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Journey's End (2017)

sksvlad

Well-Known Member
A British battalion in placed intentionally in the path of the upcoming German attack known as a Spring Offensive in 1918 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3780500/. They have no rear support and are fully aware of their fate. All (almost all) try to hide their emotions. They spend their time socializing and trying not to talk about what awaits them. Very quiet movie except the end (and I mean the end).

One of the British officers has a semi auto pistol in his hand about the size of American 1911. What is it?
 
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One of the British officers has a semi auto pistol in his hand about the size of American 1911. What is it?
A screen shot would be of great help. I saw the trailer but could only spot a Webley revolver at the end.
 
It is at 1:32:28 time frame of the movie. I'll post it when I figure out how to do a screen shot.
 
One of the British officers has a semi auto pistol in his hand about the size of American 1911. What is it?

Shown is the Webley semi-auto pistol in calibre .455 Webley (with a semi-rimmed case). This was used by the Royal Navy in WW1. The Colt M1911 converted to fire the .455 ammo was also issued.

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Well, it doesn't look like the Webley so I presume it was the .455 Colt (assuming it is at all accurate, and films tend to be these days - there are companies like Bapty who supply appropriate weapons for films, and they are experts on what was used where and when).
 
I know the Armourer, and as much as i would like to say it was a .455 Colt, it was a 1911 in .45 ACP... Still correct for the period though.
Cheers
Hangarman
 
I know the Armourer, and as much as i would like to say it was a .455 Colt, it was a 1911 in .45 ACP... Still correct for the period though.
Cheers
Hangarman

But less accurate in terms of who was using it?

An acceptable substitute though, since AFAIK it's just about impossible to tell the difference between the .45 and .455 Colt unless you are close enough to read the stampings!
 
I just visited a great and totally unknown museum, Canadian Military Heritage Museum http://canadianmilitaryheritagemuseum.ca/. There I was very lucky to meet one of the curators, who invited me for a private viewing of their gun vault. Sorry, I promised NOT to take pictures before entering. NO PHOTOS. Inside I saw untold treasures, really. While I was salivating all over the floor, he asked me: "Do you want to see a REALLY rare gun?" Guess what I answered. He produced a 1911 looking gun in mint condition and asked me which calibre it was. Guess what. He said only 500 of these .455 Colts were made. I had a privilege to hold it for a minute. Great experience. Do not miss this museum. It is a treasure, even though it is tough to locate.
 
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Tony, the gun had the calibre imprinted on the right side of the slide, so all one has to do is read it. The curator was a gunsmith. This museum is about an hour west off Hamilton,ON.
 
It's the "gunsmith" part that's the key - I suspect that even in North America most people wouldn't have a clue about the significance of the .455 M1911.

A story to illustrate the general level of knowledge here in the UK: during a firearms amnesty, a police officer was recording the details of the guns handed in. He picked up a P08, looked all over it for the name, and finally wrote down "one Gesichert revolver".
 
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