FBI marked shotgun?

[bushmaster1313]

What type of shotguns did the FBI use 1930's to 1960's?

How were they marked?

Anyone have one to show?

 

[P&R Fan]

I don't know for sure, but I'll bet there were a lot of M97 and M12 Winchesters in use. That's what I would have used.
Heck, that's what I'd use today.
Jim

 

[A10]

Lots of law enforcement used Model 12's at the time. I've not seen an FBI marked shotgun, though. If you have one, pics would be great!

 

[sheriffoconee]

My dad should know, he and another agent crawled under a hijacked airliner at Hartsfield airport to shoot the tires out of the jet. You see, it was sitting on the ground and the hijacker wanted go to Cuba. Well, being FBI agents they decided that the plane needed to stay in Atlanta, and someone got the idea of disabling the aircraft. Agents talked to the folks who made the plane, and some Delta pilots, and they all said the plane would never get off the ground with the tires shot out....
Sooooo, here they go.....from about 5-6 feet away they shoot the tire with a shotgun slug...and it bounces off....causing a great deal of concern since the slug just passed over or beside them after it hit the tire...
Again, being FBI agents and quite clever, they realized that slugs bounced off aircraft tires and abandoned the effort...
The hijacker grew weary of agents trying to shoot out his tires, so the plane took off to Cuba.....
Anyway, I will ask him what kind of shotgun it was.....

 

[JayCeeNC]

sheriffoconee, reminds me of a bank robbery case I worked back in the early 1980's. The FBI agents found the robber and blocked his car in. The robber immediately locked all the car doors and popped open a beer to await his fate. One of the agents quickly retrieved the only "car opening tool" they had, a 9-iron from his golf club bag in the trunk. An arrest soon followed amid some broken side window glass.

 

[Texas Star]

I saw them using M-12's and saw the same in photos in one of Bruce Colby's books about the FBI. My high school class took a tour of the FBI field office and I talked quite awhile with an agent in the gun vault. They also had a pre-M-27 S&W with a truly slick action. Five-inch barrel.

A later book (than Colby's) mentiond M-870's, and I think they're current.

A former female Special Agent who now writes on crime topics said that when she was in the Academy, she hated the shotguns and thought that the instructor picked on her by making her fire them often. The recoil is pretty grim. Hard buttplates.

We also had M-12's in the USAF air police. I sometimes carried one on prisoner escort duty and once during a threatened riot.

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

I have to believe that over those 30 years, 1930-1960, there were probably quite a few different shotgun brands at their (FBI) disposal. The Winchester '97 and Model 12 sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn of others like Savage, Browning and Remington. I know they did use the Remington 870 back in my day, saw them in drug task force raids with Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs (now the DEA) and even the U.S. Marshal's and also U.S. Postal Inspectors. I imagine some of our feeb members will school us on the actual models they used.

Cheers;
Lefty

 

[bushmaster1313]

How were they marked?

 

[sigp220.45]

How were they marked?

Current ones, 14" 870s, aren't marked.

I've only seen 870s in use, but that's just been the last 20 years. I'm not sure what was in use prior to that. I suspect Winchester pumps, M12s and M97s, but I haven't seen any to back that up.

FBI guns are generally not marked in any way. That may not have always been the case, but I've handled and shot some old FBI guns (Thompsons, M&Ps, and Colt revolvers) and none of those were marked.

There is a ton of good information at this great site, run by forum member and retired SA Larry Wack:

Home - Dusty Roads Of An FBI Era

There are a couple of interesting memos mentioning shotguns. Oddly, they specifically request autoloading shotguns of either Winchester or Remington make:


http://historicalgmen.squarespace.com/storage/33shotgunrifles.pdf

http://historicalgmen.squarespace.com/storage/33GunCommittee.pdf

Note FBI agents were armed well in advance of the much-ballyhooed legislation authorizing it. The agents carried guns as need just as a matter of course. I doubt there is specific legislation authorizing the U. S. Marshal's to carry - if the job required it, agents carried guns (and used them). The legislation just memorialized a long standing custom.

 

[Joe Kent]

In John Henwood's book on the Remington Model 8's and 81's there is a picture of an FBI gun locker containing those rifles , Thompsons, and Remington Model 31 riot guns. I also have in my collection an old FBI take down hard case for the Rem 31 Riotgun given to me by a close friend who is a retired agent. I am sure the Bureau uses and has access to what ever they think they need.