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Baby Face Nelsons 1911

JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,358 Senior Member
edited February 2021 in General Firearms #1
Baby Face Nelson had a pair of 1911s...one in .45 ACP and another in .38 Super, that a Texas gunsmith modified to fire full-auto only, fitted with 20 round magazines a fore grip(from a Thompson sub-machine gun) and a Cutts Compensator...cyclic rate of fire, 1000 rounds per minute...

Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"

Replies

  • GunNutGunNut Posts: 7,642 Senior Member
    I ❤️ it!!! 
  • earlyagainearlyagain Posts: 7,928 Senior Member
    The full auto mod was popular among the public enemies gangsters. I have a pic in one of my books of one with a drum mag.

    First time I've seen the cobbled Thompsonish type.

    I think Browning A5's were desired candidates for mods too.
  • AntonioAntonio Posts: 2,986 Senior Member
    The predecessor of the Glock 18?

    Only similar thing from that era was the "Schnellfeuer" Mauser select-fire pistol or its Spanish clone (Astra Super Azul) in 7.63x25mm.

    At close range it must have been a nasty **** for a revolver-totting lawman. I'd have chosen the .38 Super one.
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,358 Senior Member
    Apparently, the .38 Super was intended as a gift from Nelson to Dillinger. Whether the exchange took place or not...I do not know...
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • GunNutGunNut Posts: 7,642 Senior Member
    criminals of the time were very creative with their firearms configurations.  Bonny and Clyde were fond of BAR rifles and cut down shotguns.  Can you even imagine a barrage of 30-06 FMJs coming your way when you are behind the door of your Ford police cruiser armed only with your Barney Fife .38 Colt or S&W and MAYBE a Winchester '94?!?!?

    Here's a picture of SOME of the guns they found in the car they day they were gunned down.  This is from an article from the History Channel website:



    "One the day that Bonnie and Clyde were killed, the authorities found an arsenal of weapons in their car that was enough for a small army:
    • Seven .45 Colt 1911 pistols
    • One .32 caliber Colt automatic pistol
    • One sawed-off 20 gauge Remington Model 11 shotgun (Bonnie’s favorite)
    • Three .30-06 Browning Automatic Rifles (Clyde’s favorite)
    • One double action Colt revolver
    • One sawed-off Winchester 10 gauge lever action shotgun
    • One .380 caliber Colt automatic pistol

    Furthermore, there were also 3,000 rounds of various ammunition, and 100 BAR magazines with 20 cartridges in each."




  • AntonioAntonio Posts: 2,986 Senior Member
    "Someone" misses his BAR  :'(

    Far too indiscrete to keep it. 
  • FreezerFreezer Posts: 2,752 Senior Member
    Holy smoke!  

    A Browning A5 shotgun fully automatic?
    I like Elmer Keith; I married his daughter :wink:
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,358 Senior Member
    Freezer said:
    Holy smoke!  

    A Browning A5 shotgun fully automatic?
    Considering how an A5 functions, there would seem to be a lot of moving parts flying around during firing..and would certainly be a handful....
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • GunNutGunNut Posts: 7,642 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    Freezer said:
    Holy smoke!  

    A Browning A5 shotgun fully automatic?
    Considering how an A5 functions, there would seem to be a lot of moving parts flying around during firing..and would certainly be a handful....
    I remember watching a TV show where they were discussing and showing odd guns from the Springfield Armory (the original, not the manufacturer of 1911s) museum and one of the guns they showed was a prototype of a full auto 12 gauge they made for the ARMY.  IIRC the guy that had it in his hands said it was fired exactly ONCE!!!
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,358 Senior Member
    Considering that the A5s barrel recoil back into the receiver as it functions...it seems there would be a lot of bouncing around on full auto....not that it wouldn't work...but keeping it on target might be something of a challenge
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • AntonioAntonio Posts: 2,986 Senior Member
    If memory doesn't fails me that's the same way the WWI French automatic rifle Chauchat worked; with that recoil system it was quite a thing to see in action and a beast to handle!
  • FreezerFreezer Posts: 2,752 Senior Member
    The full auto mod was popular among the public enemies gangsters. I have a pic in one of my books of one with a drum mag.

    First time I've seen the cobbled Thompsonish type.

    I think Browning A5's were desired candidates for mods too.
    I didn't start this, I saw the above and thought, Holy Smoke! Not much capacity, hard to control, a lot of recoil...Holy Smoke....No thanks! 
    I like Elmer Keith; I married his daughter :wink:
  • BigslugBigslug Posts: 9,859 Senior Member
    All of the above - save maybe Clyde's poor man's version of the Colt Monitor BAR - are just proof that dumbass criminals did dumbass things to their guns then as well as now.  The difference then was that they had much sexier raw materials.  :D

    The psychology of full-auto on both the giving and receiving end is fascinating to contemplate.  Very little is typically hit by it, but blast and noise is both reassuring to the shooter or unnerving to the receiver.

    At least until some experience creeps in.  In the book "A Rifleman Went to War" outlining his WWI experience, Herbert McBride says you eventually come to grips with the fact that it is possible for a great many bullets to impact very close to you without having any effect whatsoever.

    The cool-headed types like McBride, Earp, or Hamer would all have probably eaten Baby Face Nelson's lunch.  Of course Baby Face Nelson probably counted on the fact that was not his typical opposition.
    WWJMBD?

    "Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
  • earlyagainearlyagain Posts: 7,928 Senior Member
    Some were smarter than others. A lot of blundering and needless slaughter seemed the norm in what I read. 

    Clyde Barrow would drive a thousand miles in a day. That's the only thing that prolonged his life. No brains, just distance. 

    One hiest I read about by a different gang involved an armored car, a police chase, car jackings, and killings. For two bags of useless letters and papers that were supposed to be full of money.
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,358 Senior Member
    My father met Clyde Barrow...best thing he could come up with when the subject came up was "Inbred White Trash"
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • BigslugBigslug Posts: 9,859 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    My father met Clyde Barrow...best thing he could come up with when the subject came up was "Inbred White Trash"
    Yep.  The thing I really respected about the Kevin Costner flick The Highwaymen was that it was all about hunting down a pack of rabid dogs, and did not romanticize Bonnie & Clyde's activities one bit.

    All that said, I think I want to watch "Public Enemies" again, just for the guns.  A lot of that positively luminous 1920's bluing in that film. . .


    WWJMBD?

    "Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,358 Senior Member
    Just watched that the other night...
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • AntonioAntonio Posts: 2,986 Senior Member
    The scene in the apple orchard when the agent shoots the fleeing robber with that double-triggered, butter-knife bolted open sighted sporting Mauser in 9x57mm. is excellent, music and all.
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