"The Outlaw Josey Wales" and his Walkers

[CaptainKirk]

No, I ain't talkin' 'bout when he was an old man in a nursing home toddling down the hall... I'm talking about the brace of Walker Colts he had strapped to his hips in the movie.
We all know about the Walker-dropping-the-loading-lever-syndrome, and yeah, I realize this was a movie and they were shooting squib loads. But in real life, if those of you who shoot Walkers can tell me...how many grains would you have to load to consistently be assured you wouldn't drop the lever on either pistol in a heated gun battle?
I've seen a YouTube vid where they're shooting full-house loads of 60 grains, and consistently drop the lever six outta six. I saw another one where the guy says he's loading 50 grains...and it drops twice. So where is the "safety point"? 45? 40? Or lower?
I realize there are mods you can do to help the spring hold the lever up, but would an old west outlaw even know about this, much less have it done? I've never heard of any original Walkers being found modified this way.
Also, what do you find to be the most accurate load? Much is made about the Walker's ability to hold 60 grains, but if you're gonna chuck the lever every time, seems like a moot point....
I guess what I'm getting at, is this:
If Josey Wales was a real-life character, what would be in HIS wallet?

 

[longfowler]

it's been a long time since I shot mine, but I seem to remember using about 40 grains most of the time, and rarely had a lever drop.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I wouldn't worry about doing the fix for the lever.

Josey's guns weren't made in Italy. :idunno:

 

[m-g willy]

I read that Clint's Walkers were converted to (hangs head down in disgust) 38 spl.!!!
Chances are the loading levers were permently fixed to the barrel and couldn't be dropped if you wanted to.

 

[CaptainKirk]

I wouldn't worry about doing the fix for the lever.

Josey's guns weren't made in Italy. :idunno:

:rotf:

 

[CaptainKirk]

Where did you hear that? That IS disgusting! :barf:

 

[nkbj]

My Walker was a slapper.
Then I loaded it with the best duplication of the original conical service load I could concoct. And the lever didn't drop. Which means nothing really because how Uberti built that one on that day wasn't necessarily a duplication of how Colt mighta done it...on some day. But, I learned something I thought was pretty useful. The recoil impulse was elongated with the conical and so the lever retaining spring wasn't over come by the inertia of the lever. And I thought well aint that cool, maybe they really did know what they were doing.
So, it shoots great and I'm happy to no longer have to do the Walker slap.

 

[Norinco]

They did, because .38 Special blanks were easy to come by and safe at the time.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

No, I ain't talkin' 'bout when he was an old man in a nursing home toddling down the hall... I'm talking about the brace of Walker Colts he had strapped to his hips in the movie.
We all know about the Walker-dropping-the-loading-lever-syndrome, and yeah, I realize this was a movie and they were shooting squib loads. But in real life, if those of you who shoot Walkers can tell me...how many grains would you have to load to consistently be assured you wouldn't drop the lever on either pistol in a heated gun battle?
I've seen a YouTube vid where they're shooting full-house loads of 60 grains, and consistently drop the lever six outta six. I saw another one where the guy says he's loading 50 grains...and it drops twice. So where is the "safety point"? 45? 40? Or lower?
I realize there are mods you can do to help the spring hold the lever up, but would an old west outlaw even know about this, much less have it done? I've never heard of any original Walkers being found modified this way.
Also, what do you find to be the most accurate load? Much is made about the Walker's ability to hold 60 grains, but if you're gonna chuck the lever every time, seems like a moot point....
I guess what I'm getting at, is this:
If Josey Wales was a real-life character, what would be in HIS wallet?

Josey would be using a measure made to hold exactly 52 grains. And then he'd take a used felt hat and make some felt wads and lube them up some. Then he'd use .454 balls cause they don't slide around in the cylinders' chambers. And lastly, he's tie a piece of twine around the lever so it wouldn't drop, cause six shots is good enough since you're not going to reload in the middle of a gun fight! And Kirk, don't forget to spit some of that chaw when you're doin the impersonatin' :haha: .

In reality 45 grains never dropped my lever when I didn't try to prevent it from happening. And I use a little blue colored rubber band to hold the lever up with the 52 grain charge. Shot a set of Scott Air Tanks at 135 yards 3 out of 5 times in a single cylinder's worth about two years ago now. PLENTY of witnesses too :grin: . That load and out-of-the-box revolver wins competitions for me! The trick is just to learn not to flinch while a rifle charge is exploding near your face :shocked2: :haha: !

