If you were Indiana Jones what would you carry?

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MrMurphy

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You get my drift... not necessarily the fedora wearing archeologist, but if you were out screwing around in the boonies of the world after 1914 but before 1939, what would you be carrying?

Assuming bad bad men (tribal dudes or criminals or pirates or whoever), large nasty animals, etc would be run into, and reliability, accuracy, and ammo availability was premium?


Me? S&W Triple Lock or Colt M1909 in .45 Colt, with a Colt M1903 .32 probably for backup and "civilized" wear, or a Detective Special in .38.

A Mauser 98 or Lee-Enfield for general rifle work overseas, or maybe a companion levergun in .45 Colt (which was also quite popular overseas).

A Remington Model 10 pump gun, or a Winchester M1897/Model 12 12ga.
 
They're kind of hard to hide, expensive to feed, and they're not real practical for hunting... but for repelling Malay pirates in the South Pacific or something, it sure would do the trick. :)

So would an Auto-5 with a bandolier of shells.
 
levergun in .45 Colt (which was also quite popular overseas)
Click to expand...

If I am not mistaken no one had a 45 Colt rifle in that time period or even converted one over, :confused: Now me it would be a 1911 and model 97 Winchester..
 
Now MrMurphy, you can't be crtical of the tommygun suggestion. First, your criterion was if we were Indiana Jones. Then you changed that to say that you don't have to be the fedora-wearing archaeologist, but working out in the boonies where there might be bad people and bad animals, but you are critical of the tommygun because it would be hard to conceal, not good for hunting, and expensive to feed.

Okay, you never said anything about hunting. Certainly, Indiana Jones wasn't a regular hunter.

Next, your rifle and shotgun suggestions are right out because you can't conceal them either. Besides, where was concealment in the criteria? Expense of ammo wasn't in the listing either, but you were critical of that.

You seem very confused about what is what.

Put another way, you aren't my ex-wife. You can't set up one set of criteria and then change it 5 or 6 times so as to claim others to be wrong.
 
A Colt 1911 and a Smith & Wesson M1917, possibly with a shortened barrel. If I lose one, which Indy seemed to have a terrible problem with, I'll still have plenty of ammo for the other.
And in a soft case, I'd bring a riot gun if I was going to the jungle/tomb or a .30-06 if I was going into the desert.
 
Ammo availability would be my #1 consideration, especially during that timefram and considering some of the loactions, remote at best. A good start would be:

Pistol: Colt M1911- 45 ACP, Colt New Service .455 Eley
Backup Pistol: Browning AP or a Pocket Colt, S&W Model 1905 Military/Police 2" barrel 38 Spl.
Rifle: Remington model 8, Winchester 1905 ( maybe 1907 ), Springfield 30-06, mauser 98, Enfield, 30-40 Krag. I really think this one would depend the most on ammo. I would take several rifles in this era as long as there was ammo. WHich I really think would depend on what part of the world you were in. For instance in the British colonial empire a .303 makes perfect sense, but in German Africa a 8x57 would do nicely, and in Argentenia a 7.65x55 would probably be the ticket. An auto would be preferable but finding ammo on a BAR in Nepal circa 1920 had to be a problem.
Shotgun: Winchester Model 1912 12 guage

I reserve the right to change my mind frequently considering the ammo problems.
 
It's not real traditional, but I'm an automatic man. Never cared for revolvers - it must be some kind of personal failing.

So if I were a highly educated, swashbuckling archeologist with a bit of disposable income, I'd have Griffin and Howe rebuild a USGI 1911A1 for me, including a 4# trigger, oversized fixed sights, and a beveled magazine well. That pistol, along with a good walking stick and a 7" McConnell hunting knife, would be my companion when wandering the backstreets of Calcutta or the jungles of Costa Rica. No whips.

For those times when I might have to do the tweedy academic thing, I'd have a little Remington Model 51 .32 auto to keep tucked in a pocket, along with a nice Batangas-lock balisong (keepsake from a trip to Manila?)

