I'd have to say my favorite is the Smith & Wesson in .45ACP with the banded semi-circular front sight. I just like the way the sights look on this compared to the ramped version.
I basically like everything except for the Webley, but of course I would have to prefer the Browning HP 9mm if I were fighting Nazis with MP-40s. The S&W HE2 .45 would be my choice for the revolver though, because the Colt's just too plain, and the Webley's too heavy and long.
I see a trend here.....
And I'll have to follow suit, S&W - althought the Webley is a nice second. Have Lee's S&W Replica, may have to get the Webley replica as well....
Mine would be the Smith&Wesson it seemed the most effective in
Indy's gun battles... The Webley looked intimidating, but the recoil
probably made it miss its mark.
Bottom line up front; I don't like guns.
But when it comes time to cast the vote for what I'd take into a Nepalese bar with me (or perhaps the Waffle House after midnight ) in order to save the girl and take out the trash, give me the Colt .45.
It may not be the sharpest looking handgun out there, but it definately has it's virtues. It shoots one big, slow slug (you won't outrun it, though) that will flatten the biggest human, or tear off an arm or a leg. Bad guys reliably stay down with this one.
Let's be careful out there.
Although none of Indy's guns have recoil worth worrying about, a MK Vl Webley firing the .455 round at 640 fps with a 220 gr. bullet would have the least recoil of any of them. After all, the Webley's no lightweight!
I'll go with the Browning Hi-Power. It's reliable, accurate, durable, carries 13 rounds in its magazine (+ 1 in the chamber, if you so desire) and takes far less time than 1930's-era revolvers to reload (no speed-loaders yet), giving you another 13 rounds to use in ridding the world of sadistic, megalomaniacal Thugs, Nazis and perfidious Frenchmen. Also, that single-action trigger on the Browning makes it easier to be consistent with the grouping of my shots. I know which one I'd prefer to bring to a gunfight with an unknown number of assailants. But maybe that's just me. I've put a lot more rounds through a Hi-Power than any revolver. The S&W is a lot of fun to shoot, though, so maybe my revolver skills will catch up. It's pretty accurate, too, more accurate than I am, and for a double-action trigger mine is pretty slick. Still, an extra 7 or 8 bullets and quicker reloading...
Although I hate to break the trend I would have to vote for the Browning. I just like semi-auto's. Feel better in my hands. And of course they just look good.
I'm thinking more in line of what would be my favorite Indy gun in light of the time period it was supposedly being used in. The Browning design has always been great, but 9mm ammo was always (up to the mid 80's) considered fairly anemic in terms of knock down power,and it's pressures and section density was comparable to a .38 special 158 grain standard pressure load. The big Smith, on the other hand, had more section density going for it's .45 round, and the knock down power was almost equal to Operator Jakes favored Colt .45 round (you have pressure loss from the same round coming out of a revolver compared to a pistol, hense the 'almost' statement here), so you have your choice....either 13 anemic rounds of 9mm going down range with hopeful success, or one big piece of lead in the 240 grain size range from the Smith in a gun fight. Of course, using today's standards, all bets are off as the 9mm has been developed as a highly successful and powerful round, especially after it's lousy performance in the infamous Miami shootout, but that's another story. Personally, if standing in the Napal bar, I'd rather be holding a sure one shot stopper than one with 13 so-so rounds. At least the spray of extra bullets would keep their heads down longer. (grins) As to the point of 'no speed loaders', on the contrary, the very FIRST speed loaders ever made were made for the big Smith in the form of half moon and full moon clips, where you could rapidily reload either 3 or 6 rounds in one drop, so yes, that was indeed available in 1936. Just some more food for thought. Regards. Michaelson
Thats a good point Michelson. I forgot how weak of a round the 9 used to be compared with the other rounds. I have never dealt with any of the moon clips so I cant say much about them but the six round clip would definatly load that big smith fast enough. I have never liked the spray and pray method of gunfighting. So I guess I will have to change my vote considering the ammo issue. I will go for the Smith. I wish they would have gone with the original idea of the big colt 1911 in. That is one tough gun. In my opinion anyways.
..if I found myself similar circumstances, I would have opted to grab Marion, then toss in a hand granade as we ran out the door (hoping she still had the headpiece, of course). The bar was pretty well trashed as it was. (grins) Regards. Michaelson
The only problem is that she was behind the bar...I would opt to clear the room with a Thomspon SMG with a drum clip or a BAR this way you could penetrate the tables those diry nazi lakeys were hiding behind, but then I might take out Toht and ruin the end of the movie, but I digress...
I agree though the .45 would have the right knock down power as opposed to the Browning. I wonder why they stuck the browning in their?
Can you imagine Indy with a BAR at customs..."What do you need this for sir?" "I'm an Archeologist" .
...the 9mm was substituted for the 45 because 9 mm blanks were readily available in the English prop department. .45 blanks were not, so they stuck the 9mm in it's place. Regards. Michaelson
From what little shooting I've done, and from the coversations I've had with the experts I know, the 9mm is a useless round. Sure, you can hold more rounds in a clip, but you need more rounds to take down a target... and sometimes you only get one shot.
prettybigguy wrote:Now that the subject has changed to what guns we wished Indy used, I'm going to chime in and say I agree with Gilly, the 1911 would have been tough!
With exception of the Ruger P90 [My gun of choice] the Colt 1911A1 is my favorate pistol. It's classic and I'm suprised it didn't make an apearance in any of the Indy films.
prettybigguy wrote:Now that the subject has changed to what guns we wished Indy used,...
Changing the subject even more, if you were a director looking to showcase some stylish gunplay in a bar scene, try envisioning Indy in the Napal bar armed with Antonio Banderas’ guitar case from the bar scene in Desperado. Of course you would need to populate the bar with many, many, many more “nazi lakeys.”