Coolest Movie Guns of the ’80s

[HayesGreener]

My generation grew up watching good guys go after bad guys with sixguns, lever action rifles, double barrel shotguns, and 1911's. Watching old movies before the producers employed armorers it is amusing to see firearms being used that were invented long after the period depicted.

Perhaps one of the most iconic modern guns that co-starred in a movie before the full auto rage was the S&W revolver in Dirty Harry. Although billed as a .44 magnum, I have read that the gun used in the movie was actually a model 57, .41 magnum, which is identical in appearance. Many of the officers I knew went out and bought a model 29 after Dirty Harry but nobody could qualify with that bucking bronco on the police qualification course.

The automatic, high capacity, spray and pray rage of the 80's movies and drug wars diminished the romance of the revolver. Those were much simpler times. But dang, I do miss my MP5.

 

[HansGruber]

On 2nd thought, looked more like a 30/30 than 45/70 Gov't and a 16" bbl. Me, I love those old Contenders. Still have mine from back in the early 80's. Even had a 10"bbl in 45cal/410ga combo once. Shot it once from a loose Creedmore position on a concrete sidewalk .... decided I didn't really have a need for that one. Traded it for a 10" 30 Herret IIRC in the early 90's.

Edit: to change description of caliber after a brief thought
Nope: went back and looked again ... it's got no shoulder so it almost has to be a 45/70gov't

OK, what do y'all think?

It's a .45-70.

Mad Dog runs a .30-30 Contender in Hard Boiled, though.

 

[jumpinjoe]

It's a .45-70.

Mad Dog runs a .30-30 Contender in Hard Boiled, though.
View attachment 20792

Yeh, that's what I first thought, but without my spectacles I had a second thought. Went back and looked again without the specs, and thought I saw a slight shoulder. Still wasn't satisfied so I finally got up off my azz and went to get my specs .... looked that time and sure enough, no shoulder. That's why the second 'edit'. Thanks for the confirm ...

I never personally shot a 45/70 in a Contender, but it's got to be a real handful !!! Even with a 14"-16" bbl. The quick look we got of that one leads me to think it;s a 16".

 

[HansGruber]

Yeh, that's what I first thought, but without my spectacles I had a second thought. Went back and looked again without the specs, and thought I saw a slight shoulder. Still wasn't satisfied so I finally got up off my azz and went to get my specs .... looked that time and sure enough, no shoulder. That's why the second 'edit'. Thanks for the confirm ...

I never personally shot a 45/70 in a Contender, but it's got to be a real handful !!! Even with a 14"-16" bbl. The quick look we got of that one leads me to think it;s a 16".

I had a 10" and a 16" .45-70 barrel for my Contender (16" usually got a stock). Really not all that bad...the 10" was pretty controllable, but the one time I tried the 16" bbl as a pistol?

Ye gods.

If I hadn't been wearing a billed cap, I would have buried the front sight in my forehead.

 

[TSiWRX]

The automatic, high capacity, spray and pray rage of the 80's movies and drug wars diminished the romance of the revolver.

What goes around, comes around.

Revolver Ocelot is one of the more intriguing (and enduring) antagonist characters in the Metal Gear series of video games. It's interesting also because his character keeps improving as based on the advice that the protagonist of the series gives him.

The Mateba Autorevolver has a strong following in The Ghost in the Shell Japanese anime series and movies -

^ it developed such a mythology and such a strong following that there are airsoft replicas of it.

So, don't despair, sir! The next generation loves the wheel-guns, too.

 

[Bassbob]

My generation grew up watching good guys go after bad guys with sixguns, lever action rifles, double barrel shotguns, and 1911's. Watching old movies before the producers employed armorers it is amusing to see firearms being used that were invented long after the period depicted.

Perhaps one of the most iconic modern guns that co-starred in a movie before the full auto rage was the S&W revolver in Dirty Harry. Although billed as a .44 magnum, I have read that the gun used in the movie was actually a model 57, .41 magnum, which is identical in appearance. Many of the officers I knew went out and bought a model 29 after Dirty Harry but nobody could qualify with that bucking bronco on the police qualification course.

The automatic, high capacity, spray and pray rage of the 80's movies and drug wars diminished the romance of the revolver. Those were much simpler times. But dang, I do miss my MP5.

It's my understanding that S&W was having a hard time giving them away until that movie came out.

