ID Clark Gable's Rifle In This Pic

Ray said:
I understand that Mr. Gable owned also a SW registered .357 Magnum revolver.Regards, Ray
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Ray-

He had at least one such gun, customized. The trigger looks more curved than usual and there were other personal touches. Someone posted pics of it here some time ago.

That gun has custom grips, probably from Roper or Kearsarge. A very nice item to have.

Say what you like about Gable, but he flew bomber missions over Germany without a parachute, so he'd be killed if the plane went down. He didn't want to become a POW and be used for propaganda.

Errol Flynn had a rep for possibly raping at least one girl and having too much fun with others, underage. His fiancée when he died was about 17 and had been with him for a couple of years. He wasn't arrested, but after his death, the girl's mother was and went to jail for letting Gable be with her daughter. She wrote a book about that.
 
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Apparently you know even less about acting than you do about guns....
 
les.b said:
Clark Gable's registered magnum:

NRA Museums:
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I have seen that particular revolver in person, and took a snapshot of it a few years ago at the S&W Collector's Association meeting in Tucson.

John

CLARK_GABLE_REGISTERED_MAGNUM_zpsvik3r7i4.jpg
 
Paladin-

Thanks, John. :)

I hope that everyone here notices the custom grips by Roper (proper last name; is capitalized) and the reshaped trigger. This was clearly a gun that Gable loved and wanted to be just perfect for him. I believe the hammer was also re-shaped.
 
Can anyone post a good, sharp photo of the Remington M-30-S and the later (1940) M-720, inasmuch as they've been referred to here several times? These were the primary factory rifles to have been based on the M-1917 Enfield action.

Also, one of the prop rifles on the former syndicated series, "The Lost World", filmed in Australia from 1999-2002 was made on an Enfield action. Lord Roxton (played by Will Snow) referred to it as a .416 Rigby, and it may well have been, or something very similar. In some close up scenes, one could see the distinctive safety.

(This was NOT the separate Lee-Enfield sporter used by character Marguerite Krux, which looked to be a fairly recent Parker-Hale product or an Aussie equivalent.)
 
John and Texas Star:

I have a Colt Army model with a custom hammer that looks very similar to the one on Clark Gable's RM....





I believe that it was manufactured in 1925, but not sure when the modifications were made. The checkering on the back and front straps may be a factory rework, it is stamped with the 6 pointed star that I seem to remember designated factory modifications.

Not to drift the thread, but was struck by the similarity in the hammers. Thought it might have been a common modification back in the day.

Les
 
Texas Star:

Here is a screen shot from about 1:29 of "Mogambo".... First clear shot of Gable's rifle...



I'll leave it to you rifle experts what it is, but I think this is a pretty clear shot of it.
 
Les-

Thanks! That's possibly a German rifle, not a famous British custom brand. But the bolt handle, although flat, is not a "butterknife" bolt. That requires that the whole handle be flat, as on Mannlicher-Schoenauers.

Because Tanganyika (now Tanzania) was a German colony and because many British settlers who couldn't afford a Rigby or Westley Richards rifle bought German rifles, many of these Mausers are in Africa.

The late Finn Aagard wrote that his father had one in 7mm, with which he shot all manner of game. Aagard was himself later a white hunter and moved to the USA after Kenya banned hunting in 1977. Many of you probably enjoyed his excellent articles in, "American Rifleman."
 
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les.b said:
John and Texas Star:

I have a Colt Army model with a custom hammer that looks very similar to the one on Clark Gable's RM....





I believe that it was manufactured in 1925, but not sure when the modifications were made. The checkering on the back and front straps may be a factory rework, it is stamped with the 6 pointed star that I seem to remember designated factory modifications.

Not to drift the thread, but was struck by the similarity in the hammers. Thought it might have been a common modification back in the day.

Les
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Les-

What an unusual hammer! It's intended to provide a quick grasp by the thumb, like S&W's later target hammers, and is low enough to reach easily in a firing grasp of the gun. An ingenious concept.

