I watched Dirty Harry and Magnum Force. At the end of Dirty Harry when Clint goods thru the whole '' I know what your thinking'' line,you get a really good look at his 29,and it as a pinned barrel. When Magnum Force starts Clint is holding his 29 for several minutes and all you see is the side of the gun. That 29 does not have a pinned barrel. I always thought he used the same 44 in all the Dirty Harry movies. Anyone have info or knowledge on the different guns used?

Magnum Force was a movie from 1973, are you SURE that barrel wasnt pinned?


Jim

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Yep, paused the dvd and zoomed in on the gun.

If memory serves, they didnt make non pinned 29s in the early 1970s.
Actually, I dont think they made ANY non pinned N frames in 1973.

Jim

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Big bullets leave big holes

If you watch Dirty Harry closely, in the beginning when he's giving the "I know what you're thinking" speech to the bank robber the guy gives up and Harry walks away. The robber says "hey, I gots ta know". Harry smirks, turns around, points the 29 at him, and then cocks it. The guy freaks out and then the camera goes to a frontal shot of Harry and shows him pulling the trigger double action. I notice stuff like that.

Could you tell if the cylinder was recessed? Don

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according to the experts, it may have not even been a .44

The actual gun he used is on display at the NRA museum... its a Model 29.


Jim

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There really should be a sticky for this.

John Milius and Doc44 have written about this. All guns used in filming were 6 1/2" M29's provided by Smith & Wesson. No Model 25's or 57's and no 8 3/8" barrels.

So much for Wikipedia and other "experts".

Bruce

One thing Eastwood's character admitted in Magnum Force was that he had it loaded with .44 special rounds.

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Pete.

S&W assembled two Model 29-2s from parts for the movie "Dirty Harry" that came out in 1971. The guns were assembled in S&W's tool room as the Model 29 was not in production at the time the guns were needed. Each revolver has a 6 1/2-inch barrel and bright blue finish and was shipped to a distributor in Los Angeles.

For the movie, "Magnum Force", I believe the Model 29 used was a 4-screw gun and has a serial number in the S205000 range or so. I think this is the one on display at the NRA museum in Virginia. There may have been a second gun, but I am not sure about this.

The Model 57 has a 6-inch barrel and is easily distinguished from a Model 29.

At the time these movies were made, all N-frames had barrel pins, as they were not eliminated until 1982.

Bill

Another question concerning his M29. I just watched DH again on DVD. In th last scene before he shoots the bad guy, he puts the gun to his side, turns it so the side of the gun is facing the camera. He flexes his right hand to adjust the grip and it sure looks to me like the gun was wearing "coke" grips. You have to watch on DVD and pause it at just the right moment to see the less than a second scene. Just wonder if anyone else noticed that or is it just me!

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Here we go again, Bruce.

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jj

"One thing Eastwood's character admitted in Magnum Force was that he had it loaded with .44 special rounds."

In the indoor range sequence, Callahan is asked what kind of load he uses in "that" .44. His reply was "a light special" which gives more control in that sized gun than a .357 magnum with wadcutters. He didn't say that they were .44 Specials.



B.

Remington did make a "medium loading" round in those days.

I'll admit it's hard to tell, but the barrel pin is there.

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jj

Since he was comparing them to wadcutters I always took this scene to mean he was been talking about his range load not his duty load.

The pin is there.

Nope, cant flip the view of the gun! LOL!!!

I can see it! Maybe its time for a HD TV!!!

That's a good one Don! I thought it was a Mod 57 he used in the Dirty Harry movies with a Mod 29 cylinder and Mod 27 grips!

T-Star

Bruce is spot on here. In the interview with John Milius, he said that Eastwood screwed up the line, but since they doubted anyone would notice, they left it.

He was supposed to say "I use a special light load" not "I use light special loads".

Watch the Milius interview. Most, any question can be answered by watching it.

Edited to correct my hastily misspelled words

Geeze Clint , say it right . That has caused a lot of grief . Next time I watch :"Play Misty for me" I'm rooting for the crazy woman .

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Idaho , Elmer and Milt

Milius discusses the "light special" issue:

YouTube - Dirty Harry "light .44 special" line set straight

The gun:

YouTube - Milius, filming Dirty Harry: "I want one of those guns"

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The last Dirty Harry movie The dead pool, on the Video cover or the movie ad there is a 8 3/8" 29 shown, P&R naturally. The gun used in the movie was a 6 1/2 inch.

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This issue of what gun was actually used in the DH movies has been discussed so many times, I almost wish links would be put in the sticky section and folks who are not members of the S&WCA would join to have the benefit of the piece done by Roy Jinks and others in the Journal.

According to Mr. Jinks, the factory supplied the 8 3/8 inch Model 29 as a photo prop for the movie poster ONLY. The 6 1/2 inch Model 29 was used in every movie. Sources that say that it was some other N frame or that it was a six inch Model 19 are just plain wrong.

