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My new favorite .38 Super, Cop AND Robbers!


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Right out of the woodwork, from the family of a Detroit Detective who confiscated it from a group of thugs during a stolen vehicle arrest in 1935. The documents tell the story...I'm hoping I can dig around and find more info (prison records?) for these guys. Icing on the cake being that it shipped to Wolf & Klar in 1930... Wonder if these fellas crossed paths with any of our more well known names from the underworld...

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The photo props - holster, ammo, maps - did not come with the piece but I figured this one was worth classing up a bit for the pictures. Who knew you could find 1930s road maps on eBay with the click of a button?

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Super 38, one of my favorites too. Good score AND with it coming from Wolf & Klar, long ways away from Detroit ! Makes me wonder.

 

HaaaaHaaa a can of roofing nails. The old 1930s version of a James Bond trick.

 

Congratulations a super gun & collection.

 

PS: you know you could always add a Thompson grip to the Super 38 and make it a Lebman/Dillinger version AND coming from Wolf & Klar.

 

 

OCM

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Sandy; I also got a chuckle out of the roofing nails. Thought it was really neat to see that and the maps from so many states. Grateful to the detectives for making such a meticulous inventory. I think that James Roberts character was a bad man, judging by his rap sheet. Makes you wonder what else he was involved in but never caught at.

 

RE the Lebman Baby - I've been mulling going FFL-07/02 SOT next year, and if I do, be assured that a live-fire post sample machine-pistol will be one of the first ones I build!

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USMC0802-

 

Definitely build a Lebman Colt mini, with the FFL07/02 SOT go F/A select fire.

 

Be the best roscoe in your collection....

 

Set up a future outlaw gun collection convention somewhere. Cars, outlaw guns and Molls ( Moll: that's called a wife Colt Chopper ) .

 

I have a A5 whippet due in tomorrow, will send pictures.

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Essex File077.jpg

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That's actually not too far off the plan, Sandy. I may have to lean on you for the cars though!

 

I am exploring the possibility of a "shootable museum" setup, everything from (repro) Matchlock up to the M240B medium machine gun. The 1920s-30s stuff though...that's my favorite!

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As far as he told me, Colt Chopper is going to have the full Baby Face Nelson display at the Ohio Gun Show thing that Machinegun Mike mentioned on the main forum page. It's quite the display if you haven't seen it. I guess it's a monster show.

 

Colt Chopper's wife and I have a verbal agreement on me purchasing the Nelson gun at an extremely fair price that I offered to her. She was supposed to contact me AFTER the wedding but her emails now bounce and the phone is discounted ?? I thought we had a deal. ?

 

A shootable Museum, outstanding. Now you need a F/A Colt mini, a Winchester 07 351 F/A, Colt Monitor, 18 BAR, Whippets......

 

What part of the country you in, West, East, South, North.... not being snoopy just curious since it seems everything with Machine Guns is in Ohio.

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Yes, all the sexy NFA stuff - some original, some "clone" but all functional. I think there'd be demand, even though it'd have to be pretty pricey to make it worth the effort/investment. And yes, the monitor, the mini, and all manner of other goodies!

 

I'm in central MO, a perfect location for everyone to converge for cookout and "mini Knob Creek".

Edited by USMC0802
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You could clone/buy some in semi of course, fraction of the price and waiting time, all extremely fun to shoot, keep the NFA stuff to " tommy guns" for the general public. Other stuff depending on budget. I love F/A stuff, but to fire a Colt mini, a Colt Monitor or a Winchester 07 with the Lebman conversion, all in semi, would be a kick in the butt while visiting the museum. Different.

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The beauty of the 07/02 is that I can build FA post-samples without any kind of wait or cost premium beyond the parts/materials. To sell such an animal would be a pain, but for rental use may work out very well.

 

 

But I still have to collect transferables - the "real" originals are the ones with the history attached. ;)

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yess sir..

 

Artifacts are nice to have and visit, like in Indianapolis where Dillinger is buried. I'm sure Colt Chopper, owning the Baby Face Thompson, has visited the grave site many times, since he works 10 miles away, I know Machine Mike has. Part of history. Then Mooresville, Greencastle etc...

I've visited the area multiple times, on historic quests.. Lot are gone now....

 

OCM

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Very cool piece of history. I'd be interested to learn more about their "colt army rifle." The ony Colt-made Army rifle I can think of would have been an M1918 BAR ... Sounds more like a Krag M1896 or Springfield M1903, though, what with the 52 odd cartridges they had. Generally they were badly off for ammunition. 8 for the Super .38? 17 for the revolver? 5 for their double-barrelled shotgun? Weird.

 

Cheers

 

HANS

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Agreed Hans. As much as I'd love it to be a BAR (indeed, the only Colt .30 Army rifle), I am betting the young typist in the office who prepared that document simply used "colt" instead of "cal" by mistake. I figured if it was a BAR, it'd have been given special attention, explicitly described in both documents as that would have been a fairly newsworthy discovery I should think. Agree that it was most likely a surplus Krag, or perhaps 1903.

 

I wish an inventory of their apartment had been included! Maybe it'd have listed bulletproof vests, ammo, stolen bonds... ;)

Edited by USMC0802
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Good thinking on that, Hans. I doubt a Colt BAR M1918. More like a 30-40 Krags, very common. Seems only Barrow favored riding around in a 34 Ford with a couple WWI cannons. ( BARs) Exception was Nelson's pal, Chase with the Colt Monitor.

 

The Super 38 from Wolf & Klar is interesting, intrigues me. These motor bandits did travel all over.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This James Roberts seems to have been a dedicated career criminal...rap sheet a mile long. Includes an annotation that he was held in Bryan Ohio under suspicion of bank robbery in January 1934, but no further information on that particular case in his prison file. Makes a guy wonder what all these boys were up to that they DIDN'T get nabbed for...

 

Frank Patterson's record annotated that he had suffered a gunshot wound in the left shoulder in 1933.

 

Prison record described theft of the car they were found with in Detroit, taken at gunpoint in Oak Park (Chicago) IL.

Frank Patterson mugshot.jpg

James Roberts mugshot.jpg

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USMC0802,

 

i really enjoyed reading through your post. The photos are amazing, and I love the maps that you added. If GIJive has not seen this yet, he'll like the Oak Park connection.

 

Thanks!

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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