Dances With Wolves Revolver

[Bluehawk]

Watching this movie for unknown-how-many-times I looked closely to see what revolver Kevin Costners character; Lt. John Dunbar, was carrying. I expected it to be a Colt 1860 Army but was surprised to see (through slow motion) it was more like an 1851 Colt. Octagon barrel...non-rebated cylinder...etc.
Considering the majority of revolvers carried by Union officers of the Civil War were 1860 models I'm curious as to why they ( the prop guys) picked that gun over the more popular issue revolver.
Anyone else notice the revolver he carried?

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

It was a revolver that looked period - correct.

Maybe it was a custom job 1860 converted to fire the .44 Henry RF he was using?

Josh

 

[ZZZ]

This site has all kinds of good info on movie guns.
http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Dances_with_Wolves

 

[SC_Slowhand]

Gun in the Movies

ZZZ

Great web site. I ran into it a while back. They do a great job on getting into Hollywood Movies, identifying the weapons, conversions and of course the "Time Warp" when one shows up a few years before it was actually manufactured. The Outlaw Josey Wales, Appaloosa, Quigley Down Under, and Dances With Wolves have been some of their best reviews.

 

[Malckom]

Was watching Chato's Land with Charles Bronson yesterday and saw him fire a rifle with the hammer down and it went bang and recoiled.

 

[Bluehawk]

After looking at the site about movie guns, it appears I was correct...it is a 1851 Colt...(modified for metallic cartridges for the movie).

 

[Loyalist Dave]

They chose it because the prop master walked into the pistol locker, and said, "Hey that looks cool and will work". IF they talked to anybody assigned to be histoical continuity director, they were probably told, "Well it will work as there were some of those around, but a better choice would be...," and the director heard, "Well it will work..., "

LD

 

[SC_Slowhand]

That'll work

Dave

You got it. It's all about what works for the Producers and Directors. When Sergio Leone got with Uberti and put all those replicas into the Spaghetti Westerns it changed the way Hollywood presented the look an use of weapons in their films. Some of it was sorta "more realistic" but a few got down right silly about it.

That more gritty, "real" or dirty image of the Old West in the way people lived and looked changed things a whole lot from the Westerns of the 30s-60s. I grew up watching all those old movies on TV, plus the Maverick, Cheyenne, Wagon Train, and Gunsmoke Shows. Then along comes Sergio Leone with his Man With No Name, Once Upon A Time in the West and some of his other works and changes the whole game.

Costner in Dances with Wolves was at his peak in creativity. He did of course vilify the US Calvary as being a bunch of murdering, sadist, killers. He presents the Indians as of course being the Noble Savage, with exception of Wes Studi's character and his followers. That of course sold a lot of theater tickets. In reality back then both sides had a lot to answer for.

Eastwood had enough sense in his own productions like The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider to portray his own interpretation of the times. His use of the Navy Colts, the Colt Walkers/Dragoons and Remington's was pure showmanship, no doubt inspired by his Italian Experiences. Rowdy Yates was long gone in his mind.

It's all in good fun though.

 

[StrawHat]

Bluehawk ...Considering the majority of revolvers carried by Union officers of the Civil War were 1860 models I'm curious as to why they ( the prop guys) picked that gun over the more popular issue revolver...

Officers of that era were given the option of carrying what was issued them or buyimg and carrying their own equipment. I have never seen the movie so can not guess why the director choose what he did but it would not be innaccurate for a Cavalry Officer to be carrying an 1851.

 

[Bluehawk]

it would not be innaccurate for a Cavalry Officer to be carrying an 1851.

Except this was about 1863 or so...don't really know if he was a cavalry officer when he was wounded in the foot...all the movie ever said was the horse Cisco was awarded to him after his "suicide run"!

 

[Joe Demko]

So the character had a gun that, in the context of the movie was a decade or so old? Big deal. I regularly carry guns that are much older than that.

 

[SC_Slowhand]

Colt 1851 Navy Revolvers

The Colt 1851 Navy got its name from the roll stamped engraving on its cylinder that depicted the Republic of Texas Navy's 1843 victory over the Mexican fleet. By 1873 when Colt ended productions they had used 215,348 Serial Numbers.


Going by Serial Numbers, From 1850 to 1865 Colt produced 180,000 of their Model 1851 Colt Navy Revolvers. Lt John Dunbar doesn't necessarily have to be packing a decade old revolver, he could have just acquired a freshly manufactured one out of Hartford.

 

[DoubleDeuce 1]

I remember reading that the 1851 Navy Colt was very popular with the union officers. Also, the "Navy" was supposed to have gotten it's name from the caliber of the ball it shot. .36 cal was considered the navy caliber and the .44 was considered the army caliber. Reasons for this were listed as they didn't usually have to shoot horses at sea, so they could use a smaller caliber. Also, smaller caliber means they could carry slightly more ammunition. Resupply at sea wasn't as easy as on land. The engraving on the cylinder also added to the naming of the revolver. Remington also produced their "Navy" version in .36 cal. Just stuff I read a very long time ago.