FN 1905 Vest Pocket/Colt 1908 Vest Pocket. In Europe, this caliber was the most common police caliber for many years.ħ. An intermediate gun, this pistol was not a tiny hideout gun, and yet was smaller and easier to hide than a. 32 revolvers that were commonly used by police and possibly better than the. Sending a 71 grain bullet downrange at 1017 feet per second, the. Introduced in 1899, this semi-automatic pistol had all the advantages of an automatic with its greater capacity and faster reload than a revolver, and the flat shape was easier to hide on the body than a revolver. Thus, gangsters could have a little more potent firepower at no increase in size of their pistol.Ĩ. 32 ACP chambered Model 1903, although the guns were basically the same size. 32 caliber version.īorn 5 years after the Colt 1903 (Captain Obvious Strikes!) except this time in a bigger caliber, the Colt 1908 sent a 90 grain bullet out at 1000 feet per second, making it somewhat more effective than the. 38 caliber the muzzle velocity was around 767 feet per second which gave the 158 grain bullet marginal stopping power, but about double the energy of the.
#Fn 1905 vs colt 1908 full#
With a barrel length of as little as 2 ½ inches, the gangsters could use it as a concealed weapon or in its full sized mode as a main sidearm. 32 Short Colt).Ī common under whelming police revolver of its day (1907-1947) this revolver was commonly used by police, and therefore the public assumed it would be good for them, too. Here is a list of some of the favorite gangster guns of the 1920’s and 1930’s (and by gangsters, we mean hardcore criminals, not the junkie holding up a liquor store).ġ0. On numerous occasions then and even in the 1970’s and 1980’s the police were woefully under-armed, but that is changing now. 38 caliber revolvers and sometimes 12 gauge pump action shotguns. In the 1920’s and 1930’s gangsters had been arming themselves with automatic and semi-automatic weapons and out-gunning the police, with the police mostly armed with. For a change, the lawmen had the upper hand as far as firepower goes. On May 23, 1934, bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down by law enforcement officers.