A gun from a book I read

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Bullnettles

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Ok, it has been about a year since I finished this set from Stephen King called The Dark Tower. One of the pistols the good guys had was a 44 auto. I FINALLY googled it and found 44 auto mag as a cartridge. Doesn't seem very common (I had never heard of it before and haven't seen one since), but in the story, they find the cartridges in a common gun shop. My question is, do any of you have one of these? I haven't seen any in all the threads I've looked at.
 
They stopped making them 35 or 40 years ago. They were actually quite popular for a time - at least I saw quite a few of them around back in the 80's. If the book was set circa 1970ish, then you could probably find ammo in most gun shops.

I couldn't tell you much about them other than that they were very heavy and didn't have a great reputation for reliability.
 
The 44 Auto Mag was built about 1970-72 -- short life and a business failure, but got quite a bit of press here and there over the years.

Cases were .308 or .30-06 trimmed to length.

Was featured in "Sudden Impact" in 1983 and "Beverly Hills Cop II" in 1987.

Quite possibly the only way Stephen King could become aware of a gun.
 
Stephen King is quite known for his innaccurate gun descriptions.

There are two possibilities here though:

1. He just plain does not know.

2. He does it on purpose. He writes fiction so why not make up a fictional gun using two realistic descriptors such as:

44 Auto (of which there is such a thing) or 380 revolver (of which there is also such a thing) or double barrel 22 ( also exists) or a Beretta Taurus 92,

or just make stuff up:

"racks the slide" and "takes the safety off" a revolver, 38 Colt Woodsman, pump action double barrel SxS (just like cartoons), Single action 8 shot 40 caliber revolvers with safeties and slides that have swing out cylinders and are also double action,

the list goes on and on
 
I had one for a while in the early `70s. The brass as stated was cut down 308 or 30-06. Mine needed full house loads to function properly but was accurate as one could wish. The pistol was all stainless and mine was high polished, had zebra wood grips, and Lee Jauras signature engraved in the slide. It came wit brass making and load data included on a piece of copy paper. This prior to ammo being made in Mexico or the 357AM being offered. I sold it like a fool.........
Oh, ya. Dirty Harry carried one in one of the films also.
 
The ammo they found in the gunshop was for the Gunslingers guns (revolvers), not the 44 Auto the kid had.

That 44 Auto bugged me too, (I had a 44AMP back in the day, paid $198 NIB and eventually traded it for a Colt SAA, but that's another story) but I finally let go of it and just enjoyed the read.
 
KodiakBeer said:
They stopped making them 35 or 40 years ago. They were actually quite popular for a time - at least I saw quite a few of them around back in the 80's. If the book was set circa 1970ish, then you could probably find ammo in most gun shops.

I couldn't tell you much about them other than that they were very heavy and didn't have a great reputation for reliability.
Click to expand...

I was gonna say, "you've gotta be wrong, it can't be 35 or 40 years ago. It was just a couple of years ago I saw Sudden Impact and Dirty Harry's Automag!" But......

God, I'm old!

http://www.the-dirtiest.com/automag.htm

Backlit.jpg
 
The Wildey semi auto pistol is chambered in both the .357 and .44 AutoMag cartridges.
 
I forgot about the Wildey. When I first came to Alaska I used to see a lot of both AMT's and Wildeys, but I haven't seen either in years.

I knew a guy a who had one of the above chambered in .30 carbine. He used soft points for deer hunting - LOUD. Anybody know which one was chambered in .30 Carbine?
 
I love it when writers write something like a main character emptying a clip of .44 magnums. As he ducks behind a rock, he hears someone rustling in the bushes, puts a new clip in and gets another bad guy. (I once shot a .357 without hearing protection. It was one shot, and I couldn't have heard a tank coming through the underbrush afterwards!)

Most people like King get their entire educations on guns from television.
 
If you've read the entire Dark Tower series (I did too) and the only thing you question is the plausibility of obtaining a certain variety handgun cartridges, then your ability to suspend disbelief is far more developed than most. Personally, given all the different alternate realities that existed in the story, I'd say that one could probably find just about anything that could be desired.

BTW, it was an entertaining read (esp. Wizard and Glass) but the ending was pretty lousy, IMHO.
 
minutemen1776 said:
BTW, it was an entertaining read (esp. Wizard and Glass) but the ending was pretty lousy, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that was about the only way it could have ended. It took me a while to warm up to it, as I was looking for the nice and tidy, happily-ever-after ending I've come to expect from King novels and Hollywood movies.

The ending was...'different' - but it did fit the 'universe' (I use that term very loosely) of the Dark Tower. IMHO, which is worth what you just paid for it. ;)
 
The .44 AutoMag was used to blow up trees in the original Rollerball.

I had one at the time and blurted out, "Hey, mine doesn't do that!" right in the theater. A few people shushed me but several others chucked; you gotta love gun people!

I bought mine for a song from someone who couldn't handle the recoil. What I couldn't handle was the cost of ammo (and I worked at a gun shop at the time!) so I started reloading. Brass was nonexistant but you could make your own by cutting down .30-06 shells.

Fun gun (& I'm a sucker for ventilated ribs on pistols!).
 
I would think that the book would have been more towards the desert eagle in 44 magnum. Even when the 44 automag was almost popular it was hard to find ammo for.
 
Stephen King should do a little more research on guns......so he can figure out which one would be best to stop a moving car from running a pedestrian down. Hayooooo.....*slaps on the knee*. (inside joke)

Ok, I'm here in Maine and a lot of people here like King but you can definitely chalk him up as an anti.
 
UpTheIrons, I think I have grossly understated my disappointment with King's ending to Dark Tower. I thought it was the worst book ending I've ever read. After reading literally thousands of pages to reach the end, I felt completely disgusted. I should have seen it coming, though, because the last two books in the series were not good at all, and the fifth one was only mediocre. I think that's significant because the final three books were written after a lengthy lull in the series for King, and he only restarted his writing after nearly being killed when he was run over by a minivan. I think that King was horribly afraid that he might die before his magnum opus was complete, so he rushed to get to the end of it. It's just a theory, but I know that I've personally not read anything from King since completing the Dark Tower books. That said, I hear Ron Howard will be making a movie trilogy based on the Dark Tower, and I'll likely go see it. Maybe the movies will have a better ending. :)
 
mljdeckard said:
I read it about 15 years ago, but I recall that he was using revolvers chambered in .45 Winchester. I had never heard of it so I looked it up. (It didn't grab my interest enough to make me want to read the rest of the books.)
Click to expand...
I remember reading that and thinking that the whole series is just fantasy, so why not a .45 Win.?
 
I really like Stephen King but he should hire an expert when he writes about guns. I thought the Dark Tower series was excellent through WIZARD AND GLASS. After that volume, the books really seemed forced. King certainly qualifies as a liberal and an anti. He may create ridiculous gun scenarious just to annoy those of us that enjoy weapons.
 
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