Don't normally pick nits but:

[Goatwhiskers]

Caught some show today dealing with Spanish exploration in the Amazon basin in the 1540's. Surprised that those conquistadores were equipped with Remington Rolling Blocks. Really?? GW

[nagantguy]

They probably got a good deal on gunbroker.com and a bulk buy on brass from Graf and Sons! I did read that they suffered from horrible cell service in the new world.

[marlinman93]

Those were the pre-Remington Rolling Blocks. After all, Remington is the oldest gun maker in the US!

[JSnover]

Those were the pre-Remington Rolling Blocks. After all, Remington is the oldest gun maker in the US!

Probably made by Beretta, copied about 300 years later by Remington.

[oldred]

No different than John Wayne and about a million other Cowboys toting 92 Winchesters in the 1860's and very often even earlier! :roll:

[bosterr]

Actually, there's 2 numbers transposed. It's supposed to be the 1450's.

[toot]

in JOHN WAYNES THE ALAMO, there were a great many 43 CAL. SPANISH REMINGTON ROLLING BLOCKS used in the back ground seen's .i have one that came from his studio, BAT JAC. INC. with provenance to the affect that they were used as fillers for distance seen's. PS. they shot faster than flint locks!!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

One of the biggest goofs I ever saw was in the movie "The Blue Max". It's about WW I Germany, and all of the German soldiers are equipped with WW II British rifles.

A couple of nights ago I watched Jimmy Stewart in "Firecreek". As near as I could figure out from short glimpses of his revolver it was a 1917 Colt with a 1873 ejector housing attached to the barrel. The cylinder opened to the side for reloading, but everyone else was using an 1873 SSA.

[fast ronnie]

How many shots did they get off before they had to reload?

[oldred]

Hollywood westerns are so absurd it's really not funny at all, just plain stupid! Some of the newer westerns, Open Range for example, do a pretty good job of keeping it closer to real but before that it was simply ridiculous. Confederate soldiers wearing bandoliers of 45/70 rounds (John Wayne movie Rio Lobo) and carrying 92 Winchesters days after the war ends, etc but of course that's just a tiny example of the Hollywood stupidity. The glaring firearm errors list for movies would take pages to complete while only a short note could list every instance where they got it right!

It's not only firearms but clothing and just about everything else in western culture was so grossly misrepresented by Hollywood that the place and people being depicted might as well have been from a different planet! The sad part is that a truer more historically accurate representation would have been far more interesting than Hollywood's absurdly distorted depiction of firearms and just about everything else.

[nagantguy]

How many shots did they get off before they had to reload?

Why everyone knows those conquistador rolling blocks were automatic self loaders; the belts of ammo were carried on donkeys 1 donkey per 4 man fire team. I’ve seen it in photos from the era.

[marlinman93]

in JOHN WAYNES THE ALAMO, there were a great many 43 CAL. SPANISH REMINGTON ROLLING BLOCKS used in the back ground seen's .i have one that came from his studio, BAT JAC. INC. with provenance to the affect that they were used as fillers for distance seen's. PS. they shot faster than flint locks!!

A bunch of Trapdoor Springfields in The Alamo movie too!

[oldred]

One of the goofier instances in westerns I have seen was John Wayne in "The War Wagon" sitting at a bar room table talking to Kirk Douglas about the difficulties they would have to face when confronting the Wagon guards. Wayne in referring to how much better armed the guards will be says "and they will all be armed with Henry repeating rifles" while both he an Douglas have 92 Winchesters leaning against the table and both are wearing the usual Colt SAA pistols in low slung holsters (which was another complete Hollywood fabrication starting some time about the 1940's).

[rfd]

hollyweird et al, and firearms, are chock fulla anomalies. it is what it is, and it is all pretend.

[17nut]

224303

[georgewxxx]

Next time watch John Wayne's Cowboys where he leads a bunch of school kids on a cattle drive. In one action scene a youngster shooting a supposedly old pistol. Look closely and quickly at the front of the .44 caliber cylinder. The they look like .22 holes. I'm sure they use mostly weapons set up for blank firing.

