Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) returns with his ".44 Magnum", a Smith & Wesson Model 29 with a 6 1/2" barrel as his famous sidearm in the film. In the film, Callahan's .44 loads are in fact .44 Special, and not Magnums. He notes so by stating "It's a light Special. This size gun it gives you better control and less recoil than a .357 Magnum with wadcutters." Granted, in this context, the dialogue could have meant that he used a 'light' .44 Magnum cartridge, possibly reloaded by himself; however, with a commentary by director John Milius in the 2008 DVD release of the Dirty Harry series, he states that the "light Special" line was in fact a mistake in the script.
The film marks the first time Callahan loses his trademark weapon, having surrendered it to Lieutenant Briggs (Hal Holbrook) near the end of the film, and presumably destroyed in a subsequent car explosion where it was left behind.
The four motorcycle cops of the "death squad", Officers John Davis (David Soul), Philip Sweet (Tim Matheson), "Red" Astrachan (Kip Niven) and Michael Grimes (Robert Urich) carry 4" Colt Python revolvers, as do just about every other officer of the SFPD. During the police shooting competition, Davis lets Insp. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) try out his Python, in which he deliberately misses a target to analyze the slug with a ballistics microscope. At the end of the film, Lt. Neil Briggs (Hal Holbrook), using a Colt Python, confronts Callahan after losing his Model 19 Snub as well. In the film, the guns are shown capable of having a silencer screwed onto the barrel, while this particular revolver has a gap between the barrel and cylinder that is too great and allows gases to escape, as well as sound. Not to mention, the guns are not built to thread a suppressor, so such a modification would be quite difficult.
A Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun is seen used by one of the "Death Squad" officers (possibly Sweet) to kill a large number of underworld folks at a swimming pool party.
Trivia: Anyone who owns a copy of the DVD may note this scene is called "The Dead Pool" in the scene index, a play on the fifth installment in the Dirty Harry series, The Dead Pool.
During the plane hijack, the two hijackers use Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolvers as their weapons. When Insp. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) infiltrates the plane disguised as a pilot, he knocks out one of them and uses the gun to kill the other hijacker as he flees. Another Model 10 is seen in the hands of a robber during the Cost Plus stakeout scene.
When Insp. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and Insp. Early Smith (Felton Perry) are assigned to the stakeout mission in the Cost Plus, one of the robber holds a sawed off Double Barreled Shotgun with exposed hammers on Smith before the robber is shot by Callahan.
During the shootout outside Frank Palancio's (Tony Giorgio) place with the police, one of Frank's men uses a hammerless shotgun, also sawed off. Due to continuity error, the gun fires off three shots from only two barrels.
One of the robbers during the stakeout scene in the Cost Plus uses a Beretta 951. A thug during the shootout in Frank Palancio's (Tony Giorgio) hideout, the shotgun-wielding thug tries to draw a Beretta but is killed by Officer Davis (David Soul) before he can fire off a shot.
One of Frank Palancio's (Tony Giorgio) thugs fires on the SFPD officers with an M1 Thompson before being killed by Insp. Callahan (Clint Eastwood). Another also fires on Callahan but it is harder to see and he is killed quickly.
One of Frank Palancio's (Tony Giorgio) retrieves a Browning Auto-5 from the stored weapon before the shootout with the SFPD. It could also be the Remington 11 or the Savage 720, both of which are near identical clones by those companies.
Frank Palancio (Tony Giorgio) uses a Winchester 1897 to shoot Sweet (Tim Matheson) through the door of his hideout and spark the shootout with the SFPD. Another one of his men uses one as well.
The uniformed cop in the break room during the stakeout in the Cost Plus is seen using an Ithaca 37 shotgun while watching the robbery through the two-way glass. During the shootout with Frank Palancio's (Tony Giorgio) men, Early uses an Ithaca with an 18" barrel and blade sights.
Lt. Neil Briggs (Hal Holbrook) holds Insp. Callahan (Clint Eastwood) at gun point with a Smith & Wesson Model 19 Snub while in his car. He loses it in the car chase scene when Callahan overpowers him and throws it out of the window.
The room at the police station used for Ballistics Analysis has a vast array of guns, many of which are obscured from view or are too difficult to identify.
