6 Guns, Cowboys, Hollywood and the Truth

[Kleanbore]

I enjoy watching old Tales of Wells Fargo reruns.

Dale Robertson taught himself to draw southpaw as a gimmick.

In one episode, when his gun was return to him, he declined using it, and then determine that the cartridges were lighter than they should have been--the powder had been removed. .44-40.

In another, he had .45 ammo, but his gun had been taken and the only other gun around was a .44-40.

In another, the 'bad guy', played by Chuck Connors, noted that Jim Hardie carried with the hammer down on an empty chamber. He waited froth gift shot before making his move. But Hardie had become suspicious and had put in six.

I saw one recently in which Hardie was on his way though Mexico during a revolution. He had a rifle-- a Winchester '73 or maybe '76. But the cartridges in his bandolier were long rimless cartridges with spitzer bullets.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

There is a movie you sometimes see on TV, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" starring Sean Connery. Connery is depicted as shooting a double rifle at 1,000 yards, offhand!

One of the characters is supposedly Tom Sawyer, who is depicted as a teenager. But the lead-in to the movie says it's set in 1895, and Tom Sawyer, according to Mark Twain, was "about 14" prior to the Civil War!.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

Well this one isn't "cowboys" but it's certainly 6 guns and Hollywood.

In Jaws 2 Chief Brody fills the pit of his HP's with cyanide via needle and then uses hot wax from a candle to "seal" the poison inside, to be used in his revolver. Any truth to these "poison tipped HP's" or all Hollywood?

 

[Tommygunn]

Well this one isn't "cowboys" but it's certainly 6 guns and Hollywood.

In Jaws 2 Chief Brody fills the pit of his HP's with cyanide via needle and then uses hot wax from a candle to "seal" the poison inside, to be used in his revolver. Any truth to these "poison tipped HP's" or all Hollywood?

Only in that if you shoot a Great White Shark with that kind of bullet, and he discovers he's been shot, he'll get annoyed.

 

[Jim Watson]

Any truth to these "poison tipped HP's" or all Hollywood?

The Germans and Soviets thought well enough of the idea to make poisoned bullets for real.

 

[forward observer]

I don't think this has been mentioned, but you may remember "Wanted Dead or Alive" that starred Steve McQueen for a couple of years before he went exclusively to the big screen. I think his character was the first to carry the sawed off "mares leg" lever action model 92 with the loop lever. At least that's the first time I ever remember seeing one. He had a special fast draw holster for it and of course he could out shoot and out draw anybody with a hand gun.

What was odd about it was that when the prop department had the holster first made up, they put some bullet loops on it for extra cartridges. The largest caliber that the originals came in was 44-40. However, the production people thought that the 44 WCF shells simply looked too small for a rifle round, so they changed out the 44 cal loops and replaced them with some that would hold the 45-70 gov cartridge.

He went the whole series with a belt full of cartridges that his rifle could never have chambered. We don't need to bother to mention that the time frame of his show was probably set at least a decade or more before the 1892 even existed.

here's a promo picture from a DVD set of the series, I think.

 

[Speedo66]

Steve McQueen was so cool those cartridges would have voluntarily shrunk themselves to fit that gun had he needed them.

 

[earplug]

Elmer Keith mentions in one of his books that many a cowboy had his holstered fully loaded six gun accidentally fire while saddling a horse. The stirrup was just heavy enough and at the right height to hit the hammer spur when tightening the belly cinch.

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

Elmer Keith mentions in one of his books that many a cowboy had his holstered fully loaded six gun accidentally fire while saddling a horse. The stirrup was just heavy enough and at the right height to hit the hammer spur when tightening the belly cinch.

I would buy that.
I doubt it happened often and the stirrup design may play a factor but i have seen a stirrup clobber somebody pretty good when it slipped off the horn during saddling.

Heck i probably still have that lump.

 

[forward observer]

Steve McQueen was so cool those cartridges would have voluntarily shrunk themselves to fit that gun had he needed them.

So true!

 

[Crawdad1]

He raced motorcycles to make a living when he was younger. The story surrounding the movie 'The Great Escape' was none of the stuntmen playing the Germans soldiers on the set could keep up with him during the motorcycle chase scene. One story has it that McQueen had to bring in his motorcycle racing buddies to play these parts.

He died way to young.

 

[forward observer]

He raced motorcycles to make a living when he was younger. The story surrounding the movie 'The Great Escape' was none of the stuntmen playing the Germans soldiers on the set could keep up with him during the motorcycle chase scene. One story has it that McQueen had to bring in his motorcycle racing buddies to play these parts.

He died way to young.

Yes, he did, but it's also nice to remember him that way. If he was still alive, he'd be just be 3 years short of 90. It's always nice to be able to think of our heroes as young and virile. Then you wouldn't have to get this image of the first James Bond out of your mind--and he's only 83.

 

[Robert]

This has drifted far from anything THR related.