The trailer for 1923 features a couple of scenes of Duttons running a scoped rifle. While optics had been available for riflemen since the mid-19th Century, they really came into their own in the early 20th Century, and scoped rifles were deployed in the trenches for snipers. By 1923, sportsmen were adopting them, especially for hunting in the West. So, it’s totally appropriate for a rancher in Montana to be running a scoped rifle.
Nowadays, most hunting rifles don’t even have iron sights — a scope is presumed. Which is just wrong, but I’ve already addressed that topic.
I believe the same rifle is featured in both scenes, once with Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) and once with Clara Dutton (Helen Mirren), and it appears to be wearing a Winchester A5 scope, which is what the Marines mounted on their Springfield 1903 Rifles for competition and sniping in the trenches.
Not sure about the rifle. Thinking a sporterized Springfield, but… The still of Jacob seems to show a big ol’ buckhorn rear sight, which is a puzzlement to me.
David R. Tomkinson notes of the A5:
The scope weighed 10oz, the tube was 0.765 inches wide and was 16 inches long, with a field of view of 18ft at 100 yards and although it looked fragile the tube was very strong, being machined from the solid and not drawn.
Yeah, this is the kind of thing a Frontier Partisan ponders about. It’s gonna annoy the hell out of Lady Marilyn if I stop the action to get this figured out. Guess I’ll just tell her, “Sorry, I’m a Free Trapper.” Hah!
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UPDATE:
I think J.F. Bell got it right on the Dutton Rifle from 1923. Looks like the Savage 1920:
Clyde says
I think if I told “The Missus” something like that I’d find my war bag and saddle tossed out on the prairie. Love her to death but she can be mean as a snake. LOL!
JimC says
Hah!
J.F. Bell says
Having looked entirely too much into this, I suspect it’s a Newton based on the rear sight, the general shape of the receiver, and what I can make out of the cocking piece.
Charles Newton was an interesting character. He was early advocate of high velocity cartridges, and developed a number of them. In 1914 he started building rifles and, though he was pretty sharp as an engineer, he wasn’t much of a businessman. All three of his firearms companies failed, and he quit production around 1930. From what I can scratch up, production across all models of his rifles was likely less than ten thousand in total.
He had four designs that sold commercially (1914, 1916, 1922, and 1924). As an adherent of the levergun over the bolt, his last was a hybrid (the LeverBolt) that never made it out of prototype; essentially, this was a straight-pull variation of the Model 1924.
It’s a worthwhile rabbit hole if you have the time. For such a relative unknown the man had a massive influence on modern shooting, not least because he’s generally referenced as the father of high-velocity smallbore, and a remarkable number of his cartridges are still popular, albeit in different guises.
I was fortunate to pick up one of his rifles a few years back. It’s a 1916, rechambered to 30-06 (unsurprising, since high velocity shooting tends to eat barrels) and even in moderate condition and missing the second trigger it is an absolutely stellar piece of engineering.
JimC says
And… down the rabbit hole I go.
J.F. Bell says
Amending again…try the Savage 1920. The right rear portion of the receiver has a fairly distinctive profile that would seem to match the one pictured with Ford.
A number of other details look to correspond moreso with this than the Newton.
JimC says
That’s a very strong candidate.
If you freeze at 1:01 on the trailer, there’s a good view of the cocking piece, which definitely looks like the Savage 1920 — and I’m pretty sure I’m seeing the schnaubel fore-end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE_MzBIMz50
Jerry N says
Not sure about the sling hardware
J.F. Bell says
Saw that. First I thought it might have been a homemade dog-collar setup like the Mosin uses. Looking at it now…some kind of hoseclamp and a modern (1950s and on) QD swivel, maybe.
Alan Isherwood says
Many Pre 64 Winchester model 70s had that type of rear sight and early production guns were offered drilled for the A5. Probably not as exotic as we could hope.
JimC says
Ah… you may be right.
Reese Crawford says
There is hope though. could be a pre-war Winchester 54