dirty harry

I think the Walker was the most powerful handgun until the intro of the .357 Magnum, not the .44.
Also, while I had thought some of the Harry's .44s looked suspiciously like .45s when viewed from the muzzle end, I don't see that Smith offered the M25 in .45 Colt until the 125th Anniversary gun (25-3) came out in 1977; way too late for Harry to use in the first film. Even then, that gun had the shorter cylinder of the 25-2. Maybe just a 25-2 barrel, screwed onto a 29 frame?
 
Dirty Harry

JMHO, that blued 6.5" Model 29 and the 6" blued Colt Python are two of the best looking revolvers ever made! :D
 
There was an article about the actual guns years ago. Its possible that somebody put some 1955 Target .45 acp barrels on the N frames, but I think that despite the anniversary edition stories (which ran in gun magazines around the time that model came out) to the contrary, Smith did chamber the old big frame target revolvers in .45 long colt as well as .44 special and .45 acp.
Mike Venturino would probably know better than me.
All I can tell you is that a friend of mine has an older model 1955 target in .45 acp and it shoots like it is radar guided. So the articles in Guns and Ammo to the contrary, Smith has been making guns in Colt calibers since 1917 that I know of.


Oh, and by the way, technically Clint did not actually "carry" the gun in most of the movies. The only time he ever actually donned the infamous Cattle Baron shoulder holster was in scenes where his jacket was going to be off.
Thats why the big N frame did not bulge under his coat.

Most of the time, he was not wearing the gun at all and it was handed to him when the scenes would start.

You can go to Yahoo and type "Dirty Harry" in and click on the Image Search feature and look at all sorts of pictures, including the publicity stills with the 8 and 3/8 inch guns. I tried to download them and post the pics here, but could not do it on my computer.
 
Something like this one...

Model 29-2

307441.jpg


6 1/2" blue. 'Cept with original S&W grips.
 
I've never sat through an entire Dirty Harry film, but I'm sure glad they came out.

See, back in the day, some guy saw the movie and had to have a gun "just like Dirty Harry's." He just knew it was a collector's item (and maybe was a little intimidated by the super-duper-gun) so he never fired it, just had a nice little wooden presentation case made for it. It's a Model 29 with the wood target grips and either a 6" or 6.5" barrel. I was told 6.5", but it fits a Hunter holster made for 6" barrels and I just haven't bothered to measure it yet.

Anyway, that guy sold the gun to my grandfather, who bought it for a song, convinced that it was collectible. He didn't fire it either. Just kept it in a box for years and years. This year he decided he was tired of having it in a box and gave it to me, and I've been happily purchasing ammunition, brass, dies, holsters and all the rest ever since. I'm hoping I'll have time to shoot it this week.
 
This may be sacrilege but . . .

In one of the movies, Dirty Harry says he uses a .44 Special load. I'm not sure but I think this is the one with the 3 bad guy rookies - David Soul, Robert Ulrich, and someone else.
 
The second film, Magnum Force is the one where Harry tells the rookie cops that he uses a light .44 special load in his magnum for less recoil and better control.
He says something similar later to Tyne Daly in The Enforcer.

John Millius actually has the 6.5 inch Model 29 from the first film. Its in his contract that he gets one gun from each film he works on. Thats how he wound up using an engraved peacemaker for Red Dawn, LOL....
 
can't open that link. can't even open THR at all. is it down or am i banned? i think the last thing i posted there was in "found some old amry pics, do you have any" or something like that. don't see why i would have been kicked. hmmmm.....
 
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