{"id":3138,"date":"2020-07-24T13:28:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T13:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wideners.com\/blog\/?p=3138"},"modified":"2020-07-24T13:28:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T13:28:54","slug":"josey-wales-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wideners.com\/blog\/josey-wales-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"Josey Wales Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing you can count on from any of Clint Eastwood’s early films is action and a fair amount of gunplay. You can also bet your last nickel that you\u2019ll be treated to a few steely-eyed, squinty stares. Cold, hard looks that can make even the toughest of the Western bad guys think twice about challenging him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eastwood\u2019s 1976 hit, The Outlaw Josey Wales<\/i>, holds to form with non-stop action and no fewer than eleven firearms on display throughout the film. Josey Wales<\/i> was the actor\u2019s eighth Western as a star and his fifth as director. It’s an accomplishment that many of his fans didn\u2019t realize at the time. Today, the living icon is recognized for his work behind the camera, but back in the mid-70s, he was mainly known for his rugged good looks and his no-nonsense demeanor in most of his roles.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Outlaw Josey Wales <\/i>might not be Eastwood\u2019s most financially successful Western film, nor was it the highest-rated. But the movie is excellent, it ranks at least in the top five of Clint\u2019s Westerns. Eastwood himself claims it\u2019s every bit as good as his Oscar-winning masterpiece, Unforgiven<\/i>.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Rebel Outlaw<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

No retelling of this story can do it justice; it can only be appreciated fully by seeing it. But the trailer encapsulates it pretty well:<\/span><\/p>\n

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He lives by the gun, <\/i><\/span>he lives by his word, <\/i><\/span>he lives for revenge, <\/i><\/span>he\u2019s an army of one.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His wife and son have been murdered, and his house burned to the ground by Union Red Legs, setting the stage for the perfect Clint Eastwood revenge movie. There are guns aplenty, and the fierce gun battles leave a trail of bodies. At one point Josey tells his Cherokee traveling companion Lone Watie, \u201cI get to liking someone, they ain\u2019t around long\u201d to which the old man replies, \u201cI notice when you get to disliking<\/i> someone, they ain\u2019t around for long, either.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take long for the \u201cdisliking\u201d to begin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outlaw Josey Wales Guns<\/h2>\n

The Colt Gatlin Guns<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The movie starts with a gang of Missouri bushwhackers fighting a guerrilla war for the Confederacy circa<\/i> 1865. After Lee\u2019s surrender, they are offered amnesty with all but one accepting the Union\u2019s offer\u2014Josey Wales. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the surrendering Confederates are mowed down by Union troops using two Colt Gatling Guns,\u00a0Josey Wales springs into action. He kills the gunner and loader in one of the gun carts using his two Colt Walker 1847s. He then takes over the remaining Gatlin and uses it to destroy many of the Union troops and the other gun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, Wales manages to shoot these mounted soldiers with an incredibly large and unwieldy weapon and yet not hit a single horse. Another fact worth noting is that this early-model hand-cranked Gatlin, although capable of firing around 200 rounds per minute, had a magazine that held only 20 to 40 rounds and needed to be replaced when it emptied. Since Wales did not have a loader, he can’t have fired as many continuous rounds as he did\u2014unless, of course, he did it in a Hollywood action movie where anything is possible!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Outlaw Josie Wales: Colt 1860 Army Revolver<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Earlier in the movie, Josey\u2019s companion, Lone Watie (played by Chief Dan George), sneaks up on him and holds a Colt Army to his head. “I’m gettin’ better at sneaking up on you like this,\u201d he announces. \u201cOnly an Indian can do something like this.” Watie is proven correct in a few seconds when another Indian, Little Moonlight, gets the drop on him with the same type of .44-caliber revolver.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gun experts, however, have pointed out a flaw in the guns depicted here. It seems that there are four variations of the Colt Army that crop up in the film. Unfortunately, the three cartridge conversions shown at various times throughout the movie did not yet exist at the end of the Civil War.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colt Army Revolver Variants<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n