The J Edgar Hoover 22 “registered magnum” ??

[Riposte1]

The guns used in all of those movies were probably owned and provided by Stembridge gun rentals in CA....At one time, their arsenal was as big as a small country. I think the US Government borrowed some firearms from them once.

They are now owned by ISS or "Independent Studio Services". They seem to keep good records and I would imagine they know where that particular gun, (or multiples of it used in filming), is located.

No doubt they were but IIRC one of the guns used in MF ended up being presented to John Millius - it could have been the one in the NRA Museum but that is too long ago to remember.

John Milius bought acreage around Gunsite long ago and he was acquainted with the Coopers but in all my trips I never ran into him - I think he actually lived somewhere else. John suffered a stroke but the last I heard he has recovered enough to shoot a little.

John is an interesting guy but I don't wan't to wander off down that bunny trail in a thread on J Edgar Hoover's .357

Riposte

 

[Doc44]

I believe it was Milius who loaned the 44 Magnum used in Magnum Force to the NRA. See page 230 of the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson, 5th Edition for a photo of this handgun (this is the 44 Magnum Jim Supica brought to Tulsa for Show & Tell).

Bill

 

[Model29-26.5]

John Milius, the writer of Dirty Harry, told me he owned the .44 Magnum used in the movie. Or at least that was the case quite a few years ago, and I don't think he's sold it.

That thing would be worth a ton.
I'd love to own one from any of the movies, but I'm guessing collectors would outbid me by many times over.
I hear there were several used in the movie.
Not sure which one I would want from the first movie, but the one in the opening credits of Magnum force was Smith & Wesson doubling down on product placement from the get-go.
They knew what happened to sales after the first movie so it was a great move to convince anyone who was on the fence by putting it right there in the second movie.

 

[Doc44]

I don't have serial numbers, etc., but I read years ago that two Model 29-2s were made for the move, "Dirty Harry", in S&W's tool room as the Model 29 was not in production at the time and a Model 29 could not be located for purchase. The two 29-2s were shipped to Kelly Lookabaugh, S&W Sales Representative for the Los Angeles area, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill

 

[Model29-26.5]

I don't have serial numbers, etc., but I read years ago that two Model 29-2s were made for the move, "Dirty Harry", in S&W's tool room as the Model 29 was not in production at the time and a Model 29 could not be located for purchase. The two 29-2s were shipped to Kelly Lookabaugh, S&W Sales Representative for the Los Angeles area, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill

I was hooked on the model 29 because of that movie.
I didn't "pull the trugger" on getting one until Jan last year at the age of 52, even though I had appreciated it since I was a kid and had replicas and models.
It was always something that I had kind of buried but had a fascination with.
Once I got that one I figured I'd get a 19 as, back then, I kind of saw it as the little brother.. and a 22 for cheap shooting. this was before I knew about the 27… and I was immediately sucked in the whole thing, so I have been kind of making up for lost time!

 

[MelvinWalker]

I don't have serial numbers, etc., but I read years ago that two Model 29-2s were made for the move, "Dirty Harry", in S&W's tool room as the Model 29 was not in production at the time and a Model 29 could not be located for purchase. The two 29-2s were shipped to Kelly Lookabaugh, S&W Sales Representative for the Los Angeles area, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill

Without looking, I remember reading that the studio had a hard time sourcing the .44 magnum guns at the time, so they went with what available, which was a .41 magnum...This was the first movie not Magnum Force.

 

[mtgianni]

To answer the OP, If I found the 22 RM I would shoot it to see how it has faired.

In all practicality, the gun has been passed on along with millions of mining stock to inheritors. They may know what they have but they continue to value privacy far more than they might need a measly $100,000 for Grandpas old gun.

 

[Model29-26.5]

To answer the OP, If I found the 22 RM I would shoot it to see how it has faired.

In all practicality, the gun has been passed on along with millions of mining stock to inheritors. They may know what they have but they continue to value privacy far more than they might need a measly $100,000 for Grandpas old gun.

Yes. It belongs in a museum, but a super cool thing to be privately owned.

 

[SWOH]

John Milius, the writer of Dirty Harry, told me he owned the .44 Magnum used in the movie. Or at least that was the case quite a few years ago, and I don't think he's sold it.

I think he demanded they buy him one in his contract, but not sure it's the on-screen gun as those can get abused a good bit.

 

[Warren Sear]

There is more BS and gossip about what guns Dirty Harry pretended to use in the pretend Dirty Harry movies, and about J Edgar Hoover's revolvers, than can be imagined! Personally, I could care less who owned any guns that I might want to buy. It doesn't add once cent to their value as far as I'm concerned.

Same for folks wetting their panties about Elvis or Elmer Keith guns.

 

[Inkgardener]

Or turned in for $100 gift certificate in a buyback scam.

That would be really tragic if we find out sometime that some city had recorded in their buyback the RM 1590 or 1591.

 

[Riposte1]

I don't have serial numbers, etc., but I read years ago that two Model 29-2s were made for the move, "Dirty Harry", in S&W's tool room as the Model 29 was not in production at the time and a Model 29 could not be located for purchase. The two 29-2s were shipped to Kelly Lookabaugh, S&W Sales Representative for the Los Angeles area, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill

I recall the hoopla caused by the movie. 29s went up overnight! Back in our city a long barreled 29 brought $750 new (qute a markup for gun that retailed for around $200).

