Colt Python on Walking Dead

[Paladin1]

Has any movie had a good guy sporting a Glock with a 33rd mag?

Morpheus fries those freaky dreadlocked twins in the second Matrix with a high-cap Glock 18 firing magical explodey bullets... and a katana

Ahh! Thanks for that! How could I forget!? I need to be spanked, but it will have to wait until payday.

And another thing, small town police department or not, he clears out the gun cabinet and it's ALL shotguns and revolvers!?

Now my peeps on here know I like shottys, and my best friend for years was a Security-Six, but not one semi-auto rifle/handgun at that station?

I think that's movie magic trying to paint them as small town hicks. I doubt there are many, if any police departments in the US that don't have a mag fed semi-auto rifle laying around.

Maybe the police took all the semi-autos when they had to evac/abandon the station leaving behind all the bolt action, revolvers and shotguns.

Mmm.. OK. I could buy that. Took the good shit and left the confiscated crap.

[AUA]

According to IMFDB, apparently T-Dog had a Browning BAR semi-auto rifle during the "Vatos" episode. A typically 4-round mag, $1000 BAR fitted with a scope with stock furniture, and not a single Mini-14, AR-15 in any variant semi-auto or otherwise (!), or even a Remington 7615P. Go figure.

[St.Michael]

Well the way I figure is he's a southern cop in a very small town and probably picks what he wants to carry. He doesn't keep it for long anyway in the books. In tue start of the books the guns are pretty limited but honestly most keep handguns and rifles due to lack of training. Lots of the villians do carry aks and ars later in the stories.

[Lucas_061287]

You guys take the fun out of living, you know that?

[olbaid_dratsab]

Well the way I figure is he's a southern cop in a very small town and probably picks what he wants to carry. He doesn't keep it for long anyway in the books. In tue start of the books the guns are pretty limited but honestly most keep handguns and rifles due to lack of training. Lots of the villians do carry aks and ars later in the stories.

I havn't read the comics and from what I hear the series is following pretty closely. Don't slip up and let any story ruining info leak by accident.

[silentpoet]

All that said, Rick is probably more comfortable with his revolver than any other hand gun, he knows the mechanics of the gun and ballistics of the rounds; does this make up for the gun being less than ideal? Only Rick knows

That is important. More important than an ideal weapon you have no skill with is an adequate weapon you do have skill with. Don't run all over creation searching for the perfect weapon. Make a good choice and then learn to use it well. Not saying I would choose a revolver, but I know some who do. Each weapon has a unique set of advantages and disadvantages. Make the best choice you can make and then evaluate it over time to see if it is still the best choice.

[tireiron]

Again, you guys are overthinking things. I work in the film business, doing props and scenery, in Atlanta as a matter of fact.

The propmaster rounds up whatever the script calls for, usually renting them from a film armorer, and does a show-and-tell with the director. The director says, "great", or "He's a small-town cop, he wouldn't have a machine gun!", or "Can we get more blue phone-cord on the revolver?" and the prop guy pretty much does whatever the director wants.

There's only one armorer in Atlanta right now, and the prop guys on probably WD got as much as they could from him. Shipping even prop guns from the big outfits in Hollywood gets crazy expensive.

[Istvan56]

To the OP, I think the Python is a stainless and not a chrome plated one. But I could be wrong.

As to those of you badmouthing the choice of a 6" Colt Python as a cop's duty pistol, you forget that at one time it was the top pick of one of our nation's top cops, Massad Ayoob, as his duty weapon. He carried that exact version (6" Stainless) for years. I carried "the poor man's Python," the Colt Trooper Mk. III with a 6" barrel at one time. There were a lot of us local cops who carried 6" magnum revolvers for their reach and power when out on the highway or on lonely back country roads when we might be facing bad guys with long guns, back then more the sawed-off shotgun or lever action carbine than AK's or SKS's. The Python is a great pistol and the .357 Magnum 125 gr. JHP is still no slouch when it comes to a fight. Oh, and I can attest that bad guys couldn't tell a .44 Magnum from a .357 Magnum. When I pulled it out they thought I was carrying Dirty Harry's gun. I never would correct them or point out that I had a Colt while he used a S&W Model 29 that was much bigger. Thanks to Clint for helping to put the fear of the law out there, for a decade at least it helped me.

As for why it is on this show it is solely because that is what the script writers picked for the hero, keeping with the comic book character. Others have mentioned that generally you see wheelguns only on old-timers, not on cops as young as the show's main character. Speaking as one of the "old-timers" with 29 years in Public Safety whose carried wheelguns as well as semi-autos, I retired my last revolver, the Trooper, back in 1995. I had to sell it due to a divorce and I still miss that beauty to this day. It was the most accurate pistol I've ever used and had the smoothest action due to my having had it customed tuned as part of a full rebuilding of it after I bought it used from a fellow officer. But I'm very satisfied with the Glock's and SIG's I carry today and wouldn't go back to carrying a wheelgun on duty.

