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Old 09-29-2012, 06:14 PM
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Question Guns of the untouchables

I know in the TV show they carried Police Positives, and in real life I have a book with a photo of a 5 inch S&W M&P 38 attributed to Eliot Ness. I also have read a book by Paul Robsky the wiretap man for the group who swapped out his Army 1911 for a Detective Special.

Anyone else have any ideas of what they may have carried?
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Old 09-29-2012, 07:19 PM
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I can't answer your question but I'd like to mention (for the Untouchables fans) that full episodes are available on Youtube. All of seasons 1,2, & 4 are there...don't know why season 3 is N/A. I've been working my way through them all.
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Old 09-29-2012, 07:39 PM
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Don't know either, but in the TV show they actually carry post war Official Police .38's with 4" barrels (the front sight is a giveaway). The gun in the opening titles is a Police Positive Special.
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Old 09-29-2012, 07:55 PM
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Here ya go ...

Untouchables, The (1959) - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games
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Old 09-29-2012, 09:31 PM
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imjin138: There is an article in the January 2008 issue of guns magazine titled The Handguns of Eliot ness and the untouchables written by massad ayoob it might give you the information that your looking for.
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Old 09-29-2012, 10:03 PM
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I can't answer your question but I'd like to mention (for the Untouchables fans) that full episodes are available on Youtube. All of seasons 1,2, & 4 are there...don't know why season 3 is N/A. I've been working my way through them all.
Same here, watched about a dozen episodes so far. Loved that show growing up in the 50's and early 60's. Robert Stack was one heck of a Trap/Skeet shooter as I recall.
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Old 09-29-2012, 10:15 PM
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One of the Thompson's originally issued out to the Chicago field office ended up years later at the Butte, MT field office. I have shot it!

Talk about a piece of history.

FN in MT
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Old 09-29-2012, 10:18 PM
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Same here, watched about a dozen episodes so far. Loved that show growing up in the 50's and early 60's. Robert Stack was one heck of a Trap/Skeet shooter as I recall.
I don't think I missed one show when it was on TV, always looked forward to the next one, I was totally hooked.
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Old 10-26-2013, 04:20 PM
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I just bought the complete series collection off Amazon.com for $136.36 including shipping. I've been watching the show on ME TV and it really brings back memories. I am 1/2 Italian and I remember when "the outfit" complained about the show type-casting Italians as bad guys. That, plus the "excessive violence" torpedoed the show. Whata shame. It was one of the best shows on TV.
I also just bought a Colt Official Police and a S&W M&P pre-model 10. I took delivery of the gun today. Geez what an awesome, high-quality gun.
I can picture it in the hands of bad guys (or good guys) very easily.
Left gun is the Colt Official Police and right gun is the pre-war Model 10.
And believe it or not, they are STILL making the shoulder holster that Eliot Ness and other lawmen used in the TV show. See it here:
A. E. Nelson Leather Co.

I plan on ordering a version for each gun. Since we have open carry in NM, I can carry it right out in the open.
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Old 10-26-2013, 09:38 PM
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Thanks guys for all the info. This was my first time venture into the Lounge area of the forum, and right off found some firearms info on one of my favorite TV shows and actor, Robert Stack was the best.
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Old 10-26-2013, 10:35 PM
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Since the Untouchables actually happened before 1935, I'd say .38 Specials. .38 Supers, .45 autos, BAR's, Thompsons, M97's and M12 Winchesters.
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Old 11-03-2013, 04:46 PM
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Here's a shot of the Butte Tommy gun back a few years ago when the local FBI Agents were using my range to qualify. I enjoyed shooting it...WHAT a piece of History. But frankly their 10mm MP-5's with a can...were far more fun.

Any "The Untouchables" the 1990's movie fans?? I have a shot of yours truly and the cast, taken from the scenes they filmed here in MT.

FN in MT
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Old 11-03-2013, 10:13 PM
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Here's a shot of the Butte Tommy gun back a few years ago when the local FBI Agents were using my range to qualify. I enjoyed shooting it...WHAT a piece of History. But frankly their 10mm MP-5's with a can...were far more fun.

Any "The Untouchables" the 1990's movie fans?? I have a shot of yours truly and the cast, taken from the scenes they filmed here in MT.

FN in MT
I watched the movie but wasn't that impressed with it. Robert Stack as Eliot Ness was so ingrained in me that it was like seeing someone besides Sean Connery playing James Bond. It just wasn't right.
I've been watching old gangster movies on YouTube. Murder Inc. with Peter Falk is AWESOME! My Untouchables video collection should arrive tomorrow. Can't wait to start watching it. YouTube also has episodes of that show. If you use one of the video capture websites, you can save them to your hard drive and burn them on DVD. Works great and NO COMMERCIALS!
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Old 11-04-2013, 12:37 AM
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Back in 1964-65 I was in my last year at MSU, majoring in Police Administration. In the second quarter of the year I was sent out on "field training", essentially three months of ride-along with three different agencies--local, county, and federal. For the federal I wound up with ATF in Chicago.

When I checked in I found out that there were still two guys on the pay roll from the days of Prohibition. One, Al "Wallpaper" Wolff (who I understand was an advisor on Costner's "Untouchables" movie years later) and another whose name I no longer recall. They were older than dirt--at least 70--and I was all ears.