Many of us are in the same generation brother, but as you and I prove, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. I got more than a few wheel guns in the safe, but none of them get used for carry. Other than hunting.

 

[Bassbob]

I had a 10" and a 16" .45-70 barrel for my Contender (16" usually got a stock). Really not all that bad...the 10" was pretty controllable, but the one time I tried the 16" bbl as a pistol?

Ye gods.

If I hadn't been wearing a billed cap, I would have buried the front sight in my forehead.

My dad had one. A 10" .357 if I recall correctly. I remember it was very accurate and must have been worth quite a bit because it's one of the only guns he owned that he sold.

 

[jumpinjoe]

Man, I've taken more feral pigs with a 10" .357mag TC Contender and hand loads than "Campbells" has pork n beans over a lot of years, and probably way more than my share of White tailed deer with the same bbl and gun.

I've also killed at least a million Armadillos while sitting around the fire at night at camp to keep them from getting up under the cabin and digging out the foundation. Shot most of them running/scurrying with hand loaded 148gr WC's seated backwards in the case.

I honestly don't remember now why we were loading them backwards, but we did. There was usually 3-4 of us taking turns at the animals each night and loser had to pay some silly azzed penalty for losing.

 

[jumpinjoe]

Well, maybe not quite a 'million' Armadillos, that may be a slight exaggeration, but probably at least 999, 999.!!!

 

[Snake45]

What? No love for Ash Williams' (Bruce Campbell) sawed-off (chain-sawed, no less!) double-barreled "Remington" from Evil Dead II?

 

[Annihilator]

My favorite was always Sonny Crockett and his Bren Ten

 

[Bassbob]

View attachment 20800
My favorite was always Sonny Crockett and his Bren Ten

I wonder how many people in the 80s I knew who went around wearing a t-shirt with a suit jacket and no socks with dress shoes.

This show singlehandedly brought back the Mac 10 too.

 

[wmg1299]

The automatic, high capacity, spray and pray rage of the 80's movies and drug wars diminished the romance of the revolver. Those were much simpler times. But dang, I do miss my MP5.

I'm not sure if anyone else liked it much, but Tango & Cash was one of my favorite 80's action flicks when I was a kid. While there were plenty of machineguns and sub-machineguns, Tango carried an S&W Model 36 and an S&W Model 60 as his duty weapons. Cash then uses a Ruger GP100 with a huge 80's laser sight in a few cool scenes. Tango & Cash was released at the very end of the 80's, but it came out just as I was getting old enough to understand firearms.

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man was another childhood favorite of mine, but it missed the cut for this thread by being released in 1991.

 

[PunchySunshine]

I wonder how many people in the 80s I knew who went around wearing a t-shirt with a suit jacket and no socks with dress shoes.

Admittedly this was me as a ten year old...penny loafers w/ no socks, white slacks and coat with a VERY light blue sleeveless undershirt. I wanted be Sonny Crockett and to live on a boat with an alligator soooooo much! Now that I've seen how you actually have to live on a sailboat...NO THANKS!

 

[Snake45]

View attachment 20800
My favorite was always Sonny Crockett and his Bren Ten

First thing I thought of when I saw this thread, but the title said movies, not TV, so I didn't bring it up.

 

[TSiWRX]

I'm not sure if anyone else liked it much, but Tango & Cash was one of my favorite 80's action flicks when I was a kid. While there were plenty of machineguns and sub-machineguns, Tango carried an S&W Model 36 and an S&W Model 60 as his duty weapons. Cash then uses a Ruger GP100 with a huge 80's laser sight in a few cool scenes. Tango & Cash was released at the very end of the 80's, but it came out just as I was getting old enough to understand firearms.

Oooooooh! How could I have forgotten that one!!! I loved that one when I was a kid, too. Still do, despite the campy '80s-ness of it.

Another guilty pleasure is Stallone's Cobra c.1986 -

I guess that predicted the future, as we're about to fight violence via Public Health measures?

Cool guns, cool knife, cool cars, cool bikes, and a female lead with big hair. What more could a 12 year-old boy want?

 

[Annihilator]

First thing I thought of when I saw this thread, but the title said movies, not TV, so I didn't bring it up.

My bad on the post, I wasn’t paying attention that it said movie instead of tv, guess that will teach me not to post…..before I read…..

 

[A Team]

& the guns from TV serial MIami Vice