Now about the lack of EBR's in the hands of the cast. I like the theory put forth that the top tier of guns were taken by officers during the outbreak and that the leftovers were taken by our deputy. That would be the case in my department that every M4 would be out while shotguns and spare pistols would still be in the department. There would also be our obsolete Remington Model 740 .30-06 that is now just a safe queen. So that might square up with the BAR in episode 4.

[Johnny Bones]

I think the only reason he has that Colt is to help make him stand out and be "cool".

In a sea of black plastic, one man is bold enough to go his own way with a bright SS wheelgun!

In his current situation I would ditch that bitch in a second and get something with lots of capacity!

Has any movie had a good guy sporting a Glock with a 33rd mag?

Yes, Martin Lawrence's character in National Security.
http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/National ... y#Glock_17
But its two-tone if that makes a difference haha.

[TravisM.1]

Rick's buddy (until he find's out the guy has been jackhammering his wife, anyway) seems like the only person on the show that knows how to run a shotgun. "BOOM-chink, BOOM-chink, BOOM-chink". Not, "BOOM, chink-chink, BOOM, chink-chink, BOOM, chink-chink". Ride the slide rearward, don't hold it shut.

[Tommy Tran]

anyplace to watch the episodes online besides the pilot on the AMC site?

[nimdabew]

I need to be spanked

Sigged

[bamboo spear]

A high-capacity automatic would be better than a revolver if you had plenty of magazines, so you can just keep moving, firing, and quickly reloading. But if you only have one mag, a revolver is more practical. It's quicker to reload 6 rounds into a Python (one handed) than to drop the magazine on the automatic, put down the pistol, and hand load a 16 round magazine while zombies are swarming you.

That's what makes a traditional shotgun more practical than a pistol or magazine-fed rifle. You can fire and move, and load more rounds in as you move, and not run out of ammo. You don't have to open a cylinder or eject a magazine either, just buy yourself three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in.

[Domino]

A high-capacity automatic would be better than a revolver if you had plenty of magazines, so you can just keep moving, firing, and quickly reloading. But if you only have one mag, a revolver is more practical. It's quicker to reload 6 rounds into a Python (one handed) than to drop the magazine on the automatic, put down the pistol, and hand load a 16 round magazine while zombies are swarming you.

That's what makes a traditional shotgun more practical than a pistol or magazine-fed rifle. You can fire and move, and load more rounds in as you move, and not run out of ammo. You don't have to open a cylinder or eject a magazine either, just buy yourself three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in.

Well said, that is one of the biggest advantages of weapons that do not have detachable magazines. A lot of people don't consider what happens when you run out of loaded magazines, which is you end up with a slow loading single shot. For this reason I really like the SKS (in original configuration of course) as a true anti-zombie rifle. All you need is a rifle, sling, chest rig, and a pile of stripper clips and ammo. Stripper clips don't weigh much more than the ammo by itself and you could certainly carry more ammo for the same weight as an AK with mags. Plus even when you run out of strippers you can single feed loose rounds into the magazine as needed, you can't with AK since you have to remove the mag, load it, insert the mag, and cycle the action. For this reason you can keep an SKS shooting at a STEADIER rate of fire in the LONG TERM. Then when shit gets really hairy you have a bayonet to finish zeds off. I would still rather have an AK if I knew I was going to actual combat but the SKS is still a fine general purpose combat rifle for TEOTWAWKI.

[velojym]

While I'm not a huge fan of the organization, this would certainly set these guys apart from the run-of-the-mill department.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Magnum

While most law enforcement agencies eschew this caliber, the Tennessee State Police carries the .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson M29 as standard issue.[15]

[Greg Focker]

That's what makes a traditional shotgun more practical than a pistol or magazine-fed rifle. You can fire and move, and load more rounds in as you move, and not run out of ammo. You don't have to open a cylinder or eject a magazine either, just buy yourself three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in.

Exactly how long do you think it takes to reload a modern magazine fed carbine? In those "three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in", I can reload 30 rounds and already have a few of them downrange.

[ROBBYBEAR]

Well the way I figure is he's a southern cop in a very small town and probably picks what he wants to carry. He doesn't keep it for long anyway in the books. In tue start of the books the guns are pretty limited but honestly most keep handguns and rifles due to lack of training. Lots of the villians do carry aks and ars later in the stories.

I havn't read the comics and from what I hear the series is following pretty closely. Don't slip up and let any story ruining info leak by accident.

If you heard the series is following closely to the comic you heard wrong.

[AUA]

Focker, I think that he meant was when you run out of loaded mags. When you have to load loose cartridges into a 30 round magazine and then load/cycle, it'd probably take longer than loading directly into a revolver's cylinder or topping off a shotgun's tube mag. I don't know about you, but I think that taking the time to attach a speedloader to your AR/AK mag would take longer than loading a speedloader into your gun itself. Until you're talking about the Vz. 58, in which case I would say, well played, good sir.

Loading an AR, Glock, or standard AK mag in the field would probably not be the best thing compared to moon clips and a Colt Python. Of course, Rick is too much of a Captain America to use moon clips, but for the sake of argument, if the only thing you have is loose ammunition, a revolver or shotgun could be a better option.

