Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the 1991 sequel to The Terminator. Also directed by James Cameron, the science fiction action blockbuster once again stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the iconic character, this time sent back in time to protect the future leader of the Resistance from a new and more terrifying Terminator.
See the Discussion section for some interesting and detailed non gun-related trivia on the film.
Winchester 1887
Upon arriving in the present (believed to be 1995 in the film), the Terminator Model T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) enters a biker bar and takes the clothes and firearm off a biker. As he prepares to leave on the biker's Harley Fatboy, the T-800 is confronted by the bar owner, who fires a warning shot from his sawed-off Winchester 1887. The Terminator coolly walks over and snatches the gun from his hand.
Three versions of the gun were used during filming. The first was the iconic "Rosebox Shotgun" with a sawed off barrel and stock and the trigger guard cut out. This is the gun seen through most of the film. The second version had a large lever loop so the gun could be flip cocked one-handed while riding a motorcycle (similar to the actions seen in True Grit and The Rifleman). James Cameron says in the commentary how Arnold accidentally picked up the wrong shotgun and tried to flip cock it and nearly broke three fingers. The third gun was the rubber prop gun for stunt work. The Terminator keeps the gun as his main weapon for a good portion of the film until he comes upon Sarah Connor's (Linda Hamilton) armory, where more superior weapons are at his disposal.
Since Winchester had stopped producing the Winchester 1887 shotgun before the film, the armorers had to find pristine condition guns which were no longer in production! The guns in the film are indeed genuine Winchester shotguns and not a foreign copy such as the Norinco YL1887L (which wasn't released until 2002) or any of the Aldo Uberti copies (they weren't producing an 1887 shotgun at the time). The report of the shotgun is said to be two cannons firing at once.
When the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) first enters the present, he kills an LAPD officer and takes his uniform and his standard issue Beretta 92FS. He is seen using this gun to shoot at John Connor (Edward Furlong) before losing it in the struggle with the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger). LAPD officers outside of the Cyberdyne building are also seen with their issued Berettas.
The T-1000 (Robert Patrick) takes a Browning Hi-Power Mklll off Lewis, the guard he kills in the mental hospital and uses it to shoot at Sarah, John, and the Terminator before discarding it when it runs dry.
An MM1 grenade launcher is used by one of the SWAT officers inside the Cyberdyne building to fire gas canister grenades at Sarah, John and, the T-800. It is then picked up by the T-800 after incapacitating the officer using it and then used by him to fire CS grenades around the police blockade.
Sarah is seen using a Colt Commando CAR-15 carbine (in reality a Colt Sporter II carbine chopped down and mocked up as a Colt 629) out of the armory from the Mojave desert to attempt to assassinate Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) when she learns he started the project which lead to the machines being built. She removes the flash hider and adds a sound suppressor, along with a laser pointer and an ACOG scope. Later in the film during the scene in which Sarah, John, and the T-800 try to escape in a SWAT van as the T-1000 pursues in a police chopper, Sarah uses two CAR-15 rifles, one a mock Sporter II the other a slab-side AR-15 Sporter 1 carbine converted to look like a CAR-15 as well (like the guns in The Dogs of War). The last instance a CAR-15 is used is when the Terminator takes a Mock Sporter II and climbs onto the front of the liquid nitrogen truck the T-1000 is driving and fires it through the windshield. James Cameron commented how foolish this stunt was because it was done exactly as it is seen in the film, from a moving truck with no wires attached.
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) retrieves a Detonics 1911 custom gun from the armory in the Mohave desert and takes it with her on her mission to kill Miles Dyson (Joe Morton). Sarah manages to wound him with the gun before she realizes what she is doing and stops. The gun was custom built for the movie by Detonics off of their ServiceMaster model and features their signature forward mounted rear sight and a long slide. She later uses it to keep a SWAT team at bay during a shootout at the Cyberdyne building.
According to biggerhammer.net
The gun was a Scoremaster frame with a Combatmaster slide and a comp'd barrel to make it look like a longslide as confirmed by a former Detonics employee.
When the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) first arrives in the present, he enters a biker bar and asks The Cigar Smoking Biker (Robert Winley) to give him his clothes, his boots, and his motorcycle. After a fight breaks out, the Terminator throws the biker on a stove's hot burners and burns him badly. He then tries to draw his custom Colt/Detonics M1911A1 Series 70 Hybrid pistol built with a Colt Series 70 slide, a Detonics frame, an ambidextrous safety, with Pachmyr grips, and chambered in 9mm (because .45s don't cycle well as blanks) but is unable to chamber it and has the gun taken from him. Later when John and the T-800 break Sarah out of the mental hospital, she takes the M1911A1 and fires it at the T-1000 and keeps it as her sidearm until she retrieves her custom Detonics 1911. During the shootout at Cyberdyne, the T-800 uses the M1911A1 to wound all of the SWAT officers in the lobby before the gun goes empty and he tosses it away. Even though he is never seen picking it back up, he somehow has it tucked in his pants and ready to shoot the T-1000, frozen in liquid nitrogen, at the end of the film. In all scenes but one, the pistol is reloaded after every 8 rounds fired.
