Remember the disappointment when it was pointed out to me that Fess Parker carried and shot a poorly disguised prop and nothing more. The good old days……
What mistakes have you noticed in movies/tv shows that happen in the BP era like Daniel Boone, Patriot etc?
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Not a movie but how many times have we read that while the men were circling the wagons to prepare for the attack the women were melting lead and making bullets?
Likely better than waiting until during any attack…..
I happened upon the horror flick “Waxworks” and later in the movie the hero confronts Marquis de Sade with a trapdoor conversion pistol that looks like a flintlock. They actually showed the gun fairly well too.
I was thinking that I wouldn’t mind actually owning a functional trapdoor pistol conversion that shot real 45-70 rounds either. It did look like a decent conversion. But when de Sade fired it, it acted like he fired a .22 blank.
I was thinking that I wouldn’t mind actually owning a functional trapdoor pistol conversion that shot real 45-70 rounds either. It did look like a decent conversion. But when de Sade fired it, it acted like he fired a .22 blank.
That's interesting about the real Davy Crocket. You sparked a memory, beyond the interesting fact, with your post. I have been a Fess Parker fan since I was a kid. During my last deployment I learned alot about him beyond his character portrayals of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. The guy was a WWII Navy vet and supported our troops until the day he died. He was a kind of penpal to me when I was overseas and even sent letters to my kids (both small at the time). He was a prince of a man. On one occasion he sent me a care package. In it was a coon skin cap. I took that cap out on patrol and sent him a photo of me wearing it. Our next letter exchange was one Ill always remember. Again, the guy was simply a prince of a man.
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That's true, but don't you think they would have had the ammo ready long before the attack came?
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They were my thoughts as well, anyone in their right mind in a Wagon headed into unknown territory would have moulded up all the round balls /ammo they could.
Speaking of muzzleloaders in the movies, how often or common was it for a person to use a sling of some sort? LOTM, Foloow the River, and plenty of others show them using slings?
CaptainVane
Colt ‘51 & Remington ‘58 .36; Colt ‘48 .31
Ive done a lot of reading of that time and it amazes me how clueless those oregon trail type people were. Heading cross country with pianos, furniture, in wagons, most totally unprepared, single shot muzzle loaders, etc.
As a very good archer and horse owner/rider from way before I got into MLing. I would seriously take a good bow and a quiver full of arrows over a single shot muzzle loader any day. There is little chance you could get a clean shot off at a dodging horseman, while I can unleash 6 - 8 arrows a minute.
If the Indians hadn’t been so busy fighting amongst themselves, the whites would never had a chance settleing the west. We simply outnumbered them with people who had no where else to go if they wanted land to grow crops and feed their families. And used the native animosity against their enemies to our advantage.
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MezcalCharlie
32 Cal
I tried to quote but I’m an idiot. Learned on a mainframe when there were punch cards. But someone, more than once mentioned the wrong era guns. The Comancheros being the most egregiously wrong move ever, I think. As a historian. It bugs me like Alvin York with his Springfield’06. More troops sent to Europe were shooting the 1917 Enfield in 30-06 due to supply and manufacture issues. Or the Dukes 1892 In Stagecoach and most of his movies. The pointed cowboy boots and buscadero holsters etc. I can forgive if it’s a really good movie and a minor goof; The Searchers 1868-9 at the beginning and peacemakers everywhere. But today there is no excuse given the internet, the knowledge readily available. One of my favorite films, Gettysburg has a good story that I’ll butcher but Sam Eliot had to correct the wardrobe on some minor issues but he knew his stuff. And honestly, I can’t think of a wardrobe or gun error in his westerns. Just my humble opinion.
One thought about a bit of a pet peeve of mine. It is how in many movies the good guy or bad guy for that matter gets shot in the shoulder area. Generally getting shot in the shoulder or stabbed or with an arrow etc is a fatal wound. There is a major artery and vein that goes through there. Plus you have the major nerve trunk for the arm and hand that goes through there too. Invariably they show him or her getting shot there and it’s always a minor deal in the movie. Anyway it is one of those you bleed to death wounds unless you get immediate medical attention that they show in the movies.
Now rarely they show a flesh wound kind of wound there so that would be OK for the movie. But usually it is getting shot/stabbed in the small of the shoulder that they show in the movies.
Now rarely they show a flesh wound kind of wound there so that would be OK for the movie. But usually it is getting shot/stabbed in the small of the shoulder that they show in the movies.
Marshal Dillon can get shot almost anywhere, recover in just a few minutes, and then get the upper hand on the bad guys.
CaptainVane
Colt ‘51 & Remington ‘58 .36; Colt ‘48 .31
I just the other day watched an interview with Kurt Russell about making Tombstone and he noted your same point. With the large calibers back in the day and very dirty black powder/infection IF you lived that arm/leg/appendige was coming off. He knows his stuff, great interview.
the Michael Caine movie Zulu most of the guys have Lee Metford Rifles instead of Martinis that movie still rules though so I dont mind.
For some odd reason that jogged a memory about the so called doctor in the movie “a million ways to die in the west”. Anyway the doctor is ready to amputate anything from getting bruised or scratched to being shot. But way back then bathing was maybe a yearly thing so even a scratch could be deadly. At best bathing was maybe a once a week thing on Saturday evening. You gotta smell ok for church the next day.
Sun City
45 Cal.
Movie on HULU about 3 nights back about buffalo hunting.....showed supposedly how to load a round for a Sharps rifle and the guy was seating the bullet....which had no lube and was beating it with a hammer into the mouth of the case!
What movie was that?!
