Movie firearms

280fan

280fan

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I watched an older movie the other day, from sometime in the early 70's. Supposedly it was taking place in 1909. First thing I noticed was the bad guy was carrying a 1911, one of the clunky looking ones that they carried in WW II. At least it looked like a 1911. Am I missing something here? Was there an earlier model ACP, maybe a preliminary model that Browning had out earlier than 1911. Or was this just another Hollywood screwup?

Also, the good guy was carrying a double action revolver, looked like a police model S & W. When were the first double action revolvers available?

Not to mention that the good guys had the baddies trapped on top of a knoll and decided to burn them out by holding their cartridges between thumb and forefinger and pulling the bullets with pliers. They emptied both cartridge belts and wound up with a bag of powder that looked to weigh 25 lbs. One of them spread a trail of powder completely around the hill, in tall grass, before lighting it off and causing a firestorm, which flushed the perps. It would have taken about 1000 .50 BMG cartridges to produce that much powder.

Worst part is the good guy, who carried the D.A. and pulled the bullets with his fingers was Charlton Heston, future NRA king.
 
The 1911 was first submitted to the Army trials in 1906, along with 7 or 8 other designs.

There were some problems at the trials and it was resubmitted in 1907, along with a pistol from Savage.

Over the next few years, the pistol was resubmitted, until in 1911, it passed the trials (6000 rounds with out a malfunction) with flying colors.

So, while it started life in 1906, there were none available to the public, and an original from the trials would be worth a fortune.
 
Originally Posted By: CatShooterDuh!!... It's the MOVIES, Dude - not reality.

If it was reality, it would be called a "Documentary".



Yeah, I realize that. Just got me to wondering about when those guns might actually have been in the field. Go shoot a few cats and relieve the pressure.

Still haven't seen an answer about the D.A. revolver timeline.
 
Originally Posted By: CRshooterS&W Military and Police 1899 first year of manufacture.


Thanks, now I know.
 
I was watching an episode of Shooting Galery last week. They were on the set of Criminal Minds and where talking about authenticity of guns and situations.

They talked to the company that supplies all of the guns for the movies. They have over 12 thousand guns.

They talked about how a lot of the old movies were just what you mentioned: using weapons that were not right for the period, used incorrectly and stuff like that.

Remember how Roy Rodgers used to snap shot that six shooter? Or they could shoot at least a dozen times without reloading?

The one that always irks me is when they are holding a gun on someone for several minutes and then all of a sudden they make a move or something and the guy holding the shotgun or lever action works the action. You don't see any shell ejected, so I guess they were holding an empty gun on them all that time.
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could maybe been a 1903, if you can remember the movie, you could look it up on Imfdb or whatever that site is, its all about movie guns, pretty cool.

I find myself there from time to time.
 
Originally Posted By: skb2706I have one of those clunky 1911s with a manufacturing date of late 1916, early 1917. Check the blue book on it.

I didn't mean to diss the "clunky" 1911, just didn't know how to describe it. Actually I think they're kinda cool looking in that configuration. As in "the real deal".

The name of the movie was "The Last Hard Men". From what I'm reading here I guess the firearms were a reasonable representation. I still don't know how you get a bag of powder the size of a bed pillow from pulling the bullets from two cartridge belts of ammo for an old Winny lever action though, LOL.
 
Yellowhammer,I can't help but notice the same things with the lever guns.When they are about to get into some stuff everyone levers their rifle a half dozen times and toss them around to each other and they all lever them a couple times,I know it's just a movie but that really bugs me.
 
Tnshootist, I totally agree with you,
I see many inaccurate problems in TV concerning guns and ammo also. This includes ballistic probabilities also.
In one TV show, the coroner said he was shot at 30 yards with a shotgun. It had to be Buckshot, because "birdshot" wouldn't be lethal at 30 yards.
I wouldn't want to be shot in the face, neck or chest at 30 yards wth any of my 12 gauges.
I saw a movie the other day where a woman shot a double barrel shotgun WITH hammers two times withuot cocking either hammer.
It also hacks me off, the way sit-coms portray guns as evil scary things and hunters as inbred, uneducated bloodthirsty hicks.
OK, my rant is over for now.

Shayne
 
This kind of stuff is silly to talk about in a way ,but on the other hand,this kind of stuff is all millions of people know about guns.When you think about someone who has never seen a real gun,much less done any shooting or had any education about guns they may believe what they see on TV is really the way guns work.This would help explain why some people have such far fetched ideas about firearms. Some people probably think every time you shoot a car with a pistol it blows up.
 
Originally Posted By: tnshootist Some people probably think every time you shoot a car with a pistol it blows up.

Whoa whoa wait a minute here...are you suggesting cars don't blow up when shot by a .38 snubby??? That's like saying propane tanks don't blow up when shot by a 9mm from 50 feet! (Mythbusters reference). I think that's uncalled for!
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I've given up watching NCIS, CSI, etc because of the inaccuracies in firearm and computer references. I'm sure if I was a scientist, I'd have lost my mind at those inaccuracies as well.
 
The thing is these are the voters that are deciding the future of gun ownership.Some of the new shows like Top Shot does give anyone interested a somewhat more accurate and practical view of weapons of different sorts. They may do more good than I had been giving credit for. My Grandpa started me shooting his old double 12 ga.when I was so little he would get down on one knee and put the other in the middle of my back so it would not knock me down.He would help me hold it up and I would shoot.It would just pound me and he would say shoot the other barrel,and I would.I loved to shoot that old gun even though it hurt so bad.One time it turned me blue to my belt.When Mom saw that she had a fit.Good old times!
 
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