Heroes' Handguns in the '50's

[Texas Star]

Today, hardly a hero cop on TV has a revolver. Back when I learned to read and watch TV, I think Dick Tracy was the only cop with an auto pistol, let alone a wrist radio.

In the comics, a private eye named (I think) Vic Flint, had a Colt Model M .32 or .380, and Smilin' Jack used autos. So did the Phantom: Colt .45 Govt. Models. Ditto, The Shadow.

I think about every other hero in Westerns or detective shows had a revolver. (Well, you wouldn't expect Westerns to have autos until maybe the time of the Wild Bunch movie set in 1913.)

Have I missed any TV or comics heroes/heroines who used auto pistols until about the 1970's? Modesty Blaise used either a non-specific "Colt .32" revolver until she adopted a Star PD .45 in the last few novels, and used a S&W .41 Magnum sometimes for long range work. (The author was shown with a Colt New Police .32 on a book jacket, but in the comics version, the gun looked more like a Detective Special or Cobra snub, more likely, given that the series began in 1966. I visualized Modesty with a three-inch barrelled Cobra or the rare Courier.)

In the 1999-2002 TV series, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, set in 1919-1922, the heroes had revolvers save for the 1911's sometimes worn by Lord Roxton and Ned Malone.

At which time did you become aware that autos prevailed, and that almost no civilian good guys had guns?

 

[Coldshooter]

Revolvers dont have to make the action work which would have been hard without a barrel plug or adapter. I have been told in the old cowboy movies the wrist snap was to help the soundman sync sound and action. In Maltese Falcon Bogart had a revolver the bad guys autoloaders. Was there a prejudice? Cops had revolvers. What did Bonnie and Clyde or Dillinger use? Magnum PI was the first autoloader by a good guy I remember.

 

[McBear]

Mike Hammer carried Betsy, his service 45.

 

[mjr]

The first TV heroes I was really aware of who carried autoloaders were played by Robert Culp and Bill Cosby in I Spy.

 

[Texas Star]

I think Broderick Crawford had a .38 in Highway Patrol. Mannix and Cannon also used snub nose .38's. Loved those offhand double action shots wounding the bad guy at 100yds. Didn't Peter Gunn use a .38 too? Oh! certainly don't want to forget Ponch and John on Chips or Dragnet and Adam 12. None of those "real" cops used autoloaders

Peter Gunn and all of those TV private eyes on 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon St. Beat, etc. had snub .38's. Peter had a S&W Chief's Special, either M-36 or 37. The others mostly had those or some Colts. Varied. Bourbon St. Beat had a 3.5-inch barrelled M-27 in the office safe, in case they felt they needed more power.

Phillip Marlowe had a drop-down tray under his car dash that held both a Detective Special and a square-butt Police Positive Spcl. Phillip Carey played him, but I think the same setup was used in a 1940's movie starring Humphrey Bogart.

 

[Texas Star]

Mike Hammer carried Betsy, his service 45.

Yeah, like in the books by Mickey Spillane. Good catch! You win a fantasy date with Velda!

But in closeups on TV where he fired it, I think Stacy Keach had a Star 9mm, probably because it worked better with blanks. Of course, they said it was his .45.

 

[GaryS]

007, no matter who played him, had some sort of semi auto in the books and in the movies. Then again he was a secret agent, not a cop.

Real police used revolvers until the early 1990s. TV and movies emulated real life in that regard, so the good guys used revolvers.

Bad guys and Europeans (same thing?) used semi autos.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

It seems to me that back in the 1950s the Colt SAA was the cowboy's handgun, the 38 revolver the handgun of the cop or the PI, the auto was
the handgun of the secret agent. First TV heroes I recall carrying semiautos were Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E", they had Walther P-38s that could be converted into carbines by attaching a shoulder stock, telescopic sights, silencer, I have a picture of Robert Vaughan with a Mauser M1914 (!?) so outfitted. James Bond had his Beretta then Walther PPK. The story behind that is that British firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd wrote to Ian Fleming questioning Bond's choice of a 25 ACP as his primary handgun and pointing out other mistakes Fleming made. In subsequent stories "Major Boothroyd" was James Bond's armorer.

