Writer looking for facts

[Gatorbaiter]

My vote would be for a S&W DA 32:

Or a S&W New Departure 32. The bottom gun in the picture was actually carried by a "Madam" of a "Cat House" in St Louis:

 

[ACP230]

The Savage 1907 .32 ACP was aggressively marketed to women when it was first sold. "10 Shots Quick" was the advertising slogan and one of the brochures showed a woman with a Savage pistol "running off" a man trying to break in to her house or apartment. Bat Masterson, who had retired as a western gunfitghter and was working as a sportswriter in NYC, wrote that brochure.

Savages are still available, used, and still work now. In 1952 it might have been possible to find one new and unfired.

If I was writing the story I might use a Savage because I could have it on the desk to look at while I worked. I also have a Colt 1903 .32 and a small FN .32. Either would be another possibility.

I looked at a Colt 1903 at a gun store here in Michigan's U.P. that had the original registration papers from 1920 with it. What might interest you is that the 1903 was originally registered to a mine official's wife.

Michigan is one of the states that require a form of registration for handguns. Many states don't. Writers often make the mistake of imposing registration on people who wouldn't have been required to register their guns.

 

[bk43]

Make the gun a LadySmith. LadySmith is a registered marketing term used by S&W for generations to describe a small to medium frame gun appropriate for a lady. Making a S&W a LadySmith is as simple as affixing "LS" after the appropriate model number. Since many guns have been called LadySmith over the years practically any configuration is correct so just use what best fits your story.

LadySmith has the added advantage of having been hammered into the public psyche over the years by S&W marketing and will sound correct to 99+% of your readers right off the bat. It did to you, right?

Bob

 

[H Richard]

I would vote for the S&W Centennial. A woman would be carrying the gun in her purse, and a Chief Special would get the hammer hung up in all the misc. junk a woman carries in her purse.

I disagree on the skeet gun choices if the character in the book is an avid skeet shooter. An avid shooter would be using a skeet choked Browning O/U (Belgan made) with 26" barrels in the 50's. ( And quite a few still today). It is a more expensive gun. If the character is an occasional shooter and of lesser financial means, then Model 12 skeet gun might be appropriate. The Remington 870 Wingmaster was only introduced in 1950, and I don't believe the Skeet model was produced until later.

 

[gkitch]

The personality and expertise of the gifter is essential. Women want jewelry and are sometimes confused, even insulted, when a man gives them a gun. In reality it is a huge gift of love, trust, and respect from a man. A good man anyway, who is secure in his manhood. The gifter could have been a husband, lover, uncle, or father. The gun will reflect his personality/character, and hers.

Will the gun need to work when taken from the car? If so, a revolver is your only choice.

Based on what you've told us thusfar, a nickle plated 32 caliber S&W revolver would be my suggestion. Not the antiquated New Departure but the more modern I-frame 32 hand-ejector (pre-model 30). It would have a 3 1/4" barrel, fixed sights, and a round butt with wood grips. The cylinder would hold a full six rounds of 32 S&W Long. Most men OF THE ERA would have considered the 32 a good ladies gun, but hte 38 Special too powerful for a woman to handle.

 

[mg357]

as a fellow writer i vote for either the chief's special aka the model 36
or a centennial aka the model 40. for the shotgun for shooting skeet i would go with the remington 870 having been introduced in 1950 its a fine shotgun.

 

[gkitch]

as a fellow writer i vote for either the chief's special aka the model 36
or a centennial aka the model 40

Those are excellent choices....for now. The Centennial, one of my favorite guns, was underappreciated during the time and was dropped from production in the 60s. Again, most men of the era would have considered the 38 to kick too much and too big for a woman. Double-action only? No way unless the gifter was a shooter and trainer ahead of his time (way ahead). Very different from what we would now give our wives and daughters.

 

[Muley Gil]

I'm surprised that no one has suggested a 2" Military & Police aka a pre M10. A glovebox gun doesn't have to be small and a pre M10 is a lot easier to shoot than a Chief's Special. I've known a number of ladies that have purse carried K frame revolvers.

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
I was around in that era. Popular handguns for ladies were hammerless five shot breaktop revolvers in .32 S&W/.32 Colt Short caliber.
Jimmy

 

[birdhs]

Thanx again for the additional input since my last thank you note.

A clarification: the skeet guns are for a different story and would be set in the present, not in the 1950's. Sorry that I didn't make that clear.

ACP230: interesting note on registrations, I will keep that in my file

HRichard: You are the first person to mention the hammer getting stuck in a purse...hmmmm.

Again, thank you all. I now have enough info to do several other stories and have gotten great pictures, too

Greg

 

[walnutred]

In the 1950's a Lady would carry a 32, in 1954 that would be either an S&W I frame or similar Colt for a revolver. However I think in '54 there would also be a good chance a Walther PPK would show up in a Cadillac.

For skeet guns of that era don't forget the Browning Superposed or Remington 11-48.

 

[gkitch]

To clarify, the question IS "what gun would a man have given a woman as a Christmas gift in 1952?". To answer this question one must consider the attitutes and available informational resources of the time. The gun would not have likely been purchased from a gun store either, but rather a hardware or drug store unless from a major city or area of serious recreational shooting.

