Jeff B.
Member
Well, based on what I shoot today, I'd say first choice would be a 1911. Second and probably more likely would be a Colt SAA. Caliber TBD. 
Jeff B.
Jeff B.
It's 1940, what's your CCW?
- Thread starter NIGHTLORD40K
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Don't know about 1940, but a famous (or infamous) line from a few years earlier (1933) comes to mind. Roughly translated it is something like: "When I hear the word 'Culture'... I release the safety catch on my Browning!" I always thought it was probably a 1922 Browning, but it could be one of the others. The quote is very, very politically incorrect and could easily be turned by the anti-gun folks, so it's probably not a good idea to share it with them. For the context of the words, see the wiki article about the playwright Hanns Johst.
JohnBiltz
Member
Honestly, I don't know what models were out back then, that was a long time ago. My first 2 guns I bought on the same day. A pump shotgun and a .357 revolver. I assume I would buy a small Colt or S&W revolver. They were by far the most popular choices back then.
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NIGHTLORD40K
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In terms of units sold, small revolvers probably would have been the most popular but most likely from the likes of Iver Johnson and Harrington & Richardson. Then, as now, S&W and Colt would have been relatively expensive- but as money is no object for the purposes of this thread, why not!
montanaoffroader
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Dick Special round butt
Sergei Mosin
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Colt Government Model in a shoulder holster or a Colt Detective Special slipped into a coat pocket.
Armored farmer
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bannockburn
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If I could afford it a Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless in .380. In a revolver it would be a Colt Detective Special.
CajunBass
Member
Somewhere, in the dark recesses of my memory, there is an old, black and white photograph of my father standing in front of a 1939...1940 Ford automobile. He's wearing a "Zoot Suit" with the jacket thrown across the hood of the car. He's wearing a hat, and in his hands he hold a pair of what I remember as being 4", Smith & Wesson revolvers.
I remember asking about them once, and being quickly told "Oh, they were just toys." As a child I accepted this without question.
But not so much years later. The picture was obviously taken before I was born, so why would my father pose with toy guns, and whose "toy guns" would they be?
Then at my fathers funeral, my mother told a story that I had never heard. She said when she first met my father, her mother told her to "Stay away from that boy...He's a bootlegger." Again, obviously that advice fell on deaf ears.
I also remember my mother being deathly afraid of handguns. Well, not really "afraid". She just didn't want one around. She came from a family of hunters...shotguns never bothered her. She often said, the only people who had handguns were cops and crooks. As far as I know, she didn't know any cops.
So I like to see that picture again, but I know it's long ago been tossed out with the junk. Just some of those things that make you go....hummmmm.
But to answer the question, if a 4" Smith & Wesson was good enough for my father, I guess it would be good enough for me.
I remember asking about them once, and being quickly told "Oh, they were just toys." As a child I accepted this without question.
But not so much years later. The picture was obviously taken before I was born, so why would my father pose with toy guns, and whose "toy guns" would they be?
Then at my fathers funeral, my mother told a story that I had never heard. She said when she first met my father, her mother told her to "Stay away from that boy...He's a bootlegger." Again, obviously that advice fell on deaf ears.
I also remember my mother being deathly afraid of handguns. Well, not really "afraid". She just didn't want one around. She came from a family of hunters...shotguns never bothered her. She often said, the only people who had handguns were cops and crooks. As far as I know, she didn't know any cops.
So I like to see that picture again, but I know it's long ago been tossed out with the junk. Just some of those things that make you go....hummmmm.
But to answer the question, if a 4" Smith & Wesson was good enough for my father, I guess it would be good enough for me.
kBob
Member
Most likely some .32 top break......because everyone else did and I am cheap. If I had come into same money and had enough for a Colt 1903 or 1908 semi auto AND a decent holster (which would have been harder to find) then I likely would have liked one of those.
Concealed carry laws or not by 1960 when I started paying attention to such stuff, a large number of the old farts my age now had some top break or solid frame like Armored Farmer's above tucked into a waist band or pocket without any sort of holster. Well some wrapped a hankie partially around the gun. For part of my early life I thought the lower half of those revolvers grips were supposed to be polished smooth and wondered how they melded the checkering in so gradually! Many were happy to show a little kid the gun, though few would let me touch one of them. many mentioned they had carried since they had carried when much younger and almost made it seem that getting a revolver was part of moving out of Mamma's house. between WWI and WWII. My Dad's Dad carried a .32 Colt of some sort in his cash box ( a cigar box) going and coming from work and sometimes stuffed it into a belt line and apparently had all of Dad's life (Dad was born in 1931 and recalled GumpDaddy having a revolver as a kid)
As to concealed carry laws.....they had laws against jay walking as well and in most states concealed carry was the lowest grade of misdemeanor. Then you had "legislative intent" like when the Florida Supreme Court explained that Florida's anti concealed carry law was never intended to deprive a WHITE man from carrying a gun. (not nice history that, just history) Stop and frisk was not a thing. Metal detectors where science fiction. Concealed carry was a lot more common than many folks think.
