Clint Eastwood's 44 Magnum

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....
 
danski said:
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!
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What ? I have never heard that one before!
 
Marshall 357 said:
What ? I have never heard that one before!
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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.)
 
DH.png


Sorry, I've got to ask....what kind of wood are those grips made from? I have never seen any others like that....
 
9303 said:
DH.png


Sorry, I've got to ask....what kind of wood are those grips made from? I have never seen any others like that....
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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.
 
Marshall 357 said:
What ? I have never heard that one before!
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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.
 
danski said:
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!
Click to expand...


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!:D
 
You all do realize that this is all make-belive and pretend, right??:confused: Yi-yi-yi!
 
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?"
 
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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.
 
danski said:
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!
Click to expand...


I wouldn't call 6'2" diminutive ;)
 
DR505 said:
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! :p:D
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This actually makes as much sense as these tired rumors repeated ad nauseum that the guns were 45 colts and 41 magnums :rolleyes:.

It's has been documented to death but this tripe persists in perpetuation . . . . :confused:
 
BruceM said:
"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.
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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.
 
I like to think I know a bit about M29s. I've had them in 8 3/8, 6 1/2 and 6 inch barrels. Callahan uses a 6 1/2" in every movie but the last one, when a 6'' was used. He lost his gun in the bomb at the end of Magnum Force, and when it was kicked into the ocean near the end of Sudden Impact. By '88, when The Dead Pool came out S&W no longer made the 29 in 6 1/2'' so Harry took one with a 6''. All blue steel and all 6 1/2" till the last flick. And I'm tired of pointing this out...
 
John Eilertson said:
I like to think I know a bit about M29s. I've had them in 8 3/8, 6 1/2 and 6 inch barrels. Callahan uses a 6 1/2" in every movie but the last one, when a 6'' was used. He lost his gun in the bomb at the end of Magnum Force, and when it was kicked into the ocean near the end of Sudden Impact. By '88, when The Dead Pool came out S&W no longer made the 29 in 6 1/2'' so Harry took one with a 6''. All blue steel and all 6 1/2" till the last flick. And I'm tired of pointing this out...
Click to expand...

You dug up a 4 year old thread that nobody had posted to in 2 years for this? :rolleyes:
 
PDL said:
One thing Eastwood's character admitted in Magnum Force was that he had it loaded with .44 special rounds.
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I don't remember that...why would ANYONE choose to load a M-29 with ammo producing 350 lb-ft versus 900+ lb-ft?

Dont' even pretend to say "recoil" and all that reduced loads BS....in the MOVIE, Dirty Harry was all about the Magnum load!
 
As big a fan of DH as I am, I have to chuckle at the sound track when he shot those light loads.

They were ALWAYS magnums on the sound track.
 
borntoraisehogs said:
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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Now that is one creepy woman and one scary movie....I still get upset just thinking about her and that knife. Saw it on the big screen in a dark theater on a date with my girl . She didn't like the movie either. Been married 41 years now!
Some times when she's in the kitchen , cutting up something for dinner I'll ask her if she wants me to "play misty for her" she gives me "The Look" .
Gary
 
luis said:
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.
Click to expand...

For your info, the DH M29s were from a prop house in Hollywood by the name of Ellis Mercantile, I know cause that's where I started my TA business in the 80s.

The 29s were 6 1/2", I shot them.

Since the 1950s the blank used is called a 5in1.

It fits the 44 mag, 44 special, 45 Colt, 44-40 and 38-40 (maybe he confused this round although a 38-40 is actually close to 40 caliber..)

It wasn't till the mid 90s that more individual blanks were made, in fact 5in1s are still used, alot.

Used them two weeks ago on "BONES".

Mike
 
Curt Blunt said:
No one asked but I watched Dirty Harry on my VCR and counted the number of rounds in the opening sequence. Four.
Click to expand...

Watch it again.
The first two shots are obvious. Then you hear, but do not see him fire at the car as it starts to drive away/towards him, shot #3. Then you see him shoot, two times at the car, #'s 4 and 5. Finally, when the car is on its side, the last bad guy out of the bank gets round #6.
Then again, the bad guy jumping out of the car, once it is on it's side, gets off a shot too. That actually adds to the confusion.
I just dug out, and watched this movie (again) the day before this thread started, a classic.
I did the round count thing too.
 
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