I'd have a nice rackful of rifles in the study, but my primary long gun would have to be my much-loved Lee-Enfield No.1 MkV with a sporter stock. Anything that the SMLE couldn't handle would most likely fall to a Charles Lancaster .470NE double rifle. Yeah, I know, .470NE ammo is not so easy to come by, so I'd have to pack along a bullet mold and loading tools for the long trips.

- Chris
 
MarineTech,

Thats real close to my original thoughts but I got to thinking would I get 45 ACP ammo in India in 1920 ( hence my Eley choice )

And was 35 Remington popular anywhere besides the US? Figured it was better to have a rifle with ammo, than a empty one.

So what kind of 12 guage load? 00 Buck? #2's, maybe #4 buck or a combination of them all?
 
Ahh, an explorer!

Well, anything after 1913 or so up to the present day and remainder of my lifetime...I'll pick a 1911, maybe a pair. I LIKE Chris Rhines concept of a customized Colt(or two), big stick and quality blade. And a bunch of mags!
Rifle. I'd start with a BAR with shorter barrel, use it when necessary and pick up another rifle when and if needed.
But, methinks, going to ANY US Embassy in the time frame, taking the Marine Security Guards out for a party-filled night on the town might find one in possession of more ammo for handgun and rifle. Or a bottle of of premium alcohol in the right hand is a wonderful incentive to get resupplied.
Certainly the Thompson is way up on the list for Urban and close range encounters.
Jercamp45
 
Well the Thompson poster "ONLY" listed the Thompson, so I said yes, it'd be kind of hard to hide assuming you want to be armed all the time (he didn't list any pistols) and since one critera was "bad bad men and large nasty animals" a Thompson will do fine on bad guys, but against a lion or something, 30 .45 ACPs are okay, but a 8mm or .416, etc is better.

As to expense of ammo, first, aside from in South America, .45 ACP wasn't all that terribly common from what I know in the rest of the world, and Thompsons go through ammo real quick (I know this from experience) and since one of the criteria was "ammo availability" it's a gun hard to find ammo for to begin with in half the world, and it goes through that ammo quick too.

A Browning Auto 5 with a short barrel would accomplish the same thing for the most part, and ammo is cheaper and more available. Seriously, if you were in sub Saharan Africa, would you want your primary weapon to go through thirty rounds in five seconds?

A rifle and shotgun combo would be more effective I think.
 
I'd go for exactly what Indy went for: Smith revolver and a Browning Hi Power (I say this referring to the best of the three: Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Can't mess with perfection. ;)

Wes
 
i think i like what tom sawyer was carrying in "the league of extrodinary gentlmen"...

twin webly .455 in shoulder holsters and a lever action rifle in 44-40 (the chambering of the lever action in .45 is a modern variation...the small rim of the case lead to unreliable operation)
 
Colt New Service 1917 Army or SW 1917.

Wouldn't an archeologist need a spetnatz shovel ? It would seem as useful as a bull whip.

As far as long arms, a decent sporting shotgun or dangerous game rifle wouldn't cause as much alarm in customs as a full-auto, and let's face it "great white hunter" was a real occupation in those times. Westly Richards Mauser in .375 H&H, never know when you might find your self on a lost plateau with dinosaurs AND Nazis.

The BAR is kind of impractical to throw in your carry-on bag, but hell it makes avery other man-portable auto look like a pop-gun. Perfect for repelling nazis, thuggies and downing the occasional zepplin, works in a pinch for the odd tyranosaur too.

Top it off with a Gruen Curvex Deco watch.. cuz your Rolex didn't go over the top at The Somme.
 
I guess I'd have to go for the 1911 :(

I'm not a big 1911 fan, But given the limited choices in that time period I think it would be the best.

If there were better choices in ammo avaliable, and it was after 1935, then I'd go for the BHP, but lacking a quality JHP I'd have to stick with the 1911
 
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