Widder, SASS #59054 Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Was watching the movie 'Winchester 73' and discovered this rare proof of the existance of short stroked 73's back during their original creation. The fancy dressed 'Gun Runner' was doing some trading with the Indians when the big chief noticed the 73 and took it from the gun runner. When the gun runner objected, the Chief short stroked the 73 and shot the gun runner dead. All Y'all have a good weekend and fun shoot tomorrow. ..........Widder
Cliff Hanger #3720LR Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Okay, I'll play. Maybe the chief knowing how the rifle operated, opened the rifle's action just enough to see that there was a cartridge in the chamber and closed it to shoot the gun runner!
Hacker, SASS #55963 Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Hollywierd does not prove anything! Where did that gun come from? Did the gun actually fire or was it a special effect?
Doc Coles SASS 1188 Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Yes siree Bob, watching movies from the 50s is the best way to do all your historical research. It saves you all that pesky reading and having to learn stupid stuff like facts. I am sure they used all them short stroked 73s to fight off the waves of aliens and giant ants that attacked us back in the 50s and I am sure they would come in handy shooting folks suffering from "reefer madness" as well.
Bad Hand Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Don't forget the pre civil war use of the Winchester model 1892.
Oddnews SASS# 24779 Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Nope, that only proves they existed in Hollywood in 1950!
Squint Westwood SASS#2165 Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Yeah, when I want to brush-up on my history, I always look to Hollywood. LOL
Widder, SASS #59054 Posted September 30, 2011 Author Posted September 30, 2011 Nope, that only proves they existed in Hollywood in 1950! Maybe so.....maybe not. It might prove that movie cameras existed back in 1873..... ..........Widder
Rio Brazos Kid Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Was watching the movie 'Winchester 73' and discovered this rare proof of the existance of short stroked 73's back during their original creation. The fancy dressed 'Gun Runner' was doing some trading with the Indians when the big chief noticed the 73 and took it from the gun runner. When the gun runner objected, the Chief short stroked the 73 and shot the gun runner dead. All Y'all have a good weekend and fun shoot tomorrow. ..........Widder Yeah, Right. RBK
Danite SASS #27034 Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Myself I like the theory that cameras existed in 1873 and they filmed it then......
Tom Bullweed Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 My original untouched '83 (ca. 1890) has a 1/2" shorter lever cycle than my Uberti 1873 made last year. I keep thinking about putting in a 3-rd gen or getting someone like Cody Conagher to get modify this replica to be more like my original.
Oddnews SASS# 24779 Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Maybe so.....maybe not. It might prove that movie cameras existed back in 1873..... ..........Widder I hadn't thought of that -- dang!
Doc Coles SASS 1188 Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Maybe so.....maybe not. It might prove that movie cameras existed back in 1873..... ..........Widder Its more likely to prove that idiots exist today
Curly Red Ryder Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 So if I understand quite well, the short stroked '73 should be legal in B-Western, as it was used in Western Movies......
Keystone, SASS # 47578 Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Well, Could be the producers of the movie found a series of still photos which allowed then to recreat the historically correct event for posterity. Thus proving within a shadow of a doubtful conclusivity and unequaled unpositivity that most unlikely conclusion and leaving somewhat certain undocumented evidence the circustances were or were not a near certain trueful but rather questionable occurrance. Just Sayin, Keystone
Widder, SASS #59054 Posted October 1, 2011 Author Posted October 1, 2011 Its more likely to prove that idiots exist today ..........Widder
Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283 Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Hollywierd does not prove anything!Where did that gun come from? Did the gun actually fire or was it a special effect? Howdy In the heyday of Hollywood the prop departments of the major studios owned huge amounts of all kinds of firearms. At the time most of these guns had practically no collector's value. When you see a cowboy kick a gun across the floor it was usually a real 1st Gen Colt. They just were not worth anything back then. That's why most of the movie cowboys usually shot Winchester Model 1892 carbines, because the studios owned dozens of them. That's how they were able to outfit whole armies with the historically correct firearms for a movie, because they owned tons of them. The rifle used as the One of One Thousand rifle in the movie Winchester '73 was a standard '73 from the studio's prop department. Nothing fancy. It was sent back to Winchester for the movie and refinished to resemble a One of One Thousand rifle the way Winchester used to produce them. Yes, it did fire, although the bullets hitting the rocks around Lin and Dutch Henry during their climactic gunfight were actually pellets fired by a prop man with a pellet gun. I have a copy of the movie with a voice over by James Stewart and that's what he said. I used to have a printout about the specific rifle, but I can't lay my hands on it right now. If I can find it, I will post it. I cannot recall the length of stroke on the rifle when Rock Hudson worked the action, I will have to watch the movie yet another time, but however long the stroke was, that is what it was when Winchester sent it back to the movie studio after having refinished the gun. I doubt it was any different than before it was refinished. As for Hollywood accuracy, when Steve holds up his rifle before the Indian attack and says 'And a Henry too', it is plainly a '73. No stock removed from a '92, just a run of the mill '73. Later when Dutch Henry uses the same rifle to shoot the gun runner from the top of a cliff, and says 'trouble with these Henrys is they have no killing power', it is the same '73. Then he throws it off the cliff. However I have seen a real Henry in both The Man From Laramie and in True Grit (the original). They just were not worth much at the time. Back in the 1980s the studios realized they were sitting on a lot of money with all the original guns they owned, so they sold them all off for a quick profit. Today they no longer any guns. That's why today you are usually seeing Uberti replicas when a Western is made. The guns are owned by armorers whose business it is to rent guns to the movies. P.S. Here is some more information about the 'One of One Thousand' rifle use in Winchester '73. See the third post. Link
Doc Coles SASS 1188 Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 Years ago, I worked for an outfit that bought a lot of trapdoors and 1892s in the movie auctions. A rougher bunch of guns I have rarely seen in my life. The bores were awful and the outsides (especially of the 1892s) were beat. I joked that they were "just as dropped in your favorite John Wayne Movie." We had trouble selling the 92s for a couple of hundred dollars. The trapdoor carbines were not as bad and there were some interesting guns in the bunch. Most were cut down rifles, but by going through about 50 of them, I found all the parts for a proper Indian wars carbine. A sight here , a stock there, the correct trigger guard somewhere else. The bores were not good, but better than the 92s. The old blanks were corrosive and the studios didn't do much cleaning.
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