If the question were "what gun would you have given a woman as a gift in 1952?", then I would also have provided her a then-new Centennial 38 with a nickle finish. I would have handloaded some 38 Special semi wadcutters at about 950 fps for her to carry in it as well, then trained her to use it.

The gifter would have been statistically unlikely to have been an expert in modern firearms. There were no S&W forums, no gun magazines, no gunsite, no Thunderranch....just the clerk at the guncounter at the hardware store, or perhaps what the gifter heard from his hunting buddies or had been trained in during the war. The clerk would want to sell you something that the lady LIKED and would not be inclined to return. Something pretty (nickle plated) that did not "kick too much". Hence, a 32 S&W Long revolver, 32 ACP auto, or even a 380 would have been the most likely answers.

 

[JSR III]

I happen to own the gun that was given to the girlfriend of David "Carbine" Williams. The short version is that he was a moonshiner that got into a shootout with the local law dogs. One of the deputies was shot and killed and David Williams was convicted and sent to prison. While there he worked on several different gun designs. (GOOGLE search his name for details) He is credited as being the lead designer of the M1 carbine and hence the nickname.

As for the gun, it is a modified Smith & Wesson Ladysmith with a shortened barrel and a bobbed hammer. All of the gun smithing was performed by Williams and I even have the small piece of the original barrel that was removed complete with the original front sight.

Jimmy Stewart starred in a movie in 1952 about the life of David Marshall Williams.


So, based on the above, my vote goes with a S&W Ladysmith.

 

[Big Cholla]

I'm surprised that no one has suggested a 2" Military & Police aka a pre M10. A glovebox gun doesn't have to be small and a pre M10 is a lot easier to shoot than a Chief's Special. I've known a number of ladies that have purse carried K frame revolvers.

My wife and I moved to Anchorage, AK in 1967. As I went directly out to the Aleutian Islands on a major construction job, her being alone in Anchorage started carrying the only handgun we owned at the time. She carried a Colt Python, 4" in her purse for two years. We switched her to a Smith Model 15, 2 1/2" which had been round-butted by a previous owner.

Now, I can't believe the number of times we flew from Anchorage to Las Vegas and back with her gun in her purse. ......... Big Cholla

 

[Hexer]

Alright, there is no question about all this. The gun was a Smith .32 HE in .32 long. The car, buried in the sand outside of Yuma, had to be on the California side of the Colorado River in the sand dunes. Meaning the revolver in question was given to the lady by a corrupt detective in the LAPD. That department was deep into shady dealings in 1952. It was no doubt an issue gun or one taken from the evidence room, as the dick did not want to spend his own dough on this dame. I also see the newly elected Vice President Richard M Nixon also involved in this event. Although I don't think any direct contact with her had ever come to light. We all know there can be many twists and turns in a tragic story like this. But what we do know for sure....the weapon found was a Smith and Wesson 32 HE.

 

[walnutred]

On the other hand, Bonnie Parker was known to favor 45's. There was not much difference between what was available in 1930 and 1950.

 

[Hexer]

Oh and I forgot about the empty. I don't mean spent case, but empty charge hole. That tells us who put the car there in the first place.

 

[Tom K]

NO, NO, NO.

A "ladies gun" of the era, particularly one given by a man as a gift, would be a nickel plated, pearl handled .25 auto. Everyone knows that a woman can't handle anything more powerful, anything bigger isn't going to fit in her purse, and she's just going to use it to "scare off" the bad guys anyway.

Everyone who is suggesting the double-action only Centennial is forgetting how weak women are. That's why the Centennial is so safe - with the grip safety and DAO trigger, only a man has the strength to operate one. Heck, you could leave one fully loaded lying around the house, secure in the knowledge that women and children would be unable to fire it.

Also women are only going to want something shiny and pretty. It would be an insult to give a woman a blued gun. My vote is for a nickel plated, engraved Baby Browning with real mother-of-pearl stocks. That's the closest thing in the firearms world to jewelry, and would go well with a woman who drive a Cadillac.

Or so would be the thinking of the time.

 

[Cooter Brown]

It's clear to me--a nickel Terrier--which is a 38 cal. snub on the Improved I frame.

The nickel is pretty, and it has a noun for a name--always good in a story.

 

[Texas Star]

NO, NO, NO.

A "ladies gun" of the era, particularly one given by a man as a gift, would be a nickel plated, pearl handled .25 auto. Everyone knows that a woman can't handle anything more powerful, anything bigger isn't going to fit in her purse, and she's just going to use it to "scare off" the bad guys anyway.

Everyone who is suggesting the double-action only Centennial is forgetting how weak women are. That's why the Centennial is so safe - with the grip safety and DAO trigger, only a man has the strength to operate one. Heck, you could leave one fully loaded lying around the house, secure in the knowledge that women and children would be unable to fire it.

Also women are only going to want something shiny and pretty. It would be an insult to give a woman a blued gun. My vote is for a nickel plated, engraved Baby Browning with real mother-of-pearl stocks. That's the closest thing in the firearms world to jewelry, and would go well with a woman who drive a Cadillac.

Or so would be the thinking of the time.

Nice choice, but I don't think Browning imported these until 1954. I noted that here in a previous post. And the post about the Centennial being hard for women to fire is largely valid.

But thanks for this nice photo of the Baby Browning in Ren. grade!