Cowboy Movie Guns

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J-Bar

J-Bar

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The temperature was 3 degrees this morning, so it was a good day to visit the NRA Museum in the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO. I thought you might enjoy some of the movie guns on display!

The dragoon from the original True Grit and The Outlaw Josey Wales:
true grit.jpg

Charles Bronson's revolver from The White Buffalo:

charles bronson.jpg

A Colt 44-40 from John Wayne:

John Wayne.jpg

A rubber Walker from Josey Wales:

josey wales.jpg

William Holden's revolver from The Wild Bunch:

william holden.jpg


Tom Berenger's copy of Roosevelt's Colt, Rough Riders:

tom berenger.jpg

Selleck's Sharps from Quigley Down Under; George Eads's 1887 shotgun from Monte Walsh:

quigley.jpg

Shorty's revolver from Monte Walsh:

shorty.jpg


...not a bad way to spend a cold winter day!
 
Very cool. Although I dont recall a Dragoon in Josey Wales. Just his Walkers. Maybe the Dragoons were used too as his other sidearms? Can't recall. Way cool, thanks op.

Edit: added words.
 
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.455_Hunter said:
Cool collection, but I am surprised they didn't have trigger locks on them.
Click to expand...

None of the firearms in the museum have locks. All are in glass enclosures. I have no idea whether or not they have been disabled in any way, but I doubt
it; most are on loan from private collections.

I am told this museum has twice as many visitors annually as the museum at NRA headquarters in Virginia. It is impressive, two hours minimum to do it justice. Free admission, stay as long as you want.
 
Sorry- My statement was a jab at the museum being located in a Bass Pro Shop, given their (and now Cabela's) arcane trigger lock policies.

I am sure the collection is outstanding and I will put it my must see list if I am in the area.
 
Wow, thanks a lot for the memories.

One of my favorites is the Outlaw Josey Wales. At the end of the movie he must have had 5 or 6 guns on him when he was fighting the Blue Coats, it was amazing! Besides the 2 Dragoons he had a few guns that looked like Walkers and at least 1 short gun, sorry, I'm rambling.

Thanks again for the pictures and memories, I'm old enough to remember all those movies when they came out.
 
ArchAngelCD said:
Besides the 2 Dragoons he had a few guns that looked like Walkers
Click to expand...
Now I'm confused. I thought for sure Josey Wales carried 1847 Whitneyville Walkers. Not Dragoons. And at the beginning when his house burns down, he pulls an 1860 Army from the ashes. When does he have Dragoons in the movie?
 
He doesn't. He has Walkers. The Walker in "True Grit" was called "a Colts Dragoon" by J.W. (so it became a Dragoon, J.W. said so!!!)
The revolver has been converted and has a latch for the loading lever.

Mike
 
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Mn Fats said:
Now I'm confused. I thought for sure Josey Wales carried 1847 Whitneyville Walkers. Not Dragoons. And at the beginning when his house burns down, he pulls an 1860 Army from the ashes. When does he have Dragoons in the movie?
Click to expand...
It very well might be, I'm no expert on older guns. Then again, back then the movie makers took a lot of liberties.

I'm sure you are right about the 1860 Army, I think that is the gun he has in the front of his belt and uses to kill the bounty hunter in the bar.
 
Awesome!

Do they have TV western stuff too, like the mare's leg? Which btw was designed by famous motorcycle builder Kenny 'Von Dutch' Howard, then subsequently heavily taxed post-production because it was an SBR.

Or the modified rifle Lucas McCain uses in 'The Rifleman'?

How about the miniature howitzer sniper rifle Jack Elam uses to attempt an assassination on a senator in 'Lawman'? That thing launched projectiles the size of a field mouse!
 
As to the terms "Walker" and "Dragoon", I believe both terms are modern applications. All large revolvers of the period were termed Dragoon models.

Purchase orders from the Civil War period refer to the Dragoons as "Old Model Army" and the 1860 as the New Model Army.

Maybe somebody has some advertising from the period that would shed more light on the subject?

Bob Wright
 
Afaik, Sam Walker and Sam Colt designed it together. What a glorious collaboration, coming from another guy named Sam lol. In another twist, they were mfg by Eli Whitney Jr .

The dragoon is a creek in KS...:D
 
I returned to Bass Pro today to answer some questions:

.455_Hunter said:
Sorry- My statement was a jab at the museum being located in a Bass Pro Shop, given their (and now Cabela's) arcane trigger lock policies.
Click to expand...

I guess I wasn’t tuned in! I don’t buy guns at Bass Pro so I never encountered that policy. The guns in the Fine Gun room do not have trigger locks on, so if you want to buy a $10,000 shotgun I guess you won’t have to endure the trigger lock policy! ;)

Speedo66 said:
Interesting that the last gun was donated by Tom Selleck. Be nice to see who donated the long guns.
Click to expand...

Mr. Selleck donated the Sharps and the shotgun as well. Interesting that the shotgun was made in 1898.

7B03B9EA-68D5-4B30-B50E-FCF72AB3E41F.jpeg

EC72C65E-7CE5-4C2F-830E-E7F447A7A866.jpeg


BigBlue 94 said:
Awesome!

Do they have TV western stuff too, like the mare's leg? Which btw was designed by famous motorcycle builder Kenny 'Von Dutch' Howard, then subsequently heavily taxed post-production because it was an SBR.

Or the modified rifle Lucas McCain uses in 'The Rifleman'?

How about the miniature howitzer sniper rifle Jack Elam uses to attempt an assassination on a senator in 'Lawman'? That thing launched projectiles the size of a field mouse!
Click to expand...

There are no TV related guns on display at this time. The movie gun display (behind the grizzly bear) is in the hallway outside the Theodore Roosevelt room, and frames the doorway to the Archery Hall of Fame.

2E4463C0-70E3-475B-B8A9-470984225403.jpeg

0D9D6B10-442A-4B0F-8E29-389F96670452.jpeg
 
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Nice post, J-BAR. My favorite was Matt Dillon's 7-1/2 inch Colt SAA with the Stag Horn grips.
Barrel was always a little long for my taste, but those grips!
 
Thank you so much for the photos. THAT is a museum I would love to visit. It is fantatstic that these iconic guns were not lost in a warehouse somewhere or buried in someone's safe.
 
Very cool. The last time I was there, the firearms museum wasn't open yet, but the archery museum was.
I'm more into firearms, but it was still great. They had Geronimo's bow in there.

I especially love the banisters going up the stairs to the museums.
 
Dibbs said:
Nice post, J-BAR. My favorite was Matt Dillon's 7-1/2 inch Colt SAA with the Stag Horn grips.
Barrel was always a little long for my taste, but those grips!
Click to expand...

I remember reading somewhere that they originally selected a 5 1/2" for Marshal Dillon, but it looked a little too petite on James Arness' hip. And the "stag horn" grips were actually jigged bone as per the older cowboy stars of the day.

And, further on movie guns, saw James Stewart in The Naked Spur and his six shooter was a Colt New Service fitted with a fake ejector rod assembly. Yet in the shoot out scenes, he is shown loading the revolver by swinging out the cylinder and punching out the empties with the star ejector, prior to reloading.

Bob Wright
 
I figured it had to be something like jigged bone, it would be almost physically impossible for
a stag to grow grips into a perfect plow handle configuration. They still look great, even if they
aren't authentic Stag Horn, thru and thru.
 
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