El DOrado the movie?

Ogandydancer

Ogandydancer

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Just finished watching it again for I don't know how many times and just picked up on the fact that the character of "Bull" Arthur Huneycutt was using a revolving rifle, I looked it up on wikki and the only info. I found seemed to be the 1855 colt revolving rifle which they seemed to have had a lot of trouble with. Just wondered if anyone else had picked up on this and could offer any other input on it?
 
They say it is a 56 caliber rifle, but that's an awful big hole, with extremely thin barrel walls. I believe it's a shotgun.

http://www.imfdb.org/images/4/4c/El10.jpg

The trouble you mention, I suppose, is when they go to the church, and Bull gives them cover. On his second (I believe) shot he snatches his left arm away, because of the reason they quit making the gun waaaay back then. Powder burn from the flash gap got him.
 

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Imdb movie gun data base confirms colt revolving rifle. In fact in a few scenes the cylinder is clearly visible. I have fired one of these and it requires an unnatural hold to keep from burning the support hand.
 
I keep hoping that Bull learns to blow that Bugle better, each time I watch it..................
 
Alpo said:
They say it is a 56 caliber rifle, but that's an awful big hole, with extremely thin barrel walls. I believe it's a shotgun.

http://www.imfdb.org/images/4/4c/El10.jpg

The trouble you mention, I suppose, is when they go to the church, and Bull gives them cover. On his second (I believe) shot he snatches his left arm away, because of the reason they quit making the gun waaaay back then. Powder burn from the flash gap got him.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen that movie in a while but if it's a Colt Model 1855 the most common version was a 58 caliber, musket style rifle. There were quite a few used during the civil war and they did have some issues. Colt's instructions for the weapon recommended a rear hold for the support hand (basically cupping the support hand over the trigger hand) to avoid the cylinder flash. If you forgot that you were likely to get burned! There was also the possibility of a chain fire and an adjacent chamber going off.

Despite these drawbacks there were a number of units issued these guns and some undoubtedly continued to be used by individuals long after the war. Colt had made several types of revolving rifles since the very first Patterson production but they never really caught on, the 1855 benefited from the demands of the war helping it's sales. Remington also made some revolving rifles as well but, like Colt, they were not overly successful. The advent of reliable breech loaders and magazine fed repeaters quickly made them obsolete
 
Some years back, a friend of mine liked to tinker with some off the wall custom stuff. He fitted a Model 657 .41 Magnum with a 16" barrel. I tried to shoot it, but couldn't hold the darn thing up! I finally wrapped my arm around it in a really weird way to try to hold the barrel while avoiding the B/C flash. It didn't work. :eek:
He always intended to make a shoulder stock for it and had a prototype in the works. Sadly, he passed away before it ever got finished.
 
Those Colt rifles rarely pop up in westerns. One was seen in the remake 3:10 To Yuma. Here's an El Dorado trivia page. In the picture is one of my all time western bad guys, and I base that on this movie and Chisum. Christopher George. This guy was just flat out cool and was a real scene stealer in both movies. And who can forget Rat Patrol.

https://tv-movie-reviews.knoji.com/john-wayne-in-el-dorado-1966-movie-trivia-fun-facts/
 
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"Croatan oil!!! Well I'll be a suck egg mule!!!"

That was a pretty good western...Wayne at some of his macho finest...kills a mans son and brings the dead body to the house and yells, "Kevin MacDonald...I'm looking for Kevin MacDonald"

There was a lot of good one liners in that movie. I especially like Wayne trying to teach James Caan's character how to shoot...he lets the guy fire exactly one, one shot, and when it's a miss he says, "awe, it's no use." and quits.
Somebody gave me one of those carbine revolvers once. It was a reproduction of course, but I never did fire the thing.
 
I especially like where he told Maudie to keep it quiet, that he was in town. Deep Dark Secret.

Then he rides out into the middle of the street and yells at the jail. "Hello the jail. This is Cole Thornton!"

Yeah, that oughta keep it secret.

Can someone explain to me WHY they shot the gang galloping down the street? I mean, hell, even if gallopin' and whoopin' and shootin' in the air, after midnight, breaks a noise ordinance, that should not justify blowing people out of the saddle with a shotgun.
 
Back around 1971 I was in high school in Detroit .I used to walk past a lgs on Grand River ave.I think it was called Nuemans not really sure after all these years.They had a revolving rifle hanging on the wall.One of the clerks told me it was a custom made rifle.That was used in ElDorado.Do not know if that was true or not. But the employees in that store were always nice and friendly to A kid who was fascinated with guns but lived in a anti gun house.
 
My favorite western. No telling how many times I've seen it starting out when I was 13 and saw it in the theater as a new release. Michele Carey may have been responsible for initiating puberty with me. Wow.

There were several revolving rifles made back then. Not a successful idea.
 
Eldorado with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Arthur Hunnycut is a remake of
Rio Bravo with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson.
 
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