1967 40CAL. ??

[willy]

Read in the paper today about a story that happened in 1967.
The local A&P was robbed in my home town 1967 which resulted with two cops getting shot when they pulled onto the scene.
I remember going to the store afterwards and it looked like a machine gun strafed the front of the store.
In the paper today they stated that the officers thought theywere under fire by thompson sub machine guns.
But the paper said it was .40 cal Eagle semi autos.
Has anyone ever heard of this gun?
Remember this happened in 1967 -way before the Baby Eagles or Desert Eagles .

 

[Andy Griffith]

Well, perhaps the story is off by a bit.

The "Eagle" could mean it was a Stoeger import of a Luger, which IIRC had an "Eagle" on it.

Also this is a stretch, but perhaps the writer meant ".30" instead of ".40" and hit the "4" instead of "3"- maybe it was a .30 Luger?

All hypothetical...

 

[willy]

Yeah Andy, I never put to much stock in the media gun smarts!
But with the amount of shots fired I doubt it was a Luger.
The police car was hit with over 20 rounds , and that isn't counting the rounds that hit the front of the store.

 

[Ron H.]

Sir, FWIW, ".40" sounds like a typo to me, too--more likely a .30-caliber gun. Broomhandle Mauser, maybe? Most of those were .30-cal, and they were widely available at that time. Also hi-cap and quick to reload.

Just a guess.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

 

[badam0112]

Reminds me of the quote from that movie Mr. Mom. "What did you shoot him with a 38? 38, 39, whatever it takes".

 

[NFrameFred]

One of the local papers once ran a story relating that a fellow had been shot with a Colt 44 Auto. I vaguely knew a few of the folks at the paper but drew an unknown on the phone when I called to offer that the information was incorrect and explained that it could have been a Colt 44 revolver or a Colt 45 auto, but that Colt had never produced a 44 semi-auto pistol.

The air-head on the other end of the line said she was sure the story was correct since the writer had been in the army and "he would know", and then hung up.

Lewis Grizzard used to say (concerning the newspaper), "Hey ! it only costs a quarter - whadda ya want ?"

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I'm not so sure there wasn't an Eagle long arm, probably a semi-auto Tommy Gun lookalike, back then. Obviously, it was a .45ACP, not any kind of .40.

See above comment regarding the price of the newspaper.

 

[44wheelman]

I remember a reporter describing the "new".45 the local police department was contemplating a change to as a bigger faster version of the 9mm they currently carry....

 

[jimmyj]

1967- M1 carbines were popular in that era on both sides of the law.

 

[jbouwens]

One of the local papers once ran a story relating that a fellow had been shot with a Colt 44 Auto. I vaguely knew a few of the folks at the paper but drew an unknown on the phone when I called to offer that the information was incorrect and explained that it could have been a Colt 44 revolver or a Colt 45 auto, but that Colt had never produced a 44 semi-auto pistol.

The air-head on the other end of the line said she was sure the story was correct since the writer had been in the army and "he would know", and then hung up.

Lewis Grizzard used to say (concerning the newspaper), "Hey ! it only costs a quarter - whadda ya want ?"

HA, HA, Yea not to long ago the news was talking about a guy that held up a liquor store with a 25 mm handgun. I'd love to see the holster for that one.

 

[jbouwens]

The .40 S&W cartridge debuted January 17, 1990 along with the new Smith & Wesson Model 4006 pistol.


Found this on Wikipedia.

 

[sar4937]

There was a 38-40 Colt NON-semiautomatic that goes back earlier than that. Perhaps they got the semiautomatic part wrong.

 

[Jellybean]

And don't forget the .401 Powermag.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I think I got it...

For it to have that many shots as they say and be a handgun, perhaps it was a handgun version of a .30 Carbine- like an Enforcer.
Maybe they mistook the Iver Johnson "Owl" for an "Eagle?"

 

[s&wchad]

.40, .45 ... Whatever it takes!

I'm not so sure there wasn't an Eagle long arm, probably a semi-auto Tommy Gun lookalike, back then. Obviously, it was a .45ACP, not any kind of .40.

See above comment regarding the price of the newspaper.

Yes, there was an Eagle Carbine in the 1960's. Cheap junk, fired from an open bolt IIRC.

I found these pics on the web:

 

[willy]

Yes, there was an Eagle Carbine in the 1960's. Cheap junk, fired from an open bolt IIRC.

I found these pics on the web:

I think you got it s&wchad!
Seeing as the cops said they thought they were Thompsons .
I can see where they got that idea from looking at the guns you are showing.
And the paper was just off on the cal.
Thanks for the info!

 

[akviper]

If memory serves, the Eagle later evolved into the Spitfire 45 carbine. They were semi-auto but fired from an open bolt and were fairly easy to convert to full auto. ATF put the kibosh on the open bolt semis in the 80s so most of the cheapo look a likes went away. The later versions were manufactured to make full auto conversions more difficult.