45-110 scene in "QUIGLEY"

[gandydancer]

and there is the RUB its just a movie. look up the billy dixon shot at adobie walls in 1874 the rifles will do it if the shooter does his part. but off hand???mmmmmmm iffey.

[waksupi]

and there is the RUB its just a movie. look up the billy dixon shot at adobie walls in 1874 the rifles will do it if the shooter does his part. but off hand???mmmmmmm iffey.

You would need to try it out some. We have done off hand shooting at targets some cannot conceive of. As someone stated earlier, the clarity of the air in the west makes such shots possible, and lots of shooting practice makes it very do-able. I still remember with much amusement Bobby Giles and I taking a lot of money in long range off hand matches down at the old Virginia City Montana shoots. And we were shooting business rifles. I believe we actually had an advantage over the dedicated long range rifles.

[Don McDowell]

Rick I think you're right about the advantage of using the business rifle. It's sorta mind boggling what a person can do with one of these rifles when you set your mind to it.

[Finster101]

I am very impressed with the research of what the rifles will do. In context of the movie, Quigly was assumed to be one of the best marksmen in the world. That taken, him making shots others would deem impossible is perfectly plausible to me. How many of us could even dream of making some of the shots that todays top riflemen make? Again, it's a movie, a very good movie, but I think a little latitude is okay.

[omgb]

I once had a lot of time on my hands. As a weather observer at Malmstrom AFB in MT I could go shooting almost every day. I got posted to a RADAR sight up on the DEW line in AK. We worked 12 hr shfts, 6 days a week. While at the shack 2 miles from everyone else, I had a little Ruger 22 auto. I would shoot that thing all day at just about anything, from pine cones to snowshoe hares. We had markers along the runway so I knew the distances. I ran through 3 or 4 100 round boxes a shift for several months. The NCO at the PX had to do a regular order for me. After awhile I got good, real good and using a rest, could drop a round into a gallon jug out at 200 yards 100% of the time. When I returned to Malmstrom I tapered off some but still kept at it. Out back of the base runs the Missouri river. We would lay on our backs on the MAFB side and shoot at an old car wreck on the banks of the other side at a professionally estimated 400 yards ( we did a lot of range estimating in those days, especially when calculating RVR ...runway visual range). Using a Creedmore style hold, I could hit the rims on that car very regularly if there was no wind. This is with a box stock 22 LR and a 6" barrel.


So, what I'm saying is this, the Dixon shot could happen with a guy who practiced regularly and I guess the Quigly shot could happen too although I really doubt that one could do it off-hand with any certainty. With lots of practice a guy can do just about anything with a gun. But...it take lots of practice.

[TXGunNut]

In context of the movie, Quigly was assumed to be one of the best marksmen in the world. That taken, him making shots others would deem impossible is perfectly plausible to me. -Finster101


Exactly! We all know the rifle and cartridge can probably do it but it's a rare man that can pull off a shot like that. Quigley wasn't your everyday shooter, he was supposedly one of the best and this shot proved it to his prospective employer.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

That movie is also capable of taking all the money out of your pocket for a long time! ask me how I know!

That's for dang sure, I have 5 Sharps, with all the loading gear and accessories $20k and still looking for more. (Makes for a nice display at gunshows)

[otterdriver]

The neat thing, I thought, was how Quigley had his BACK to the horseman carrying off the bucket to the distance. He was timing a known distance in his mind, when he said: "Right about ........there!" Some final adjustments to the sight, and he was set to go. Hope I got that right, its been awhile since I saw the movie. Correct me if I am wrong..

[montana_charlie]

It seemed like that to me ...

[Gellot Wilde]

Matthew who?

[cajun shooter]

Anyone who saw the movie should know that his name was BILL!! It was not Matthew as so many have said. Just ask Mary and she will set you straight.

[otterdriver]

I thought it was Roy..

[Gellot Wilde]

It sounded like Roy but was spelt Bill.

[bigted]

lil off subject here...B A Wallace...that hi-wall yer holding...what is it and who makes it...please?

[montana_charlie]

B A Wallace...that hi-wall yer holding...what is it and who makes it...please?

I saw your question when I was rubbernecking through here earlier this morning.
Since BA hasn't answered, I can tell you this much ... it's a Pedersoli rifle, and it's a 38-55.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...55#post1370455

CM

[montana_charlie]

I saw a movie on the tube last night titled, "Shadow Riders".
It had a younger Tom Selleck shooting a Sharps rifle ... in Mexico.

[bigted]

thanks charlie...i thought it may be but wanted to be sure. and 38-55...my what a nice change from thumpers. my 38 is so heavy i dont take it much but will have to change this as soon as i get the other mirade of stuff done...including allowing the weather to get a bit warmer.

i remember that movie now that you mention it....have to watch it again now and watch for the sharps scene.......guess Selleck isnt a stranger to fine rifles at all! isn't Sam Elliot in that movie as well?

[zardoz]

On one of the Dish HD premium channels, they had "Quigley Down Under" in 1080i high def last night. Great! Recorded that puppy on the HD recorder. First time I had ever seen it in such color and detail.

Anyway, I noted the scene where the Crazy Cora character played by Laura San Giacomo, is holding the Sharps with one arm bent at an angle, and not having any difficulty at all. I always wondered, she must have been pretty strong to do that, for a female of shorter stature.

Then I read, that one of the main prop rifles had a barrel made from aluminum. This was done, it said, because Tom Selleck had to swing the rifle around pretty fast to do the clubbing fight scenes with it, and the regular weight Sharps was just too heavy.

Then, comes to find out that Selleck sent the prop rifle back to Shiloh, and they refurbished it after all the movie damage was done, and installed a regular steel barrel, and gave it back to him.

Interesting trivia I thought.

Loaded up a few dozen more 50-90 cartridges today myself, with newly acquired Swiss 1.5 Fg powder. Plan is put my Thanksgiving dinner in the slow cookers, and head to the range tomorrow bright and early. Then have a good long day shooting the Sharps, my 50 cal muzzleloader, and a couple other guns. Then, come home to a good meal. Can't think of a better way to spend the day at all.

[Chakta]

Chicken Thief I have a friend of mine down in Loouusyanna, that can take his Sharps rifle and hit a 10 inch target at 800 yards with regularity. This man can shoot and was the Texas statee highpower rifle champion a time or two. Yes, those Sharps rifles in various calibers will amaze you with their accuracy. I have one in 45/120 for killing buffalo at 300 yards you betcha, with a 525 grain hard cast bullet.

[Newoldman]

What about this. He could have made an estimate of the range on his trip in. They rode over the same trail, from the rise where the bucket was to the compound.