[marlinman93]

Next time watch John Wayne's Cowboys where he leads a bunch of school kids on a cattle drive. In one action scene a youngster shooting a supposedly old pistol. Look closely and quickly at the front of the .44 caliber cylinder. The they look like .22 holes. I'm sure they use mostly weapons set up for blank firing.

As far as I've heard, Hollywood didn't use much if any .22 blank guns? The gun seen may be a .22, but likely was non firing if it was. Here's a good site that tells of numerous Hollywood blank firing scenes, and what they did.

https://blankgunarmory.com/blankgunblog/early-gun-fights-in-hollywood/

And here's some "fun" tidbits!
http://www.cracked.com/article_24638_6-absurdly-dangerous-special-effects-before-cgi.html

[indian joe]

As far as I've heard, Hollywood didn't use much if any .22 blank guns? The gun seen may be a .22, but likely was non firing if it was. Here's a good site that tells of numerous Hollywood blank firing scenes, and what they did.

https://blankgunarmory.com/blankgunblog/early-gun-fights-in-hollywood/

And here's some "fun" tidbits!
http://www.cracked.com/article_24638_6-absurdly-dangerous-special-effects-before-cgi.html

Its hollywood !!! the out of sync guns always annoyed me - the early westerns had some spectacular scenery and there would have been plenty of old period correct guns around cheap in the 1950'& 60's - would not have broke the bank to get it right - friend of mine that is a bit of a cowboy historian has the same reaction about the horse gear - saddles and tack are all wrong he says (I spot some of that too but its not so obvious to me) - clothing too I guess (low crowned hats and blue jeans with belts?)
Was watching a couple of cowboy pics on youtube the other night and right there in the shot is a powerline (two lines and no it werent the overland telegraph)

[oldred]

Was watching a couple of cowboy pics on youtube the other night and right there in the shot is a powerline (two lines and no it werent the overland telegraph)


I think the worst offense I have seen of that was a western set in 1859 just prior to the Civil war, can't remember the name of it but it was with Randolph Scott and starts with a family of villains hiding in a wagon slipping into town to rob a bank. The townspeople are aware of what's going on and set a trap for them, as they come into town they are beset upon by lawman and townspeople alike ALL of which are armed with 92 Winchesters and colt SAAs of course (it's supposed to be 1859!). Now as they race out of town returning fire with their own Winchesters and Colts in plain view are multiple power and telephone lines clearly running to almost every building in sight, transformers are visible on poles in the background and there is even one quick view of a power meter on a building, 1859 -yeah right! :roll:



By far the goofiest thing I have seen, and I have mentioned this a bunch of times in the past, was a detective show on TV back in the 70's. A detective needs to question a suspect that is unconscious from being shot and the doctor tells the detective they got the bullet out but it will be a while before the man can talk, then using forceps he proceeds to pick up the bullet he had just removed from the man and shows it to the detective -he's holding in the forceps the WHOLE ROUND, BRASS CASING AND ALL!!!!

I wouldn't have thought anyone could be that dumb even in Hollywood but there it was plain as could be.

[Char-Gar]

Actually, there's 2 numbers transposed. It's supposed to be the 1450's.

That can't be correct as Columbus didn't make his first voyage until 1492. Pizzaro didn't start poking around South American until 1522. 1540 sounds about right for the Spanish to be mucking around in the Amazon.

[KCSO]

The current crop of western writers are not much different..."I carry the Webley bulldog because it takes the same ammo as my 73 and my #3 Schoefield". Oh Ya?

[uscra112]

The Great Escape, where the German BMW suddenly becomes a 650 Triumph for the famous jump scene.

[marlinman93]

One of the things that always got me in some westerns was the guns always looked 100 years old! You'd think a western set in the late 1800's would have pretty new SAA, and lever actions too? How did those guys wear all the finish off their guns so quickly?

[Thundarstick]

I hate to say it, but I'm an eye for movie and TV anomalies what ever they are. I don't point them out often because it drives my wife crazy, but I see all kinds of them. The first time I think I noticed a boo boo in a move was watching Roots. They where working the cotton with mules and hoes, the camera panned out, and there on the turn rows you could see the tractor tracks turning for the 8 row cultivators nice and pretty all the way down the field! Some directors take great pride in trying to get it rite though. The Last of the Mohicans had a reward of some kind to anyone who could find a blooper.

