Clint's Guns

[maddog_frenzy]

I'd kill to see a list of all the guns (no pun intended) Clint used in each of his movies. I believe that the incredibly large .44 mag semi-automatic he used in Dirty Harry is a modified/custom Magnum Research handgun, and most on this board agree that in Good/Bad/Ugly, he uses a Sharp's buffalo gun...



Comment by moderator, 5/21: This has become such a great thread, thanks to D'Ambrosia, that we mods have agreed to make it "sticky,"  so it stays at the top of the topics in the forum. That way it can serve as a reference for the site for all sorts of gun questions.

And I'd like to ask that everyone respect D'Amb's hard work here and refrain from making any posts that might take it off topic. If you have any questions about his research, or you have anything to add about any of the guns (but please make sure you know your stuff!), that's fine, but otherwise, let's let him work in peace!

Thanks!

[D'Ambrosia]

This does indeed sound like a fun project for me to tackle.  Give me a few days to get my movies straight and I wiil give my two bits soon...

[ajay]

sudden impact saw a very unusual gun, any body knows about this one.

[D'Ambrosia]

Well, if I’m to do this right, and I’d very much like to, I’d like to start in chronological order from first gun to last….

Clint has the capability to use these guns...  I will list all guns that he may have had use of, but may or may not have used in the movies.

Francis in the Navy 1955 as Lieutenant Anders  and  All Away Boats 1956 as a sailor:
 
The PT Boat

40 mm Bofors cannon, aft.
Twin 50 cal. machine guns port and starboard
20 mm Oerlikon forward
37 mm Automatic forward
4 MK VIII torpedoes in tubes,
 * later boats had 4 MK XIII torpedoes on racks
Depth Charges
Mortar
Rockets
Smoke Generator
Small Arms
Hand Grenades


Tarantula: 1955

F86 Saber Jet (America's Mig):


Armament: Four M-39 20mm cannon or six .50-cal. machine guns; eight 5 in. rockets, 2,000 lbs. of bombs, napalm or nuclear weapons.

Ambush at Cimarron Pass:
Unknown at this time. Anyone seen Clint in this one?

[D'Ambrosia]

Fistful Of Dollars-1964 and For A Few Dollars More-1965

The six shooter that Joe carries in Fistful of Dollars is an 1873 Colt SAA- Peacemaker.  The image below does not depict the famous walnut silverplated snake handled grips that Yates, Joe, Manco and Blondie wield in Rawhide, FFD, FFDM and GBU (which, infact, the same gun that was used in Rawhide is  the same gun used in  FFD and FFDM by Joe and Manco)   If I'm real lucky KC might post up the little story behind Rowdy comming across that particular firearm...  

I believe that Joe (Fistful of dollars) [/b] and Manco (For a Few Dollars More) had the 5 1/2 inch barrel:
1873 SAA Colt Peacemaker.  .45 cal with a 5 1/2 inch barrel:

The beautiful deep walnut pure silver inlet rattlesnake grips that Yates, Joe, Manco and Blondie acquire and wear throughout...

Manco uses the same exact gun in For A Few Dollars More (Or does he ) Manco could, infact, have an '77 ...   so I'll just move on to The Good The Bad  and the Ugly...

[D'Ambrosia]

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.

[D'Ambrosia]

Your right about the rifle maddog it is indeed an 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle as seen below.  This is Tucos life saver for much of the movie...

The Good The Bad And The Ugly    1860  Henry Rifle 


The Henry rifle story is a very interesting story. It was the first successful repeating rifle that evolved into some of the best lever action rifles in the world, the Winchesters.  The first of the Winchesters was the Model 1866.  This rifle was nothing more than an improved Henry using the same ammunition.  The Model 1866 included a redesigned magazine that was not opened to dirt.  It loaded by means of a loading gate in the right side of the receiver.  The Model 1866 also had a wooden forearm stock to protect against burns during prolong shooting.  This is getting a little ahead of our story.  The use of the Henry begins in the Civil War.

The Henry played an important role during the Civil War, mainly in the western theater. It was used from the very beginning to the bitter end of the Civil War.  The soldiers developed confidence when using their Henrys that did not exist with a muzzle loader. The Henry rifle was the first of the truly rapid fire small arms that was practical.  However the United States government did not adopt a repeating rifle until the Model 1892 Krag.