Even the article by Skeeter Skelton mentions that the Model 29 for the first movie, DH, was built especially for the movie and the article, if I recall, even names the guy at S&W who built it from parts since a production line Model 29 was not available on the time table needed by the movie people. But it WAS a Model 29 with a 6 1/2 inch barrel in all the movies, save the 8 3/8 inch one used for the poster as mentioned here.

I remember that comment about the special load and found it interesting, but I interpreted it to mean it was a "special" 44 magum load made for him, not a 44 special [the cartridge] load.

Thanks.

I watched the whole opening. It is recessed.

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jj

Once again, I feel compelled as I was a year or so ago to clear up the entire controversy.

First, Clint's not as big as he looks on screen; he's actually quite diminutive.

Second, because of his size, a Model 19 6-inch .357 was used throughout the series but consistently referred to as a Magnum .44.

It was all just movie magic that for decades has fooled all but the most discerning. Case closed!

I have some ocean front property here in Western Virginia for sale. Would you be interested?

It looks like we have beat this to death..How about this..IN the movie Gran Torino, what is the handgun Clint has, a 1911?
And in the scene where he has one of the punks on the ground and the hand gun right in his face it looks like the slide is pull back...I think....

What ? I have never heard that one before!

When the motorcycle scene at the end of Magnum Force was filmed, I had to do stand-by duty on the escort carrier when it was done.

During a couple of breaks, Clint wandered around checking things out. He stood next to me and BS'ed a bit. I'm 6'4" and he wasn't that much shorter.

To digress, that bridge in the scene is not the Bay Bridge, but the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge. (The scene was shot at Red Rock Marina in Richmond.)

Sorry, I've got to ask....what kind of wood are those grips made from? I have never seen any others like that....

I don't know what the wood is, but those grip are the same color as the presentation grips on my Model 22.

one evening in 1972 or 3 while i was working in the id bureau at the sfpd hall of justice, clint eastwood and his film crew, were down in the hall's parking lot filming a scene in one of his dirty harry movies. though i was up in the 4th floor looking down toward the parking lot, clint eastwood certainly did not appear to be a diminutive person.

I think the poster was kidding you. Clint's height is quoted as 6' 2", and I think others have addressed the model 29 question clearly.

Regarding the stocks - really dark (at least in the photo) Goncalo Alves would be my guess, too varied in color for walnut or rosewood.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

If Clint is so small,I guess the people responsible for the cast in all his movies know a lot of midgets with acting skills!

...he's actually quite diminutive.
Quick somebody get a rope!

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You all do realize that this is all make-belive and pretend, right?? Yi-yi-yi!

No its not!!! How can you say its make believe? Everytime on TV is real, aint it???

I've also heard scuttle butt that it was really a .45 Colt?
Steve

As long as we're bringing up an old thread -- an old letter:

In the June, 1988 Guns & Ammo, Jan Libourel featured a letter from one Greg Roberts, of Roberts Custom Guns, then of Oak Harbor, WA stating …

“While Sudden Impact was being filmed in Santa Cruz. California, I had the opportunity to repair two Model 29s that were used in the "Dirty Harry" films. Both were 6 ½ inch and were not .44 Magnums. The cylinders had been punched out to .45 Long Colt because of the availability of .45 LC blanks in the special effects department.”

===

The really important question, of course, is "5 or 6?"

I read that they used the 8 3/8" barrel M29 for the strait on camera shots (looking up the barrel) and the 6.5" for the side and action shots.

A friend's father is an old prop master and he confirmed that until the late 1980's 44 mag guns were modified to fire 45LC blanks. It is still possible to find an old Colt or Great Western revolver that will hold 45LC blanks and have a 38 spl opening at the front of the cylinder.

I wouldn't call 6'2" diminutive

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That is just camera magic...Clint is actually 4'8" tall (and Sondra Locke is only 2' tall!), and they used a North American Arms .22 revolver painted black. All of the other actors walked in trenches during filming just to make Clint look tall...Hollywood is tricky!

This actually makes as much sense as these tired rumors repeated ad nauseum that the guns were 45 colts and 41 magnums .

It's has been documented to death but this tripe persists in perpetuation . . . .

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also indoor ranges, atleast the one I go to will not allow the use of .44 magnum indoors for the fear of it possibly coming back at the shooter when it hits the backdrop.

even with that shield in the back before the wall.

after all that energy has to go somewhere and get absorbed by something, and a solid wall with a carpet like substance may not be able to properly absorb the energy.

where as an outdoor berm or wood will.

How tall is Clint eastwood - The Q&A wiki

In his later years, Clint's height was reduced to 6'2" (188 cm) from normal elderly spinal compression. But in his youth, Clint (born was measured at a legitimate 6'4 ...
wiki.answers.com/Q/How_tall_is_clint_eastwood - Proxy - Highlight

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