Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Shawshank Redemption . . . M-14?

I noticed that also when I saw the movie. The time frame for the story is late 50s early 60s? The M14 was just getting its start in the USMC and USARMY its possible that prison systems had them, but most likely its a movie prop gun

Found this on IMFBd

"Captain Hadley (Clancy Brown) is armed with an M14 Rifle fitted with a scope when Tommy (Gil Bellows) tries to tell the prison warden that he knew the man who really killed Dufresne's wife and lover. It is not likely an M21, since prisons aren't usually outfitted with Marine sniper weaponry. Close inspection of the rifle reveals that it lacks the fire control selector lug on actual M14s (and M21s), though the stock does have the selector lug notch, indicating it is actually a civilian variant in a U.S.G.I. M14 stock. Given the M14 and M21 rifles were in frontline service with the U.S. Military at the time this scene takes place, it is doubtful they would be issued to guards in some prison in New England.

Hollywood is notorious for not matching the firearms to the time period. I have seen older western movies and Native Americans are armed with Winchester Model 94s, I also saw a grade B Vietnam war movie several years ago and one US Army soldier is armed with a Hi Point carbine.

That scene stuck with me the first time I saw it. The M-14 came about in 1959. Told my wife that the Shawshank scene might have taken place before the M-14 was developed, like Lucas McCaine and his Winchester on The Rifleman. I was wrong. As written in the script, Tommy’s shooting happened around 1965. The storyline sure seemed to be dated earlier...

Interesting. I only saw the movie once back when it came out. At the time I thought the movie was set in the late 60's, making the rifle more plausible.

The 1870s, and into the 1880s, saw heavy use of the Winchester Model 92.........

Yeah those were the movies. Complete with a time warp.

M-14,

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Shawshank_Redemption

it was probably 6 months ago, but I walk thru the living room and my wife was watching
some war movie... had to be one of those B movies...about WW 1.

but what caught my eye, and I had to sit and watch and my wife was wondering what I was
laughing about, when people are getting shot all over the place in this battle...

I am sure someone in the know, on the set, was setting this all up to thumb his nose at movie goers...

The Germans were armed with Krags, Springfields, Enfields...

The British soldiers were firing Mausers....

The American Doughboys were using Mosin Nagants...

I really can't believe this was some sort of Hollywood over sight...

I explained it to her and went on about my business....

figured it had to be a real crap movie if they were pulling something like that...

I;m sure the director had no clue either...

I have the first season of "Combat" on DVD. Almost always the Germans are using American machine guns, and unless the rifle is featured in a scene the Germans are armed with K31 rifles.

I hope that is meant to be sarcasm since the 92 didn't come out until 1892.

But I understand why the wrong guns are often used in movies, especially the low budget versions. I don't think it is because the people filming them don't know any better, (although at times they don't) it is because of availability of enough working versions of the right gun. Patton was a great movie, but by the time it was filmed there were virtually no working versions of WW-2 era tanks. All of the tanks, US and German are post WW-2 tanks.

I like Dances with Wolves when they flip to some Sandhill Cranes flying over and give Canada Goose calls.

Must have been those Westinghouse ones we built for the Czar I found one in a hoard of Nagants at a gun show once.