The Henry rifle made a name for itself on the American frontier of the 1860's to1880's. It was not replaced until those using Henrys could replace them with a more modern weapon. The Henry was used by ranchers and soldiers as well as Indians. Custer found this out too late. In fact there is one hill located at the Little Bighorn that is known as Henry Hill because of the large number of Henry casings that were discovered there.

The Henry underwent very few changes during its production.  The butt plate was changed slightly and some guns do not have a lever latch. There was an iron frame Henry but most Henrys were brass frame. The sights were mounted on the frame or the barrel. The barrel length was standard at 24 inches but some examples may be found with shorter barrels. The ammunition remained the same throughout production. It was a 216 grain bullet and 26 to 28 grains of black powder.

Today original Henrys are collectors’ items commanding high prices. These start at around $6,000 and go up from there.  There has not been ammunition produced for years and what can be found is also highly collectable and too expensive to shoot.

[D'Ambrosia]

I almost forgot the Civil War Field Gun.  Unable to locate exact image but close enough for government work.  I think     Blondy fires off a ten pounder at Tuco lighting the fuse with his cigar:

[KC]

D'Amb, this is wonderful stuff! Please keep it up.  

I was hoping I could find my post from a couple of years back about how Rowdy Yates acquired his Peacemaker ... but it seems to be lost. However, the gist was this, as I once posted on the Leone board ...

It was the second episode to air ... "Incident at Alabaster Plain," 1/16/1959. [Mark] Richman played a bad guy with a showy gun and a crying need for an anger management program. In the end, he was dead and Rowdy got his revolver,

Here's the gun's first appearance, in the gunbelt worn by Richman's character ...

[D'Ambrosia]

   Cool, thanks KC....

Hang 'Em High -1968

1st Generation 2nd model (#3) '86 Colt Peacemaker .38 Winchester Centerfire

 

Jed Cooper uses a #3 2 model '86 Single Action Army Colt Peacemaker (drop the Navy nomenclature) a step up from the ’73 that Joe and Manco use with a .45cal and a step up from the second model '77 that fired a .44  

The Colt Single Action Big Bore Trio was completed in 1886 as the second '73 Winchester chambering was added with the .38-40 or .38 Winchester Center Fire. This time the same powder charge of forty grains propelled a 180 grain bullet.

So it fired a rifle metallic cartridge just as it’s predecessors did?   Interesting?  

The ’86 fires a 38-40 or .38 Winchester Center Fire. This time the same powder charge Cooper had of forty grains, propelled a .38 cal180 grain bullet, as opposed to Joe’s and Manco’s  larger and heavier 200 grain .45 bullet ’73.

 If we establish that FFDM takes place after or before ’86, that is the question…?     That would actually make Manco’s  revolver a 2nd model ’77 Peacemaker but who wants to get technical?….    I’m still not convinced that Manco is not in the time period of the  latter half of the 1880’s thus, possibly, making his pistol a 3rd model’77 Peacemaker but we’d have to establish the year of the movie now wouldn’t we?.  

[D'Ambrosia]

Coogan's Bluff 1968


It’s hard telling because there is no real clear glimpse of the rifle Coogan uses to apprehend the Chief at the beginning of the movie.  With the very distinctive Stock Shape, the length of the lever down the handle and the relatively small trigger guard, it  looks to me to be a Mossberg 472 lever action repeater that center fires a .35 Remington cartridge.  I dug out the old VHS made from tv from 10 years ago so it’s not like I had the nice freeze frame zoom DVD quality that I normally while doing these comparisons.  It cold just as well be a Winchester but the stock looks two funky to be…The .35 Remington ballistics are as follows: a 200 grain cartridge has a muzzle velocity of 2,080; 1,921 fps and muzzle energy of 1,762 ft. lbs.  Although the Remington rifles it was designed for originally are long but forgotten the cartridge lives today still being used in a wide variety of rifles must notably the Marlin 336 lever action rifle, much similer to Coogan’s Mossberg also known as the brush gun...

Mossberg lever action repeater Center-Fire Rifle:

   



The pistola he carries, once again I must refer back to the quality of my source material, seems to be, in the brief three seconds we see it, a .38 Special.  Either Colt or Smith Wesson. Can’t really tell which (maybe when I get the DVD…J).  Sticking with the tradition of Joe,Manco, Blondy and Cooper,  I would like to think of it as a Colt .38 Special.  The difference between the two is that Colt is somewhat roundish  than the relatively boxier S&W.  The Space between the trigger guard and the handle on the S&W is much more sqaurded than the Colt.

