TINCANBANDIT's Gunsmithing: Movie guns

Hollywood has a way of making an item or act look glamorous (consider their impact on the habit of smoking). Gun buyers have not been immune Hollywood's influence. This post reflects on the guns that have seen a boost in popularity because of the movies they were featured in.

Probably the most famous of all movie guns is Commander James Bond's Walther PPK (and yes the original one, given to 007 in the 1st movie Dr. No, was the .32 ACP version)

In 1971 the Smith & Wesson Model 29 was barely selling, but once Clint Eastwood's movie Dirty Harry hit the big screen gun dealers could not keep them on the shelves. Like the one pictured here, the movie gun featured an 8 3/8" barrel

Many young men owned these (or at least coveted them) like little Ralphie in the movie A Christmas Story. The Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, became famous to a whole new generation of young cowboys

Han Solo's Blaster was made famous in the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars. The gun, while not a real laser blaster, was indeed based on a real firearm: The Mauser Broomhandle

Another fictitious movie gun (and also from another Harrison Ford movie) was this pistol featured in the movie The Blade Runner, This one was also based on not one, but two real firearms. A Steyr-Mannlicher Model SL bolt action rifle and a Charter Arms Bulldog revolver. It has inspired countless tribue guns

1991's Terminator 2 (aka T2) made two more guns famous. This 1st one is a customized Winchester model 1887 lever action 12 gauge shotgun

The second gun Arnold made famous in T2 is the GE M-134 Mini-Gun, this gun does really exist, it also shoots 3000 rounds per minute (50 rounds per second!)

Angelina Jolie brought renewed attention to the venerable 1911 pistol, in the movie Wanted, she carried a customized Safari Arms Matchmaster 1911

The gun is so unique, I thought it deserved another look

Another gun Angelina Jolie made famous is the HK USP pistol from the movie Tomb Raider, based on the famous video game, of course she carried two of them!

sticking with the "Tomb" theme, possibly the best Western ever produced, Tombstone featured a long barreled Colt Single Action Army, commonly known as a "Buntline Special". The real truth is that Wyatt Earp never actually owned this gun, but the lore was too hard for the producers to resist and they outfitted Kurt Russel with this one with Silver (or brass?) badge on the grip

Another western, 3:10 to Yuma, featured this Colt Single Action Army, known as the "Hand of God"

Another western gun, this one from True Grit, the Winchester 1892 had the lever made larger to fit the Duke's hands when he wore gloves, another note worthy fact, the barrel was chopped down below 16" (for the spinning scene in the pic below) requiring the gun to be registered as an NFA weapon.

This gun was made famous almost as much by the tag line that preceded its use. "Say Hello to my little friend", of course this is the M-16 with the under barrel mounted M203 grenade launcher. The line and the gun were from Scarface.

This is another movie prop gun that was actually built using two guns. From the movie Aliens we have the M41A Pulse Rifle, built from a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun and a Remington 870 shotgun

The M1927A1 Thompson Submachine Gun

The Remington 870

Two movies from the 80's made the Beretta 92 famous, Bruce Willis (as Detective John McClane) in Die Hard and Mel Gibson (as Sgt. Martin Riggs) in Lethal Weapon, this helped launch the 9mm hi-cap pistol market