The gate guard at the mental hospital tries to draw an M1911A1 with a nickel finish and pearl grips before he is shot in both kneecaps by the T-800. He then takes three magazines off of him, which are clearly loaded with .45 ACP rounds. This would make them useless in his 9mm M1911A1 but the viewer isn't supposed to know his gun is a 9mm.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingCommercial Satin Nickel M1911A1 Pistol - .45 ACP.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe guard drops his M1911A1 when he is shot by the Terminator.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator takes three mags off the guard, which are loaded with .45 ACP hollow points. In reality, his 9mm gun would not accept these. Also note how only four rounds are loaded in each mag to conserve dummy rounds (you can only see brass in two of the five holes, meaning there is only four rounds in each).
M79 grenade launcher
The T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) takes an M79 grenade launcher from Sarah's arsenal in the Mojave desert. During the assault on the Cyberdyne building, the T-800 uses the M79 grenade launcher, first to blast open a locked door, then to destroy several of the police cars assembled outside, then during the ensuing car chase when the T-1000 persues the protagonists in a comandeered tanker truck, the Terminator scoring a direct hit on the engine with the M79, though the truck miraculously continues running. He also tries to use it on the T-1000 during the fight in the steel mill, eventually using it to knock the T-1000 into the pit of molten steel. By this point, part of the launcher's stock has been shattered during the fight, but enough remains for the weapon to be usable. In reality, 40mm HE rounds have a safety mechanism in which they will not detonate until they have flown a certain distance. The more modern types arm after at least 14m. Earlier types, such as the M381, have a 2-3m arming range. However, in the film, rounds detonate as little as 3-5 feet from the user. The M79 presents a nightmare of continuity problems. The bandolier varies both in quantity of grenades and arrangement of remaining grenades as the movie heads toward its climax. At the end of the day the bandolier started with 11 rounds which somehow translated to firing 7 before running out of ammo.
In one of the more notable scenes of the film, the T-800 engages the police assembled outside the Cyberdyne building with a handheld GE M134 Minigun destroying the police cars while leaving the police themselves unharmed. Originally the Terminator was going to use a MAC-10 to shoot at the police but James Cameron decided to revisit the gun used in Predator. The gun in T2 used the same custom Y-frame as in Predator with some modifications. The modified M60 foregrip assembly was removed in its entirety. To replace it a "chainsaw" grip was mounted on the Y-frame and the M16-style carry handle was removed. This style of carry has become the "standard" for handheld Miniguns in movies and video games. The Y-frame still attaches to the weapons recoil absorbers, though with no carry handle the weapon lost its sling attachment point forcing Arnold to carry all the weight of the weapon in his hands. In order to fire it, the Terminator carries a duffel bag full of ammo and possibly the batteries as well, as there are some shots that show what appear to be cables leading from the gun and into the duffel bag.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingHandheld Airsoft M134 Minigun with 'Chainsaw grip.' Note the small half circle ring running from the recoil absorbers and along the bottom of the weapon. This is where the M60 foregrip assemply attached to the weapon in Predator. In T2 this part of the assembly was completely removed in favor of the chainsaw grip making it extraneous on these Airsoft weapons.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe actual GE Minigun used in T2 and Predator. Signed "Harry Lu T-2 1990" on the front grip, since Harry Lu was the Weapons Master for the film.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator unveils the handheld Minigun in the desert armory.Error creating thumbnail: File missingUnlike the M60 foregrip on the Minigun in Predator, a chainsaw grip is used on the gun. In order to attach the chainsaw grip, the carrying handle/sling attachment point from the Predator gun had to be removed. It is still evident in the T2 gun where the old carry handle used to attach to the hand grip carriage. The small T-grip is not a pull starter like some mistakenly believe but a bolt handle holding the gun to the handgrip frame.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator grins as he picks up the Minigun.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator fires the Minigun at the police cruisers.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator fires the Minigun.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThis Minigun has a relatively slow rate of fire (you can see the barrels rotate). According to the ad when it was sold when Stembridge went under the rate of fire was geared at 1,250 rounds per minute.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator fires the Minigun.Error creating thumbnail: File missingFew handheld weapons can chop a car roof clean off!Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator fires the Minigun.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Minigun runs dry.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe Terminator drops the Minigun. Myth has it that Arnold drops the actual gun under protest from the film's armorer. In reality, this is obviously a stand in prop for the real gun. Notice that the nub is missing from where the Predator carry-handle was machined off and the rear portion of the Y-frame looks different from the actual gun pictured at the top of this section. The finish on the Minigun in this scene looks different from than that of the actual gun.
