Dirty Harry Model 29

[leadfoot]

Light Special Load vs Special Light Load

I was thinking about this while getting my morning coffee and feeding the cats. What is the practical difference between "a light Special load" and "a special light load" anyway? Both are ways of describing a reduced power load in the .44 Magnum. The only possible difference I can think of is that the former might imply that you are using .44 Special cases rather than simply less powder (and maybe a different bullet) in the Magnum case. Either way, it is just a lighter load for the .44 Magnum revolver to shoot. This would in no way imply the use of a different gun - unless someone wants to say it was a Model of 1950/Model 24, which I don't think anyone has ever suggested!
If I was Ted Post, and I had just gotten a good take on that scene, I would not have reshot it either. It simply doesn't make any difference, although the scripted line would arguably have been better. Re-takes cost money and this one just wouldn't have been worth it.
(Fodder for the book, NFrameFred?)
Jack

Don't mean to be pickin' nits here, but I always thought "light special" load conveyed a whole different meaning than "special light" load. Light special load to me meant a .44 special loaded even lighter than it normally was, which was already light compared to the .44 mag load. Almost sounds downright weenie-ish, y'know?! But special light load would give me the impression it was a specially-made light .44 mag load, which is very different ... if Clint did blow the line, they should've re-shot it (no pun intended!).

 

[Quakertown]

... if Clint did blow the line, they should've re-shot it (no pun intended!).

That's easy for you to say, considering you weren't funding the movie. Perhaps if you were, you would regard it as not being worth the many thousands of dollars to reshoot based on something so insignificant, like they did.

 

[Arisin Wind]

In the early 80's I was stationed at Beale AFB in CA and visited San Francisco frequently. During one visit my ex-wife and I were driving through the city looking for a place to park. As we sat at a stop light waiting for it to change we saw police officers in the road a couple of blocks up. Just beyond them were a car with people around it and "news" cameras. The light changed so I carefully drove up the street. The cops didn't wave us down so we went by them. The street looked passable where the commotion was so I kept going. As we passed the car, cameras and a horde of people I had to swerve to keep from hitting a tall guy who stepped into our path. He wasn't paying attention to the traffic (us) but was focused on the car in the street. I didn't get a good look at him since I was cursing him and swerving. My ex-wife blurted out "That's Clint Eastwood!". We went up a couple of blocks and found a parking place. We walked back to where "Eastwood" was and sure enough, Clint was standing in the street, directing a scene from Sudden Impact. Inside the car was Sandra Locke. The news cameras were movie cameras and all the people were with the production.

We watched them film the scene over and over. The scene is where Sandra Locke stops at a stop light and three young dudes cross the street and harass her some.

There were marks for where people stood and the car was started from. Everyone would get in place and when prompted they would walk a designated route and the car would pull up. The actors did their lines and then everything stopped. The crew would then shift the cameras a little, the actors would get in position and they'd do it again and again. In two hours time they filmed that scene half a dozen times from various angles. In the movie the scene is just a minute or two.

One thing about Clint Eastwood. The guy is tall and lanky. He is impressive in person. Also, during the filming he was wearing a windbreaker with his shirttail hanging out and his sneakers should have been tossed in the trash long ago. It was definitely casual.

 

[153]

Gee Arisin, Clint didn't have a 8 3/4" Model 57 sticking out of his back pocket???

 

[Armybrat]

I'll sneak my 8 3/8 29-2 in here just for grins

 

[mkk41]

Looking back and thinking back , since San Francisco was one of the few depts to issue the S&W Model 58 in .41 magnum , shouldn't Inspector Harry Callahan have carried a Model 57?

I guess that wouldn't be the same.

" Since this is a .41 Magnum , the second most powerful handgun in the world , depending on the load used , and would still blow yer head clean of , , yada , yada , yada!"

 

[quinn]

Wasn't it a 29 no dash?

Sorry to get in here so late but I have two 6.5" Model 29's with serial numbers just after the "Dirty Harry" 29 in the NRA museum. Both of my guns were shipped in the 1960-61 time frame and are 4 screw no-dash models. Since the original movie gun was from the tool room, is it possible that it was a 9 year-old gun when it ma it's premier appearance?

 

[fdw]

Hello All!

Does anyone know the model 29 that was used in Dirty Harry (29-X, what is the X). Also, what was the barrel length, 6" 8" or both?

Steve

If this has been posted, sorry I didn't read through all the posts. Here is a good site for guns used in movies. I found it while searching for the weapons used in Skyfall.

