Re:Clint's Guns
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2003, 09:33:55 PM »
The Good The Bad And The Ugly--1966
The pistol that Blondie uses in the Good the Bad and the Ugly is a modified 1851 Navy Colt (modified, no doubt, by a dubious gunsmith). It has been converted to fire metallic cartridges which was extremly rare in the day but a few guns around then could fire these bullets (Smith and Wesson). The technology was there but the mass production was not. Both the Union and Confederate States stalled and delayed the new metallic cartridges in fear of their armies wasting ammunition and costing too much to manufacter.
One of the most popular of Civil War revolvers was the Colt Model 1851 in 36 caliber. Around 250,000 were made by Colt between 1850 and 1873. It had a six shot cylinder and a 7-1/2" octagonal barrel. The standard cylinder featured an engraved scene of a naval battle. The Navy designation meant it was 36 caliber. 44 Caliber were known as Army, but both terms are merely convenient marketing designations. This model was carried by such different men as Robert E. Lee as the Confederate Commanding General and by Wild Bill Hickock as the Sheriff of Abilene. It was loaded with loose blackpowder and a bare bullet, referred to as "cap and ball," or with paper cartridges. Loading a cap and ball revolver is from the front of the cylinder. Misfires in cap and ball revolvers were more common than in the subsequent metallic cartridge guns. The misfire problem was well enough known to be commented on when it didn't happen after unusual circumstances. The '51 Colt carried by Robert E. Lee made the commentaries. When it was shot after his death in 1870, every chamber fired when it had last been loaded during the middle of the War about seven years earlier.
The '51 Colt Navy was the first gun to be made as a replica in the 1950s. The markup prototype was assembled in 1949 for Italian production
Here is a shot of Blondies revolver. Brass was used in abundence durning the war due to how cheap it was compared to steel. All guns in the period could have been made out of one or the other it was just a matter of cost.
Clearly you can see that there are brass pieces on Blondies gun there.
Below is another shot of Blondies gun with the now leagendary metallic cartiridges...
The Gun the that Blondy uses in The Good the Bad and the Ugly seems to be some sort of Super Modified Bad-Ass Gun; Pre-prototye Richards Conversion as seen below:
The closest I could find to Blondie's modified 1851 Navy Colt with silver rattlesnake grips (See Above)
The earlier convertions still left the loading lever in place and did not have ejector rod prevalent to the Colt ‘73’s The conversions started to add ejector rods around the same time colt came out with the Peacemaker, however many revolvers still had the intact loading lever as well as none at all…
Although there were metallic cartridges during the Civil War (Smith and Wesson, .44 Henry Rimfire, .22 Short and .56-56 Spencer to name a few) Leone thought to put the barrel of an 1851 Colt Navy on the frame of an 1851 Navy that had been changed to the Richards-Mason cartridge conversion which didn't happen until 1871?
1871 is when the breech loader patent held by Smith and Wesson ran out and companies could began to manufacture legally bore though cylinders.
However who is to say that if you had enough money and knew the right gunsmith and had access to metallic cartridges, well, Faster to reload and saves time - I suppose that was their reason. Even better, look at Lee Van Cleef's belt - you will see metallic cartridges in the loops, even though there are percussion caps on the cylinder of his revolver.