Special
Error creating thumbnail: File missingDirector James Cameron fires the Handheld Minigun. Note that the weapon is pre-T2 configuration. It still has the carry handle and the M60 foregrip assembly. Cameron is holding it by the carry handle similar to how the Terminator holds it by the chainsaw grip in the film.
GE M134 Minigun
A GE M134 Minigun is mounted on the back of a truck in the future battle scene. A soldier next to the future John Connor (Michael Edwards) is also seen manning a Minigun. This is not the same Minigun as the handheld one, as some believe.
The heavy future General Dynamics RSB-80 Plasma Gun from the first Terminator film returns very briefly and is seen used to blow up a machine. It looks like it is built from a British Vickers gun (As a toggle lock is seen at one point in T1) or the Colt variant of the Browning M1917 machine gun hence the spade grips.
Near the end of the film, Sarah Connor engages the T-1000 using a Remington 870 Police Combat with Folding Stock she took from a SWAT van, outfitted with a high-capacity magazine tube and spare shotshell holders, each shot knocking her opponent progressively closer to the pit of molten steel in the mill, until running out of ammo, frustratingly close to knocking the T-1000 into the pit. One of the police officers outside Cyberdyne is also seen using one.
While fleeing from the Cyberdyne building, the Connors and the T-800 find themselves being pursued by the T-1000 piloting a stolen police helicopter and brandishing an Heckler & Koch SP89, mocked up as an MP5K by adding an MP5K foregrip and converting it to full auto. A SWAT officer can also be seen using one. They are recognized as SP89s by their lack of a paddle magazine release behind the magazine and the lack of a push pin lower receiver.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingRobert Patrick tries out a real MP5K. The video is too low quality but this too appears to be an SP89, although it is a live fire version, not a blank gun.
Heckler & Koch HK94A2/A3 (chopped and converted)
The SWAT teams that assaults Cyberdyne are mainly armed with Heckler & Koch HK94s with the 16" barrels chopped down and converted to full auto to resemble MP5A3s. The most notable ways to tell are the lack of the 3 barrel lugs, the lack of a paddle magazine release, and the lack of a push pin lower reciever. Some of these guns are the collapsing stock HK94A3s while others are the full stock HK92A2s.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingHeckler & Koch HK94A3 chopped and converted to resemble an MP5A3 - 9mm.Error creating thumbnail: File missingHeckler & Koch HK94A2 chopped and converted to resemble an MP5A2 - 9mm.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA SWAT officer fires his chopped and converted HK94A3 at the Terminator.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSWAT officers fire their chopped and converted HK94A3s.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA SWAT team breaches the Cyberdyne building armed with HK94s (the leader has a full stock model HK94A2). James Cameron said in the commentary that of the SWAT officers, all but one were real SWAT guys. It can be assumed that it is the guy with his gun pointed at the leader.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSWAT officers fire their HK94A3s at Sarah Connor, without even ordering her to drop her weapons,which doesnt seem like something a SWAT team would do.
Yeah, well, something tells me the SWAT team only gets called in when diplomacy has failed, and given that they'd already shot the place up pretty good, I think the SWAT team was justified in not asking for their honorable surrender. ~Cozmo
The fictional Westinghouse M95A1 Phased Plasma Rifle is seen being used by the endoskeleton Terminators in the future scenes of the film. This weapon was built on the Calico M960 9mm submachine gun. These walking endoskeletons are among the most famous of Stan Winston's animatronics, right up there with the T-rex from Jurassic Park and the Alien Queen from Aliens.
Enrique (Castulo Guerra) is seen using a Mossberg 590 shotgun when Sarah, John, and the Terminator arrive at his home in the Mojave desert. Later on, a SWAT officer is seen firing a 590 at the SWAT van Sarah, John, and The Terminator use to escape from Cyberdyne in.
When going through the armory in the desert, John checks the chambers on several AKM rifles (extended edition only). Sarah can also be seen carrying one briefly.
John picks a MAC-10 submachine gun while the Terminator examines the M79.
Trivia: In the screenplay, the MAC-10 was supposed to be the weapon that the Terminator used during the shootout at the Cyberdyne Building, before James Cameron decided that the Terminator should use the handheld Minigun instead.
When the doctors at the mental hospital show Sarah pictures of the Terminator from surveilance cameras in the police station during 1984 (keep in mind that security cameras weren't installed in police stations at this time), the Terminator is seen wielding the two guns we saw him use in the first film. In his right hand, he is holding an Armalite AR-18.
