John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) carries two Colt M1911A1 pistols kept in a leather cross-draw shoulder holster rig throughout the film, although he rarely fires them. Several of his gang members also carry and use them, including Harry "Pete" Pierpont (David Wenham), Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff), Walter Dietrich (James Russo), Charley Makley (Christian Stolte), and "Baby Face" Nelson (Stephen Graham). Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Channing Tatum) reaches for a nickel 1911 when he is shot down in an Ohio field, but Purvis kicks it from his hand. The pistols used by the prison escapees (most of Dillinger's gang) in the opening scene are 1911s smuggled into the prison by Dillinger. FBI agents such as Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and Charles Winstead (Stephen Lang) also fire 1911s, during the Little Bohemia and Biograph Theater scenes respectively.
While Dillinger was said to prefer .38 Super pistols in real life, there are currently no .38 Super blanks in the armorer industry, and all of the M1911A1s in the film were chambered in .45 ACP, except for the machine pistol. In the actual screenplay, the pistols are said to be "Colt .45 automatics".
Error creating thumbnail: File missingPre-War Colt M1911A1 Pistol Commercial - .45 ACP.Error creating thumbnail: File missingPre-War Colt M1911A1 used on Public EnemiesError creating thumbnail: File missingThe Indiana State Prison escapees pull 1911A1s out of a box of string sent to the prison's shirt factory. Whether Dillinger actually smuggled the guns into the prison in the way seen in this picture is unclear. According to the book that this movie was based off of, one account states that he tossed the guns over the wall of the prison. Another inmate plotter claimed that the guns were smuggled inside boxes of string. Probably because of dramatic purposes, Mann has gone with the latter account.Error creating thumbnail: File missingWalter Dietrich with his 1911A1 during the escape.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger sticks his 1911A1 into the neck of escapee Ed Shouse before tossing him out of the car. In the script, Dillinger was to grab Red's Remington Model 11 shotgun and thrust it into Shouse's chest before kicking him out.Error creating thumbnail: File missing"You can be a dead hero or a live coward. Get it open." Dillinger pistol-whips and then holds his 1911A1 on bank president Grover Weyland during the Racine, Wisconsin bank robbery when he stalls.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger draws both 1911A1s during the Greencastle, Indiana bank robbery.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger informs Phil D'Andrea and the other mobsters in the betting parlor that he is, in fact, armed.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger draws his 1911A1 as he watches Billie get arrested.Error creating thumbnail: File missingPurvis aims his 1911A1 at Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater.Error creating thumbnail: File missingWinstead shoots Dillinger.
Special
On the DVD featurette "Criminal Technology", Johnny Depp talks about his weaponry, including two ".45s".
John "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke) fires a Colt Model 1902 at vigilantes and police during the Sioux Falls robbery after his Thompson runs out of ammunition.
John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) keeps a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless as a secondary sidearm, most notably as a "pocket pistol" when in hiding in Chicago after the Little Bohemia shootout. It is also seen when he places it down on a hotel room table in Tucson, earlier in the film. The script describes it as a "Colt .380 automatic", which was the pistol Dillinger was supposedly carrying the night he was killed on July 22, 1934.
The FBI agent who beats Billie Frechette, Harold Reinecke (Adam Mucci), carries a Colt Official Police. An Official Police is also seen inside the gun safe in the Crown Point jail.
Several FBI agents are seen with Colt Detective Specials, usually seen in their hip holsters. Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) is notably seen with one holstered in several scenes.
The Tucson policeman who removes Dillinger's handcuffs after he is arrested in the hotel has a very early production Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver in his holster. It has the rounded hard rubber grips only used between 1899-1905.
When Purvis tells FBI agent Carter Baum (Rory Cochrane) to wait in the alley when going to arrest Nelson in the apartment building, Baum draws a Smith & Wesson Model 10 that he later uses to fruitlessly trade shots with the Thompson-armed Nelson. Several other FBI agents are seen with Model 10s.
On the DVD featurette "Criminal Technology", a Racine police officer is seen firing a Model 10 at the Dillinger gang from behind the car. In the actual film, this shot is too far away to tell what model of revolver he is using.
John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and several other of his gang members, notably "Baby Face" Nelson (Stephen Graham), Harry "Pete" Pierpont (David Wenham), and John "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke) have Thompsons, sometimes seen with the stock removed with a lanyard attached. Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Channing Tatum) carries and fires one as he is being pursued by Purvis. During the breakout from Crown Point jail, Dillinger hands a Thompson to Herbert Youngblood (Michael Bentt). FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) also uses a Thompson in several scenes. During the Little Bohemia shootout, there was a continuity error with Purvis' Thompson. He starts out with a drum magazine, but when reloading, continuity errors show him instantly switching to a stick magazine.
