alan L | 05 Aug 2015 8:35 a.m. PST |
I was looking at Bob Murch's Special Weapons Pack in Gangland Justice pulpfigures.com/products/view/83 Was a heavy machine gun actually ever used by the police in a US city or would it just be in a pulp universe? Alan |
Frederick | 05 Aug 2015 8:47 a.m. PST |
A number of private security agencies used Colt machine guns but I don't know that any police forces used a big brute like the one in the special weapons pack |
coryfromMissoula | 05 Aug 2015 8:50 a.m. PST |
Heavy machine guns were deployed in at least a few labor strikes by police. Offhand I don't know of any being used outside of firing over the heads of workers. In the Pacific Northwest machine guns were seen as essential in keeping Wobblies under control. |
Bobgnar | 05 Aug 2015 9:17 a.m. PST |
Is Murphy's crossing the movie pulp or close to fact, there's a heavy machine gun used in that movie. There are often examples of police or National Guard maybe using heavy machine guns against strikers or union rallys. I took the head off my police machine gun and added a mountie head for my mounted police contingent in VB CW. Part of Prince Alberts contingent from Canada. This is a very convertible figure to create a heavy machine gun for various units. Just change the head. Machine guns are used against prisoners in prison riot movies. |
79thPA | 05 Aug 2015 9:25 a.m. PST |
More likely to be seen in use by mine and industrial guards during between the wars labor unrest. |
bsrlee | 05 Aug 2015 11:49 a.m. PST |
Looking at the pack, the BAR is right in line with what was around, Bonny & Clyde stole several in their rampage from Police and National Guard armouries. The super heavy barrel rifle is very 1970's or later, for Pulp it would be an '03 Springfield with a long tube sight – just like the rifle in Saving Private Ryan. As for the HMG – it wouldn't be for want of trying by the arms manufacturers, remember that Colt/Gatling were successful in selling several 'Bulldog' Gatlings to 19th Century Police Departments. At the same time there were a number of other odd weapons out there which various companies were trying to sell to anyone with the cash – how about a 37mm clockwork revolver cannon? It looked a lot like a cement mixer barrel covered in short tubes and a single long piece of pipe as the 'barrel'. The same company offered 12 gauge 5 shot revolvers as well as a (much more popular) 12 gauge clockwork street sweeper shotgun. |
Mako11 | 05 Aug 2015 2:05 p.m. PST |
Yea, I was gonna say perhaps a BAR was mistaken as a HMG. Apparently, those were used by more than a few people back in the day. |
capncarp | 05 Aug 2015 2:49 p.m. PST |
Could anybody suggest to Mr. Murch another, "Riot Squad", unit of figures? A pack that included a tear-gas launcher and a couple of figures with pump-action shotguns? |
skippy0001 | 05 Aug 2015 6:30 p.m. PST |
Remember, you could by Thompson's, BAR's and opium over the counter in the early twenties. The Kong movie showed a truck mounted 37mm gun. You could probably get a hold of anything in dem days… |
Col Durnford | 05 Aug 2015 8:52 p.m. PST |
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Bunkermeister | 05 Aug 2015 10:12 p.m. PST |
Thompson and BAR were actively marketed to the Police in the 1920's. NYPD operated at least one Colt Potato Digger HMG mounted on a motorcycle side car. I would not think it unreasonable for a large city agency to have a belt fed water cooled machine gun in the 1920s or 1930's. They might only have a few, but they would like to have them on hand until the National Guard could arrive in a riot, insurrection, etc. Remember the National Guard was much smaller in those days and could take longer to arrive. Mike Bunkermeister Creek SGT Says blog |
Bob Murch | 06 Aug 2015 6:28 p.m. PST |
The film Miller's Crossing was the inspiration for the HMG. |
capncarp | 07 Aug 2015 9:02 p.m. PST |
Boardwalk Empire featured a Klan-operated Vickers mounted on the back of a truck to decimate an "undesirable" bootlegging outfit. |