Mesrine: Killer Instinct is part 1 of a two-part 2008 French-Canadian "Mesrine" film series directed by Jean-François Richet and starring Vincent Cassel as the French criminal Jacques Mesrine. Based on Mesrine's autobiographical book "L'instinct de mort", Killer Instinct details Mesrine's rise in the Paris criminal underworld after serving in the army in Algeria, as well as his early exploits in Paris, and later in Quebec, Canada. Part 2 is known as Mesrine: Public Enemy Number 1.
The following firearms were used in the film Mesrine: Killer Instinct:
Mesrine uses a M1911 pistol when serving in the French Military to shoot a prisoner in Algeria in the 1950s. Later, he acquires a nickel-plated M1911 in France that he uses for most of the movie.
Members of the Arizona Highway Patrol as seen wielding S&W Model 28 Revolvers during a high speed chase with Mesrine and his girlfriend during 1969 (when he is caught and returned to Quebec). The real life Mesrine was caught in Arkansas, not Arizona.
During the High speed chase in Arizona in 1969, Jeanne Schneider (Cécile De France) attempts to use a S&W Model 60 when they hit the police roadblock, but Jacques Mesrine tells her to stop and throws the gun to the floor of the car. This particular version of the Model 60 is anachronistic to 1969.
During the shootout at the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul prison in Quebec, Mesrine throws an Uzi submachine gun into the prison yard in an attempt to enable the prisoners to escape.
Mesrine and his accomplice Jean-Paul Messier (Roy Dupuis) are armed with anachronistic PostBan AR15 HBAR rifles (most likely a Bushmaster XM15E2) when they attack the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul prison. Their rifles have multiple magazines taped together. What is unusual is that the filmmakers decided to use post ban AR-15 rifles (which was a cosmetic change forced on the gun industry in 1994 by the Clinton Administration, and has since been expired after 2004). The heavy barreled rifles have no flash hiders, muzzle threads or bayonet lugs. No military or police unit used these rifles. The use of these rifles is doubly anachronistic since the sequence takes place in the early 1970s.
Paul (Gilles Lellouche) steals a 12 Gauge Double Barreled Shotgun from an apartment that he and Mesrine rob in Paris. Mesrine's partner in Quebec, Jean-Paul Mercier (Roy Dupuis), also carries a double barreled shotgun when he is confronted by two park rangers in the forest.
Mesrine uses a cut down French 12 Gauge slide-action Manufrance Rapid shotgun during the casino robbery. This hunting shotgun usually had an extended magazine. It is essentially a French copy of the Remington 870 with an aluminum receiver. Sold in the USA during the 1970s as La Salle Riot Gun and later sold imported by F.I.E.
Most of the prison guards seem to be armed with Winchester 1300 shotguns. Later, two park rangers who come upon Mesrine and his accomplices in the forest are also armed with 1300s.