[oldred]

Well I give "Open Range" an A for effort, they went to great lengths to get things right. Not only were the guns right, '73 Winchesters and a few Yellow Boys instead of everyone and their uncle being armed with the standard and very wrong '92 Winchesters and Boss Spearman's Remington revolver, but they had the clothing in order too. Although I think that probably there were to many Colt SAAs, with not a S&W in sight unless I missed it, it was still refreshing to see things more like it really was instead of the usual Hollywood nonsense. There were many other little details too such as the old style poured glass windows that slightly distorted the view when looking through them, it was fun looking for the correct little details for a change instead of the glaring mistakes so common in Hollywood westerns.

[nagantguy]

The naming the movie escapes me ; maybe the Seven Masters, it was a spaghetti western to the max; took place in “old Mexico” just after the civil war, the banditos attacked a Monastery with with Bren machine guns.

[Bigslug]

I think it was Red Badge of Courage that had a lot of troops running around with trapdoors.

Though. . .if I was producing a historical film like that, the notion of turning a bunch of extras with loose black powder & percussion caps is a bit unnerving.

[BigEyeBob]

The TV series the Rifleman ,used a 32/20 winchester I believe ,but had 45/70 cartridges in his belt . Read that some where ,not sure if thats correct , never seen a repeat of here in Aust since it played years ago when I was a tin
lid.

[Mr_Sheesh]

I recall watching one Western and noticing, in the sky above the old west, a Jet Contrail slowly streaking across the sky :P Not quite period, that!

[Thundarstick]

Yep, a bunch of contrails on movies. I remember one movie set in pre internal combustion engine days, where a yellow VW Beetle was coming down a mountain road in the background!

[DocSavage]

The TV series the Rifleman ,used a 32/20 winchester I believe ,but had 45/70 cartridges in his belt . Read that some where ,not sure if thats correct , never seen a repeat of here in Aust since it played years ago when I was a tin
lid.
That was Wanted Dead or Alive,Josh Randall carried a Mare's Leg

[KCSO]

The thing about ctg guns in the movies is that the prop men love them as they are easier to verify as empty which is done almost hourly when shooting. When we carried M/L in a movie we had to empty our pouches and our powder horns and have our guns checked before going on the set. That and the misfire problem with real M/L is why there were so many trap doors made into replica flinters for the movies.

[Bigslug]

The TV series the Rifleman ,used a 32/20 winchester I believe ,but had 45/70 cartridges in his belt . Read that some where ,not sure if thats correct , never seen a repeat of here in Aust since it played years ago when I was a tin
lid.

Well. . .then there's calling the show "The Rifleman" when the main character is running around in the classic Old West period with a pistol-caliber carbine from 1892. . .

And yes. . .belts of .45-70. . .quite a few of those appeared on the belts of cavalrymen in Hostiles, but I think the only gun in that movie that COULD have been a .45-70 was an 1886 carried by one of the unfriendlies.

[TCLouis]

Ever notice Sgt Shultz's Krag?

[Texas by God]

Ever notice Sgt Shultz's Krag?I see nothing!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[rfd]

Ever notice Sgt Shultz's Krag?

i know nothing!!!

[Walks]

ZULU !
In the climactic scene near the end you will notice some of the soldiers in the 2nd & 3rd rank shooting "Long Lees".
GEEZ, I love that movie, saw it in the theatre when it came out. Those GIANT BURNING LETTERS in the opening credits really impressed this 10yr old kid.
Not too realistic historically, but a great movie to just enjoy.

[fast ronnie]

There is a pretty good series on Netflix right now called "Hollywood Weapons."

It deals with some of the stunts done and whether they are plausible or actually even do-able.

[Boz330]

Ever notice Sgt Shultz's Krag?

AH someone else noticed that. There were also Tommy guns carried by German soldiers and some correct subguns.

Bob