-kBob
Concealed carry laws or not by 1960 when I started paying attention to such stuff, a large number of the old farts my age now had some top break or solid frame like Armored Farmer's above tucked into a waist band or pocket without any sort of holster. Well some wrapped a hankie partially around the gun. For part of my early life I thought the lower half of those revolvers grips were supposed to be polished smooth and wondered how they melded the checkering in so gradually! Many were happy to show a little kid the gun, though few would let me touch one of them. many mentioned they had carried since they had carried when much younger and almost made it seem that getting a revolver was part of moving out of Mamma's house. between WWI and WWII. My Dad's Dad carried a .32 Colt of some sort in his cash box ( a cigar box) going and coming from work and sometimes stuffed it into a belt line and apparently had all of Dad's life (Dad was born in 1931 and recalled GumpDaddy having a revolver as a kid)
As to concealed carry laws.....they had laws against jay walking as well and in most states concealed carry was the lowest grade of misdemeanor. Then you had "legislative intent" like when the Florida Supreme Court explained that Florida's anti concealed carry law was never intended to deprive a WHITE man from carrying a gun. (not nice history that, just history) Stop and frisk was not a thing. Metal detectors where science fiction. Concealed carry was a lot more common than many folks think.
-kBob
22250Rem
Member
Back in the 1980's I knew a guy in his mid 90's who ran a lakefront bar & hotel & dance hall from the teens right up into the 1950's. His "security detail" consisted of a .38 Spl. revolver that I never saw personally because he always had it tucked away out of sight but close by. He only referred to it as the ".38 Special" and I wished I had asked to see it. So if he needed to reach for a firearm for SD circa 1940 it would have been a .38 Spl. revolver and I never did find out who made it.
DeepSouth
Random Guy
Colt Detective Special, no doubt about it... maybe two of them.
BSA1
member
It depends on my occupation.
In 1940 the country was still coming out of the Great Depression. Hard cash was still hard to come by in most parts even though FDR was ramping up production for the war in Europe.
So if on the criminal side of the law I would choose a Colt Super 38.
As a typical underpaid Police Officer a Colt or S&W 32-20. The most common ammunition for the 38 Special was the 158 gr. RNL bullet at 750 fps. Commonly referred to as the "widow maker." Imo the 32-20 was superior to the 38 Special in that era.
As a businessman or store owner I don't want to scare my customers into thinking we will be robbed. Under my suit coat, smock or apron a flat semi-auto such as the Colt 1908 so it doesn't print through my clothing. In the drawer or on the shelf next to the cash box / register a W.W.1 surplus Colt or S&W Model 1917 revolver in 45 Auto.
Farmer / rancher a lever action rifle would be much more useful. Farmers & ranchers were cash strapped so not much of a target for robbery.
Probably not a lot of interest in carrying as a private citizen as crime rates were so low in most parts of the country. The S&W M&P (pre Model 10) or Colt Police Positive Special if I had the money. Actually a Colt SAA would be at the top of the list as by then it was considered to be obsolete old gun and were probably much more affordable than the Colt and S&W. The 45 Colt was THE magnum cartridge of the era.
In 1940 the country was still coming out of the Great Depression. Hard cash was still hard to come by in most parts even though FDR was ramping up production for the war in Europe.
So if on the criminal side of the law I would choose a Colt Super 38.
As a typical underpaid Police Officer a Colt or S&W 32-20. The most common ammunition for the 38 Special was the 158 gr. RNL bullet at 750 fps. Commonly referred to as the "widow maker." Imo the 32-20 was superior to the 38 Special in that era.
As a businessman or store owner I don't want to scare my customers into thinking we will be robbed. Under my suit coat, smock or apron a flat semi-auto such as the Colt 1908 so it doesn't print through my clothing. In the drawer or on the shelf next to the cash box / register a W.W.1 surplus Colt or S&W Model 1917 revolver in 45 Auto.
Farmer / rancher a lever action rifle would be much more useful. Farmers & ranchers were cash strapped so not much of a target for robbery.
Probably not a lot of interest in carrying as a private citizen as crime rates were so low in most parts of the country. The S&W M&P (pre Model 10) or Colt Police Positive Special if I had the money. Actually a Colt SAA would be at the top of the list as by then it was considered to be obsolete old gun and were probably much more affordable than the Colt and S&W. The 45 Colt was THE magnum cartridge of the era.
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NIGHTLORD40K
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I think SAAs likely were more common than we realize today. Like Krags, surplus SAAs would probably have been cheap and effective!
Nice pick on the .38 Super, definitely the classy choice for the well-heeled gangster!
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NIGHTLORD40K
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Makes you wonder how easy it would have been to get ahold of a PPK in the US back then....
The big cities probably would have had a Walther agent, but I doubt you could get one in the Sears, Roebuck catalog! Even if you could lay hands on one, I bet they were going at boutique prices back then....
someguy2800
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Colt 1908 pocket hammerless. Not mine, just a picture off the internet.
MosinT53Hunter
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I wish they still made it today...such an awesome design.
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NIGHTLORD40K
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Cool story! Too bad you don't still have that picture
. I just recently found a pic of my Grandfather in basic with his Garand. He would never talk about the war. When we asked him about what he carried, he would just reply: "Don't remember."
someguy2800
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