Talk:Hombre

No pics? That's a disappointment. Doing this from memory because my DVD of this movie is in storage with most of my others, but I do believe that Newman's character John Russell carried a double action revolver. I thought it was maybe an 1878 in .45 Colt (or .44-40) rather than a Lightening or Thunderer, but I'd have to see it again. Of course, this being Hollywood, it could even have been something like a mocked-up variation of a 1892 model DA. My take on the gun the corrupt Indian agent carried was either a S&W or H&R DA in .38 S&W caliber. But it's just a guess without seeing the DVD and being able to zoom in on it.

The double action appears only in the last scene. Apparently Newman couldn't fire a single action fast enough. You're not supposed to notice the switch. During the rest of the movie he carries a Colt Single Action with a 7 1/2" barrel.

I'm sitting here watching this movie right now and I came on here just to figure out what rifle Newman is carrying. It sure doesn't look like a Winchester 73 to me. For one thing the barrel isn't ocatagonal and there's nothing underneath (that's the extractor right?). The sample Winchester and the screenshot don't even look the same to me.

Paul Newman's Winchester

It definitely is an 1873 Winchester in .44-40 caliber. It is owned by Peter Sherayko of Caravan West Productions who acquired it in the late 1980s from 20th Century Fox. The bottom of the receiver is stamped “20TH FOX”.

The rifle was manufactured in 1909 in .44-40 caliber with a heavy, round barrel and full-length magazine tube. Sometime during its life the barrel and magazine tube were shortened, giving it the appearance of a Winchester Sporting Model with a “button” magazine. It is unknown if this was done before or after being acquired by 20th Century Fox.

I have examined the rifle and taken detailed photos for an article I intend to publish in an upcoming issue of The Winchester Collector magazine. The rifle has a cracked wooden forend, is missing parts, and has been roughly welded to make repairs. Surprisingly, it was in this condition during filming but the imperfections are not obvious even on a large movie screen. Close examination of a high-definition DVD of the film confirmed that the imperfections were there during filming.

The photo of the 1873 Winchester with a short (button) magazine is not correct for this page because it is a factory configuration with full-length barrel. I have an excellent photo of the actual rifle but when I try to upload it I get an error message saying it's too large even though the file size is less than 2MB.