Some info on the model 29 with John Milius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x-tGz6dNdg

Sound effects in the movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DupG...ZCqJH3r9tKjeTU

That was interesting, thanks for sharing.

Great video's and thanks for sharing

Great to hear the story directly from someone that would know it with certainty. There's been so much inaccurate info/speculation floating around about exactly what gun was used... that it was a 8-3/8" barrel in some scenes, to not being an M-29 at all but a M-57.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

As already noted - good information directly from those in the know...

That's nice John Milius, except it was a 6 1/2" and we all know that.

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Tony

I handled THE original gun a few years back at SHOT Show. It was fairly beaten up, and really quite ordinary.
But still pretty neat to handle such a piece of movie history.

In some interviews, Milius says there were six shots in the bank robbery scene. There were five, darn it, FIVE!!

6 shots would make Harry - when he clicks on the robber - a depraved psychopath.

With 5, he has an impish sense of humor.

(Lowering the hammer, and then cocking again, so that he knows - regardless of whether it had been 5 or 6 - that he would then click on a fired case.)

The film inspired me to get my concealed carry license and my first handgun which was a model 29 with 8 3/8 inch barrel. This was 1973 and the film was so popular that there was a year long wait to get one.Now I see these going in price way more than what I paid in 1974.

A lot of people share a similar story like yours.espically why it was they bought their first 29. I had to buy my first in 82 after watching Nick Nolte wielding a four inch 29 in 48 Hrs.

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.

Perhaps this thread will cause some of the folks who have incorrect information about this to "get on board" with the rest of us!

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.

In the original, in the theater and early video, there were 5.

Thus all the questions over the years as to why he clicked empty after firing only five shots.

That last edition DVD added a shot to the sound track, apparently to satisfy those who know about guns only from video games and comic books.

I've seen edited for TV versions with only 4 shots. That really confuses things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXJ5jTDlOWw

One of my all time favorite "buddy" movies. I've seen it 100 times!

It is funny how people debate this, considering the obvious continuity error.

I saw five and heard six...

Just as the car is starting to move forward, a shot , that you don't see, goes off. His 29 has a distinctive sound, unlike the other weapons in the scene.

I'll have to see if I still have my old VHS copy and check this. Other than TV (edited??), I only have my DVD to reference. Like you mentioned, there is the 6th shot there.

Well, a lot of people say that Harry did have a streak of depraved psychopath, but he was a damned entertaining one.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Folks seem to forget the Popwell character had just shot Harry. I reckon for most people who had just been shot by someone, the urge to mess with the shooter a little would be irresistible.

Watching the clip in post #14, I noticed a little glitch. After the guy says "I gots to know", Harry walks up, points the gun and then cocks the hammer. Next the view shifts to a frontal of Harry and the cylinder moves as the click is heard like he shot double action.
George

I love how Harry is still chewing his food as the gun is coming down after the last shot...

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

Thanks, I enjoyed that and learned something interesting.

You are evil.

Anyone notice how all the shots fired in Clints' "spaghetti westerns" sounded like ricochets?

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

So every gun in Clints hands sounds like a 44mag even though it's not. It's a ploy on us and the 44 Magnum sound.

I knew in the plane it was a 38 special. But they dubbed in the 44 Magnum sound.

But wait one minute didn't Harry say he uses the 44 special loads?

Fool me once, fool us twice, but not a third time.

This is as bad as a movie showing a four stroke dirt bike in the terminator with a two stroke sound.

Do the movie makers think we're all stupid or dumb?

GET THE SOUNDS RIGHT!!!!!!!!! Will Ya ever get it right. They make billions off of us yet they insult us with the wrong sound effects?

Whenever you see a bird of prey, or even a Turkey Vulture, in the movies, you will ALWAYS here the sound /shriek of a Red Tailed Hawk. Doesn't matter if it is a Bald Eagle (actually sounds a little sissy like, sorry but true), Falcon or even some song birds. They always play the Hawk sound bite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33DWqRyAAUw

Bald Eagle...
http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Bald_Eagle_Sounds

Clearly 6 shots are heard here. Thus, it doesn't matter whether the "7th" fired at the robber who "gots to know" was fired DA or SA. Either way, the Model 29 was empty.

What? No 29-2 picture posted with this thread??? It's a sacrilege!!!

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Terry

Actually, the most glaring mistake made in this sequence is when Harry walks up to the bad guy laying on the sidewalk, the muzzle of the shotgun is about 2' from his hand. The next scene shows the gun is now about 8" from his hand. Details we all notice and look for!

Wanna see the most glaring sequence of bad mistakes in a scene? Check out the wrestling scene in Stripes between Harold Ramus and Bill Murray in the motor pool parking area. Amazing!

Guys, it is a movie not a documentary. It will have errors because it is not supposed to be factual but rather for entertainment. Five, six, ten shots, who cares, all I know it is a bad *** movie!

James

SOMEBODY GET A ROPE!!!

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Terry

Notice that he cocks it, then when he pulls the trigger he's firing double action.

Sad part about it is, the only ones keeping Dirty Harry alive is us right here.

It's only a movie.

Going back to the original thread, Dirty Harry, Smith & Wesson, and 44 magnum have become almost synonymous. I recently had the chance to take an old friend to the range, as he had just become interested in shooting and knew I'd help him out. Well, my old 29 was there and didn't fail to impress! (Even loaded with bullseye-wadcutter handload).
Incidentally, that 29 was my first firearm purchase, once I was old enough to do so. Despite years of junior small bore (rifle & pistol) competitive shooting, the 44 magnum and it's mythic status was simply irresistible.
Now, if I could only use it to earn my Distinguished Revolver Badge firing full house loads! Ha!!

"GET THE SOUNDS RIGHT!!!!!!!!! Will Ya ever get it right. They make billions off of us yet they insult us with the wrong sound effects?"

No they never will...like the 6 inch long 1 inch diameter "silencer" on the 30-06 that makes a little puff when fired. Wasn't there a shooter in "Magnum Force" with a "silenced" 357 snub nosed revolver??? If I remember right the can was about 3 inches long and an inch or so in diameter and it too went poof when fired. Silencers on revolvers...come on John Milius, you are supposed to be the one director that knows better.
One of the most abused sound infractions in the movies is a rattlesnake rattling...it is always some idiot shaking a maraca. If you ever have the pleasure of hearing a rattlesnake first hand you know it's more like a high pitched buzz. The first time for me I thought it was a cricket stuck in high gear.
Revolvers with silencers...when will Hollywood learn???

The Russian military issue revolver (before they switched to an auto) was capable of being silenced. That's because it was designed to seal the cylinder/forcing cone gap just before firing each round. I think it was the only revolver in history, though, with that capability.

The "silencer" was put on a 4" Python. It was a damn tube that most likely scarred the Python badly!

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.

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Have Gun Will Carry

Yep. Any real Dirty Harry fan knows that.

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

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

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

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.

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

Now get a chair

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.

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

Attached Images

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