What mistakes have you noticed in movies/tv shows that happen in the BP era like Daniel Boone, Patriot etc?

Dark Angel said:

Though not strictly a movie or a tv show, some of the History Channels' programs show reenactments of historical events. On one such, an even that occurred during the Civil War showed both Union and Southern troops carrying M1 Garands. Another reenactment showed WW2 American troops carrying either Springfield or Eddystone turn bolts. Even saw a match lock in an episode where a flint lock should have been used. You would think that the prop department, or someone in production would at least make an effort to get things right. But then. I suppose, unless you are a 'gunperson' one gun looks pretty much like another.

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I remember the one with the Garands. I also remember one where the Civil War Soldiers rubber bayonets bouncing around as they ran.

How about Hawkeye in the last of the mohichans. He runs up a trail up hill. He fires a Bess with one hand and hits the target with no recoil.

COTNTOP said:

I will watch Rifleman tonight, think he is using a 92 Winchester.

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One of his rifles was a Winchester, another was a Spanish model. Then there were rubber models too.I read where one of those "real" rifles wound up in Gene Autry's collection.

2001guns said:

This scene is from an very early John Wayne movie filmed in 1930, "The Big Trail" about a wagon train headed for Oregon. This is a most impressive account of real Conastoga " Prarie Schooners", lots of 'em, and all the stuff it took to make a wagon train survive. Some of those wagons were huge! You do not see them in movies now. Women chopping wood and sawing logs.

The scene that's a real grin is when an Indian in full headress is crouched down, shooting at the settlers with a bow. He took a full draw, but the arrow came un- nocked from the string and when the let go, the arrow just flopped over and went nowhere. The camera was right on him. The scene kept rolling and he successfully made the shot. The director should have cut this cause it looks so silly.
For a film made this early it has a kind of wide format and the quality is very good. Scenery is outstanding. The story is a little hokey. The guns seem correct. The audio is typical for movies of that era. You can see it on Youtube.

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thanks bud. im going find that movie and watch it

Pratt said:

How about Hawkeye in the last of the mohichans. He runs up a trail up hill. He fires a Bess with one hand and hits the target with no recoil.

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i honestly love that movie. last time i watched it went got my renegade out. put it in corner and watched the movie while glancing over and looking at the renegade. hahaha. only company i had that night. lol

johnraleksa said:

What about Rifleman the TV show, wasn't the guns a little to modern for that suppose time it was taken.

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man he was fast with it. dont know if it was period accurate but dang like watching it. people on there had morales even once in awjile even the bad guys did too

ColonialRifleSmith said:

I remember the one with the Garands. I also remember one where the Civil War Soldiers rubber bayonets bouncing around as they ran.

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lol cant remember the movie but i seen that too.

Ever notice that donkeys constantly hee-haw, and mountain lions always growl and scream even when slipping up on prey?

The "Hollywood Myth" that gets me is when the whole town is scared of some gunman. You can almost bet most towns were made up of Civil War Veterans who would have seen to it that mean old Mr. Gunman would have run into an accident of some kind,like an ambush maybe? At least been invited to a tar and feather party.

Eutycus said:

There is a cannon at the Alamo mounted upside down and with no trunnions. I bet you could play "stump the guide" with that.

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Interesting. Would love to see a picture of that gun.

I didn't read through all nine pages so apologies if someone already mentioned it.

I watched "The Raid" with the wife the other night. Based on the true raid on St Albans, Vermont by a band of Confederates in 1864, with of course plenty of Hollywood liberties, I pointed out to the wife that they were using Remington Model 1875 cartridge revolvers.

Full sets of pearly white teeth!

Eutycus said:

One of his rifles was a Winchester, another was a Spanish model. Then there were rubber models too.I read where one of those "real" rifles wound up in Gene Autry's collection.

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I think I read somewhere that there were four rifles used in the series. Maybe even six, I don't recall. One was in fact a rubber or dummy rifle that was used for scenes when Chuck Conners threw or tossed it. On the others, a screw was mounted in the lever ahead of the trigger, which allowed the rapid fire. Chuck Conners owned one, maybe more after the series ended. One of them was on display for a long time at the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. It may still be. It was in a display of famous movie and TV firearms and artifacts.

Another made a brief appearance in "Airplane II: The Sequel." Chuck Conners played "The Sarge" an airport official, and the rifle can be seen leaning against his desk.

One of my favorites is "High Noon" with Gary Cooper. If Frank Miller was such a bad dude, and he and his small gang were there to murder Gary Cooper and burn the town to the ground, why didn't a couple of towns folk and Gary Cooper just go up on the roof top of a building and blast them down with rifles when they walked into town?

Dark Angel said:

Living in Texas have visited the Alamo a time or two. On one such visit, I saw what was alleged to be the rifle that Crockett used at the Alamo. It was about 4-41/2 feet long percussion not flintlock. Plus, it appeared to be .32 caliber. A kids' rifle, in other words. Nothing Crockett would have been carrying at the time. I managed to upset the guide by pointing this out. I managed to further anger said guide by pointing out that a short 'artillery' sword labeled as having been carried by Mexican troops, was actually a 'wasp waist' Roman gladius. I was told that if I wasn't happy with the exhibits that I really didn't need to comment on then.