The guns used in the film were a mix of Colt M1921s (Some the same used in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) with 1928 internals, M1928A1s refinished to look like M1921s (by adding a polished blued finish) and there were some Thompson hybrids that were built out of various models. (thanks goes to Steve Karnes for the information on the guns)
Error creating thumbnail: File missingColt M1921AC Thompson with 50-round drum - .45 ACP.Error creating thumbnail: File missingColt M1921AC Thompson with 20-round magazine - .45 ACP.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger fires his Thompson at the guard tower during the Indiana State Prison break. In the actual escape, Dillinger was not present because he was imprisoned in Lima, Ohio. Also, few shots were fired during the prison breakout - only a clerk was injured.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger dismantles the Thompson at a farmhouse after the opening prison break. Director Michael Mann said that Johnny Depp was fascinated by the Thompson and became quite adept at firing and handling it and, in this scene, he took it apart professionally by himself.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger fires on the police with his Thompson next to the bank president during the Racine shootout. This bank president must have been deafened by the gunfire, since he doesn't even flinch although Dillinger is firing a machine gun a few feet away.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA close up of Dillinger aiming his Thompson during the Racine bank robbery getaway.Error creating thumbnail: File missingPierpont aims his Thompson inside the Greencastle bank.Error creating thumbnail: File missingRed holds up two Thompsons, each attached to him via a lanyard, inside the Chicago betting parlor.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe trigger-happy Nelson fires a burst from his Thompson that brings down a cop outside the Sioux Falls bank robbery. His trigger-happy personality made Nelson the most violent of the 1930s bank robbers, although he was also shadowed in fame by Dillinger.Error creating thumbnail: File missingDillinger takes a shot in the arm from a vigilante while ducking outside the Sioux Falls bank with his Thompson.Error creating thumbnail: File missingRed lays down a base of fire from his Thompson in Sioux Falls.Error creating thumbnail: File missingPurvis fires his Thompson outside Little Bohemia.Error creating thumbnail: File missingPurvis fires a Thompson one-handed while pursuing Nelson on the running board of Agent Crowley's car after the Little Bohemia fiasco.Error creating thumbnail: File missingNelson lays dead next to his Thompson.
Deleted Scenes
Although featured in the trailer, some shots of Dillinger riding on a getaway car's running board holding a Thompson didn't make it into the final cut of the film. Based on the clothing and the fact that this scene appears in the script but not the film, it can be deduced that these scenes were supposed to be the gang's getaway from the Greencastle bank robbery (the second one shown in the film).
On the DVD featurette "Criminal Technology", Johnny Depp and director Michael Mann both talk about the Thompson, with Depp referring to it as a "1921 Thompson" and how it should be aimed and fired like a rifle, rather than fired from the hip.
John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson owned a rather unique firearm at one point, a Colt Government Model chambered in .38 Super (which would pierce body armor when the .45 ACP round wouldn't) which was specially modified by gunsmith Hyman Lebman to fire full auto, loaded with an extended magazine, was fitted with a Thompson's fore-grip and a Thompson's Cutts compensator to turn it into a miniaturized "machine pistol". In the film Dillinger is sadly never seen using it, and it is only wielded in the hands of "Baby Face" Nelson (Stephen Graham), who uses it during the Little Bohemia shootout to fire out the windows and later to gun down an FBI agent before stealing his vehicle. The Colt "machine pistol" used in the film was a Colt Government Model originally chambered in .38 Super that was converted to 9mm to fire blanks. Note before the the Colt Mark IV Series 70 Government Models, Colt 38 Supers were not classified or marked as "Government Models". Since they aren't that common in the film industry it's easier to list them under Government Model.
One of Dillinger's bank robbers, Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff), uses a Browning Automatic Rifle during several of the gang's robberies. One of Purvis' FBI men is also seen firing a BAR during the Little Bohemia shootout. Van Meter's BAR has a notably shorter barrel than the standard models released, although it was actually Bonnie & Clyde who favored the sawed down BARs, and not Dillinger's gang. The weapons were modified in the "Bonnie & Clyde" configuration and supplied by Gibbons Ltd. for the film. In a documentary about the film, Dorff joked that handling the weapon one-handed often felt like it weighed seventy five pounds.
Trivia: The screenplay called for Van Meter to use a .351 Winchester rifle during the Racine bank robbery. Although he doesn't use it in this scene, Van Meter is later seen with a .351 Winchester during the Sioux Falls robbery.