.38 Special Colt Officers Model Heavy Barrel:



Smith and Wesson devised the regular .38 caliber black powder cartridge in 1877 for it’s revolvers of the day.  Colt also chambered revolvers for the cartridge, which they called the .38 Colt New Police.  In 1902 Smith & Wesson came out with the .38 Special cartridge, a 10th of inch longer than it’s predecessor.  The shell is one of  the all time favorite revolver cartridges. Since introduced it has become on of the must worldwide cartridges produced.  Like almost all pistol cartridges called ".38" the .38 Special actually takes .357" diameter bullets thus making it possible to fire the .38 special cartridge out of a .357 Magnum handgun, but not the other way around…Typical factory loads give the standard pressure 158 grain lead bullet a muzzle velocity of 755 fps and 200 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy.  More wallop than the plain old .38

Not much to go on in this flick...
 

[Josey-Wales]

Hello, first post.
Does anybody know what gun Clint uses in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"??

It has a strange bar running from the trigger to the barrel, never seen anything that exacally matches it.

nice site

[D'Ambrosia]

Welcome to the board Josey-Wales.

I had planned on doing these guns in chronological order in appearence of each movie from start to finish so just sit back and enjoy the ride....

However, if you can't wait till Joesy Wales comes around in this thread, you can view a previous disscussion we had on Joesy's Guns in this theard here:http://www.clinteastwood.org/forums/index.php?board=8;action=display;threadid=137  

I might mention that the rifle he uses is not a Spencer as I had suspected but that will soon be corrected.

And Ajay, the gun Clint uses at the end of  Sudden Impact is Automatic .44 Magnum More to come on this latter...

[D'Ambrosia]

Where Eagles Dare--1969


Clint uses "The Machine Pistol", as it would translate from German, as a killing machine (as the narrator from The Man From Malpso called him) is that of a very clever German made cartridge.  Surly you've heard of it in one capacity or another.
 
 
 It very well may be the best cartridge ever invented.  the .9mm parabellum (very close to a .38 special)  German made and had this  kind of stuff in all sorts of weapons during the war.  Pistols,  Lugars, Sub-Machine Guns, Rifles, the whole lot....  Anyway the cartridge is still used today in all kinds of weapons from the Berretta to the Uzi....We were running around for the .30 and the .45 and the .50's  All they had to do is have one gun, one ammo the .9mm, (I mean, not in all respects of course...)

Anyhow, Lt. Shaffers German MP-40 .9mm  Sub-Machine Pistol AKA as the "Schmeisser"  You've seen it in old War flicks...:
The MP-40 9mm Schmeisser could fire upto 500 rounds  a minute spitting off a115 gr. FMJ 1375 ft/s at 3 impacts on 4" triangle.


MP40 'Schmeisser', 1940*
  350-500 rpm
cal,mag,vel,rate  9,00 x 19 mm, 32 rnd mag, 380 m/s,
l,barrel_l,mass  629 mm, 251 mm, 3,97 kg

[D'Ambrosia]

Kelly's Hereos- 1970


The weapon Kelly uses is a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun, (Navy model of 1928) Also known as the Tommy Gun:

Operation  Selective fire (fully and semi-automatic)
Caliber .45 (11.4 mm)
Muzzle velocity 280 mps (920 fps)
Ammunition .45 ACP, 230 gr bullet, 5 gr charge
Capacity Thompson (M1928A1): 50-round drum & 20- and 30-round detachable box magazine.
M1 and M1A1: 20-and 30-round detachable box magazine
Weight 4.9 kg (11 lbs)
Overall length 85.6 cm (33.7 in)
Rate of fire 600 to 725 rpm
Effective range 50m (55yds

A nice shot of one with a 50 round magazine:

[D'Ambrosia]

Manco with a Tommy Gun?

A funny ad I found while doing some research....

A brief history of the Thompson Sub-Machine Gun:

 
Churchill with a "Tommy Gun"

Until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, John Thompson’s military service was routine and uneventful. During the War, he used his weapons training to its fullest advantage. He became a small arms specialist, and took charge of the Army’s ordnance supplies and logistics.

