Sold on Rock Island Auction for $450,000.

WOW !

I’d be proud to own that one for sure

I'd have to shoot it at least once.

__________________
Retired Career Security Guard

It would just be fine to see on display. Actually it belongs in the Smithsonian next to Archie Bunker's chair

__________________
Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

Jimmy, were you top bidder?

I'd love to just fondle it, let alone shoot it. Forget about owning it.

__________________
No baby we aint

Damn thing never ran out of bullets

any pics id love to see it

They used to have some of his guns from the movies at the Cowboy Hall tFame on Oklahoma City, but I'm guessing this was a personally owned gun?

Since the auction is ended, I dont think I am breaking any rules:
John Wayne'''s Colt Single Action Army Revolver | Rock Island Auction

It is interesting to read about this gun. A .45 Colt barrel, a .44-40 cylinder, and aftermarket plastic grips.

I was about to inquire of the knowledgeable gun-cranks here how in the world one would shoot .44-40 out of a .45 caliber barrel, then it hit me that the bullet would I guess exit the barrel because the barrel is of a larger caliber than the round.

Then I thought about it some more and realized it would not matter if all one was firing was blanks! I wonder if this gun was ever even fired with live rounds?

Even as a kid, I always thought the grips looked too yellow for aged Ivory. I guess I was correct.

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

I seem to recall the studio used "5 in 1" blanks and the .44-40 was one of the five in which they would chamber.

The grips/stocks are Catalin, mentioned here often as a "phenolic resin". Popular with dishware and radio enclosures during the mid-20th century also.

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I have read he was not a real gun guy, hence having an SAA that was just a prop seems right.
Now the Nock Volley Gun that "Jim Bowie" (Richard Widmark) carried-THAT I'd like to have!

Not so . . . >clik< >clik< at least once in the scene in Big Jake when John confronted Fatty of Richard Boone's gang and had to resort burying a pitchfork in his belly . . .












Story goes that JW "tea stained" the grips to get that color

__________________
Qui plantavit curabit

Well, pilgrims, I actually handled that gun back in '09. Didn't wash my mitts for a week after...

John

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Wayne must have owned 2 SAA's........BECAUSE he carried a Great Western in many movies.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

That oversized triggerguard looks bizarre!

Kinda reminds me of the oversized action levers on some of the Winchester carbines he used - and I wonder if there's any correlation?

I have intentionally fired .44-40 cartridges in a .45 Colt revolver. They work, at least well enough to keep all shots on the paper at 10 yards. And no keyholes. I have read that the use of .38-40 and .44-40 cartridges in .45 revolvers was not that unusual back in the Wild West days. They used what they could get, so long as they fit into the chambers.

Indeed the grips were Catalin (like Bakelite). Catalin grips, like many other Catalin items, are highly desirable to collectors.

Some years back, there was a feature article about the JW Colt in the American Rifleman.

When reading the auction listing, it says lettered (shipped) as a .45 Colt and later modified with a .44 WCF cylinder and barrel.
So the gun is now a 44-40.
Not sure why all the talk of mismatched chamberings and using .44s in a .45 Colt. Doesn’t seem to be the case here.

I apologize, I misread the auction listing and thought it still had the .45 colt barrel. That was 100% my mistake.

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

I wonder what his 1911 or M1 Garand that he carried during WII would be worth?


Oh, that's right. He never served!

My father, a Korean War pilot, despised John Wayne. I wont write here what he said about him, because I admire Mr. Wayne and his pictures.

My dad revered George HW Bush, Jimmy Stuart, Clark Gable, and a whole host of other Celebrities that served in WW II.

The first thing he looked for in marking a ballot was prior military service. And the same was true in general admiration.

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

The reasons why Wayne never served range from his having 4 children to previously undetected health problems and seem to be undocumented.. In 1943 bodybuilding and weightlifting champion Dan Lurie went for his pre-induction physical. 4-F. Heart murmurs. Myron Floren, Lawrence Welk's accordionist, suffered from rheumatic fever as a child, was rejected. My mother knew a fellow, trim athletic, seemed to be a fine specimen-they turned him down. I went through BCT in the Summer of 1967, we had a couple of medical discharges.

Good point, Mike. In his last flick, "The Shootist," Wayne used the pair of engraved Great Western single actions that the company produced especially for him. I've also read, in the Rifleman, BTW, that Wayne often used a SAA out of the prop house, and not a personal handgun.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Jack Lewis wrote several "back of the book" articles in Gun World about his days in the biz and connection to Wayne, reporting that Wayne was a hunter who owned multiple rifles and shotguns.

I recall articles about JW - and other celebs - shooting and hunting. Lots of PR but surely a touch of truth.

If I am not mistaken that was sold last October for $517,500.00. See link article below.

John Wayne On-Screen Revolver Sells for Over Half Million Dollars.

Great museum

Attached Images

JW OKIE.jpg (100.7 KB, 23 views)