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From: lori@hp-pcd.UUCP (lori)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Indiana Jones' gun question
Message-ID: <6500002@hpcvla.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Feb-86 23:34:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hpcvla.6500002
Posted: Thu Feb  6 23:34:00 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Feb-86 13:50:55 EST
References: <1924@rayssd.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
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Nf-ID: #R:rayssd:-192400:hpcvla:6500002:000:1700
Nf-From: hpcvla!lori    Feb  6 20:34:00 1986

>/***** hpcvla:net.movies / ssc-vax!stuart /  4:02 pm  Feb  1, 1986*/
>> Does anyone know what kind of gun Indiana Jones carried in "Raiders of
>> the Lost Arc" and in the beginning of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of
>> Doom"? It looked to me like it was a .38 police special, but I am not
>> sure. Were .38's common in 1936? Was that a logical choice for someone
>> like IJ to carry in that day? (I know that it is not the gun I would
>> choose when shooting it out with Nazis carrying automatic weapons!)
>
>The pistol is a Smith & Wesson service (i.e. police) revolver.  Very, very
>common .38 Special load.  The Smith- .38 has been a non-standard issue
>U.S. military sidearm dating back to WW I.  By non-standard I mean that only
>certain groups got them : Intelligence, covert operations, etc.  They were
>the standard sidearm for the U.S. Army Aleutians troops during WW II and
>were also used in Vietnam by the Green Berets.  I'm not saying ALL G.B.'s.
>The Army's 'Tunnel Rats' used .38/.357 revolvers exclusively.  The theory
>being you may have, at best, ONE shot so it had better be "pull the trigger"
>foolproof revolver action as opposed to an automatic.
>
>Stuart Lewis
>ssc-vax!stuart
>/* ---------- */

	You're right in all respects except the important one; the revolver
that Jones carried was not a S&W .38 Special.  It was a half-moon clip S&W
.45, which was commonly carried by U.S. Army officers prior to the intro-
duction of the Colt .45 ACP Semi-Auto.  The .45 caliber rounds for the 2
pistols were not interchangable.  There are still a few half-moon clip .45's
around today (my father owns one), but it's murder to get ammunition for 
them.

				hp-pcd/mfc (Mark F. Cook)