Am I the only one who saw the big 8-gauge shotgun in the movie, "Apaloosa" (I though it was the REAL star of this film!) and thought, "I have GOT to get me one of THESE"?

I don't think it was really an 8ga. There was a post some time back and there is a web site that tells about guns used in most movies. A good movie though.

Regards, Gordon

All I could think about was what a drag it would be to lug a 10- to 12-pound shotgun around all day, every day. I once carried my heavy 10-ga. on a day-long march through a big chunk of southern Nebraska in search of turkeys and pheasants, and by midday that gun felt like a railroad tie. I swore to never again carry it for upland work.

I remember that earlier string about that Appaloosa "8-gauge," and that it was actually a 12 modified to look bigger. I kept looking at it in the movie and thinking that it didn't seem big enough to be an 8-bore ... it looked more like a 10 to me. TT

It is a Colt 1878 12 ga., somehow "sleeved" on the outside of the barrels to make it look like an 8 ga. They used 12 ga. blanks in it when it was shot, but Mortensen(sp?) carried brass 8 ga. shells on his belt.

There was originally just supposed to be a few token shots of it in the movie, but as Mortensen got into the character more he lobbied the director to let him carry it all the time, kinda grew on him.

Was it Bat Masterson or Wyatt Earp that went across the street to retrieve his double barreled shotgun from a storekeeper he had lent it to when Clay Allison came into town looking for him???

"Doc" Holiday...Geo

No Geo!
I'm talking about Dodge City not the OK Corral!
My point is a weapon that saw alot of use in the Old West gets very little attention in the movies.
Except of course in the movie 'Open Range' where Robert Duvall blasts that one fellow across the alley way with his double.
Now that's a great scene!!!

Apaloosa Guns

You have to recognize the idea was that no one wanted to get shot with the 8 gauge.....

Bob,

Nice link. Here is a picture of a replica Colt 1878 12ga and the finished movie version of an 8ga.



Here is the description of the process with pictures.
http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/SK_1878_shotgun

I have an 10ga Colt 1878. There is no way I would want to lug it around all day. Certainly not an 8ga.




Pete

That was an easy one. Now,................ what double did Burt Lancaster use in "Valdez is Coming"? Hmmmmmmmmmm?

Looked like a 10 gauge to me....one of my all time favorite movies.
Segundo's line to Tanner..He know how to ride,he.. know how to shoot, and we've lost 3 more of my men.
Loading that big 50 sharps is a classic too

I always thought it was an 1889 Remington 12 gauge. The hammers on it lay back completely under the line of sight, just like the Remington.

"Theese lettle theeng? Eet's just sometheeng for rabbits." Bob Valdez

I personally wouldn't know that kind of detail as when it came out in the early seventies, I hadn't had any experience with SXS...it just looked big compared to what I used in Viet Nam

or gone to Nogales...Segundo..

Thomas..este Libre