Can We "Out Dirty" Dirty Harry ?

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Gun Master

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Well, we all know Dirty Harry is the meanest, most bad, gun toting dude on the planet, right ?

But can we outdo him now ?

Look at the .454 Casull, and .500 S&W Magnum, and even the .600 Nitro Express !

What about the .700 Nitro Express ? Do we dare to try ?:D

What else ?:uhoh:
 
Gun Master said:
Well, we all know Dirty Harry is the meanest, most bad, gun toting dude on the planet, right ? But can we outdo him now ?

What about the .700 Nitro Express ? Do we dare to try ?:D
Click to expand...
Re .700 Nitro Express, look at the price of the ammo for that!


http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=341751

"...do you know what 700 Nitro Express costs?
.........
4/10/2005 5:37:27 PM
A-Square Ammunition 700 Nitro Express 1000 Grain Monolithic Round Nose Solid Box of 5
Product #: 732664
Status: Special Order, 30 days
Retail Price: $364.95"

And, those are 2005 prices........

.
 
Some years back at the SCI convention, I got to hold one of H&H's .700 NE rifles - it weighed about 20 pounds, and cost $5,000 a pound.

I bought one round of ammo for my collection.
 
I went through a "Magnum" phase. I am glad I quit before developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Still have the flinch.
 
No, we can't.

Dirty Harry was an imaginary fictional movie cop.

A cop or civilian in this day and age who operated that way would be behind bars with the other criminals.
And very few actual police departments today would allow anyone in the department to use such overly powerful guns.
For over-penetration & liability reasons.

And as stated above, by his own admission, Dirty Harry was shooting .44 Specials in his .44 Magnum revolver in the movies anyway.

In the 1960's I knew one county sheriff who carried a 4" Model 29 .44 Mag.
But he said it was more for quickly putting down injured livestock and getting them off the roads & highways then anything else.

I also knew one Kansas State Trooper who carried a Marlin .44 Mag carbine in the trunk of his HP car.
For one-man road blocks in the dark, 30 miles from back-up, in the middle of nowhere.

And putting down road injured livestock.

He carried a .40 S&W caliber SIG pistol on his belt.

rc
 
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You mean Dirty Harry wasn't for real ?

You just burst my balloon, rc !

We can take this anywhere we want to, but I was trying to concentrate more on the most powerful practical handgun cartridge possible. Not so much on the fictional character.
 
I think the five hunert S&W is about tops for a modern Dirty Harry gun.

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he fire five shots or only four?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .500 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your torso clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"
 
Hmm, I think the 500 mag would put a pretty big hole in the bad guy, his car, or the building he is hiding behind. I think that would definitely "make his day".

GS
 
Look at the .454 Casull
Click to expand...

The firearms industry did a long time ago, and you answered your own question.

As far as cops go, rcmodel said
A cop or civilian in this day and age who operated that way would be behind bars with the other criminals.
And very few actual police departments today would allow anyone in the department to use such overly powerful guns.
For over-penetration & liability reasons.
Click to expand...
and he's right.
 
It seems like everyone and their brother carried .50 Deagles in the 90s and 00s movies and shows. Technically it is a more powerful round. There is also the Linebaughs as far as cartridge calibers go. I think the Rock had a Ruger Alaskan in a recent movie which was a pretty cool choice. I love my Alaskan.
 
As rcmodel said:

...by his own admission, Dirty Harry was shooting .44 Specials in his .44 Magnum revolver...
Click to expand...

A lot of you are missing the point. While the revolver in question was a .44 Magnum, D.H. was shooting mild .44 Special loads. So, you don't need to go to a .50 WhizBang Magnum to "Out Dirty" D.H., all you need to do is increase the caliber and payload a bit, and the 140+ year old .45 Colt loaded in the very same S&W N frame revolver does that quite nicely.

Don
 
Harry only shot .44 specials while playing games on practical pistol courses. He fired MAGNUMS for carry. "But, seeing as this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun ever made'....:D

Then there was the .44 auto mag in "Sudden Impact" that "when properly applied, could REMOVE the finger prints". :D His .44 magnum got lost, but it wouldn't penetrate the armored vehicles the mob was driving. I don't think he'd have been totin' specials against the mob's armor. But, then, it IS Hollywood, ya know. In reality, he was shooting movie blanks.
 
And as stated above, by his own admission, Dirty Harry was shooting .44 Specials in his .44 Magnum revolver in the movies anyway.
Click to expand...
Not really. I read an interview years back (wish I could remember where), in which John Milius, who performed the rewrite of the script (and who was responsible for giving Harry the .44 magnum in the first place in the original film), clarified that line. When Harry says "a light special" he meant a special load (presumably a handload, though Milius didn't go into that much detail) that was lighter than a standard .44 magnum load, but still a magnum. Basically something comparable to today's Speer Gold Dot "short barrel" load, which is loaded to fire a 200 grain JHP at just over 1000fps. That's definitely down from a full house .44mag, but still more potent than a .44 special.

You shouldn't take a line of dialogue in a movie too literally. Lots of people use sloppy terminology, the movies are no different, and are frequently worse, with lines being written or rewritten by people who are often ignorant of firearms.
 
The Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express revolver.

pfeifer_zeliska_21.jpg

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he fire five shots or only four?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .600 Nitro Express, the most powerful handgun in the world and will turn you into red mist, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"
 
That's definitely down from a full house .44mag, but still more potent than a .44 special.
Click to expand...

You're right about not taking movie quotes too seriously. But just for the record the 29 and the 629 are infamous for not being able to handle those full house .44 mag loads available today anyway. Those heavy rounds are made for cast steel guns like those made by Ruger. It will rattle apart a 29 and cause it to jump time possibly. You'll find your cylinder has rolled back to an already spent cartridge instead of a fresh one. You can shoot the full house loads in the S&W's but after a while they will have problems because of it. Best to stick with something like the Buffalo Bore 255 gr. Keith (1,350 fps/M.E. 1,032 ft.lbs.) and not try shooting the Heavy .44 Magnum +P+ Ammo - 340 gr. (1,478 fps/M.E. 1,649 ft. lbs.) stuff made to be shot in Ruger revolvers among others. That is quite a bit of difference in power there. The Keith is about 63% of the power of the +P+ loads put out by Buffalo Bore.
 
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