A Tale of two Smith and Wessons.
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002 4:59 pm
Two Smith and Wesson revolvers were used in the filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The one used at Elstree studios and in Tunisia was rented from Bapty's in London and will be known as the Bapty gun. The S&W used in Hawaii and for the close up in Indy's home was supplied by Stembridge Gun Rentals of Glendale, California.
The Bapty gun is a S&W Second Model Hand Ejector, in .455 Eley calibre as used by the British Army during The Great War(WWl) when the British needed every handgun they could get chambered in that calibre.
The Bapty gun had the barrel cut from the standard 6 1/2" to a handier 4" length,using a Baughman ramp style front sight. It also featured the gold medallion grips used from 1908 to the mid 1920's.
If we apply this to Indy's "world", most of the British contract S&W revolvers were sold back to the USA after the war as surplus. Many were converted to the easily obtainable, in the US, .45 Colt cartridge. Many of these conversions were performed at the S&W factory which is identifiable by the serial number being re-stamped on the rear of the cut back cylinder. The Bapty gun was used in all scenes except two.
The Stembridge gun is a 1917 S&W which is the Second Model modified for the US Government when they decided that entry into the war was unavoidable. As there were not enough 1911 Colt pistols in inventory, a device called the half moon clip, holding three rounds of .45 ACP, was devised to allow chambering and ejecting the rimless cartridge in a revolver. The 1917 S&W featured a 5 1/2" barrel, the Military version having plain walnut grips, with the later commercial 1917 wearing non-medallion checkered grips, as seen in the "Hand it to Belloq" and the closeup scene. The Commerical Model also had the S&W trademark on the left side of the frame below the cylinder release latch. The Stembridge gun was used in the two above mentioned scenes only.
Both of these fine revolvers were fireable. The Stembridge gun was loaned to me by Syd Stembridge for a magazine ad I did for my company, Special Weapons Products, in 1985. That was when I took the photo that is on the Indygear site(on my coffee table yet!) and before returning it I stopped by the range(couldn't resist) and found that with the requested"high front sight" it shot low and a bit to the left. The "band" on the Stembridge gun is where the tip of the barrel was masked off for cleaning, which includes removing the bluing, so the silver solder would hold the reshaped front sight securely. They just didn't bother to reblue the barrel. The standard front sight was removed from the cut off 1 1/2"of barrel below the curved base, reshaped, a small extention soldered on, and attached to the slight flat that was machined on the top of the barrel.
On a side note, Syd told me their revolver was rented by Lucasfilm for TOD. If you look at the scene where Indy is shooting out of the back window of the car, you can just make out the un-blued "band" on the front of the barrel.
There you have it, "A Tale of Two Smith and Wessons" It was the best of revolvers...but with a S&W there is no "worst of revolvers".
The Bapty gun is a S&W Second Model Hand Ejector, in .455 Eley calibre as used by the British Army during The Great War(WWl) when the British needed every handgun they could get chambered in that calibre.
The Bapty gun had the barrel cut from the standard 6 1/2" to a handier 4" length,using a Baughman ramp style front sight. It also featured the gold medallion grips used from 1908 to the mid 1920's.
If we apply this to Indy's "world", most of the British contract S&W revolvers were sold back to the USA after the war as surplus. Many were converted to the easily obtainable, in the US, .45 Colt cartridge. Many of these conversions were performed at the S&W factory which is identifiable by the serial number being re-stamped on the rear of the cut back cylinder. The Bapty gun was used in all scenes except two.
The Stembridge gun is a 1917 S&W which is the Second Model modified for the US Government when they decided that entry into the war was unavoidable. As there were not enough 1911 Colt pistols in inventory, a device called the half moon clip, holding three rounds of .45 ACP, was devised to allow chambering and ejecting the rimless cartridge in a revolver. The 1917 S&W featured a 5 1/2" barrel, the Military version having plain walnut grips, with the later commercial 1917 wearing non-medallion checkered grips, as seen in the "Hand it to Belloq" and the closeup scene. The Commerical Model also had the S&W trademark on the left side of the frame below the cylinder release latch. The Stembridge gun was used in the two above mentioned scenes only.
Both of these fine revolvers were fireable. The Stembridge gun was loaned to me by Syd Stembridge for a magazine ad I did for my company, Special Weapons Products, in 1985. That was when I took the photo that is on the Indygear site(on my coffee table yet!) and before returning it I stopped by the range(couldn't resist) and found that with the requested"high front sight" it shot low and a bit to the left. The "band" on the Stembridge gun is where the tip of the barrel was masked off for cleaning, which includes removing the bluing, so the silver solder would hold the reshaped front sight securely. They just didn't bother to reblue the barrel. The standard front sight was removed from the cut off 1 1/2"of barrel below the curved base, reshaped, a small extention soldered on, and attached to the slight flat that was machined on the top of the barrel.
On a side note, Syd told me their revolver was rented by Lucasfilm for TOD. If you look at the scene where Indy is shooting out of the back window of the car, you can just make out the un-blued "band" on the front of the barrel.
There you have it, "A Tale of Two Smith and Wessons" It was the best of revolvers...but with a S&W there is no "worst of revolvers".
S&W HE2 (Bapty) and S&W 1917 (Stembridge) , o.k., got it, but wouldn't the British Bapty make be designated as a Hand Ejector Mk II? I'm still a little fuzzy on that one. I've seen them designated as such and you're the man wth the handgun knowlege so I thought I'd ask.
.
, so I'll pretend.....here goes...