufacture them. Gordon Ingram would go on to produce some very notable firearms such as the Mac 10.
“This is an excellent example of a fairly rare Model 6 Police submachine gun chambered in .45 ACP. This model was designed and patented by Gordon Ingram in 1949 and was produced by the Police Ordnance Company (POC) circa 1951. This model was probably one of the best post-war selling machine guns, as it had a unique design and was brand new in 45 ACP. It was purchased by a few police departments in the early 1950s and most sales were made to South America and the Far East. The POC was a limited partnership established by four WWII combat veterans, with Ingram as the chief/head engineer. The unique design of this model has what’s called/patented a “Progressive Trigger” mechanism. This design allows the firer to pull the trigger half way back for semi-automatic fire and all the way back for full-automatic fire without having to change the selector settings. Ingram left the company in 1952 and in the late 1960s is credited with designing/developing and producing the very successful MAC-10 and MAC-11 SMGs. Although this weapon is similar in outward appearance to the Thompson submachine gun, it is very different internally in that it uses a machine bolt and barrel assembly with all the rest of the components being made from stamped sheet metal parts including the receiver similar to the MP40 and STEN submachine guns. It fired from an open bolt in a simple blow back manner with a fixed firing pin and the noted 2-stage “progressive” trigger. The chamber is marked “INGRAM PATENTS PENDING/POLICE ORDNANCE COMPANY/LOS ANGELES CALIF. U.S.A./M6 MILITARY CAL. .45 A.C.P.” It has standard blade front and simple windage adjustable rear sights. It has a two-piece pistol grip/stock assembly with a horizontal forend. It is complete with one stick magazine and a canvas sling.”
Lot 3548: Police Ordinance U.S.A. – Ingram M6 – Scarce Police Ordnance Company Fully Automatic Model 6 Class Iii/Nfa Police Submachine Gun. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/71/3548/police-ordinance-usa-ingram-m6.