I suspect that whoever "did" Gable's hammer also worked on your Colt. And wouldn't be surprised if Colt's Bisley hammer was his inspiration.

BTW, who made your Jordan holster? Mine is by Don Hume, and is basketweave stamped. I prefer that to floral carving.
 
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Texas Star:

Here is a shot of the back of this holster. It too is a Don Hume. A local agency that I work with were transitioning to semiautos years ago, and they had three or four of these holsters new in zip lock bags, and we're going to throw them away. I told them that I would be happy to 'dispose' of them. They are the later thumb snap style, and aren't really period correct for this gun, but hey, free is always good. They were marked for S&W 'L' frame, and Colt Official Police, neither of which I had at the time. When I acquired this Colt, I found that it was a perfect fit. Here is a shot of the back.



Another one is a perfect fit for this West Virginia Stae Police S&W model 686.



Unfortunately, neither is basket weave. Here is my only basket weave holster, on a 1941 Colt Official Police that has been professionally converted to two inch bbl.



BTW, I have now finished watching "Mogambo ", and am going to tackle "King Soloman's Mines" next. I love watching on the iPad, now that I have learned about "X-ray", the feature that lets you see all the actors on screen at the time, with biographies and photo albums, and also, as I just did in "Mogambo ", I can take a screen shot of any moment and then blow it up or post it as I just did. Cool stuff.

Regards, Les
 
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les.b said:
Texas Star:

Here is a shot of the back of this holster. It too is a Don Hume. A local agency that I work with were transitioning to semiautos years ago, and they had three or four of these holsters new in zip lock bags, and we're going to throw them away. I told them that I would be happy to 'dispose' of them. They are the later thumb snap style, and aren't really period correct for this gun, but hey, free is always good. They were marked for S&W 'L' frame, and Colt Official Police, neither of which I had at the time. When I acquired this Colt, I found that it was a perfect fit. Here is a shot of the back.



Another one is a perfect fit for this West Virginia Stae Police S&W model 686.



Unfortunately, neither is basket weave. Here is my only basket weave holster, on a 1941 Colt Official Police that has been professionally converted to two inch bbl.



BTW, I have now finished watching "Mogambo ", and am going to tackle "King Soloman's Mines" next. I love watching on the iPad, now that I have learned about "X-ray", the feature that lets you see all the actors on screen at the time, with biographies and photo albums, and also, as I just did in "Mogambo ", I can take a screen shot of any moment and then blow it up or post it as I just did. Cool stuff.

Regards, Les
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Les-

I like those Uncle Mike's grips on the M-686. Nice stuff. Yes, Colts on the .41 frame do fit holsters made for L-frame S&W's.

Believe it or not, some guy posting here inherited an ORIGINAL snub Colt OP, made about 1940,I think. Only one I've ever seen.

Your grasp of that movie technology amazes me. I'm electronically challenged. :D

I enlarged the pic of Gable with the Euro or British rifle and am not at all sure the bolt handle is flat. Can't tell. The image isn't sharp enough. Mauser made a Type A sporter that looked a LOT like British custom rifles and it may be that or a similar rifle. Their Model B with flat bolt handle and Schnabel forearm was copied (?) by Brno/CZ. I think BSA and Winchester (M-70 Classic Fwt.) handled that basic stock style better, though.

If you view, "Out of Africa", a splendid movie that deserved its seven Academy Awards, look at Merle Streep's rifle. May or may not be a .318 Westley Richards like the real Karen Blixen-Finecke used. Robt. Redford, playing the real life Denys Finch Hatton, mostly had a big double rifle. There's a good scene where that duo had to face down an angry lioness. BTW, Klaus Maria Brandauer was superb as Karen's wayward husband, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke.


In case you didn't know, Bror was the white hunter that Hemingway had in mind when he wrote, "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber". I wouldn't have trusted him very far, especially if I had my wife on safari.
 
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