The Dirty Harry model 29

[Will Carry]

So does everyone think Harry was shooting 44 mags?

Officer Phil Sweet: What kind of a load do you use in that .44?

Harry Callahan: It's a light Special. This size gun it gives you better control and less recoil than a .357 Magnum with wadcutters.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

So does everyone think Harry was shooting 44 mags?

Officer Phil Sweet: What kind of a load do you use in that .44?

Harry Callahan: It's a light Special. This size gun it gives you better control and less recoil than a .357 Magnum with wadcutters.

Yep. Any real Dirty Harry fan knows that.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

It's always good to get the facts from the expert and watch everything just clear up!

 

[PA Guns & Ammo]

Looks like I'm going to be busy for awhile:

 

[epj]

I can remember reading an article(don't remember author) that claimed that the gun Dirty Harry used was never a model 29 44 magum.....He claimed it was always a n frame 45 Colt....the reason being the large amount of 45 Colt blanks left over fron cowboy movies haha

The trouble with that theory is that target sighted N frame Smiths did not exist in that time frame. The 25-3 was still a few years out, and the earlier versions were all fixed sight. At least not as a regular production item.

 

[RaginRog]

That movie is so dated. I know, get a rope...

 

[Laketime]

Now get a chair

 

[Grey Bearded One]

Wow. We really need a sticky on this. There have been so many threads on this topic, and despite those, so many still insist it wasn't a Model 29, that it did not have a 6 1/2 inch barrel, blah, blah, blah.

Many years ago, I had a conversation with Roy Jinks about this very subject. He told me that he was the guy who put the guns together for the movie and that they were indeed Model 29-2s. There were two real guns, one with the 6 1/2" barrel and one with the 8 3/8" barrel. The longer barrel was used for the close-ups looking down the barrel. In response to the question of conversion, he didn't know but said that they were .44 Mag when shipped to Stembridge but it could be that Stembridge converted them to shoot 5-in-1 blanks for the movie.

 

[IWK2HT]

This is my Dirty Harry 29-2 S prefix ser# 6 1/2"

 

[tgoose1]

Yep. Any real Dirty Harry fan knows that.

Harry Callahan was actually referring to his competition "target" loads, not magnum .44 law enforcement purpose rounds.

 

[Magnum-Krazy]

There were six. Play the DVD, pause often if necessary. For one shot, you only hear it, you don't see it being fired. But there were six.

If I'm not mistaken, in the original VCR video of the movie there was only 5 shots. I have the original video and seem to remember 5 shots fired as did a lot of my friends.
But when the movie came out on DVD, there is a sixth shot you will hear but not seen being done.

 

[ironhead7544]

After the movie came out, there was an article in one of the gun magazines. There was an interview with Milius. At the time, the M29 was not being run so they put M29 barrels and cylinders on 2 model M57 frames. The cylinders were rechambered for the 5 in 1 blanks. So I guess you could say they were 41,44, and 45. That is why there is so much confusion concerning the cartridge used.

Also, the 8 and 3/8" was used for some of the promo shots. Not sure if it showed up in the movie.

The suppressor in Magnum Force snapped on a Colt Python. Not likely to work too well.

 

[Laketime]

Many years ago, I had a conversation with Roy Jinks about this very subject. He told me that he was the guy who put the guns together for the movie and that they were indeed Model 29-2s. There were two real guns, one with the 6 1/2" barrel and one with the 8 3/8" barrel. The longer barrel was used for the close-ups looking down the barrel. In response to the question of conversion, he didn't know but said that they were .44 Mag when shipped to Stembridge but it
could be that Stembridge converted them to shoot 5-in-1 blanks for the movie.[/QUOTE




If this is true than there is no missing gun from the first movie.Eastwood has a 6.5 in his nightstand.And Smith & Wesson has the 8.3/8 on display in Springfield.John Milius donated the used 4 screw which had been giving to him after it had been reblued. ( note the use of the red backdrop to hide the missing blue from the barrels tip in a Magnum Force) The one from the Enforcer in poor condition is also on display somewhere. The 29-2 with the six inch barrels from the last two don't appear to much interest to anyone. That leaves the automag to be found.

 

[Buford57]

Harry Callahan was my partner for about 6 weeks until I got shot/stabbed/run over by a red tailed hawk. It was a highly modified and silenced Winchester Model 1897 pump in 16 gauge bored out to look like an 8 gauge. He let me shoot it once and it dislocated my ear. By the way, it held 8 rounds.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.