Do you wanna know why people like Smith & Wesson ?

I have read Clint had turned anti-gun some years ago or maybe he is one of the elitist gun owners who thinks he is better than others with own a handguns.

 

Stainz,

They did not, repeat did NOT, use a Model 57 in ANY Dirty Harry movie, ever. PERIOD!!! :banghead:
That BS urban myth has been discussed and debumked several times here on THR!
The search function is your friend.

When Dirty Harry premiered,
The .454 Casull was still an experimental round using a triplex powder charge in custom made revolvers.
The .44 Auto Mag was already in production. (it finally appeared in Sudden Impact)
There were custom barrels chambered for rifle cartridges appearing for the Thompson Center Contender.
There were already a few custom produced .45-70 Revolvers.

So, technically, the .44 Magnum wasn't the "World's Most Powerful" handgun/cartridge but it was still the most powderful production handgun/cartridge.


Gunkwazy,

Great quotes. I enjoyed all of them. But in reality Clint Eastwood movies have extremely little to do with why people like (or dislike) Smith & Wesson.

 

I already know great guns even better service

you can read why in this thread here:

They make great guns and have even better customer service:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=212455&highlight=37-2+cracked

 

Quote...

"Dirty" Harry Callahan also helped popularize Smith and Wesson's Model 29 .44-caliber "Magnum"-series revolver. The film initiated an increase in sales of the powerful handgun, which continues to be popular some thirty-five years after the film's release. Throughout the film Eastwood's Model 29 is lionized as an all-powerful instrument capable of sending assailants flying wildly through the air, while in reality the round is far less-dramatic than depicted. The .44 Magnum round is not considered to be a practical caliber for urban police use due to difficulties in recoil (target re-aquisition) and its ability to penetrate multiple surfaces, greatly increasing the likelihood of injuring bystanders.


Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

 

Remeber the flick with the cops who went vigilante? I think it was Magnum Force.

Anyway, I recall a scene at the police range where Callahan is shooting with the vigilante cops and says that he uses a "light .44 special for control."

I thought that was a fine reason to use the M29, myself.

 

word for word

Actually his reply to the question "What kind of a load do you use in that .44?"
(asked, during practice, in the underground range) was, "It's a light special. In this size gun it gives me better control and less recoil than a .357 magnum loaded with wadcutters."

 

Actually, he was also tellin' someone in that piece who asked him why he used the .44 that the .357 was a fine caliber, but he just shot better with the .44. That was when he was shooting the hogan's alley match and borrowed the cop's .357 so he could get a bullet for a ballistics match.

That was the movie "Magnum Force". Also liked the cop bikes...Triumph Bonnevilles. I don't recall ever seeing a Bonneville cop bike in this country, but maybe so in San Fransisco. Was kinda classy, though. Hope they had plenty of drip pans in the motor pool garage...BWAAAA, ha, ha!

 

Now hold on thar...

I used to have a 1966 Triumph 650 Bonneyville (I was the 2nd owner) and it never leaked a drop of oil!

 

I used to have a 1966 Triumph 650 Bonneyville (I was the 2nd owner) and it never leaked a drop of oil!

You were truely Blessed...........Creeker

 

I own forty-one S&W revolvers and have never seen a Dirty Harry movie. I reckon I'd better get with the program.

 

I spent six months incarcerated in a nursing homes after I broke my back in 2004. There was no TV reception for the first 4 months. During that time I had a borrowed Playstation to play DVDs on. The only DVDs I had with me all of the time were the Dirty Harry Boxed Set and Rio Bravo & El Dorado with John Wayne.
I became VERY familiar with all seven.

 

I loved the look of the old Bonney, even if I didn't love the wiring or the electrics or the oil leaks. I remember walking into a Triumph dealer in 1971 in Bryan, Texas and he had drip pans under all the bikes on the showroom floor. ROFLMFAO! I will never forget that. Wish there'd been camera phones back then. The newer version is a better bike, even if it doesn't quite match the beauty of the original. And, I bought a '79 XS650 once because I wanted the looks of the Bonney without the headaches. Whatta deal. That turned out to be the biggest POS I ever owned. Spent more time on my work bench than on the road. Woulda been better off with the real deal. :banghead:

</threadjack>

 

Well, I had to buy the boxed set because I'm a movie buff and thought it was a true classic. I admittedly was into firearms before having any interest in the Dirty Harry movies. You're right, the quotes are just tough to beat! Thanks for sharing them GUNKWAZY! For anyone who hasn't seen it, go treat yourself to some real entertainment! Thank the Lord for Milius! We need more guys like him.....

 

the Clint Eastwood Smith & Wesson collection

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and encountered it by accident. I'm from Europe where we envie you Americans for your liberal gun laws!! I'm a sportshooter (handguns preferably) myself and also an incredible fan of Clint Eastwood (altough in my case, the first has nothing to do with the second)!

