Fergie, and all, thanks again for your enrichment of my fund of lore. Maybe some of this can help somebody. The Luger Artillery model ( I think) had a longish barrel and a detachable shoulder stock, it also had a 50 round magazine similar to the Thomson's. Said to have been popular with pilots in the first world war. 9mm Parabellum is the proper name of the usual Luger cartridge, from a Latin quote " if you would have peace, prepare for war". The Mauser 98 was the 9mm version of the 96, and had a big red 9 on the grip so you could tell them apart. The Mauser pistol was also the model for Han Solo's ray gun. Tom Barry, in the book referred to in my original question, says he test fired a Thompson in Dublin in 1920, but the war ended before the guns the IRA ordered were shipped. Last , but not least " The Story Of English" a companion book to the PBS series has some interesting things to say about Irish and other forms of English.See you later.