POTD: Tommy Guns Didn’t Stand a Chance – The Colt Monitor
Sam.S 03.08.24
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! The Colt Monitor was a pioneering automatic machine rifle introduced in 1931, designed to provide law enforcement officers with significantly greater firepower when confronting heavily armed criminal gangs during the Prohibition era in the United States. Based on the Colt Automatic Machine Rifle Model 1925 which itself derived from the iconic M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, the Monitor featured a shortened and lightened barrel, a Cutts compensator muzzle brake, and sights adjusted for shoulder firing at ranges of 200-600 yards. Chambered for the powerful .30-06 Springfield cartridge, it was fed from 20-round detachable box magazines and capable of both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire around 500 rpm. While the compensator allowed somewhat controllable automatic fire from the shoulder, effective range was reduced compared to a bipod-mounted BAR. In 1933, the FBI purchased 90 of the total 125 Monitors produced, but with most police forces lacking funding for such specialized firearms, the Monitor saw limited adoption despite offering revolutionary firepower. It nonetheless became an iconic weapon from that era.
“This is an exceptionally rare early Colt Model R80 Monitor, fully automatic, C&R registered machine gun. This was an early 1920s version of the Colt Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) that was produced and sold in very limited numbers to various law enforcement agencies, mainly out East. It was basically an improved and slightly redesigned version of the original Browning design that incorporated a small pistol grip on the rear of the lower receiver for better handling, in lieu of a pistol grip type buttstock, a shorter forend, and a slightly shorter barrel (only 18.5 inches) making it easier to handle as well as a redesigned three-position gas regulator/plug and a completely new and redesigned muzzle brake/flash hider. As noted, these were marketed to law enforcement agencies, especially the early FBI and sheriffs for use in combating the various gangsters terrorizing the Midwest banks. Their main value was that the police and sheriffs eventually realized that the standard Thompson SMG in 45 ACP could not always penetrate the heavy steel fenders and car bodies used by the auto industry in the 1920s and 30s. However, this model was chambered in the considerably more powerful 30-06 caliber which made it extremely effective in combating the various criminal elements in the US.”
Lot 2586: Fully Automatic Colt R80 Monitor BAR Machine Gun. (n.d.-a). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved March 7, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/75/2586/fully-automatic-colt-r80-monitor-bar-machine-gun.
