This week's 45 Friday (or Forty-Five Friday) is a Colt Model 1921AC Thompson submachine gun in great shape except for two spots on the side and bottom of the gun where someone had taken a grinder and removed the serial number. In its place on the side is a crudely stamped new serial number assigned to the gun during the amnesty period created by the Gun Control Act of 1968.

The current owner took the barrel off to check for a serial number and he found it in that hidden spot. This began a long, multi-year search involving original shipping records, newspapers from the 1930s, copies of police interviews, and a FOIA request. When all was said and done, the gun had been properly documented and proven to have belonged to notorious gangster Lester Gillis, better known as "George 'Baby Face' Nelson."

George 'Baby Face' Nelson's Gun

George 'Baby Face' Nelson's Gun

Logan M

Are you sure?

Gobbler Knob L

Logan M

Kenneth C