At the start of the War he was promoted to Lt. Col., and appointed Chief Ordnance Officer under General Shafter in Cuba. Thompson was recognized for his skills in logistics, and was able to restore order to an Army supply system that had become hopelessly broken down. He was personally recognized for his efforts that helped deliver more than 18,000 tons of munitions to the War, without a single accident.

It was during this time that an event happened that would later result in the invention of the Submachine gun. Thompson was approached by 2nd Lt. John H. Parker, who had learned that fifteen Gatling guns were assigned to Thompson’s ordnance depot in Tampa Florida, without any orders for their disposition. Parker not only wanted the guns to use in the War, he also wanted to create a new Gatling gun detachment, and prove to the Army the effectiveness of rapid-fire weapons. (A very ambitious venture, considering the Army’s reluctance to upgrade even its main battle rifle, the antique single-shot Springfield, designed in the 1860’s.)

In 1904 Thompson and Col. Louis A. LaGarde conducted tests to find the caliber most suited for military handgun ammunition. The tests included firing shots into live cattle at a Chicago slaughterhouse, and into human cadavers obtained from medical schools. The conclusion? Large and slow moving bullets of about .45 caliber were much more destructive than smaller bullets moving at high velocity. With this knowledge in hand, Thompson was instrumental in developing the .45 caliber rimless cartridge, later adopted for use in the Colt Model 1911 pistol designed by John Browning. Eventually this same cartridge would be chambered in Thompson's Submachine gun.

In November 1914 he retired from the service with the intention of devoting his full time to perfecting an automatic rifle. He was to join Remington Arms Company as their Chief Engineer.  Thompson’s primary interest remained the development of an automatic rifle. He believed an "intermediate" automatic weapon in the ballistic class between the pistol and the rifle would be a requirement in future wars.

The first gun produced, bearing neither model or serial number, appeared in 1918 and was belt fed and with little resemblance to later Thompsons. This was followed by the Model 1919 in AS caliber. Provision was made for feeding by a box magazine while the rear grip was placed near the back of the receiver. One distinctive feature was the firing pin fabricated as forward extremity of the actuator. The cyclic rate of fire was approximately 1,000 rounds per minute. Some reports indicate that prototypes were made to fire various calibers.

In 1920 the prototype was tested by the U.S. Government. On April 27, 1920, the Springfield Armory conducted functioning tests of the weapon. Test results were impressive: 2,000 rounds were fired with only one stoppage. A few months later the Marine Corps tested the weapon with similar results.

Although the results were impressive, neither service recommended adoption.

Despite its excellent test performance, the Thompson was not adopted for use by either the US Army or Marine Corps. Still, Thompson contracted with Colt for the manufacture of 15,000 guns, designated "Thompson Submachine Gun, Model of 1921". The 15,000 guns manufactured by Colt lasted until the eve of World War II. In 1940, the U.S. Army ordered 20,000 Thompson submachine guns; in 1941 the Army ordered an additional 319,000.

Prior to this date, however, General Thompson's "trench broom" found great favor with the Prohibition-era gangsters of the Roaring Twenties, so much so in fact, that years before official adoption into military service, the Thompson SMG, alias the "Chicago typewriter," was fast becoming a household word.

Used by the Capone mob and equally violent factions during the gang wars of the 20's and 30's, the Thompson blazed its way into history in such a fashion that it is credited for largely contributing to the National Firearms Act of 1934, which was intended to keep concealable firearms, and silencers out of the hands of such individuals. Up until that time, the Thompson was available to anyone who had the money and wished to purchase it. Incidentally, the price tag on one of these guns, $200, was a considerable investment in the 1920s.

[Mr. Pants]

In Sudden Impact Eastwood uses a .44 Magnum Automag when his trusty .44 S&W is kicked into the water.

You can see a picture of it here: http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1600/1687.htm

[KC]

Thanks, Mr. Pants ... DAmbrosia is going through Clint's films chronologically. He'll post information about the Auto Mag (which is one of the best-known Eastwood guns) when he gets to Sudden Impact ... probably in a few weeks!

See the note at the beginning of this thread.

[Mr. Pants]

Oops, didn't mean to steal anyone's thunder. Sorry 'bout that. Carry on.

[D'Ambrosia]

Feel free to post away about Eastwoods Guns.  That's what this thread is all about.  I'll be getting around to every movie sooner or later.

Next Up:  Two Mules For Siter Sara