Did Dirty Harry shoot 44 Magnums?

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.308 Norma said:
It's been awhile since I watched "Magnum Force," but if I remember right, early in the movie after a motorcycle cop had killed a car full of mafia type guys, someone said they had been shot with "hollowpoints at close range."
I could be wrong though. I'm pretty sure it's another "Dirty Harry" movie where Callahan says, "A 357's a good round, but I've seen 38s bounce of windshields.";)
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the motor cop killed a pimp in the car; .357 wadcutters was mentioned.

Tyne Daily's character was give a pat on the back for her use of a .357. “A 357 magnum is a good weapon, but I've seen 38's careen off of windshields. No good in a city like this.”
 
Pat Riot said:
Ah, but his light Special has a lot of recoil and noise. He was just funnin’ those Rookies.
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I noticed they were actively shooting when he walked up, but he was not wearing any ear protection at the time. Not a single wince, finger in the ears, or "hey wait so I can get my muffs on". Just proof that all the gunshot sounds are edited in on the foley.

Also, if you noticed ,when he and the rookie he lent his gun to were shown shooting, their backs were to the camera. Most likely stunt doubles actually doing the shooting.

I still like that scene about as much as any other one in the film. I also like this one, from Sudden Impact
Dirty Harry: Sudden Impact - .44 Auto Mag Scene (1080p) - YouTube
 
.308 Norma said:
It's been awhile since I watched "Magnum Force," but if I remember right, early in the movie after a motorcycle cop had killed a car full of mafia type guys, someone said they had been shot with "hollowpoints at close range."
Click to expand...

JERRY said:
the motor cop killed a pimp in the car; .357 wadcutters was mentioned.
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Naw JERRY, the motorcycle cop killing the pimp in the car came later in the movie. I just plugged the DVD into the player and watched it. I was referring to when the motorcycle cop killed a whole car full of mafia type guys early in the movie - as I said.
I was wrong about the "hollowpoints at close range" line though. All that was said about the dead mafia guys was, "it looks like they were killed with a magnum.";)
 
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There is a seen in that movie when the Lt. disarms Harry. He asks for his extra speed loaders as he knows he always carries three. Clearly .44 Magnum Lead SWc’s. However, it’s a movie and Harry never actually shot live ammo.

the video is called Magnum Force: LT Briggs shows his true colours

If I was to guess given the time of the movie he was shooting 429421’s over 10 grains of Unique
 
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All I know is, if I was gonna carry a .44 Spl, it'd be in a Mdl 21, *maybe* a Mdl 24; with a 4" barrel.
 
bangswitch said:
Also, if you noticed ,when he and the rookie he lent his gun to were shown shooting, their backs were to the camera. Most likely stunt doubles actually doing the shooting.
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I take exception sir! Eric Stratton needs no stunt double and he's damn glad to meet you. As far as Hemlock? Any man capable of performing multiple sanctions on the North face of the Eiger could free hand a Barrett, let alone a 29. I accept your apology.
 
You could be right, with proper training and practice, they could both be accomplished enough to put 6 in an 8" circle . It does become more believable in the shooting competition between Eastwood (Harry) and David Soul (John Davis), as you can see their faces, but then it doesn't show the actual hits on the pop-up targets. Both actors handle their revolvers well (Eastwood does a pretty quick reload during his shooting run, and Soul ejects his empties as if Paul Harrell had taught him, lol), and it's interesting to see the differences in the shooting stances they use. Soul, being a military vet (his character, at least), goes into a crouch and uses a two-hand grip when shooting; Eastwood looks like he's on a Sunday stroll and swings that big .44 one-handed when he shoots. Then, curiously, when Davis out-shoots him and he asks to try out the Python, Eastwood shoots it two-handed, using a wrist-brace grip with his weak hand.
Magnum Force (5/10) Movie CLIP - Shooting Competition (1973) HD - YouTube

I'd consider this as a training exercise for Soul, who a couple of years later goes 92 episodes as Kenneth Hutchinson (Hutch) in the series Starsky and Hutch
 
.308 Norma said:
Naw JERRY, the motorcycle cop killing the pimp in the car came later in the movie. I just plugged the DVD into the player and watched it. I was referring to when the motorcycle cop killed a whole car full of mafia type guys early in the movie - as I said.
I was wrong about the "hollowpoints at close range" line though. All that was said about the dead mafia guys was, "it looks like they were killed with a magnum.";)
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its a great movie that hollywood still can't keep down. I hope everyone now knows that Inspector Harry Callahan used a special light magnum in his 44. pretty sure he didn't load them himself as he is dumping the brass in a bucket in the indoor range.
 
jdh said:
Based on the conversation the question comes to mind was he talking about his competition load or his duty load? He compared it to a 357 with wad cutters. Few officers carried 38 wad cutters in their 357 on duty.
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Back in the day, wadcutters were cheap practice ammo. But they tumble and mushroom with the best of them.
 
Jeff Cooper said that was the bad part about a revolver; you could train with ammo giving substantially less recoil than your service load.
There was the story of the trainee who dropped her gun the first time she fired a +P or Magnum, thinking it had blown up.
 
Blown up! Here's a story. I've been shooting a SW 632 3 inch comp'ed with a hammer, 327 mag revolver in club matches. I shot
Fiocchi 32 Long FMJ, 97 gr 800 FPS for the most part as it was cheaper and I got a deal on a case. However, it was iffy for knocking down steel, so I planned a stage with a speed loader of full power 327 to get to the steel. When I first shot a round of it, the SO jumped as did the spectators as they thought the gun blew up! It did have quite a recoil impulse.

They got used to it. Quite a round though for light and sound effects!
 
GEM said:
Blown up! Here's a story. I've been shooting a SW 632 3 inch comp'ed with a hammer, 327 mag revolver in club matches. I shot
Fiocchi 32 Long FMJ, 97 gr 800 FPS for the most part as it was cheaper and I got a deal on a case. However, it was iffy for knocking down steel, so I planned a stage with a speed loader of full power 327 to get to the steel. When I first shot a round of it, the SO jumped as did the spectators as they thought the gun blew up! It did have quite a recoil impulse.

They got used to it. Quite a round though for light and sound effects!
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LOL!!! Excelllent!

I put all of my odd rounds in a box in my reloading/store room and every once in a while take it to the range with me. It'll be whatever was left in a box - six rounds to a cylinder doesn't work out to 50 rounds, 8 in a magazine, etc. - and at the end of a session I'll load up odds-n-ends and plink away. It's good practice. Especially when two rounds of .38Spl 145gr. LWC are bracketed by two rounds of .357Mag 158gr. JHP. bang, bang BANG!!! bang BANG!!! Talk about curing a flinch! :rofl::D
 
On whether the movie used Model 57 as a stand-in for Model 29, Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDb) is pretty adamant that S&W assembled two Model 29s from parts in their shop for use in DIRTY HARRY: one with 8 3/8" barrel and one with 6 1/2" barrel. Since IMFDb editors include actual movie firearms prop masters with inside info, I'll believe them over trivia sources.
As an aside, the script by John Milius called for a Model 29 4" barrel.

Dirty Harry - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games (imfdb.org)
 
Dibbs said:
Back in the day, wadcutters were cheap practice ammo. But they tumble and mushroom with the best of them.
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Yes I know that was the bill of goods some were sold. In particular the loading of hollow base wadcutters backwards as a make shift hollow point when the duty load of the day was a 158 gr RNL bullet. The biggest problem with that was the best one could expect for penetration was maybe six inches. And they really sucked at reloading from a speed loader, BTW.
 
Please vote on your Favorite Dirty Harry movie and firearms used in the series.

Poll started in General Discussion.
 
Or he was using a light special for target work.

Looks like he was really shooting at the range targets, or a stuntman.
 
Carl N. Brown said:
On whether the movie used Model 57 as a stand-in for Model 29, Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDb) is pretty adamant that S&W assembled two Model 29s from parts in their shop for use in DIRTY HARRY: one with 8 3/8" barrel and one with 6 1/2" barrel. Since IMFDb editors include actual movie firearms prop masters with inside info, I'll believe them over trivia sources.
As an aside, the script by John Milius called for a Model 29 4" barrel.

Dirty Harry - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games (imfdb.org)
Click to expand...

The 8 3/8 was only used for a promotional movie poster and was never filmed. S&W put together two 6 1/2 inch 29-2s for filming. The movie director put all this to rest years ago.
 
Magnum Force came out in 1973.
The only .44 special factory loads I recall from back then were 246-grain round nose lead @ 7xx (claimed ) fps from a who knows what barrel.
I can't recall anything back then being "light" in 1973 except that new beer from Miller.
 
GEM said:
Blown up! Here's a story. I've been shooting a SW 632 3 inch comp'ed with a hammer, 327 mag revolver in club matches. I shot
Fiocchi 32 Long FMJ, 97 gr 800 FPS for the most part as it was cheaper and I got a deal on a case. However, it was iffy for knocking down steel, so I planned a stage with a speed loader of full power 327 to get to the steel. When I first shot a round of it, the SO jumped as did the spectators as they thought the gun blew up! It did have quite a recoil impulse.

They got used to it. Quite a round though for light and sound effects!
Click to expand...

Once upon a time in PA I woke up the entire range when I set off some Corbon Ruger only loads after shooting standard pressure 45 Colt in my Ruger Birdshead Old Vaquero
 
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