In fact not long before the movie our Police Chief made the news for buying 150 Model 29s in 4" for $150 each (I guess he got a deal - he was quite the gun guy!) to issue to any officer who could qualify. He only allowed .44 Spl. in them though - which is fine by me, I like it a lot better than .357 magnum.

At any rate I was visiting a cousin in TN and he took me to this tiny little shop in I think Jefferson City, and there they had a 6.5" 29 "used" for $350 - I figured that was going to be the cheapest I could find one for a while. I had an FFL so I bought it. When I paid he gave me a box of Reminton 240 JSP factory loads that had come in with the gun - it had one fired case and 49 unfired

I liked that gun, shot a bunch of stuff with it until I wore off the finish so I cut the barrel to 5" and Parkerised it - turned out pretty nice. Shot my first wild bore with it but gave it to a friend who worried a boar to death with a .357 since I had other guns that would handle boar.

Sorry no pic, other than a poor copy of a paper pic, since we didn't have digital cameras back then.

Just Ramblin'

Riposte

 

[Model29-26.5]

My second 29-2 6.5"…. Do not ask me why, but I feel that there will be more….

 

[Doc44]

This issue of GUNS has an excellent article on the 44 Magnum and Dirty Harry. Per the article, Fred Miller of S&W had two Model 29s assembled from parts for the movie. No 41 Magnum was used in the Dirty Harry series.

Bill

 

[Model29-26.5]

There is more BS and gossip about what guns Dirty Harry pretended to use in the pretend Dirty Harry movies, and about J Edgar Hoover's revolvers, than can be imagined! Personally, I could care less who owned any guns that I might want to buy. It doesn't add once cent to their value as far as I'm concerned.

Same for folks wetting their panties about Elvis or Elmer Keith guns.

Love the BS!
That is actually what creates value.
The Mona Lisa is probably the best example of that.
If something has talked about, it creates a buzz and Value.
Any product, any person anything.
Bitcoin is actually worth nothing. And would be worth actually nothing if no one heard of it.
The only reason it's worth what it is worth is because people talk about it all the time and the more is worth, the more gets talked about and the more is worth.
Celebrities work on this principal.
Most everything does.

 

[Model29-26.5]

This issue of GUNS has an excellent article on the 44 Magnum and Dirty Harry. Per the article, Fred Miller of S&W had two Model 29s assembled from parts for the movie. No 41 Magnum was used in the Dirty Harry series.

Bill

View attachment 777131

I need this one!

 

[Warren Sear]

Love the BS!
That is actually what creates value.
The Mona Lisa is probably the best example of that.
If something has talked about, it creates a buzz and Value.
Any product, any person anything.
Bitcoin is actually worth nothing. And would be worth actually nothing if no one heard of it.
The only reason it's worth what it is worth is because people talk about it all the time and the more is worth, the more gets talked about and the more is worth.
Celebrities work on this principal.
Most everything does.

Years ago, I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum in Paris. Over-hyped would be an understatement. One big nothingburger. "The emperor has no clothes".

 

[Model29-26.5]

Years ago, I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum in Paris. Over-hyped would be an understatement. One big nothingburger. "The emperor has no clothes".

Everything that is worth way more than it should be is just something that is over hyped.
Like Taylor Swift.
People only went to go and see her on her last tour because they knew others were going and they wanted to tell everyone else.
If no one had ever heard of her and you had have shown those people, a video of Taylor show and said " do you want to go and see this girl that you've never heard of. Look what she does…."
They probably wouldn't have bothered going.
However, there are people out there that I would go to see based purely on Mert and how good they are.

This goes for everything. Quality vs reputation.
Usually a reputation is built because of Quality.,, but not always.. a.k.a. hype.

The model 29 is Quality.
Sell it with the story (hype) as well and it's worth maybe 100 times as much.

The banana against the wall in the art museum was pure hype. No Quality…, it's still sold for way more than a model 29 is worth.

I don't understand it a lot of the time. but I would still take Clint Eastwood's model 29 from "Dirty Harry" over any other one purely based on the story.. because it is also part of my childhood.
The nostalgia element and the connection to your own personal history is a big part of Sales.
It is why people go and see Bob Dylan…. Ahem… which naturally brings me back to the 22 registered Magnum…. was getting a little off track.

 

[Truckman]

My second 29-2 6.5"…. Do not ask me why, but I feel that there will be more….

I just finished cleaning one for the gun show tomorrow...I didn't get the original box with this one, but if it survives the weekend I think I have an empty mahogany case for a 6 1/2"... ...Ben

 

[SWOH]

That would be really tragic if we find out sometime that some city had recorded in their buyback the RM 1590 or 1591.

Well, my uncle's dad was a county engineer here and when they were tasked to dispose of firearms, the sheriff's deputies always got the pick of what they wanted and then the county guys would go through what was left and pick anything decent that was left. Uncle had some POS RG .22 and one of the Astra-made, IIRC, Colt Jr. models in .25 his dad saved. We'd be lucky if a cop got it instead of the furnace.