I also heard about the fuzz what revolver was in the Dirty Harry movie (57 .41 or 29 .44) but I have another question:

Does somebody have any knowledge of wether it is true that Clint Eastwood owns a very lare collection of Smith & Wesson guns? I heard this the other day but can not find any information on that.

bye

B.

_____________________________________________________________
(the biggest enemy of the truth is the fanatic)

 

Welcome aboard Bacirus.

Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

 

I have heard interviews with him and know he owns some guns, but I have no idea how many.

 

I'm surprised no one put up a picture of their beloved Model 29 in this thread. Good job, Gunkwazy, on starting the thread with some Eastwood quotes.

Tamara - I'm surprised at your never having seen a "Dirty Harry" picture.

 

Already had a S&W K38 before Dirty Harry

I already had a wonderfully accurate S&W K38 before I ever saw the Dirty Harry movie series. So Clint had nothing to do with my love for S&W revolvers. It is really hard to beat the single action trigger pull on a Smith.

I WAS, however, influenced by the DH movies. I'm a perverse sort of anal aperture and deliberately did NOT buy a M29 just BECAUSE they were so popular with so many people. Instead, I got an 8-3/8" Model 57, which I loved more than any handgun I've ever had before or since. Unhappily, some drug-chuggin' scumbag, slime ball stole it from me in Nov. of '04. Ask me how I really feel about the guy.

I replaced my beloved M57 with a new M657. I like it, but it ain't no '79 vintage M57.

 

Welcome Bacirus.............Creeker

 

I never gave Dirty Harry a thought when I bought my first S&W.

WHen I finally bought my model 29 recently, my thoughts were of Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton rather than Dirty Harry.

Jim

 

I already had a S&W 1955 Target (pre-model 25) for several years before Dirty Harry was released.
I didn't even see the movie when it first came out.
But all of a sudden people at the range were asking me if I was shooting a Dirty Harry gun.
They always seemed disapointed when I told them it was just a .45.
But when I saw the movie I thought it was great.

It was the first movie I ever bought on DVD. And for several years it was the only one of the series available on DVD. WHen the box set was released I bought it in advance from Amazon.


But I do wish I could find* an original Lawman Leather Inspector shoulder holster like he wore in the movies. I bought one years ago but then traded it away in a moment of insanity.


*At an affordable price of course. I saw one sell on fleabay a year or so ago for $400! Hell's Bells™, I wouldn't pay that much for Clint's.

 

I read an article a few years ago in which the S&W company historian allegedly claimed that Warner Brothers requested a couple M29's with four inch barrels before they had started filiming Dirty Harry. However the factory didn't have any in stock. So they went to the factory gunsmiths (now called the Custom Shop) and had a couple assembled out of parts. All that they had for barrels were the 6.5" tubes.

Now why didn't the gunsmith boys just cut the barrels down to four inchs if that's true? I don't know.

However John Milius has stated that in the first draft of his Dirty Harry script Inspector Callahn carried a 4" Model 29. So who knows??

 

Why You Young Whippersnapper.........

I been shootin' Smith & Wesson's fer years! And another thing, I......I....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

When I first saw the original Dirty Harry flick, it was fairly new - and we were at sea. The only handgun I had access to then was while we were in port - and I had to turn it back into the armory when I was off watch. I still won't buy a 1911, my long gone G21 and AMT's having been my only .45 ACP bottom-feeders. I certainly didn't rush out and buy a 29 - my first .44M was a 629MG some thirty years later. As I stated, I bought - and continue to buy - S&W's because of their history, technical advances, and affordability.

Since my first post, I've had another hatchday celebration - and received collections of the first two years of 'Have Gun: Will Travel'. It's neat to see an actor, better suited for a role in the works of the Bard, going from the rich fellow perusing the newspaper in his Frisco hotel in a white suit molting into the gunman in black. The episode with him changing from his horse to a camel was especially 'entertaining'. Quite different than I remembered - and mostly filmed outdoors, rather than the sound stage, a la 'Gunsmoke', etc. Of course, his sidearm was a 'special' SAA - and his back-up derringer. No S&W seeds there. In fact, I don't remember a TV show featuring a S&W #3, .44 Russian or .45 Schofield.

If my childhood was a guide, you'd think I'd have a SAA (I have a few Rugers...). Of course, TV was a 'dessert' of sorts then - never a nightly, much less all evening long endeavor - in my home. I did read a lot, as most did back then, thus the appreciation for the 'history' of S&W - and it's later level of importance to me. My use of firearms these days is for paper punching and steel plate pinging; I don't 'pack', hunt, or 'play cowboy' now. They each ride in a rug within my range bag regularly to the range. My choice of S&W fills the bill perfectly. YMMV

Stainz

 

This is a good thread.

"Heartbreak Ridge" is still his best movie and character though IMO.