Thursday, August 29, 2013

Paladin


I rented Have Gun Will Travel from Netflix.


The Wiki article has problems with the description of the gun in the show, which happened in episode 1, as a matter fact. They think that Paladin's Single Action Army had a 4-8 pound trigger pull. Did it? That doesn't seem right with a single action. Also, the show says that the barrel is rifled, which is rare in a pistol. Oh? I would think by the 1870s the rare pistols would be the smoothbores. Was any revolver designed to fire from metallic cased cartridges, and widely available, unrifled in the 1800's?

Anyway, I like the show. Gene Roddenberry wrote an episode on that first disk. I never have seen the show in repeats back when I was a kid and wouldn't have sought it out. I didn't start liking Westerns til my 40s.

I like this character.  He is... adult.  

My current favorite bit of Western lingo: "Uh... He dry-gulched me..."
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6 comments:

  1. BobAugust 29, 2013 at 6:03 AM

    My own two favorite pieces of Western jargon come from Louis L'Amour:

    He's shot to doll rags;

    I read him from the Book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PaladinAugust 29, 2013 at 7:18 AM

    Made me look :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. joethefatmanAugust 29, 2013 at 9:54 AM

    I love that program. He was a good guy that didn't seem to preach. I like the radio version, with John Dehner, as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. GeodkytAugust 29, 2013 at 2:22 PM

    Actually, 4-8 lbs for a random, "rack grade" single action is about right.

    But reading through teh Wikipedia listing, it seems to indicate that (for at least the last several weeks) they did list it accurately -- the show's producers may have tried to fool teh audience by bragging about having a rifled barrel, but the Wiki article notes that was standard. (Rifled barrels on US service pistols were standard from at least 1842. . . I think that was due to the use of Minie bullets by then, whereas anyone who has hammered a round ball down a rifled bore can imagine why a rifled bore is not a great idea for a muzzle loading standard service pistol firing round ball.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mike V.August 29, 2013 at 8:31 PM

    The opening lines changed each week and were topical to the episode.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Roberta XSeptember 1, 2013 at 1:54 PM

    Good show, generally very well written and acted -- my ex and I bought the series on (OMG) videotape and enjoyed it greatly.

    ReplyDelete

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