POTD: The Demro XF-7 Wasp – Thompson Looks, Kalashnikov Guts

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have an American submachine gun that looks like a Thompson and thinks like a PPSh. Gerry Fox drew this up in 1974 in Meriden, Connecticut, after a fire ended Meriden Firearms and its M3 Grease Gun knockoff. He built it as the Fox Carbine under Tri-C, got maybe 1,400 out the door, and then his factory burned down too in 1976. He sold the rights to Dean Machine Products, who put it back into production through a subsidiary called Demro. The Fox name was already spoken for by somebody else, so it became the TAC-1, and the folding stock version got the XF-7 Wasp name.

The outside is a Thompson tribute. The inside is nothing of the kind. It is open bolt with a screw delayed blowback, a scheme that turns up on one of Kalashnikov’s early submachine gun prototypes and almost nowhere else. The receiver cover hinges open and the bolt is square on the bottom and rounded on top, which is PPSh straight through. Swap a barrel and bolt face and it goes from 9mm on Sten magazines to 45 on Grease Gun magazines.

Here is the part I love. The TAC-1 had a three digit combination lock built into the receiver and a battery in the stock to run a stun baton. The Wasp has neither, because Fox held that patent personally and took it with him when he left.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Demro XF-7 Wasp, Class III/NFA Fully Transferable Machine Gun.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4097/1301/demro-xf7-wasp-class-iiinfa-fully-transferable-machine-gun. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.

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