On ZS though, I figure that if you don't have enough mags, then you didn't complete prep with your carbine in the first place; do not pass GO and do not collect 2 more survivors.

[Matt E.]

The Python looks cool, adds to his "cowboy" persona and adds to the "it's not about the tool, it's about the technician" type of thing.(which can be crap saying anyway)

Complete and utter hog wash in 2010 as a peace officer as preference, but it's a TV show.

I saw a couple older cops at Midway airport sporting SS six guns recently. I wanted to pull out my I-phone and show them the calendar with special emphasis on the year.

The only thing a revolver has over a modern auto as a LE duty gun is that it's more "revolverey".

[Electricity]

That's what makes a traditional shotgun more practical than a pistol or magazine-fed rifle. You can fire and move, and load more rounds in as you move, and not run out of ammo. You don't have to open a cylinder or eject a magazine either, just buy yourself three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in.

Exactly how long do you think it takes to reload a modern magazine fed carbine? In those "three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in", I can reload 30 rounds and already have a few of them downrange.

No you can't.

[Greg Focker]

Focker, I think that he meant was when you run out of loaded mags. When you have to load loose cartridges into a 30 round magazine and then load/cycle, it'd probably take longer than loading directly into a revolver's cylinder or topping off a shotgun's tube mag. I don't know about you, but I think that taking the time to attach a speedloader to your AR/AK mag would take longer than loading a speedloader into your gun itself. Until you're talking about the Vz. 58, in which case I would say, well played, good sir.

I know what he meant, but I don't believe he thought it through very well. Lets just think about how many rounds you have to go through before being out of ammo loaded into mags. In my case, that's 30 in my rifle and 224 on my vest. Now, if I somehow go through 253 rounds without dying first*, getting to a safe haven, or neutralizing all nearby zombies, I might just use the 254th on myself. Or, you know, draw my pistol and keep trying until I've shot all 50 magazine loaded rounds of that off, too.

Now, we come to the part where I think his thinking is fubared. Compare the above number of loaded-in-magazines rounds to how many TOTAL shotgun rounds any reasonable person would be carrying on their person. No one is going to carry 200 shotgun rounds due to weight and volume issues. Aside from that, here is the big issue: he'll be taking 4 seconds to *partially* reload his shotgun after (at most) 9 shots, and he'll have to do that every.single.time.he.reloads. He'll be doing that far, far, far earlier than anyone with a mag fed carbine and the foresight to carry just three loaded mags on their person. Who is going to be zombie food first?


*this is much more likely than going through 250+ rounds without any time to recharge my empty mags via stripper clips

... for the sake of argument, if the only thing you have is loose ammunition, a revolver or shotgun could be a better option.

For the sake of argument, if the only transportation I had was a magically appearing flying unicorn, I better have a saddle and stirrups in my backpack.

In reality though, I figure that if you don't have enough mags, then you didn't complete prep with your carbine in the first place; do not pass GO and do not collect 2 more survivors.

In reality, zombies are a metaphor. But I still stand by my previous '*'ed comment: The chances of me going through 250 rounds are neglible. If I need that many rounds without a chance to recharge my mags, I'll need a respawn, because I'll be dead. Hopefully I'd have taken a nice escort to go meet the FSM with me, but I'll still be dead.

[Greg Focker]

That's what makes a traditional shotgun more practical than a pistol or magazine-fed rifle. You can fire and move, and load more rounds in as you move, and not run out of ammo. You don't have to open a cylinder or eject a magazine either, just buy yourself three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in.

Exactly how long do you think it takes to reload a modern magazine fed carbine? In those "three or four seconds to put a few more rounds in", I can reload 30 rounds and already have a few of them downrange.

No you can't.

You're right. I never would have gotten the training to do such a thing (correctly), nor put in the time to practice it to keep the muscle memory to do such a thing if I had gotten said training. I will now go sulk in my parent's basement

[Iknowyou]

Soooo...Who figures that Carl (Rick's son) will be shooting some .38's out of the revolver after he learns to shoot?

-fenris-

In the comics, Carl carries a small automatic. I figured it was a .380.

As someone else mentioned, the show is not really following the comics, but it still great.

[nomad211]

"The only thing a revolver has over a modern auto as a LE duty gun is that it's more "revolverey".

As a primary duty weapon, yeah autos are the way to go, but for other uses I love revolvers.
When hiking/camping I keep the first two chambers loaded with snakeshot loads & the remainder with wadcutters. I know, I know . . . snakes are no problem, but a few years ago I was picking a last minute armful of firewood just as it was getting dark. NICE big copperhead almost got picked up in the process. Tried to shoo him away since I was right beside our campsite, but they don't get scared, they get mad.
My fault entirely for not being more observant, but I never go in the woods now without snakeloads. Also have one more revolver preference. I wouldn't feel comfortable using a single action auto in situations where I might have to wake up & shoot. This includes home and camp defense where i might be awakened by a possible threat & need to fire.
I just feel more comfortable with having to double action a shot under those circumstances & like revolvers for them.