Mystery enshrouds identity of Dirty Harry’s gun

A conversation with a local gun store employee last week reignited one of the hottest burning questions in cinematic history.

What gun did Clint Eastwood really use in “Dirty Harry?”

“Dirty” Harry Callahan famously used a 44 Remington Magnum in the form of a Smith & Wesson Model 29 to dispense justice on the streets of San Francisco. We all remember Eastwood’s soliloquy about the 44 Magnum being the most powerful handgun in the world, and that it … “would blow your head clean off …”

The rogue sailor Quinlan recycled that line 20 years later in “Return to the Blue Lagoon,” while boasting about the firepower of his rifle. As saith the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There is no new thing under the sun.”

Anyway, my gun salesman buddy claims that the handgun that Eastwood used in Dirty Harry was actually a 45 Colt in the form of a Smith & Wesson Model 25. This theory has deep traction in the handgun community, but why? It’s not like there was a shortage of 44 Magnum revolvers in 1971 when Dirty Harry was released.

The Model 25 was a body double for the Model 29, the salesman said, because a 45-caliber bore looks dramatically bigger and more menacing in closeup than .44-caliber, which is actually .43 inches in diameter.

Compounding that effect is the Model 25’s thin barrel walls and thin top strap. These give the Model 25 a slight build that makes the bore look even bigger compared to a Model 29, which has a thicker barrel and a heavier frame. More metal enshrouding the bore diminishes the Model 29’s visual effect.

Saith the salesman, the Model 25 simply looks better on camera than the Model 29, the latter being well documented as Dirty Harry’s gun.

This allegation sent us sleuthing for clarity. Wikipedia, the first stop for any research project, says that the Model 29 is the gun of record in “Dirty Harry.” It also says that screenwriter John Milius owns one of the actual Model 29s used in principal photography in “Dirty Harry” and “Magnum Force.”

The citation comes from the National Firearms Museum, which displayed Dirty Harry’s Model 29. An inscription accompanying a photo that has been taken down reads, “This Smith and Wesson Model 29 was used by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry and Magnum Force (1972). It was a gift from Eastwood and Warner Brothers to film writer/director John Milius, who wrote significant parts of Dirty Harry and is credited with writing the screen play for Magnum Force. The pistol received notoriety as being the ‘most powerful handgun in the world’ and prompted civilian Model 29 purchases to skyrocket following the film’s success.”

The vague verbiage and the deleted photo makes us skeptical. The S&W Model 29 is indeed the firearm in the screenplay, but there is no indication that the Model 29 is the primary gun shown on camera.

Cinema is infamous for such sleights of hand. Lassie, cast as a female collie, was actually Laddie because a male collie was needed for its larger size and its deeper voice. The film “Midway” showed Essex class aircraft carriers with angled flight decks instead of the three Yorktown class carriers that actually fought the battle 10 years before the U.S. Navy first put an angled flight deck on a carrier. The firearms inaccuracies and misrepresentations in “Saving Private Ryan” are legendary.

Therefore, it is entirely possible that the Model 25 portrayed the Model 29 in the film.

Our next stop was Quora, an online community that discusses these types of things with the depth and zeal with which theologians discuss scripture. We also examined threads in the Colt Forum and the Smith & Wesson Forum.

The most persuasive evidence is the closeup that shows a “44 MAGNUM” inscription on the barrel in the scene where Dirty Harry points the gun at his nemesis Scorpio. Of course, a Model 29 might have been given a cameo appearance for that scene.

Some argue persuasively that a S&W Model 57 was used in most of the scenes. The Model 57 is a 41 Magnum. The Model 57 balances a beefy frame that does not overshadow its gaping maw.

Now you’re talking! The 41 Mag. is the finest handgun caliber ever developed, and the Model 57 is the finest handgun ever made. Any knowledgeable armorer would have cast the Model 57 as the Model 29.

Pffft! Case closed.