You would not have liked the real Bonnie. I read where she screamed like a wild animal during the ambush. I recently bought a Remington Model 8 in 35 Remington in honor of Frank Hamer and the shoot out.
Except that the best information is that Hamer did not use a Model 8 in the ambush - most probably he used a shotgun at the time. There was an interview with Hamer's son which started the Model 8 story, and it was later shown that regarding Hamer's gun, it had not even been made until after the ambush (it was a Model 81 in .35 Rem). Hamer did have a Model 8 in .25 Rem (presentation engraved), but it was probably not used by anyone during the B&C incident. It seems there were two Model 8s involved, but Hamer used neither of them. There were no Thompsons used in the ambush (as often shown in the various movies), but there was a BAR used by one of the deputies. Over the years, there have been many, many discussions and arguments about what guns were used and by whom. It will probably never be resolved.
Following is taken from another forum. Just a different viewpoint, veracity undetermined:
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"Allow me to weigh in on the ambush guns.
I belong to a group called Public Enemies of 1934, which is an historical/theatrical group that stages reenactments of 1930s "incidents" involving the likes of Dillinger, Floyd and Bonnie and Clyde.
For the past few years, I have had the privilege and honor to portray Frank Hamer at the annual Bonnie and Clyde Festival in Gibsland, Louisiana, which concludes with a reenactment of the "capture" at the actual ambush site south of town. That is where my avatar picture was taken.
While the organizers of the festival want a show that sort of combines fact, legend and the movies as far as what weapons are presented, we have done considerable research into what was actually used on May 23, 1934.
While the members of the posse surely possessed a variety of firearms, I believe they actually used the following:
Frank Hamer - Remington Model 11 riot gun
Manny Gault - Remington Model 11 riot gun
Bob Alcorn - Remington Model 8
Ted Hinton - BAR
Henderson Jordan - Remington Model 11 with long barrel and
Prentiss Oakley - Remington Model 8
My conclusions are based on the following:
Dallas County Deputies Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton were featured in a newsreel filmed the day after the ambush, reprising their roles. In that film, Hinton used a military BAR (not a Monitor) and Alcorn used a Remington Model 8, a standard one with a straight gripped stock. Since it was filmed the following day, it is logical that they used the same long arms they had used the previous morning.
Bienville Parish Deputy Prentiss Oakley had borrowed two guns from the town Dentist in Arcadia, Dr. Sheehy, for him and Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan to use. Both were guns he had borrowed before to go hunting. One was a .35 caliber Remington Model 8, serial number 48990, a deluxe model with a semi-pistol grip stock. The other gun was either a shotgun or a lever-action Winchester, but we believe it was a shotgun, as we will see below.
There are numerous photos of the long guns recovered from the car after the ambush, those being BARs and sawed-off shotguns, with said weapons leaning against the back of the car, but there is one photo that shows five long arms on the roof of the bandits' car, and they do not match the descriptions of the weapons the Bonnie and Clyde were carrying.
The five guns on the roof are a BAR, a Remington Model 8 (the stock is not visible in the angle of the photo) and three semi-automatic shotguns which appear to be Remington Model 11s. Two of them have riot-length barrels and one is a long-barreled hunting type shotgun.
When considered together, the conclusion is the guns on the roof are Hinton's BAR, either Alcorn's or Oakley's Remington Model 8, and three shotguns used by the remainder of the posse. Since both Hamer and his partner were lawmen, it is logical that the two riot-length shotguns were theirs, leaving a long-barreled hunting Model 11 for Sheriff Jordan, presumably the second gun borrowed from Dr. Sheehy.
As far as Alcorn's BAR and any others, I believe the posse was only planning to stay out until 0900 and were in the process of picking up when the bandits appeared at 0915, and those guns had already been put away. "
In addition, there was also a statement made to the news media by Louisiana Sheriff Henderson Jordan after the ambush, commenting to the effect that Hamer used "an automatic shotgun" in the ambush, which is considered authoritative.
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A couple of years ago, the History Channel made their own version of a B&C movie, but it was a poor effort. It is still re-run occasionally.
