Quigley movie

[Night Raider]

Does anyone know what kind of guns the British troops carried in the movie "Quigley Down Under"? I was thinking they could be either the P1856 or P1861 Cavalry Carbines given their rather stubby overall length. A buddy thinks they look like the P1853 Artillery Carbine with its longer 24" barrel (the Cav guns had 21" barrels). Were cav troops ever issued artillery pieces? Also, if Quigley is using an 1874 Sharps, would the English troops still be issued these older guns? I noticed some of the ranch hands in the movie also carried muzzleloaders. Neither of us are dedicated aficionados of these kinds of guns, so I thought I'd ask. Beer and pizza are riding on it.

[Jayhawker Jake]

According to the Internet Movie Firearms Database, the British Troops are carrying "Enfield 1864 Cavalry Carbines". Not sure if that's right, as I"m not an expert, but here's the link to the page:
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Quigley_Down_Under

[Night Raider]

Wow, Jayhawker Jake, I didn't know there were links like this with that kind of info.! Thanks for that. Hmmmm, maybe I'll look up "Valdez is coming," starring Burt Lancaster, and other movies. I guess neither my buddy nor I were right about the guns.

[Southron Sr.]

First of all, that probably way more than half of the guns you see in the movies are "Rubber Guns."

What the Prop Department does is to take a real gun and make a mould from it. Then the mould can be used to produce dozens and dozens of Rubber Guns for a production company. The Rubber Guns can be painted to look like "real guns" and these will usually fool most members of any movie audience.

Actors with guns, even blank firing guns can be dangerous. Recall that actor that accidentally killed himself on a set by shooting himself in the head with a .44 Magnum with a blank round in it. The cardboard wad of the blank round penetrated into his brain!

When I worked as an "Extra" on the CBS Movie-of-the-Week, "The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd" starring Dennis Weaver And Southron, Sr., some of the extras were given Rubber Guns that were cast from a mould made from an original 45-70 Trapdoor Springfield. Of course, Hollywood has long used 45-70 Trapdoors as "Civil War Muskets" in the movies.

Interestingly enough, the Prop Department did have a rack of ORIGINAL 45-70 Trapdoor Springfields that were handed out to some of the Extras for close-ups. I got a chance to examine some of those 45-70 Trapdoors and they were real DAWGS. The stocks were so splintered, you could easily get a splinter in your hand if you weren't careful. The metal was under several layers of rust and corrosion had eaten most of the bores out to around .50 caliber. This was from firing blanks for 75 years of movie work.

The bayonets were WELDED on to the barrel and in every stock the words 'PROPERTY OF MGM" was carved deeply into the wood! Needless to say, those Trapdoor Springfields were some of the "most seen guns in the world" from their long use in the movies. The camera just couldn't spot how terrible of a condition they were in. After all, in Hollywood's version of the universe, they were "Civil War Muskets."

[rachbobo]

I laugh at some of the prop guns I see in movies. Rubber bayonets on the end of Springfield muskets etc. wagging like a dogs tail durning a charge.
What looks like an 870 Remington with no ejection port. Percussion pistols used long before they were ever invented.
The black and white WW2 movie " Up Periscope " where a sub surfaces in Tokyo Bay to land a radio team. One of the guys has a Model 94 Winchester strapped to the radio set.
30 Seconds over Tokyo opens up with a guard escorting high ranking officers from a Top Secret meeting room with a wooden Thompson Submachine gun.
And my all time favorite from a 60's TV show set during the Alamo. The stereotypical Mexican Bandito with the big sombrero, floppy moustache and crossed bandolers across his chest filled with 30-30 Winchester ammo.

Bill Cheek

[Ron/The Old Reb]

My favorite is an old Magnum PI where he shoot a guy off the roof of a building three blocks away with a PPK. Must have been one of Hitler's secret PPK's that shot rocket bullets.

[rachbobo]

Magnum PI must have learned that trick from James Bond ( Sean Connery version ). I saw him make the same shot using his PPK in 25 Auto as he shot a guy off a tower at the same distance.

Bill Cheek

[Ron/The Old Reb]

Just give me a good light saber and the power of the force.

[John Holland]

After the August Board of Director's meeting in Reston, VA, my wife and I took a short drive to the NRA Museum on Waples Mill Rd. There we saw, among other things, a display of Movie Guns. They had real stuff, modified arms, rubber guns, and fantasy arms. All identified to the movies they were used in and by whom. I highly recommend it to all.

JDH

[Ron/The Old Reb]

John
Did you notice if John Wayne's ivory handle SA1873 revolver, bowed leaver Winchester and the engraved SA 73's from the Shootis are on display at the NRA Museum. About twenty years ago I visited the Cowboy Hall Of Fame in Oklahoma City and they were on display there. But I understand that the Wayne family gave them to the NRA Museum.

[John Holland]

Ron -

I couldn't tell you for sure because the whole thing is so overwhelming! But, there is a lot of John Wayne stuff there, along with Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck, and many, many others.

JDH

[RangerFrog]

John
Did you notice if John Wayne's ivory handle SA1873 revolver, bowed leaver Winchester and the engraved SA 73's from the Shootis are on display at the NRA Museum. About twenty years ago I visited the Cowboy Hall Of Fame in Oklahoma City and they were on display there. But I understand that the Wayne family gave them to the NRA Museum.

Ron,

I just did a whirlwind tour of the museum while in NoVA on a business trip. I remember seeing one the loop levers the Duke used and a poster for the Shootist, but didn't pay that much attention (info overload) as I saw that particular display case. To keep this CW friendly, I highly recommend the displays of both Union and Confederate arms. The mixture of items and their display are both worth the cost of admission (oh yeah, it's free, but they really are worth seeing!)

Froggie