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76 rifle in .44???


Rye Miles #13621

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I'm reading "Passing Through" by Louis LaMour, just got started and the main character was hanged but someone came by and cut him down and he fled on the horse that they were hanging him from. He later camps out and checks out a rifle that was left on the horse, "A '76 in.44

 

Really Louis????

 

As far as I know Winchester never made a 76 in .44 or am I wrong??

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You are correct according to Wikipedia. Makes you want to stop reading all of his novels because he got that wrong, don’t it?:P

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Is it possible that his research took him to Custer's Last stand in which Henry and Winchester Model 1866 "Yellow Boy" rifles were used, by the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and not by the Cavalry?  The Indians referred to these arms as "many shots," and "spirit gun," which showed a measure of awe and respect for these rifles. More than twenty of them were used against George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry and their single-shot Springfield carbines at the Battle of Little Bighorn (Battle of the Greasy Grass) in June, 1876.

 

1619994444_BattleatLittleBigHorn.thumb.jpg.334742e17029ff4432147a0754535a71.jpg

 

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1 minute ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

Is it possible that his research took him to Custer's Last stand in which Henry and Winchester Model 1866 "Yellow Boy" rifles were used, by the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and not by the Cavalry?  The Indians referred to these arms as "many shots," and "spirit gun," which showed a measure of awe and respect for these rifles. More than twenty of them were used against George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry and their single-shot Springfield carbines at the Battle of Little Bighorn (Battle of the Greasy Grass) in June, 1876.

 

1619994444_BattleatLittleBigHorn.thumb.jpg.334742e17029ff4432147a0754535a71.jpg

 

NO EXCUSE for a writer to not do research on weapons!!!!

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Back in his day, when he was kicking out these novels at a fairly rapid pace, he didn’t have the computer and internet search engines to rely on. Getting information out of Winchester may have taken quite some time because snail mail was probably about the only means of reliable communications with them. He probably pulled the 1876 and .44 reference out of thin air and went with it not knowing that on down the road an astute reader named Rye Miles would catch it.

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Or it could be a printer's error. He wrote "76 in 45" and it got changed to 44. "73 in 44" got changed to 76. "66 in 44" got changed to 76.

 

I've got a first edition of one of Griffin's Charley Castillo books. In it, Jack, the Secret Service guy, is carrying a S&W Model 29 357. Hmmm. In later editions it's a 27. Hmmm again. Did Griffin oops, or did the typesetter?

 

At least he doesn't have a Winchester in 45, so it can use the same smmo as his revolver, which has a seing-out cylinder. Robert Parker put that in one of his westerns.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I'm reading "Passing Through" by Louis LaMour, just got started and the main character was hanged but someone came by and cut him down and he fled on the horse that they were hanging him from. He later camps out and checks out a rifle that was left on the horse, "A '76 in.44

 

Really Louis????

 

As far as I know Winchester never made a 76 in .44 or am I wrong??

While a great story teller (my favorite) and accurate on locations and terrain, L'Amour was less than accurate on some facets of his tales, and wildly embellished other parts.  Case in point was his portrayal of Cullen Baker as a southern gentleman and the inventor of the fast draw.  Also, in several books, he referred to Clay Allison as "club footed".  Clay limped because he shot himself while drunk.  

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57 minutes ago, Catlow4697 said:

This just a simple typo a 7 instead of a 6

This is fiction not history

Yes it is fiction but a writer such as Louis LaMour, you think he would have better editors to check the final product. 

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2 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Yes it is fiction but a writer such as Louis LaMour, you think he would have better editors to check the final product. 

 

Actually, I recall reading a few years back that L'Amour was generally confronted by two problems with his writing. First, most of his early work was written hastily to meet the demands of the pulp magazines and later adapted to novels, and didn't benefit from the editing and revising process they needed. As he got into his later years, under contract with Bantam, the editors either didn't care, or thought they knew more than he did.

 

While he is still my favorite western author, I've spotted a number of continuity errors and the like, along with playing a little fast and loose with some facts, that should have been caught in the editing process. I seem to recall a quote that his editors "didn't do a damn thing for" him that he couldn't have done better himself.

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One that always gets me is in an aviation story, where the airspeed indicator is not functioning because the "pilot tube" froze up! Usually that is due to a proof reader who never heard of a pitot tube. (Note: my spell checker just put a read underline under the correct word!)  The other one is the cowboy who is packing a .44 caliber Colt's Navy!  A lot of the time the editors know less than the writers when it comes to historical things.  Another one I think I read was where someone was objecting to bringing a BAR or M1 Rifle to where M1903 Springfields or M1917 Enfields were being used because of differences in the ammo! Of course, they all use the same .30-06 ammo. :wacko:

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1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Was this the word? :P

Yup!  For those who aren't aviation buffs, the pitot tube collects ram air which, compares the air pressure to the static tube pressure to give the Indicated Air Speed (IAS) shown on the airspeed indicator in the cockpit.

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I've seen (NOT Louie L'amour) where someone picked up a ".45-70 rimfire cartridge case" where some soldiers had been shooting.  Obviously, the writer didn't know about inside-primed .45-70 cartridges that the Army used prior to about 1883.  They do look like rimfire, unless you notice the firing pin indentation in the center of the head.

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36 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

Yup!  For those who aren't aviation buffs, the pitot tube collects ram air which, compares the air pressure to the static tube pressure to give the Indicated Air Speed (IAS) shown on the airspeed indicator in the cockpit.

Thank you. I learned something today. :D

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