# Uzi submachine guns to Tommy guns **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569 "2010-06-26T05:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/21 "2010-06-27T18:46:06Z")
> [@](#): > > But what does “crew” in Army ? is it a another soldier who is helping the this Soldier ? As others have said, it can refer to a ‘team’ (as in a tank crew), or it can simply be another soldier (as in ‘crew served weapon’, generally meaning you have a gunner and a loader if we are talking a heavy machine gun team, or it could be the members of an artillery battery). -XT ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/22 "2010-06-27T21:03:47Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > The _question_ was about the word “crew”. You didn’t answer that at all. You turned a linguistic thread into a gun thread, good job. Score one for the NRA. And you are further hijacking the thread with a hostile personal comment and a bit of snark. Knock it off and remember what forum you are in. If this bothers you so much, go open a Pit thread. [/Modding] ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/23 "2010-06-28T12:25:35Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > But at least we can all agree that they’re both assault weapons, right? Right? So’s a baseball bat or a broken bottle. The “Tommy Gun” or the Uzi are sub-machine guns, not assault weapons. There’s no such thing in military parlance. There are however assault rifles. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/24 "2010-06-28T12:59:43Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > So’s a baseball bat or a broken bottle. > > The “Tommy Gun” or the Uzi are sub-machine guns, not assault weapons. There’s no such thing in military parlance. There are however assault rifles. So is a really big fan. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/25 "2010-06-28T14:24:59Z")
A big fan of what? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/26 "2010-06-28T19:23:03Z")
Tommy guns? ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/27 "2010-06-28T20:24:08Z")
The militarized version of the Uzi had a bayonet lug and provision for mounting a bayonet. Did any version of the Thompson have a bayonet lug? I have never seen one. The answer to this question will be key to further discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/28 "2010-06-28T21:10:52Z")
Military Uzis don’t have bayonet lugs. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/29 "2010-06-28T22:45:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Military Uzis don’t have bayonet lugs. [Here’s a picture of one](http://www.tucsonguns.com/UZI-Bayo.php). Unless you are saying that the specific model used by the IDF doesn’t have one, which may well be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/30 "2010-06-28T23:10:08Z")
Huh. So \*that’s \*what that depression is for. I have no idea why they included that feature. Besides the fact that the IDF hates using bayonets, the idea of a bayonet on a submachine gun is patently absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/31 "2010-06-29T00:39:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I have no idea why they included that feature. Besides the fact that the IDF hates using bayonets, the idea of a bayonet on a submachine gun is patently absurd. Are you kidding? A bayonet lug is what separates an assault weapon Uzi from a gentleman farmer Uzi. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/32 "2010-06-29T01:08:32Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > the idea of a bayonet on a submachine gun is patently absurd. All the bayonet stuff I’ve seen has been done with long arms, like an M1 Garand. I guess it’s a last resort when you run out of ammo. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/33 "2010-06-29T01:43:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Huh. So \*that’s \*what that depression is for. I don’t why, but the Uzi/bayonet exchange culminating in this comment cracked me up. Thanks for the laugh, Alessan. Also, maybe he just switched his crew to the Tommy for the cool factor. Let’s face it, it would be WAY more bad-ass to blaze away with a Thompson (think Tom Hanks in the penultimate scene of Road To Perdition). If 40 years of watching American film has taught me anything, it’s that _style points count_! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/34 "2010-06-29T01:47:08Z")
At some point in WWI, it was considered by the British that it was just as tacky to shoot an evacuating tank crew fleeing from a burning tank as it was to shoot a parachuting pilot. Perhaps giving them sub machine guns changed that opinion. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/35 "2010-06-29T01:49:43Z")
Not that running out of ammo using an uzi is difficult to do, but I’d say if you do and you are relying on trying to use one with a bayonet attached, you are basically screwed. 😛 Personally, I’d try the ‘throw it and run like hell’ method before trying to stab someone with a big knife attached to something like that. (And I think that you could attach a bayonet to a Thompson, at least I seem to recall seeing pictures of one so outfitted. It might be marginally more capable of stabbing someone with a bayonet attached, instead of ones self, but it still doesn’t seem like a viable alternative to me) -XT ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/36 "2010-06-29T01:51:19Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Personally, I’d try the ‘throw it and run like hell’ method before trying to stab someone with a big knife attached to something like that. > > -XT Moses and Aaron on a stick, that’s what I would do with an M1 Garand. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/37 "2010-06-29T05:02:41Z")
My wife once tested the effects of an Uzi’s wooden stock on the male crotch. Let’s just say she was happy with the results. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/38 "2010-06-29T05:52:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > My wife once tested the effects of an Uzi’s wooden stock on the male crotch. Let’s just say she was happy with the results. I presume that’s not standard IDF training. What was the context? Do Israelis have Uzis at home? Have they considered using HK SMGs or is that still beyond the pale? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569/39 "2010-06-29T06:11:04Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > I presume that’s not standard IDF training. What was the context? Do Israelis have Uzis at home? Have they considered using HK SMGs or is that still beyond the pale? My wife carried an Uzi for most of her military service. Once, on her way home on leave, some sleazeball started walking very, veeeeery close behind her (you’d think that your average sexual predator would be too smart to pick on a girl with a submachine gun, but there you go). She simply raised her arm, swung her weapon back, heard a crack, then a whimper, then a crumple, and kept on walking. And no, no HKs. As I said, the only people who still actually use Uzis in combat these days are special ops, and they use the Mini-Uzi or Micro-Uzi, which are still considered better than their HK alternatives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uzi-submachine-guns-to-tommy-guns/544569.md?page=1)