Barney Fife's revolver?

G.T. Smith

G.T. Smith

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I have been meaning to ask ya'll if anyone knows what kind of revolver Barney carries.:confused: They have Andy Griffith re-runs on here all the time in the afternoon and I have never really got a good enough look for long enough to identify it. Sometimes it looks like a Smith to me, but other times it looks like my old Colt OP.:eek: I have seen Andy strap on a revolver a couple times and it looks like Barney's to me.
Please help me, it drives me nuts.:D:D:D

Peace,
gordon:)
 
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Barney carried whatever the Prop Department had handy at the time... sometimes a Colt, sometimes a Smith.
 
To me it looks like a Colt OP .38 spl. At the time Colt's were seen in most movies and TV where cops were involved. In fact my first service revolver, in 1968, was a Colt OP. Many years later it was a Colt DS (which saved my bacon one evening) so I admit to being partial. Hope this helps.
 
It's a .38 special Colt Police Positive and it will shoot a hole in the floor!!!...:eek:
 
Weapon retention drill

andy-griffith-don_knotts.jpg
 
In one episode I think he is carrying an old Heavy Duty because there is a clear view of the right side as Barny motions a prisoner into the cell with the revolver. The barrel on that revolver plainly has a half moon front sight and a shrouded ejector.

Most of the other times I think it's a mix of common S&W and Colts.
 
Thank you all for your opinions. I thought of a heavy duty too, once seeing the half moon front sight, but since we will never probably know for sure, and the prop dept. probably did switch around some, I am going to call it a Colt 38 spec. OP since I used to have one. hahahaha. I wonder if it had a one shot cylinder?
Peace,
gordon
 
The few times I saw him "load" it, he pulled the cylinder release back, indicating a Colt...but there were times the grip and barrel views I got indicated a Smith, so I'd have to agree..."pretty much what the prop department had on hand..."
 
I just got a PM from a guy who has a colt book that indicated that he sometimes carried a Colt OP 38 special, and sometimes a model 10 S&W.
Sounds right to me.

Peace,
gordon
 
Several years ago on EBAY they sold a rubber prop gun that had some paperwork indicating it had been used on the show.
 
There was one episode in which the situation was going to get pretty serious and Andy handed Barney a box of ammo and told him to load it up.

I can't remember the details of the episode. But several shows had Barney putting his "bullet" in his revolver. And it always ended the same way. "KAPOW"!!
 
I don't know about Barney's revolver, but this thread reminded me of one of those "I shudda said" momments.

A couple of weeks ago, I was telling the people at Bible study that I had gone full time with my former part time job as a security guard (unarmed). One of the fellows started ribbing me and said "They're going to give him one bullet like old Barney."

Later that evening when I got home, I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out, not one, but six, 38 special rounds I had forgotten I dropped there earlier in the afternoon. I started to laugh, and my wife asked "What's so funny?"

I said "Oh, I wish I had remembered these when 'ol Bob was ribbing me about Barney's bullet. I would have loved to see his face if I'd plopped them down on the table and said 'I've got all SIX of them!" :D
 
You've got to nip it in the butt! :D
It's been my understanding the revolver was a Colt O.P.
15664ye.gif
 
Back around 2000-2002 on EBay someone sold a prop gun that had been made inoperable. If I rememberd it was a colt. Would have loved to have it, as what cop wouldn't want that on his office wall. I'm not sure how much it sold for, but when I checked on it the bid was around $3000.
 
I have tried to research another "Fife" story for real. I know a old man in town here that has the last name of fife. He told me a good story of his uncle that I belive was named Earl Fife. Just going by the old boys age here I suppose this happened in the 1930s or so? Earl was sheriff here. He went to the nevada/utah state line to the west of us to check out a complaint of someone stealing wool from some rancher. Somehow he got jumped by a man and woman that was on the run from back east. At first they discussed killing him but decided against it but handcuffed him around a cedar tree. He was in the boonies and didnt have much hope of getting discovered. He managed to get ahold of a fairly sharp edged rock at the base of the tree. He kept sawing and hacking at the branchs and kept climbing up the tree and finaly dropped out! I think it took him two days! He said the pair was later ran down on the arizona strip. He said the story was featured in some old detective magazines years ago.
I wish I had got better details as to dates etc but didnt as I am not the type to try and embarass people, like I was going to check out their storys to see if they were lieing to me. However I did ask another old timer and he thought he remembered hearing the same story when he was a kid. I tried googeling it and didnt come up with anything.
 
Some interesting Mayberry triva...The show was filmed on a back lot of Desi Lou productions and the main street area was used for the TV show The Untouchables and in one episode of Star Trek where Kirk and Spock go back to earth in the 1930's gangster era...On scenes of Wally's filling station the road in front curves around a stand of trees which if you were to continue down that road you would run into Gomers Marine barracks where Gomer Pyle USMC was filmed...In the original pilot Andy was to be the goof ball like his role in No time for Sergeants and Barney the straight man but Don Knotts turned out to be the perfect town idiot...My favorite character was Earnest T Bass played by Howard Morris who also auditioned for Barney's deputy role but fate stepped in and Earnest T threw rocks and became Barney's favorite line "He's a Nut"... I wonder what happened to all the props used in the show like the jail key ring, Floyd's scissors, Andy's chair and of coarse Barney's gun belt and revolver....Ahhhhh the good old days are gone for good.... The main street area in Mayberry was destroyed by a fire and the rest was torn down...:(
 
Another piece of trivila. Don knotts had a cousin that was a san diego county california deputy. He was a friend of mine back in the 70s.
 
Barney Fife, Ugh!

There were SEVERAL episodes where that idiot discharged his weapon.

Sorry to dredge this up but like most here, I grew up with "The Andy Griffith Show". I remember my dad howling in laughter at Barney's antics but as a 7 year old, I could never understand it.

At 7 years old, to me he was a buffoon and idiotic! I couldn't understand why people thought he was funny because even as such a young kid, I couldn't understand the appeal.

I even remember all the controversy when he left the show after a contract dispute and him wanting a huge raise and the studio refused. In the end, the ratings plummeted but I was so happy he was GONE!

Fast forward to present day, I still watch reruns but I won't watch any episodes that have him in it.

I can't figure out after all these years why he's still talked about. I do understand all the posters that exist today showing what a buffoon he was but he was one of the unfunniest characters to ever come out of a TV series.

Ya, I know, he laughed all the way to the bank! :)
 
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