Weapons used by John Dillinger

American gangster and bank robber John Dillinger is known to have used many weapons during his criminal career.

• Colt .38 Super automatic, with Cutts compensator, 22-round magazine, and vertical foregrip. Modified by San Antonio arms supplier Hyman S. Lehman (his gun shop was located at 111 South Flores Street). Available in .38 or .45. A machine pistol was left behind by Dillinger at the Lincoln Court Apartments on March 31, 1934. A machine pistol was used by Baby Face Nelson with deadly results near Little Bohemia in April 1934.

• Colt Monitor, the commercial version of the Browning Automatic Rifle. Used by Nelson and Chase in Barrington on November 27, 1934. The 30.06 Monitor was introduced in 1931. Only 125 were ever produced. Discontinued circa 1940. Rate of fire: 500 rounds per minute. Exceedingly rare, Monitors fetch upwards of $100,000 in today's market. If the Nelson/Chase Monitor were ever to surface, it would probably top $1 million.

• Model 1905 Smith & Wesson Hand-Ejector .38, used by Detective Henry Cummings on March 31, 1934, at the Lincoln Court Apartments during his shootout with Dillinger. A six-shooter, Cummings testified at the Frechette trial that he fired five times in Dillinger's direction and was out. As a backup, he was also carrying a Colt .25 Model 1908 Vest Pocket, but probably wisely decided to reload the .38 instead of employing the Colt. Donated to the Minnesota Historical Society by Cummings' heirs.

• Dillinger's wooden gun. At last count, there are approximately eight wooden guns that have surfaced, with most of them being of recent vintage. There are a handful of researchers who believe the gun Dillinger is holding in the famous photograph taken at the family farm on April 8, 1934, hasn't been found yet. The argument is that the barrel on the gun Dillinger is holding appears to be a bit longer than those that have surfaced, as well as being almost perfectly round. The barrel is reflecting the sun, suggesting a metal barrel. The matter is still open to debate. According to G. Russell Girardin, Dillinger's first biographer, O'Leary had made a duplicate of the gun. He kept the original for himself and returned the phony to Dillinger's family, where it was subsequently stolen.^[1] The O'Leary duplicate is reportedly in a private collection in Washington State.

• Savage Model 1907 .32 ACP automatic, black, No. 258872. The gun Herbert Youngblood, Dillinger's co-escapee at Crown Point, used to kill Under-Sheriff Charles Cavanaugh, critically wound Deputy Sheriff Howard Lohr, and also wound Sheriff William Van Antwerp and civilian Eugene Field in Port Huron, Michigan, on March 16, 1934. Youngblood was also carrying a nickel-plated Smith & Wesson .38 Police Special, with six-inch barrel, bearing No. 613951 on the butt of the gun, and chamber No. 33524. This gun was used to cause his own death at the hands of civilian Eugene Field. Both guns taken March 3 during the Crown Point escape.

• Thompson submachine gun. Models 1921 and 1928 were the weapons of choice for nearly all 1930s outlaws. If acquired legitimately, a Thompson originally sold for $200. Rate of fire: 720 rpm (Model 1928), 850 rpm (Model 1921). A Thompson was first secured by the gang during their raid of the Auburn, Indiana, police station on October 14, 1933, and made its debut nine days later at the Greencastle robbery. Three officers were killed with the Thompson by Dillinger gang members: Martin J. O'Brien and Francis Lloyd Mulvihill (by Van Meter on Thursday, May 24, 1934) and William Patrick O'Malley (by Dillinger on Monday, January 15, 1934). All three policemen are buried near each other at Calvary Cemetery in Portage, Indiana.

• .351 Winchester Model 1907, modified by Lehman, with a 20-round magazine and vertical foregrip. A favorite of Van Meter's, he used one at the South Bend robbery on Saturday, June 30, 1934, killing Officer Howard Wagner. Found in most recovered Dillinger arsenals, including Tucson (2) and Little Bohemia.

• Colt .38 Super automatic (stock). One of the pistols found in Mary Longnaker's Dayton, Ohio, apartment on Friday, September 22, 1933, at 1:30 a.m. The .38 was found between the cushions of the sofa, along with several other guns in Dillinger's luggage. The bandit was standing in the middle of the living room looking at photographs of their recent trip to the World's Fair when detectives stormed in. Currently in possession of the Dayton Police Department.

References

1. Girardin/Helmer, p.106