'40-'50s Detective Fiction

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Dr.Rob

Dr.Rob

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Yeah, blame me for reading Raymond Chandler stories again...

And since the super spy thread came back...

It's somewhere between 1946 and 1959 and you my friend are a shamus, a gumshoe, a private eye.

What cha got in your pockets?

(From the Long Goodbye... "he put a had hitting .32 in his pocket full of flat pointed bullets"... other weapons featured are a Mauser PPK (yeah even the good guys make mistakes) and a Webly hammerless revolver. Colt and Savage autos are mentioned in passing.)

So... what's it going to be?

Colt .38 Super and brass knuckles? Government model and back up .38? Fitzed New Service .45? Webly-Fosbery Auto?

I think these days I'd go with a Colt 1903 .32 for discreet carry... a .38 Super for the everyday stuff, brass knucks in the waistband, New Service .45 in the glovebox... and a Winchester 1897 shotgun kept in the trunk.

Your turn!
 
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*lights cigarette and moves into the shadows*
I carry a Government .45 for when the going gets tough, plus a more than a few snubby .38s for when the tough get going.

I've never been much for a fistfight, so I keep an old pal handy. He's tough, leather and makes people lay down and take notice. A sap for the saps, I say.

I keep a ladyfriend in the car. She's got a sharp tongue, a quick wit, a long range and a way of making a man feel all empty inside. A shotgun is fun, but Lady BAR is better by far. Expensive to feed, but cheaper than most dames.

Don't get me wrong, kid. I'm a trusting person. I trust everyone to play nice when I've got a heater screwed into their nostrils.
*flicks cigarette onto the pavement*
 
I dropped back into the shadow of a doorway. Then I drew my 39 caliber Smith and Western automatic revolver and looked into the nozzle to make sure it was loaded. Eight big slugs looked back at me, ready to go if I pulled the cylinder and turned the trigger....

I really used to love that stuff. And the way the tough detectives handled women. Later, I realized that those writers knew even less about women than they did about guns.

Jim
 
A 2" barrel S&W .38 M&P (loaded with 158 grain RNL of course) is always in the shoulder rig (if 1950's change that to a S&W M-38 - 1960's a M-36 in a belt slide rig). If I'm a Mike Hammer sort of Guy - it's a 1911 .45 with GI loads in a shoulder rig.

But I'm more of the Sam Spade type - carry nothing - then slap around the "cheap gunsell's" - and take the .45's from the "Hood want a be's" or "Fairy" .25 toaters. "Gun, Guns, Guns - every low life cheap gunsell has to carry a gaff". "Take these back to your Boss sonny - tell 'em I'm ready to deal when he is - but don't send Boys to do a Man's work".
 
G'ubmint model of course.

My sidekick would carry an 11mm Montenagrin Rast & Gasser.

Why? Why not. :)
 
....the rain was cold the wind was howling as I sat in the DeSoto with the motor running and the heater blowing, the Model 12 next to me with the muzzle on the floorboard. She exited the back door into the alley where I was parked and covered her head with a newspaper peering through darkness and rain she spotted the glow of my Lucky Strike; hurried over and slid in , she had gotten the package all right, she looked like a drowned rat...

." I didn't need it, but was nice to know I had it " she said - I placed the Detective Special in the Glove Box

....She came out from the other room with robe on and towel dried hair, My 1911 and 2" M&P were now dried off and lightly oiled and next to her Olivetta typewriter ...she poured the Ancient Age into two glasses...it was still raining hard, the wind still blowing....we didn't feel the chill anymore...
 
Ah I knew there was some hidden talent out there...

Tough guys and private eyes were always quick to throw the smackdown on any wiseass with a smart mouth... from a waiter to a crooked cop, and you have to love that about the genre.

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She looked at me with cold gray eyes that were like looking into the heart of coming storm. The smiled then, her red lips parting over even white teeth as she exhaled the smoke from her Chesterfield... "Is that a gun in your pocket Mr. Shepard or are you just happy to see me?"

I grinned like Satan and took the glossy black Colt Fitz Special .38 from my pocket, setting it beside the the two glasses of rye she had poured. "I'm still happy to see you Blanche, but don't get any crazy ideas in that pretty little head of yours. Didn't they tell you liquor and firearms don't mix?"

