TV, movies, and guns....

[Heliman]

I must have been around firearms way too long. Whenever I watch old episodes of Perry Mason and other crime dramas and action movies on TV, I find myself identifying what the manufacturer and model number is of the various firearms used or presented. No big deal most the time, but I say the model out load with my wife sitting on the couch with a strange look on her face, like I am weird or something. Sometimes she asks, “How do you know that?”.
I have had other people ask me the same question when cruising through the gun shows or shops. Maybe the life long firearm addiction has side effects..... Anyone else out there find themselves doing this? Just curious.... :?

Dave the “addict”

 

[PastorDale]

I'm with you. I can't help myself when I see a firearm on TV. My wife got use to it. Now my son will call and ask what gun he just saw on TV.He will describe it, and I will name it most of the time.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Dave, I just thought all guys did that. I do the same thing. I think my wife has come to expect it. :mrgreen:

 

[Bob Wright]

You mean you're not supposed to do that?

I notice, too, that Charlie Chan's adversaries seem to prefer the Luger.

Bob Wright

 

[Rook]

I was watching a TV show this week that was set in 1872 and they were using an 1894 Winchester lever action rifle. That stuff bothers me.

My wife just looks at me like this... :roll:

 

[Mokwaw]

Yeah, I do that a lot, too. Wife and I were watching an old John Wayne movie (War Wagon) last night. I made the comment that the cowboys riding escort for the wagon were all using lever action Winchesters, supposedly 44/40. The bandoleers over their shoulders all had what looked like 30-06 cartridges, with pointed bullets no less.

I really cringe when the actors throw the guns in the dirt, or drop them down a rocky hillside, or smash the rifle stock against a tree.

 

[finesse_r]

For a long time PIs, Police, etc mostly carried third generation S&W semi-autos. That has now changed to where they mostly carry Glocks or some other plastic fantastic. The Jesse Stone movies he used a 1911, .45. Keeping up with the guns in movies is automatic (make that semi-automatic) for most of us. The older movies used mostly revolvers and of course the Dirty Harry movies all used that S&W 44 magnum! Guns and cars plan an important role in a great many movies, even if Hollywood is mostly anti-second amendment.

 

[Fox Mike]

I find that to be true. I find i become frustrated when I see a gun used that wasn't around during tbe time frame of the movie. I particularly like when they dig a lead bullet out of some guy and immediately say it was a .44 or a .45.

 

[contender]

You are not alone. I've done it so long that it's automatic. I can identify most firearms used if I get a fair look at them. And,, guess what? Miss Penny has been around a bunch long enough to where she's doing it sometimes too!

 

[Heliman]

I also had an incident along the same lines when I was doing training for the neighborhood watch program sponsored by the local police department. We were talking about what people see as a witness to a crime regarding perp identification.
Well, they surprised us by having a couple of cop actors run through the class with one guy having a knife being attacked by a guy with a handgun.
After the attack everyone had to write down the description of the two guys and anything else we could think of.... I wrote down S&W Model 60 with a 3” barrel. We all turned in the paper to the instructor, then he wrote on a grease board what everyone saw. After all the analysis the instructor singled me out and asked how I knew so much about the gun. I told him of my hobby and experience with firearms. They were impressed..... but said I was mistaken, saying it was a model 36. I disputed their claim and asked to see the firearm. I showed them the model number on the crane of the Smith. They just smiled and shook their heads....

 

[Bull Barrel]

I find that to be true. I find i become frustrated when I see a gun used that wasn't around during tbe time frame of the movie. I particularly like when they dig a lead bullet out of some guy and immediately say it was a .44 or a .45.

Ha ha!
Funny you say that!
Yesterday Audie Murphy pulls a bullet out of a guy and immediately says, "Navy Colt".

 

[smoke-eater]

This TV gun obsession began in 1976 for me. "Starsky & Hutch" - Starsky carried a S&W model 59, and I had to go and buy one for myself.