Melvin Purvis fires a half-stocked Mauser 98 Sporter when searching for "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Channing Tatum) in Ohio. He ultimately uses it to fatally wound Floyd after taking a well aimed shot at him as he flees, making use of the double set triggers to lighten the trigger pull and make his shot more accurate. This is a German-style purpose-built sporter with a ribbed barrel, express sights and a flat "butter-knife" style bolt handle, and not a converted military rifle. It is not, as some have suggested, a Mannlicher-Schonauer, though they were quite popular among sportsman of the era.
Trivia: The only thing accurate about Floyd's death scene in the movie is that he was shot at long distance by a sniper. In reality, this happened in an open field, not an apple orchard, and Purvis was just one of several men who fired on Floyd, so the man who fired the fatal shots is still in question. Additionally, Floyd was killed after Dillinger had died.
The screenplay reads: "[Purvis] carries an 8mm Mauser sports rifle with a slim fore-stock and wrist and a turned-down bolt handle. It's the best rifle made in 1933."
Some of the Indiana State Prison guards at Michigan City carry M1903 Springfield rifles, as do soldiers guarding the streets outside Crown Point jail several months later. These are not, as previously suggested, 1940s-era M1903A3s, but the correct M1903, identified by it's humped upper hand-guard. A vigilante in Sioux Falls is also briefly seen with one.
The uniformed Ohio police officers aiding in Purvis's pursuit of "Pretty Boy" Floyd carry US Krag rifles, most likely M1898s. Similarly, a plainclothes guard is seen carrying an M1898 Krag carbine when Dillinger leaves his interview at the jail.
John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) grabs a Remington Model 8 autoloading rifle during his breakout from Crown Point jail. These rifles are also seen in the hands of several FBI agents and policemen.
After Dillinger breaks out of Crown Point, a customized Winchester Model 1907 with a ten-round magazine and a Thompson fore-grip enters the gang's armory, with Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff) using one during the Sioux Falls robbery and Ed Shouse (Michael Vieau) firing it during the Little Bohemia gunfight. This is historically accurate since this weapon, built by gunsmith Hyman Lebman, was found among the weaponry in Dillinger's crew, seen in the photo linked from this article. John "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke) aims a Winchester at the mobster at the farmhouse after Dillinger's prison break. Earlier in the film, Purvis also tells his agents that they will receive, in addition to Thompsons and B.A.R.s, .351 Winchester semi-automatic rifles, most likely referring to the Model 1907.
Winchester Model 1892 rifles are used by prison guards at the Michigan City prison. One is also used by a vigilante to graze Dillinger in the shoulder during the Sioux Falls bank robbery botched by "Baby Face" Nelson. The screenplay states this vigilante to be a deputy with a .44-40 Winchester.
Many lawmen use the Winchester Model 1897 pump shotgun throughout the film, including the two FBI agents, Carter Baum (Rory Cochrane) and Warren Barton (Madison Dirks), who are right behind Purvis as he chases Floyd through Ohio. Many of Dillinger's guards upon his arrival in Crown Point also have Riot and full-barreled versions.
When Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) is apprehended by the FBI, one of the agents is seen carrying Winchester Model 1897 "Trench" model with a heat shield and a bayonet lug.
FBI agent Charles Winstead (Stephen Lang) fires a sawed-off Winchester Model 1901 chambered in 10-gauge during the Little Bohemia shootout. The script called for a "pump action 10-gauge", but Winstead in the film used the lever action Winchester 10-gauge.
On the DVD featurette "Criminal Technology", Stephen Lang talks about the Winchester 10-gauge lever action shotgun, referring to the weapon's looks and how it's the perfect weapon for the character of Charles Winstead.
John "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke) uses a sawed-off Remington Model 11 as his primary weapon during the film's early scenes, such as the Indiana State Prison break and the Racine bank robbery. The lead Tucson policeman arresting Dillinger and several FBI agents also have Remington Model 11 shotguns, mostly with sawed-down stocks and barrels.
John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) crafts himself a "Wooden Gun" that he uses to break out of Crown Point jail before several guards realize it was fake. It has been confirmed that the real Dillinger did escape using this method, although the number of guards he took hostage likely differs from the number seen in the movie.
Trivia: Two of Dillinger's first accomplices, Pete Pierpont and Charles Makley, attempted to copy Dillinger's escape method in September 1934 by carving fake guns from bars of soap and painting them black. Their attempt failed with Makley being killed and Pierpont receiving the electric chair a few weeks after the attempted escape.
