Boulder Canyon Bob# 32052L Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 So I'm killing time between my grout drying and watching Bonanza, the episode is "Death at Dawn". Little Joe is sitting on a desk cleaning his revolver and he has the barrel off, he puts it back on with a twist and holsters it. Once it's holstered it looks just like a SAA. What the heck is it, or is it just Hollywood imagination. Later he shoots a bad guy with it (nice fanning BTW), then it looks like an old army. Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Al #22045 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 When did Hollywierd let the facts spoil a good story. Heck, even John Wayne used a Winchester 92 right after the civil war... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manatee Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9076580 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Otto Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Branch Louie Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 WAIT A MINUTE!!!! You mean you guys DON"T screw your barrel off everytime you clean your pistols??? Is that why I can't seem to keep the sights right? You just screw them back on finger tight, I think, and the lead will fill the rest.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boone Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Howdy Manatee, The hole in that barrel, that Michel is holding, looks to be a .45. The photos of the gun would be .38; that Hollywood! Adios, Boone http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9076580 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crotchety Old Grouch, SASS #51188 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 The only non cap and ball gun of the period that I can think of that can be disassembled and assembled in that fashion is the Merwin & Hulbert. Ben did buy one in one episode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Flimshaw Sass# 73310 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Let's see; it's on TV and you have to ask if it's accurate???????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curley Cole, SASS #56849 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 little Joes gun another pix more likely to be Joes here is a link to a forum discussion about the episode you are speaking about unfortunatly the utube link is disabled. may be your answer. also I agree that pix of the gun supposed to be Little Joes has an awful small bore....here is another gun from Stembridge that is also supposed to be Joes. (and one of Hoss's gun.) But I could swear that in the early days of Bonanza Hoss carried a Remington.. more discussion here?? curley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bull Skinner Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Let's see; it's on TV and you have to ask if it's accurate???????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boulder Canyon Bob# 32052L Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9076580 Well that wasn't what he shot the bad guy with. It had a 7 1/2" barrel and the long "rib" under the barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Shane, SASS #40660 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Al Frisch ended up with most of the cowboy guns from Stembridge. He did the inventory work for Petersen Publishing and too merchandise instead of money. He now rents all that stuff out to western movies, particularly the Hallmark Channel movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian Jack. Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 The Cartwrights ranch had all those "brass frame henrys" on the gun rack on the wall..upon closer inspection they were 92 Winchesters with the forestock removed and gold colored receivers...there was even a flush fitting gold colored plug that filled in the loading gate. I like the hollywood guns....In the movie Firecreek.......Jimmy Stewart had a SAA with the barrell mounted ejector rod like we all have...he swings open the cylinder to check to see if it was loaded and snaps it back shut. I want one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube Burrows Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I have seen Remingtons, Colt Percussion and 1873 Colts all in the hands of them on there. I also seen the fake Henry 92s. Most people would have never noticed but us gun guys can usually spot things like that which are off. Any time I watch Bonanza or talk about it with my father he ALWAYS says the same thing...."how come they didnt have any cartridge loops on their belts......did they not reload" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian Jack. Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I read somewhere, maybe on here, that they purposly did not have bullet loops because they were trying to be peaceful and talk their way out of situations instead of using guns. that was the time when they tried to scale back the violence on TV...remember they edited out the gunshots at the beginning of Gunsmoke in the later years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Bullweed Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I ahve only seen Lil Joe carryign an ivory handled Colt SAA with a 5-1/2" barrel, blued, no case-color. The guns were all mixed up by Hollywierd in those days. Handloader magazine included an article about the Duke's two Colt SAA's a couple of years ago. These guns were chambered in .45C but had Frontier bareels that were only made for .44 WCFs. I suspect that they made the smoke cloud look better. A darker thought is that any .45 bullet fired would have been caught in the .43" barrel. If you study this man a bit you will find that he had serious enemies who lived under red flags (with sickles and hammers) who would have loved to make him look bad. I think that one of the best things about the westerns of since How the West was Won(1980's), Silverado and the Sackett movies, is that the guns, leather, saddles, and clothes have been much more accurate than the silliness of the 30 years before that point. Movies like Unforgiven, Lonesome Dove and Tombstone/W Earp match up very well with photos and stories from the actual west. The one exception in a recent work is that Everitt (Appaloosa) should have carried a Colt revolving shotgun with short barrels. No one would choose a 30"+ barrel 8-ga for workign in a saloon. This is the author's fault; it is an 8-ga SxS in the book. The gun that won the West is the '73; the gun that won Hollywierd was the '92. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Ron Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Howdy, One other thing is that Hollywood really didnt expect reruns, tapes, dvds slow mo, rewinding etc. A gun was a gun, and they were makin movies, not historical recreations. Remember a lot of old movies literally turned to dust in storage. And try to enjoy the show.... Best CR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Marvel Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 if one watches the clips here: http://www.ovguide.com/tv_season/bonanza-season-1-73378 one can spy quite a variety of open-tops, remington 1858's, remington 1875's and more yhs prof marvel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube Burrows Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Howdy, One other thing is that Hollywood really didnt expect reruns, tapes, dvds slow mo, rewinding etc. A gun was a gun, and they were makin movies, not historical recreations. Remember a lot of old movies literally turned to dust in storage. And try to enjoy the show.... Best CR I def enjoy the show. Its good time that me and my son can spend together. They always have a moral of the story which is good and while people get shot.....its not like the violence that is on TV today. The old cowboy shows are great and im just happy that my 9 year old is interested in watching them with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cusz M. Dutch SASS Life 55326 Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Now if I could just get a copy of Hoss and the Lepricons all would be well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Kiowa Jones #6765 Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 So I'm killing time between my grout drying and watching Bonanza, the episode is "Death at Dawn". Little Joe is sitting on a desk cleaning his revolver and he has the barrel off, he puts it back on with a twist and holsters it. Once it's holstered it looks just like a SAA. What the heck is it, or is it just Hollywood imagination. Later he shoots a bad guy with it (nice fanning BTW), then it looks like an old army. Just curious. Early on some of the prop guns for the series were opentop type 44 cal colt copies that were converted to fire blanks. The cylinders were bored through for 5 in 1 blanks and firing pins added to the hammers but no recoil shields. Firing blanks no recoil shield is needed. The prop guys were in charge of loading these because the guns had to come apart to load. It's my understanding that they eventually went to SAA's mainly to facilitate loading for the high shot count of some of the shootouts. But, these guns were mostly 45lc, and some 44-40 to accommodate the 5 in 1 blanks. They used 5 in 1's because they would work in both 45lc revolvers and 44-40 rifles. At least one of the John Wayne SAA's was a parts gun. The frame was from a Bisley but the grip frame was standard SAA plowhandle. Where the backstrap mated to the frame the frame was higher. Something like this one but even higher. PARTS GUN So, it's possible it had a 44WCF barrel as well. The Prop guys like Stembridge that made up these guns had no intention of ever using these guns for live fire so many were modified to a point that they were unsafe with live ammo. A good example is the Lucas McCain Rifleman 92's. In order to spin-cock those without the ammo being thrown out of it the prop guy drilled a small hole into the chamber end alongside parallel with the chamber. This hole contained a spring loaded plunger that help the nose of the bullet until the action was closed collapsing the plunger too. This hole made the chamber too weak for live ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crotchety Old Grouch, SASS #51188 Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Here's the episode: http://vodpod.com/watch/4378862-bonanza-death-at-dawn Go to about the 21 min. mark. Looks like a open top colt to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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