Spencer sporting rifle in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"?

[Bad Ramon]

                 About once a year I watch that western of westerns"The Good,The Bad, and the Ugly". At the very end Blondie pulls out a rifle and shoots the rope that allows Tuco to fall to the ground. For many years I have wondered just what kind of Rifle that was. This last time I watched it, I put the DVD on pause just before the big scene. As I kept pushing the pause button to move the film from frame to frame................There it was! The unmistakable radius of the left side rear of the Spencer reciever.
                        I have been wondering about this for quite a few years. As this rifle has a full length octagon barrel, it is obviously a sporting version of the Spencer. Somebody take a look and see if I am right................

[Fox Creek Kid]

I believe it's a Peabody sporter.

[clyde]

Hello all,
I think Bad Ramon is right. I got the same impression once when seeing it on DVD, I did also move the movie from frame to frame and for me, it is a spencer.

Bye
Clyde

[River City John]

I did not see any mention of that rifle here, but this is a fun site to look at.

http://spaghettiwesterns.1g.fi/guns.htm

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Pards,
Haven't done that analysis, but presuming the rifle is a Spencer sporting rifle, one could speculate on the caliber.  The Spencer didn't have that great a reputation for accuracy beyond a hundred yards or so, according to contemporary reports, at least in the military calibers.  So, one might conjecture that the sporting rifle was chambered in .56-46.  'Though I have never read any contemporary or even modern descriptions of the accuracy of the .56-.46, the smaller diameter and perhaps higher sectional density bullet might make for better long range accuracy.  Of course the smaller diameter bullet might have less chance of cutting the rope.  (Uh, never mind the accuracy potential of any Hollyweird Western's guns!  )

[French Jack]

To read the writing of numerous western authors, Both the Spencer .56 and the Winchester '73 were fully capable of being used as sniper weapons at ranges up to 1000 yards....

[Leo Tanner]

That makes it two differnt questions, what was the actual rifle, and was it capable of doing what was showed in the film (cutting the rope).  I love that movie, but the semblance Leoni gives that everyone carried cartrige revolvers durring the war throws weapons authenticity out the window.  It does look like the spencer.  In another scene it takes more than one shot ta break the rope, so maybe that was a little more realistic in a Hollywood way.

[Herbert]

i saw a show caled mythbusters wher they tested the idear of cuting rope with a rifle i think it took 5 shots with an expert marksman,i wouldnt lick to be hanging there that long although it proberly wouldent mater that much as the drop would most lickly kill you

[Bad Ramon]

                    I agree with you completely about Leone's take on authenticity of the forearms used in that movie. However, the costuming was first rate. I have seen hundreds of photos of the old west, and I think he did a great job of making those guys look like something that really existed in 1863 or thereabouts. I read somewhere that he used a Mathew Brady pictorial essay for many of the ideas to create the costuming. As far as the rope goes, the Spencer and the Henry of the time were both probably shooting pointed bullets, and I would think a deflection of the bullet off of the rope would be a good possibility.................

[2 Hatchet]

 Hello Bad Ramon,

   I think you are correct that the rifle used by Clint Eastwood is a Spencer Sporting Rifle. Here are a few photo's.
   

   

   

   

    Sorry that the photo's from the movie are of a poor quality I got them from a video on Youtube.
    2 Hatchet

[Delmonico]

i saw a show caled mythbusters wher they tested the idear of cuting rope with a rifle i think it took 5 shots with an expert marksman,i wouldnt lick to be hanging there that long although it proberly wouldent mater that much as the drop would most lickly kill you

Well myself I've seen enough stuff on that show that would have worked had the hosts been a bit more knowledgeable about the subject, that I don't waste my time watching.  Watch the one some time on the undetecable bullet, any knowledgable hand loader will laugh.

Got a rule I hold to, "I don't know everything about every thing, but I know a lot about a lot of things.  BS me about something I know about, I don't believe you when I don't know about it."

Works good of folks you know are full of it, but they might not talk to you much after that, which is often a good thing.

[Bad Ramon]

             2 Hatchet; thanks so much for the great photos of the Harder/Spencer rifle, sure does look like the one in the movie. I haven't seen a picture of one of these guns in a long time. Maybe this solves the mystery....................