 

[toysoldier]

I identified every weapon used in the first 3 Star Wars movies as actual firearms, some disguised, some not. Leia's ray gun on the Moon of Endor was a straight-from-the-box Soviet target .22.

 

[Mega Twin]

I always liked when the medical examiner gets to the scene,and immediately
says the hole in the guys head is a 9mm,without even getting the bullet out.
I myself could not tell the difference between a hole made by a 9mm,.380,38 s&W,
38 special,or even a .40 cal.

 

[tinman]

I was watching a TV show this week that was set in 1872 and they were using an 1894 Winchester lever action rifle. That stuff bothers me.
My wife just looks at me like this... :roll:

Recently got to see an interview of Tom Selleck. One of the things he spoke of was (once he became able to do so) his insistence that they use period correct gear, especially firearms, in the movies he appeared in.

 

[Jeepnik]

For a long time PIs, Police, etc mostly carried third generation S&W semi-autos. That has now changed to where they mostly carry Glocks or some other plastic fantastic. The Jesse Stone movies he used a 1911, .45. Keeping up with the guns in movies is automatic (make that semi-automatic) for most of us. The older movies used mostly revolvers and of course the Dirty Harry movies all used that S&W 44 magnum! Guns and cars plan an important role in a great many movies, even if Hollywood is mostly anti-second amendment.

While he started one with the S&W he ended up with an Automag .44.

 

[Bob Wright]

Bonanza does make a little effort for period correct firearms.

All the Cartwrights have Colt Single Action Armys fitted with webs to simulate cap-and-ball Remingtons. And Model 92 Winchesters with the forearm removed and brass plated to look like Henrys.

Half hearted effort, but an effort none the less.

Bob Wright

 

[gunzo]

Just one of the reasons I like the movie, "The Professionals" so much. Not only are all the guns I've noticed, period correct, but most are very new models, or the latest technology at the time. One of the marks of a professional.

 

[Paul B]

I've noticed lately that some of the western movies show firearms other than the Colts and Winchesters we all know and love so well. I've seen 1875 Remington revolvers, a couple of Merwin Hulberts (I think that's the proper name) and even an Evens rifle. :shock: Guy said he wasn't a good rifle shot but I'm thinking that old Evans never was a very accurate rifle. THat's true about Selleck wanting the proper guns for the period and in fact uses his own personal firearms in his western, or so I've been told. Kind of interesting though that in some of the spaghetti westerns the cap and ball guns were all converted to cartridge guns. In Quigley, Crazy Cora actually was shown loading a cap and ball Colt using a powder flask and ramming a bullet home. I still would like to know where those Hollywood Colt single actions are that fire 222 rounds without reloading are hiding. :lol:
Paul B.

 

[Muley Gil]

I also had an incident along the same lines when I was doing training for the neighborhood watch program sponsored by the local police department. We were talking about what people see as a witness to a crime regarding perp identification.
Well, they surprised us by having a couple of cop actors run through the class with one guy having a knife being attacked by a guy with a handgun.
After the attack everyone had to write down the description of the two guys and anything else we could think of.... I wrote down S&W Model 60 with a 3” barrel. We all turned in the paper to the instructor, then he wrote on a grease board what everyone saw. After all the analysis the instructor singled me out and asked how I knew so much about the gun. I told him of my hobby and experience with firearms. They were impressed..... but said I was mistaken, saying it was a model 36. I disputed their claim and asked to see the firearm. I showed them the model number on the crane of the Smith. They just smiled and shook their heads....

Good for you!!!

When I went through the police academy, we had to do the same thing. The handgun the instructor used had had the firing pin removed and the grips were painted red. The majority of the class IDed it as either a .38 revolver or as a S&W .38 special. I identified it as a Spanish copy of a S&W, chambered in .32-20. The instructor wanted to know how I knew that, thinking that someone from an earlier class may have told me. I told him that I owned a .32-20 S&W and that a former college roommate had owned a Spanish .32-20.