 

[guy22]

TV Combat

Combat! - imfdb :. guns in movies :. movie guns :. the internet movie firearms database!
Combat! was a World War II television series that followed a squad of American soldiers throughout the war in Europe. The series starred Vic Morrow as Sgt. "Chip" Saunders and Rick Jason as Lt. Gil Hanley. The series aired on ABC from 1962-1967 and would feature several actors who go on to become big name stars including Lee Marvin, Telly Savalas, and James Caan.

Growing up as a boy, loved this show!!!
Still want a BAR, and Thompson.

Want and money don't meet up often.
Guy22

 

[Alpo]

It seems to me that back in the 1950s the Colt SAA has the cowboy's handgun, the 38 revolver the handgun of the cop or the PI, the auto was
the handgun of the secret agent. First TV heroes I recall carrying semiautos were Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E, they had Walther P-38s that could be converted into carbines by attaching a shoulder stock, telescopic sights, silencer, I have a picture of Robert Vaughan with a Mauser M1914 (!?) so outfitted. James Bond had his Beretta then Walther PPK. The story behind that is that British firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd wrote to Ian Fleming questioning Bond's choice of a 25 ACP as his primary handgun and pointing out other mistakes Fleming made. In subsequent stories "Major Boothroyd" was James Bond's armorer.

With the "K" on the grip, I'm assuming this is Ilya's.

 

[nicky4968]

Robin Hood outshone them all; the clothyard shaft.

 

[feralmerril]

Remember "The Phamtom?" It was a weekly sunday comic strip in the newspapers in the mid 1940`s.The Phantom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He wore two colt 45 1911 autos. I remember always getting my sister to read it to me as I was 4 or 5 years old. Scroll down the lead and you can see a picture of him brandishing them.

 

[David LaPell]

Matt Dillon of course carried a revolver as did Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Of course didn't Joe Friday carry a couple revolvers on Dragnet?

 

[Coldshooter]

Matt Dillon of course carried a revolver as did Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Of course didn't Joe Friday carry a couple revolvers on Dragnet?

What was the issue revolver for Mounties in that period?

 

[Texas Star]

What was the issue revolver for Mounties in that period?

I'm not sure they were very clear about the date, but prob. early 20th Century. From 1904 or '05, the NWMP (from 1920, the RCMP) issued the Colt New Service in both .45 Colt (Eastern Canada) and in .455 (Western provinces.) This seems a little the reverse of what I'd expect, and I've never learned why they didn't issue just one caliber.

The New Service was retired in 1954 in favor of the S&W .38 Special M&P, later Model 10.

Prior to the New Service, the Mounties carried British surplus Adams MK III .450's, then Enfield .476's, neither of which was liked. Many needed service before they could be issued!


The Force aways wanted a lighter gun, which they finally got with the S&W .38. These had five-inch barrels. They now use DA-only S&W 9mm's.

I have read that some carried privately owned guns, especially when the Enfield .476 was so disliked. But I cannot confirm that.

Backup or undercover guns during the .38 era were Colt and S&W snubs, often with hammer shrouds.

I don't know which gun Sgt. Preston carried, but seem to recall him with a MK IV or V Webley .455. Usual four-inch bbl.

 

[Armyphotog]

That's odd. In my Sunday comics Dick Tracy carried a snubby revolver, and Sam Ketchum carried the same as I remember.

 

[oldafsp]

I don't think semi auto's would have worked for this hero.....

 

[Marshwheeling]

That's odd. In my Sunday comics Dick Tracy carried a snubby revolver, and Sam Ketchum carried the same as I remember.

That conforms with my recollection. I think it was in Dick Tracy that I first read that a .357 Magnum round could penetrate an engine block. Can't recall ever seeing him with an autoloader, although if that did happen, I would have been completely distracted by 2-way wrist radios (and then TVs), magnetic air cars, and the implications for the human race of his liaison with Moon Maid, not to mention the revelation of deep valleys on the Moon that had atmospheres that could sustain human life.

 

[sheepdawg]

Didn't Kojak carry a Model 15 with a 2" barrel..........baby.

 

[pilgrim6a]

Dick Tracy always carried a " S&W .357 Magnum Revolver" in the Sunday comics when I was a kid. I know this because all the equipment used in the strip was labeled.( two way wrist radio, tear gas projector, ect..)
Bond, James Bond. Agent 007 was issued a Walther PPK in 7.62mm ( "hits like a brick through plate glass ") and a S&W Bodyguard revolver. This was in the book "Doctor No".
At the end of the book, 007 sends a memo to the Armorer.
" Smith & Wesson ineffective on dragons."