Saw Public Enemies (Johnny Depp as Job Dillinger) on HBO last Night. I'm not a long gun guy, but the rifle that Melvin Pervis (Christian Bale) shot the escaping Baby Face Nelson with looked really cool. Anyone have details of this rifle?

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-Bob

It was a Mannlicher Sporter with a half stock as opposed to the fullstock carbine we mostly associate with Mannlicher. It was a nice touch in the movie as these are really classy rifles. Someone here will come up with a picture of that exact one probably.

I watched it again, too, last night.

I was glad to see Charles Winstead get public credit for shooting down Dillinger. Melvin Purvis never fired a shot that night, and never claimed to. SA Winstead was a tough old boy, later resigning after making some politically incorrect public statements during WWII.

There's some good reading about him at member Larry Wack's excellent site:

SA Charles Winstead's Weapons - Dusty Roads Of An FBI Era

SA Winstead lived out his life in Albuquerque, and when he died none of his guns were accounted for. I think I'll print this list out and keep it handy:

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Sig. Not to nitpick this movie again
(it was discussed here once), but didn't Pretty Boy Floyd get shot down in a field by a bunch of agents/lawmen firing at the same time?
The Winstead character, if that was the Steven Lang part, reminded me of the two old FBI gunfighters that G. Gordon Liddy wrote about in his great bio. These were the guys who were counted on when bullets were going to fly and carried 5" S&W Model 27's (pre 27's pr R.M.'s to be more precise, I guess).

Yeah, the movie was full of historical inaccuracies. I don't think Melvin Purvis ever shot anyone (except himself, sadly) but he did throw six rounds from his DS at Little Bohemia.

I was just glad Michael Mann didn't have him standing over Dillinger blowing the gunsmoke away from his muzzle.

Lots of good info here, too:

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

The rifle is a Mauser 98 sporter with a Mannlicher-style "butter knife" bolt handle.

I also like this movie; Michael Mann gets the gun handling done right in his work for the most part.

Good eye, cjw3. I was going by a faulty memory, thrown off by the bolt. On a Mannlicher the bolt is about a mile and a half farther up the stock. I think my little full stock BRNO has a bolt about in the normal place as a standard Mauser but has the Mannlicher style by design, including the butter knife bolt and DS triggers and other goodies.

When I first saw the movie I was also thrown off by the bolt handle. I haven't handled a Mannlicher, but I have read that they are not quite as smooth handling as the Mauser action. I guess that comes from the bolt handle being in the midsection of the body and then having to be withdrawn back through the receiver bridge.

This is true of the older ones, but mine had a blued bolt. Postwar Mannlichers with polished bolts run smoother.
However, the locaction of the bolt handle and the camming angles makes it hard to work the rifle rapidly from the shoulder. For speed, nothing I've found beats the Lee-Enfield, followed by the Winchester M-70, especially those made after 1968, which incorporate a bolt head guide.

Weatherby's MK V has a lower bolt lift, but I've never found it an especially slick-working rifle, and the lower bolt lift seems not to matter.

The rifle shown in this topic is indeed a prewar Mauser sporter. I forget the model, but it seems to have a barrel rib.
They also offered an English Model, which looks like the work of a fine British gunmaker.

T-Star