Original RED DAWN movie

S

Sevens

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Most American gun guys, especially those of us of a particular age know this 1985 movie awfully well. Certainly quite Hollywood in it's pretty novice "movie like" gun handling and action scenes, this movie pre-dates the far more technically accurate later movies that heavily feature firearms (the movie "Heat" comes to mind instantly as one of the earliest really good ones) but in any case...

Red Dawn is iconic to many America Pro-2A types perhaps because it lays down a vivid and scary scenario where an invading force gets a hold of locally held 4473's and the idea is very clearly presented that the folks on those forms were quickly gathered up specifically to be jailed in a camp.

And if you've read THIS far you are certainly wondering -WHY- is this being posted here in the Handloading area of TFL?! Well, a fine question.

I bet it was 1986 when I saw it for the first time, and I think it was two years later when I began handloading. I cannot even fathom a guess as to how many times I have seen Red Dawn but suffice to say, it's likely been dozens and dozens of times.

I was cleaning some handguns Sunday night after an abbreviated 4-hour range day and even having seen this movie a GUJILLION times... Sunday was the first time I noticed a pair of single stage presses mounted to a load bench at the house of the old guy they come twice to visit and get supplies. The old couple with The Granddaughters that the old guy sends along with them, calling the girls "a couple of heirlooms I want to send with you..."

The closer of the two presses is definitely a Rock Chucker. The other one is hard for me to make out, I wanna say it's an old Lyman or perhaps a Herter's press but I'll bet one of you can figure it out.

On gun forums, we ALWAYS have a thread (or many) discussing particular guns that show up in TV or movies. But it takes some real hobbyists to point to scenes where we spot handloading gear on display! ;)

Who has more? You have to admit... our corner of this hobby just does NOT appear all to often on the screen.
 
The old guy is Ben Johnson, you should read about his life, I bet he had some story's to tell.

The press on the right looks like an old rockchucker jr.

The one on the left is even older, maybe a Pacific.
 
Dillon 550 and looks like a CV500.

Interesting that the 550 looks like it is full of primers.

Also an MEC 600 jr and a MEC super-sizer.
 
I collect presses, one of the strangest I presses I found was in NAPA at the flea market. The dealer was selling kitchen equipment with one item was described as a juicer. He explained to me how it worked and I disagreed, I explained to him there were pieces missing and if what he said was true the press would have to be mounted under the table, not on top.

He could not figure what was missing nor could he imagine what the parts looked like so he sold it to me for $10.00. The only way to describe it is to say it looks like a spider doing push-ups when in operation. The rear legs mount the press to the table and the front legs slide. I ran out of room and then boxed it up for another day, reviews of the press at the time claimed the press was a failure.

F. Guffey
 
The movie Jack Reacher actually shows someone using reloading equipment in the beginning, including a zip-trimmer if I recall correctly. Typically not a lot of reloading action in movies so fun to see when it's there.
 
There were several scenes in the movie "Shooter" where loads and handlloading were discussed. I don't recall his name, but the visit to the old gunsmith in Tennessee was entertaining.

Regarding Ben Johnson. He was a previous world champion in Rodeo who began in Hollywood as a horse wrangler for various movies and TV shows. His riding and firearm handling skills were much better than most actors and he was soon working as a double and that led to many speaking roles in Westerns.

He played alongside John Wayne in many,many movies and was a major part of the success of those films. Actually an awful lot of the early actors during the 20's and 30's were real life working cowboys brought in because of their riding and gun handling skills. Producers and directors found it easier to teach them how to act than to teach actors how to ride and handle guns.
 
Jmr40, the "old gunsmith" in The Shooter was Levon Helm of the '60s (and beyond) band "The Band." One of the all-time greats, IMHO.
 
Although I don't recall any reloading gear appearing, there is mention of wildcatting in one of the Beverly Hill Cop movies. Eddie Murphy's character Axel Foley gives a brief exposition of the history of the .44 Auto Mag round and its manner of construction. Later, one of the villains, asked to identify an empty case by Foley in an interview, says to her compatriot out of Foley's hearing, "Of course I recognise it; it's one of mine!"

At the time I did not know much about reloading and wildcatting; now that I know a fair deal more, I am very doubtful that it would be possible to be sure about this. I do know that Starline at least have been known to do limited custom-headstamp runs for orders above a certain size, and I can perhaps imagine someone ordering a whole bunch of .308 with the intent of using some in its native form and a proportion for .44 AM conversion, which would individualise the cases... but if it were converted from brass with a more common commercial or military headstamp, I remain doubtful.
 
I am very doubtful that it would be possible to be sure about this.
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Hollywood does this kind of thing a lot, like one of the detectives in the CLOSER picking up a fired 9mm case at a drive by scene and instantly announcing it was from a Tec 9.

However, in that movie, its pretty easy to be sure. The .44 Auto Mag is a pretty rare pistol. Ammo is was even more rare, until fairly recently. I have a bunch of the Starlne brass, Corbon lists ammo, though I have never seen any.

The Starline brass is a fairly new thing (within the last decade or so), well AFTER the production of the movie.

In the movie, the guy who recognizes "one of mine" is the gun club owner (or manager, I forget), and the club has a .44AMP. They (he?) has to make ammo for it, and considering he might be the only person in the area who does, its not unlikely he would recognize it. Later he yells at the blonde for making the mistake of using one of his club guns, something easily recognized and traceable back to him.

there are brief scenes with reloading or reloading equipment in a lot of movies, including IIRC, JAWS.

The shaking of the big Dillon tumbler is what draws the "graboids" in TREMORS.
 
Hollywood does this kind of thing a lot, like one of the detectives in the CLOSER picking up a fired 9mm case at a drive by scene and instantly announcing it was from a Tec 9.
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I can instantly tell if a case has been fired from a Glock, just by looking at it.

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I can instantly tell if a case has been fired from a Glock, just by looking at it.
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Yes, and I can tell the brass fired from my Sig just by looking at it, they have a distinctive firing pin mark. Had the actor said "Glock" or even "SIG" I would have been ok with it.

BUT, I have a Tec 9. And you CANNOT tell brass fired from that gun from brass fired from a Luger, a Calico, a P.38, a T/C Contender, or a dozen+ other 9mm guns, just by a quick visual examination picking up the casing off the street at a crime scene.
 
BUT, I have a Tec 9. And you CANNOT tell brass fired from that gun from brass fired from a Luger, a Calico, a P.38, a T/C Contender, or a dozen+ other 9mm guns, just by a quick visual examination picking up the casing off the street at a crime scene.
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I purchases 23,000 cases from a iron and metal company in Yonkers, NY complete with the boxes the cases came in. I did not sort the cases by primer strikes, I sorted by brand and all of the cases were once fired. I also purchased lead, they gave me consideration on the lead because it had wax on it and had been removed from beneath the toilet; and tin, they had tin. They also had a lot of stuff that was removed from a doctor’s office. They did recommend I be careful; they could not remember if it was the radio active stuff or the stuff removed from beneath the toilet that was hazardous to my health. They suggested it was a bad habit to smash your hand while cutting up lead. I explained to them I was a little confused; and then they said smashing your finger is one thing and placing your hand in your mouth after smashing it while cutting up lead that came from beneath the toilet is another, or was it the lead that came from the X-ray room. I was careful and washed my hands often.

F. Guffey
 
^^^Tongue in cheek. Funny, Made me laugh.^^^

Hollywood is in the business of entertainment, not correctness, but it's still fun to see aspect of my hobbies on the big screen.
 
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