I have the movie on DVD. On slow-mo you can see the gates in the cylinders allowing cartridges to be utilized in the revolvers for the movie.

So are you gonna pull them pistols or just whistle Dixie?? :rotf:

Dave

 

[Norinco]

Even better, IMFDB has stills. http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales#Colt_Walker_1847

 

[CaptainKirk]

Dave:
Just bought the DVD myself...hence, the questions!
They have a "Making Of..."on the DVD that gives a lot better view of some of the guns. You have to wonder how Josey managed to hold up his pants with all that iron there...TWO Walkers, an Army, and a pocket. I'd think ONE Walker would be enough to slow a man down!
I think the blue rubber band might not be "period correct"...LOL!

And Kirk, don't forget to spit some of that chaw when you're doin the impersonatin'
I've been practicin'.....*Ptooey*

 

[CaptainKirk]

Wow...that link gives a bunch more insight into the hardware they used. I'll have to look closer, now that I own the DVD and can pause/rewind. Thanks for the insight!

 

[Pete Gaimari]

About as authentic as your avatar. :idunno:

 

[CaptainKirk]

About as authentic as your avatar. :idunno:

Ouch. Pete, you cut me to the quick. :shocked2:
Now, what's wrong with JJ? At least I don't have a picture of Moses with a rifle... :hmm:

 

[Zonie]

Quit bickering you two and get back to Josey and his guns. :nono:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

About as authentic as your avatar. :idunno:

Ouch. Pete, you cut me to the quick. :shocked2:
Now, what's wrong with JJ? At least I don't have a picture of Moses with a rifle... :hmm:

Moses was cool.

Were we bickering?

 

[msuspartan]

Moses had a Hawken?? I thought he had a staff????

Sorry Zonie, could not resist :grin: !!

Love that movie though. Even my wife thought Josey was cool!
She did like J.J. over the Mountain men. She thought (as did I) the music in M.M. sounded like 70's porn muzak! :rotf: :rotf:
Guess when I get in a certian mood I should play the soundtrack??? :surrender:

Cheers, DonK

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Dave:
Just bought the DVD myself...hence, the questions!
They have a "Making Of..."on the DVD that gives a lot better view of some of the guns. You have to wonder how Josey managed to hold up his pants with all that iron there...TWO Walkers, an Army, and a pocket. I'd think ONE Walker would be enough to slow a man down!
I think the blue rubber band might not be "period correct"...LOL!

And Kirk, don't forget to spit some of that chaw when you're doin the impersonatin'
I've been practicin'.....*Ptooey*

Love the "Ptooey" :rotf: !

At the Range, I wear my Walker on the right (strong side) and my 3rd Model Dragoon on the left. That's about 9 pounds of steel unloaded! I wear an "Off-Duty Belt" from 511 tactical to hold 'em up :haha: . It's a stiff belt that just fits through the belt loops on my Cabela's Trail-hiker pants. Since they almost weigh the same, my balance isn't affected. I wear 'em all day long, even shooting my rifle (except if I'm doing the sitting & prone positions). Believe it or not, after a short while, you can forget that you're wearing them. Back in the day, the horse carried them :shocked2: . Adding the shoulder/chest rig would interfere with rifle shooting, no? Ah, it doesn't matter, it's the Movies :idunno: :haha: .

Just remember the famous line from Chief Dan George, "I see when you get to dislikin' someone they ain't around too long neither", and the short one, "Now Spit!" right before a gun fight scene.

So Kirk, do you own a brace of them horse pistols? :haha:

Watch out for them Red Legs! And as John Vernon was famously quoted, "Don't Pi$$ down my leg and tell me it's rainin'!" :rotf:

All this writin' bout' Josey makes me want to dig-out the DVD again!

Dave

 

[F.G. Ford]

It will be long and hard to find another actor to create the characters that we see in Josey Wales. or Rooster Cogburn.
Tom Selleck had it in Quigley, but only one movie evolved.
Sam Elliot is great, but is not often seen now.
Old Ford

 

[buford87]

+1 :hatsoff: