Reloading in the movies

Don’t forget Quigley Down Under, where Tom Selleck discusses making ammo for his Sharp’s rifle.

substituting 43 Spanish components for a 40-65? Was it cases or bullets? I love that movie.

^^
It was the British musket bullet that was also a 45(ish) caliber and thus compatible with the Sharps.

Thanks for that. I always wanted to know.

I believe in the old westerns they took to heart "you reload on Sunday and shoot it all week long"

tightgroup tiger said:

substituting 43 Spanish components for a 40-65? Was it cases or bullets? I love that movie.

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Matthew Quigley supposedly had a .45-110 (2 7/8" case) Sharps.
I love that movie too, and the rifle. That's why my wife ordered one just like it for me from Shiloh rifle company for our 25th wedding anniversary. The problem was, our 25th anniversary wasn't that long after Quigley Down Under came out, and Shiloh rifle company had a 2-3 year backorder for their rifles. Consequently, I didn't get my Shiloh-Sharps until after my wife's and my 27th wedding anniversary. We did drive to Big Timber, Montana and pick it up though. That was a nice trip.

I believe in the old westerns they took to heart "you reload on Sunday and shoot it all week long"

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That was with the original Henry rifle. It held 20 some rounds because they were case less rounds, but the movies capitalized on that and applied it to everything, including pistol rounds as in the gun fight in the Kevin Costner/Robert Duvall movie "Open Range" where Kevin Costner shoots like 14 shots out of a 6 shot revolver in the gun fight. It was a good movie until that part.
I don't know what the producers were thinking.

2ndtimer said:

Don’t forget Quigley Down Under, where Tom Selleck discusses making ammo for his Sharp’s rifle.

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You beat me to it 2ndtimer.
It was exactly "reloading," but there was a scene in "The Patriot" where Mel Gibson was melting down toy soldiers (they must have been made of lead) over the campfire in order to make balls for his rifle or musket.

I think it's the only movie I've seen Reba McEntire in. I know she was in more movies than that one but she was great in that movie. One of the best movies to come out at that time.

labnoti said:

Anyone ever see reloading in the movies?

I don't watch a lot of movies, but the closest thing that I can recall seeing was when Sheriff Brodie fills some hollowpoints with cyanide and covers them with wax in Jaws.

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Death wish 3 has a reloading scene where Charles Bronson is charging and seating bullets for a .475 wildey mag on what appears to be a rock chucker.

rfwobbly said:

There's a movie where the ex-military sniper, based on the signature of the rifling from his pet gun, is framed for an assassination he didn't commit. He evades police and travels into the deep woods of Tennessee to consult an old reloader who tells him the bullet was reloaded into a larger caliber gun using a sabot. (As everyone knows, the most knowledgeable reloaders all live in the back woods of Tennessee. And they all have RC Model and Walkalong on speed dial too.)

No actual reloading scenes, just a script built around reloading concepts.

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I believe you’re talking about “Shooter” and it was paper patching.

tightgroup tiger said:

That was with the original Henry rifle. It held 20 some rounds because they were case less rounds, but the movies capitalized on that and applied it to everything, including pistol rounds as in the gun fight in the Kevin Costner/Robert Duvall movie "Open Range" where Kevin Costner shoots like 14 shots out of a 6 shot revolver in the gun fight. It was a good movie until that part.
I don't know what the producers were thinking.

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The Hunt-Jennings-Smith &Wesson Volcanic was only made for two years, maybe 3000 guns all types completed.

When B. Tyler Henry got involved and used the design for a cartridge rifle starting 1860, it was positioned just right for Civil War issue where it was known as the Yankee rifle that you loaded on Sunday and shot all week.

Kevin Costner said he did indeed reload on camera but the scene ended up on the cutting room floor.

At least Quigley was correct with a .45 2 7/8" Sharps. There is some doubt as to whether the 3 1/4" case was ever a factory chambering, the few seen having been rechambered.

Which one used a Forster to load sniper rounds for a bad guy sniping in the city? Was that the Jack Reacher one? I'll never forget the scene .... just all the details.

It was a good scene tho......good enough that I'll bet Forster sold some presses over it. Hope they were "good" guys.

I think there was one Jason Borne sequel that showed a reloading set up in a winter cabin and one with Kevin Costner also, but I can not remember the name.

Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade.I think he had a Rock Chucker press.

nofendertom said:

Burt Lancaster---melting toy lead soldiers to make bullets in "The Unforgiven"
---loading a cartridge for his Sharps rifle in "Valdez is Coming"

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Mel Gibson, in the Patriot, did the same. Except the bullets were for a muzzle loader.

How about Clint Eastwood changing cylinders on his black powder pistols in a movie I can't remember the name of.

Pale Rider

The scene in The Exterminator where Robert Ginty is reloading .44 mag rounds and puts mercury in the hollow points, then melts lead on top to make a flat point.

tightgroup tiger said:

That was with the original Henry rifle. It held 20 some rounds because they were case less rounds, but the movies capitalized on that and applied it to everything, including pistol rounds as in the gun fight in the Kevin Costner/Robert Duvall movie "Open Range" where Kevin Costner shoots like 14 shots out of a 6 shot revolver in the gun fight. It was a good movie until that part.
I don't know what the producers were thinking.

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Watching Costner struggling to pick the empty brass and shake it out of his revolver instead of using the ejector rod killed it for me.

And yet I've done that.....until I think, "Oh hell!" That's what happens when you don't shoot a six gun very often......and you get old....you'll see.

And maybe his e.r. was "broke".....

Or.....even more likely, the producer/director yelled "cut!" and asked Costner to do it again slower so the cameras could catch what he was doing......that'd be about right.....