Dirty Harry - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games

Best!

 

[GM4spd]

 

[navihawk]

Nice read. I have always wondered if they used authentic, (or real) guns in movies, and not just props, with the belief that they were real, unless what was posted earlier, that they were being thrown around or being abused.I have a few questions.
Does anyone know what the rules are on the movie sets? Do they have a controlled situation with a gun handler who loads the guns? I also read in a couple of posts about Cokes. What are Cokes? What are movie blanks made from? What do they use at the end of the shell, paper?

 

[highpower3006]

I also read in a couple of posts about Cokes. What are Cokes?

Cokes are a type of stock that S&W put on certain N frame models in the late 50's~early 60's. They have a swell in the center of the grip that loosely resembles a Coke bottle.

Model 29-2 on top with the later target stocks, Model 29 on the bottom has the factory "coke" style stocks.

Note the different profile, coke on the left.

 

[navihawk]

Thanks highpower

 

[29-1]

Here's my Dirty Harry era 29-2, N19098 that shipped 10/1/1971 right before the movie came out. Those were the days
Chuck

 

[vegasgunhand]

I think the Model 57 myth was due in some small part to the actual gun that S.F.P.D. was issuing in the 60's-70's to some of thier officers. They were one of the few departments that issued .41 magnums.

 

[Pointshoot]

l like mine too 153. 6 1/2s have so much class. Sixes are just so-so

O.K. guys, I know this question has likely been asked&answered somewhere else on the forum, but I just have to ask again on this actual Dirty Harry thread. The 29-2 with 6 1/2" barrel is on my own personal Want List. Afterall, its 'Dirty Harry's gun'. But why did S&W later go with the 6" barrel length ? Ive heard guys swear that the 6 1/2" balances better - is that true, or not ?

Thanks !

 

[viceunit]

6.5 vs. 6"

O.K. guys, I know this question has likely been asked&answered somewhere else on the forum, but I just have to ask again on this actual Dirty Harry thread. The 29-2 with 6 1/2" barrel is on my own personal Want List. Afterall, its 'Dirty Harry's gun'. But why did S&W later go with the 6" barrel length ? Ive heard guys swear that the 6 1/2" balances better - is that true, or not ?

Thanks !

This comes up often. Here is a discussion from last October.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1961-1980/274675-ode-6-5-s-w.html

The explanation for standardizing barrels at 6" makes sense. I just wonder why they were 6 1/2" in the first place - why? I prefer 'em that way, though.

 

[Pointshoot]

Thanks Tony for posting the link on the 6 1/2". Good stuff !

 

[Stranglehold]

I have little to add but pictures...

But I will say, I never considered a "Dirty Harry gun" to be anything other than a blued 6.5" Model 29...not a 4", not an 8 3/8", not nickel, certainly not a 629...and don't even get me started on the .41's and .45's.

In the name of authenticity, I believe it was Dade speedloaders that Eastwood carried in his pockets.

Roe

 

[29aholic]

yep

Kinda what I was thinking

 

[SuperMan]

...I got Bit By The .44 Bug also after the movie came out. At the time I was going to college in Boston but did 6 months in Houston with US Customs. When I got back to school in January 1973 I called a LEO friend who had been one of my freshman room mates in 1970 and was now working for Nashua, NH PD and asked if he could order a 29 as it was a years wait for one. The local dealer told him probably OCTOBER.

About three weeks later my friend called and then all I head was "click, click, click...it's here...!"...and I was in Nashua in an hour. Turns out one of the dealers customers who was next in line for the gun turned it down and as my friend was a very "personable" guy (he seemed to be able to talk the pants off of...never mind...) the dealer called him and asked if he wanted the gun.

Going price at the time was between $350-500...the dealer gave him the gun for $250 and threw in a box of 20 Winchester 240 grain JHPs...the ones that I think were for carbines..

It was about 18* as I recall. We went to a sand pit in the next town west along Rt. 101... We shot up the whole box but between the freezing cold and the checking on the grips there was no skin left on the palms of our hands...

Put over 10K rounds of reloaded ammo down the tube. Carried the gun from 1977-1979 in my first full time LE job with Dallas PD...never failed to shoot 100.. The gun was then brought back to new by Jerry Comptom who was a Dallas PD officer and armorer. That was 1980 when I was shooting a lot of .41 Magnum and the .38 Super bug had bit me. The 29-2 was traded for a 1969 unfired Colt Government .38 Super that I still have...and can honestly say I don't miss the 29...Harry should have used a 58....


Great thread...Bob