No problem buying a gun without generating curiosity, but finding a larger caliber handgun in a small town would be difficult unless the town was located in an area where there were bears and other large animals, and reasons for people spend time in the woods.
I lived in a small town in 1956, and while rifles were a glut, the local hardware store usually stocked only one or two cheap .22 caliber pistols. If you wanted something more powerful, you drove to a larger town with a well stocked sporting goods store, or you ordered it through the mail.
WWII German surplus 9MM Lugers were cheap and readily available from several outdoor magazine advertisers, but it took time to get them without the Internet and UPS.