The Guns of Laredo … Part 3 … the Rifles

The Guns of Laredo … Part 3 … the Rifles

In Streets of Laredo we see mainly 3 standard rifles – plus a couple of oddities. There are others long guns, but their appearance is too brief to mention.

Streets of Laredo Rifles

Firstly we have the Winchester 73′ rifle – ‘the rifle that won the West’? Combined with the Colt 45 pistol, these are backbone of many a Western Film and probably a good chunk of Old West history as well.

James Garner (Captain F. Woodrow Call) carries two rifles (not sure why .. but Why Not?): a Winchester 73′ and a 1860 Henry Rifle Brass Frame .45 LC.

Streets of Laredo Garner and Rifles

Streets of Laredo Garner with Yellowboy
Woodrow / Garner with his Henry
Streets of Laredo Garner with Yellowboy 2
Garner using the Henry – folding sight.

Ned Beatty (Judge Roy Bean) and his Winchester 73
Streets of Laredo Ned Beatty with Winchester 73'

Between drinking and hanging people the Judge shoots things.

Streets of Laredo Ned Beatty with Winchester 73' 2

George Carlin gets ready to demonstrate the ‘Yellow Boy‘.

Streets of Laredo George Carlin with Yellowboy 2

Hang on to your ears.

Streets of Laredo George Carlin with Yellowboy 2

The 2 Unusual Weapons

Streets of Laredo Smith and Cannon
Smith and Cannon

Charles Martin Smith and Cannon? Sounds like a Law Firm. And he’s got the guns to back it up.

Streets of Laredo Holland & Holland Paradox

The first of the 2 unusual weapons that I spoke of, is the The Holland & Holland Paradox shotgun (well named).

From the Internet Movie Firearms Database (http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Holland_%26_Holland_Paradox)

“The Holland & Holland Paradox was an interesting design. It was a smoothbore until the end of the bores where there was rifling … The 8 and 10 gauge shotguns were considered to be the most effective against Elephant, Cape Buffalo ect, but lacked the accuracy and range of a rifle. The Paradox design was a compromise which offered improved performance from the smoothbore design … “

In other words, Charles Martin Smith is carrying an elephant gun. Sheesh.

This weapon eventually contributes to the demise of our main antagonist.

Thanks to my brother Richard for finding this information.

Don’t ask me what the pistols are though … he never pulled ’em.

Charles Martin Smith seems to have a fondness for shotguns:

Streets of Laredo Smith and Shotgun
Charles Martin Smith with shotgun in The Untouchables – 1987

That other weapon is claimed to be a Model 1889 Schmidt-Rubin rifle with Scope.

Streets of laredo  Model 1889 Schmidt-Rubin rifle
Model 1889 Schmidt-Rubin rifle – without scope

Apology: I lost my sources for this reference. I do recall the the individual who recognized this rifle said that this weapon did not exist in the era of Streets of Laredo. I would not be surprised as we find this quite often in Westerns (and other movies) where technology from the future is imported to the past. Most often nobody cares or notices, but some Gun and Western history fans/experts do take note. 

Streets of Laredo Alexis Cruz and rifle

Alexis Cruz with Model 1889 Schmidt-Rubin rifle

The only thing I can say for sure it that if Joey Garza (Alexis Cruz) takes a liking to your gun, you better just give it to him. And run away. Fast.

But it might not do any good.

The Guns of Laredo … an interesting mix.

Author: jcalberta

Howdy! I love Westerns. ... and the intent of MyFavoriteWesterns.com is to celebrate Western Movies/Film - old and new. This site will eventually show my top 30 favorite Westerns - or more. I will have original graphic work with regular updates. All this - and more ... Yee Haw ... !! - jcablerta / Moderator / Administrator

2 thoughts on “The Guns of Laredo … Part 3 … the Rifles”

  1. I’m an 8 gauge aficionado having several myself . That H&H Paradox really intrests me . I’d love a fully rifled or paradox 8 bore double .

    1. Hi Craig! It does look like an amazing weapon. Could likely put a hole right through you.
      Not sure how easy it would be to locate one of those?
      But I’m no gun expert. Don’t pretend to be. I shot a ton when I was a kid and when
      I was in the Calgary Highlanders infantry. Strangely, though I’m not a gun owner now
      but play a lot of Shooters on the computer like The Division 2 and Breakpoint. This
      definitely introduces me to a lot modern weapons. I guess I still have some of that
      in me.

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