They told me a couple of gun stories. One was when on agent was showing another his new revolver as they were driving along behind an armored car. Somewhere in the conversation they noticed that the barrel of a Thompson was pointed out the gun slot in the back door of the armored car, right at them. They promptly backed off!

The other story from these guys was that he had taken to carrying a 1911, and got involved in a shootout. He shot a guy on a set of stairs and he cried out, "You killed me!". The response came back, "That's what I'm trying to do, you ***!".

Maybe they were just trying to impress a green kid. If so, they succeeded.

My mother was raised in Chicago in those years, and she said it was one tough town. I suspect she knew what she was talking about.
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Old 11-04-2013, 12:41 AM
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I can't answer your question but I'd like to mention (for the Untouchables fans) that full episodes are available on Youtube. All of seasons 1,2, & 4 are there...don't know why season 3 is N/A. I've been working my way through them all.
Can you give me the information Ilook for I would love to watch them. I loved that series.
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Old 11-04-2013, 01:54 AM
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Bat Guano, I know that story.

Somewhere in my library I have a paperback written by one of the Untouchables. Not Ness - Paul Robsky. The Last of the Untouchables.
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/po...rary/174-1.jpg

Anyway. In the book he told about he and his partner driving down the road, and whichever of 'em was not driving was going on and on about his new snubnose 38, and how much smaller and lighter it was than the 1911 he HAD been using. As they pull up to a redlight he pulled it out of his shoulder holster to show it to the driver. The driver says, "Drop it", and he dropped it to the floorboards, then turned and looked out the side window. They are sitting next to an armored car, and a Thompson snout is sticking out the gun port. Light turned green and they made a left and went away quickly.

I always thought that was a neat story.
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Old 11-04-2013, 10:31 AM
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Can you give me the information Ilook for I would love to watch them. I loved that series.
Just do a search on YouTube for "Untouchables". It will show it.
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Old 11-04-2013, 12:42 PM
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I just bought the complete series collection off Amazon.com for $136.36 including shipping. I've been watching the show on ME TV and it really brings back memories. I am 1/2 Italian and I remember when "the outfit" complained about the show type-casting Italians as bad guys. That, plus the "excessive violence" torpedoed the show. Whata shame. It was one of the best shows on TV.
I also just bought a Colt Official Police and a S&W pre-war model 10. I took delivery of the Model 10 today. Geez what an awesome, high-quality gun.
I can picture it in the hands of bad guys (or good guys) very easily.
Left gun is the Colt Official Police and right gun is the pre-war Model 10.
And believe it or not, they are STILL making the shoulder holster that Eliot Ness and other lawmen used in the TV show. See it here:
A. E. Nelson Leather Co.

I plan on ordering a version for each gun. Since we have open carry in NM, I can carry it right out in the open.
Not totally sure about the OP, but your S&W is a postwar item. The curved hanmer should have told you that immediately! This gun was certainly not made before 1948 and may well date from the 1950's. It has the postwar shorter action. The blue finish is also usually a lot duller than the brighter blue on prewar guns, and the stocks differ.

For $10, you could order most postwar guns with a better polished blue finish, and a special Bright Blue was routine on the .357 Magnum (Model 27 after 1957) and the Combat Magnum/M-19. After about 1955-57, they began using a better finish again on service guns, excepting the Highway Patrolman/M-28.
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Old 11-04-2013, 02:07 PM
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Not totally sure about the OP, but your S&W is a postwar item. The curved hanmer should have told you that immediately! This gun was certainly not made before 1948 and may well date from the 1950's. It has the postwar shorter action. The blue finish is also usually a lot duller than the brighter blue on prewar guns, and the stocks differ.

For $10, you could order most postwar guns with a better polished blue finish, and a special Bright Blue was routine on the .357 Magnum (Model 27 after 1957) and the Combat Magnum/M-19. After about 1955-57, they began using a better finish again on service guns, excepting the Highway Patrolman/M-28.
Welllll...I guess that depends on WHICH war you are talking about. Mine is pre-Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War.
From what I've been able to find out, it was made 1948-52, based on Serial Number. And there were certainly gangsters as well as police using them back then. Doesn't lessen the mystique of the gun.
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Old 11-04-2013, 03:46 PM
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Welllll...I guess that depends on WHICH war you are talking about. Mine is pre-Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War.
From what I've been able to find out, it was made 1948-52, based on Serial Number. And there were certainly gangsters as well as police using them back then. Doesn't lessen the mystique of the gun.
Well, no. But it DOES mean that it isn't precisely the model used by the Untouchables in real life. I thought you were under that impression.
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Old 11-04-2013, 08:06 PM
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Well, no. But it DOES mean that it isn't precisely the model used by the Untouchables in real life. I thought you were under that impression.
There, I fixed it.

In real life, Eliot Ness carried a Colt Detective Special. The rest of the Untouchables...who knows? At least one and probably more of Ness's team carried .45 ACP S&W or Colt Model 1917 New Service revolvers. Ness wrote gratefully of the stillness that evolved in a gang of criminals when one of his men pulled out such a revolver: "'Hold it just like that. This is a federal raid,' Cloonan bellowed, waving his 45-caliber Smith and Wesson. 'Everybody sit nice and quiet and nobody will get hurt.'" The command was obeyed.

The handguns of Eliot Ness and the untouchables: what guns did crime fighters use during the Prohibition Years? - Free Online Library
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