"You'd make a lousy bartender in this joint then Mr. Shepard."
 
IIRC, that line about "is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me" was originally by Mae West. I first heard it when I was too young to "get" it.

Jim
 
As he sat on the edge of the bed , she ran lightly ran her red nails over his bare back. " Nice pair babe" he said , she blushed and pulled up the covers a bit more on her exposed upper torso. "One more time before you leave" , she whispered in dreamy tones.

One more time he gently grabbed one then the other , he showed her the matching Brownings. One was a .25 Automatic, the other a .32 Automatic, when finshed he placed them back into the case, each into their respective velvet spot in the wooden box.

He stood up , threw on his shirt , tossed on his coat. He gently bent over her, pulled back the covers, she was quivering with excitement, her lips parted, he dropped his tie on her wanting lips.

" Use the fiver on the nightstand, to get herself breakfast at the diner,while your eating, have Leo press this tie - oh bring me a paper and black coffee to the office when you get there....

...the draft from the hallway caught the door as he exited, it didn't slam as hard as her fists did against the pillow where his head had lain earlier.....
 
Hahaha!:D You know sm, if you were to start a fiction thread we would all be more than willing to read it. (hint, hint)

(note: I really like Dashell Hammett's work)
 
Somewhere , I have some Floppy's with some ideas I piddled with.

One is about Lady doing detective work...

I originally wrote it longhand back in 19mumblysomething...I have - nevermind...A Bracken or Ross I ain't

Mel is the Gumshoe's name ;)
 
Colt Officer's Model 38, 6" barrel in a shoulder rig with some hot flat-points.

Dick Special with same as backup. Same operating drill, same ammo, both good guns with the OM known for serious accuracy (basically a "pre-Python").
 
Jim:

I won’t argue about your choice of guns or ammo, except to point out that at the time the only “hot†.38 Special was the .38-44 loading, and it only came in LRN or armor piercing FMP configurations. Also, on special order you could get the Officer’s Model with a 4 or 5 inch barrel – something your “gumshoe†might have appreciated.


Of course with the right connections one order Keith handloads from a few custom outfits.
 
Elmer Keith was publishing load data for SWC 158s @ 1,100ish from a 6" barrel in magazines dating back at least to the late '30s.

They may not have been commercially available, but that load definately existed.

Warm, yes, but not too hot for either of those guns in limited amounts.
 
I'd have a BHP or 1911 with left hand only safety in a summer special of my own design.

Backup would be a 2 inch j-frame .38, with hotly loaded wadcutters.


shotgun would be a takedown 1897 12 gauge, with peep sights.


i'd also have to have a nice semi auto carbine, like a model 8 or m1A1.

my sidekick would pack a 3 inch round butt model 13 in her purse and a baby browning in a garter holster.
 
The Shadow knows..

In addition to the hat and cape, didn't The Shadow carry twin 1911s in a double shoulder holster rig?

Fluff, Jim..how did that monologe go about The Shadow? Something about the evil that lurks in the heart of man, then the response "The Shadow knows" something like that..

salty.
 
Jim March:

>> They may not have been commercially available, but that load definately existed. <<

You are entirely correct. What I thought I said in my post was ...

Of course with the right connections one COULD order Keith handloads from a few custom outfits.

I goofed ... Too early in the morning. :D
 
Highpower as primary

Detective Special as backup

Select fire 9mm Mauser broomhandle. With 20 round mag, suppressor, and detachable buttstock/holster in the glove compartment.

And whatever Humphrey Bogart is wearing.

The real question is who to cast for the secretary.
 
Working the mean streets.....

can be dangerous...
That is why my main Friend is a trusted Government model .45 auto....and lots mags stashed about. No doubt I have a spare or three, and get a Commander when they became available.
A Colt Detective Special until a Jay frame became available fo BUG and deep concealment.
The rifle stashed in the car.....think it has to be an M1 Carbine, but I am sure a Garand would be in the collection too. The BAR is a most enjoyable idea. As is a Thompson.
But most flatfoot work is solved with the brainhousing group, aided by a good handgun.
The Sap is a nice way to reach out and touch someone. Sure gets their attention. I had one decades gone by.
Trenchcoats, Fedora's, baggy clothes and fine dames wearing garters.
Ahh, I mind stirring thread!
Jercamp45
 
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