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I have been removed from several museums for calling out their mistakes. I remember one specific time at Ft Jim Bridger, I told the lady at the desk two or three times that there was a display that was wrong, and after I guess the third time, here come the curator. He was squalling bloody murder that he knew what he was doing, and he set up his own displays himself, and they were perfect. He stomped up to the display in question and came to a dead stop. I don't think he took a breath he was just like he was pollaxed. And then he yelled "who's been f***ing with my displays?"
I just said something like it was nice to meet you, thank you very much and walked away.

In the movie Mohawk, set in upper NY during the war of 1812 there is a scene where one of the American soldiers ws creeping through the woods with his rifle at the ready, unfortunately his frizzen was in the open position

Steve Lupcho said:

I have been removed from several museums for calling out their mistakes. I remember one specific time at Ft Jim Bridger, I told the lady at the desk two or three times that there was a display that was wrong, and after I guess the third time, here come the curator. He was squalling bloody murder that he knew what he was doing, and he set up his own displays himself, and they were perfect. He stomped up to the display in question and came to a dead stop. I don't think he took a breath he was just like he was pollaxed. And then he yelled "who's been f***ing with my displays?"
I just said something like it was nice to meet you, thank you very much and walked away.

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As a retired Museum Curator, that is sometimes true. But there is also a flip side. We had a visitor write a lengthy letter to our Director, complaining that an M1 type carbine on display in the Korean War Gallery was mislabeled as an M2, and General O.P. Smith's Model 1911 pistol should be an M1911A1, not a 1911 "because it was Korea."

We had a policy then to either call or write whoever left the comment or letter, based on what contact info they provided. I called this individual and explained to him that O.P. Smith was issued that pistol as a young officer, and it was an older Model 1911, not a Model 1911A1. As to the carbine, I explained that it was a selective-fire M2 carbine, as stated in the label, not an M1. His response?

"Oh, I never heard of one of those." We had another write complaining that there was not a single M1 Garand on display. At the time there were no less than seven, and I have no idea how he could have missed them?

Yeah, thanks for writing the Director.

Museums try to get it right. Many times, they don't. Sometimes they just don't know, sometimes they don't care, or they don't have sufficient funding to correct a descriptive label or text panel that may or may not be accurate. I have also encountered a few curators that considered themselves above such things, are full of themselves, or are in positions outside of their skill set or expertise. Me personally, would have never asked a visitor to leave, or be removed because they pointed out an error. I would have taken note of what they pointed out, researched it, and if they were right had it corrected (after wrestling with the Exhibits section, of course).

Some years ago I was looking at an exhibit at Kings Mt. NPS. I asked a Park Ranger (whom I knew) If they seriously thought anyone actually dressed like that at the battle, and he said he didn't like it and knew it was wrong, but the NPS hired some company from Florida to make the exhibit and that he had to live with it.

DanL said:

Full sets of pearly white teeth!

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That's a good one. Semper Fi.

OldMaineWoodsman said:

As a retired Museum Curator, that is sometimes true. But there is also a flip side. We had a visitor write a lengthy letter to our Director, complaining that an M1 type carbine on display in the Korean War Gallery was mislabeled as an M2, and General O.P. Smith's Model 1911 pistol should be an M1911A1, not a 1911 "because it was Korea."

We had a policy then to either call or write whoever left the comment or letter, based on what contact info they provided. I called this individual and explained to him that O.P. Smith was issued that pistol as a young officer, and it was an older Model 1911, not a Model 1911A1. As to the carbine, I explained that it was a selective-fire M2 carbine, as stated in the label, not an M1. His response?

"Oh, I never heard of one of those." We had another write complaining that there was not a single M1 Garand on display. At the time there were no less than seven, and I have no idea how he could have missed them?

Yeah, thanks for writing the Director.

Museums try to get it right. Many times, they don't. Sometimes they just don't know, sometimes they don't care, or they don't have sufficient funding to correct a descriptive label or text panel that may or may not be accurate. I have also encountered a few curators that considered themselves above such things, are full of themselves, or are in positions outside of their skill set or expertise. Me personally, would have never asked a visitor to leave, or be removed because they pointed out an error.

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A person (claiming to know something about firearms) never hearing about the M2 variant of the M1 Carbine must have been hiding in a cave most of his life. In Viet-Nam, I got a hold of an M2. Handy little thing since I spent as much time behind the steering wheel of a truck as not. (Handier than an M14 for shooting out of a moving truck,) Got the M2 from, of all persons, a Viet Cong Tax Collector for whatever reason had taken a liking to me. Even ran around some with an MP Sgt. that carried an M3. Such 'odd ball' weapons were to be had all over VN.