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Old April 6, 2021, 06:15 PM   #1
Jackal11
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Owen Grady's Rifle Usage in Jurassic World

Let's be nice out there.... sometimes we are on the same team.

Chris Pratt's Jurassic World Owen Grady character gets badmouthed within firearm culture (Forums, radio shows) because people exclaim:
  • LEVER ACTION: Owen uses his rifle like a semiauto and he doesn't work the lever!
  • CARTRIDGE SELECTION: Owen's rifle should use something more powerful than a 45-70 for a T-Rex sized dino!

Here is a moment to reframe the situation and (hopefully) bring the firearm community a bit closer together by recognizing Chris isn't as clueless as some people make him out to be:
  • LEVER ACTION: In watching the DVD it is difficult to see Owen working the lever but on the Blu-Ray I can clearly see Owen works the lever between his shots.... but interestingly I had to watch frame-by-frame because Chris works the lever so fast the entire motion is only partially captured on one single video frame per loading cycle.  It is apparent the film frame-rates are insufficient to properly capture Chris' lever-speed and instead of looking 'tactical' he ends up looking like his leveraction is a semiauto... If anything Chris should have slowed down a bit, like John Wayne who had many years of experience knowing how to artistically illustrate a lever being worked at film frame-rates. An additional note is that Chris is clearly working the lever in a variety of behind the scene clips and out-takes.
  • CARTRIDGE SELECTION: Chris is a self-professed hunter and this has been stated within numerous articles and interviews. Chris said he purposefully selected the Marlin 1895SBL 45-70 as a good rifle for a RAPTOR trainer in case a RAPTOR went rogue... Chris did not select the rifle for T-Rex or the Indominus-Rex because Owen's responsibility was to the raptors.

Ok, there you have it - a few thoughts that help reframe the situation... Perhaps now the firearm culture can label Chris as 'the guy who works a lever too fast for cameras'... and can stop talking about how he used the Lever like a semiauto!

Last edited by Jackal11; April 8, 2021 at 03:39 PM.
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Old April 6, 2021, 10:20 PM   #2
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Jurassic Park is my favorite movie of all time. In it, they used a SPAS 12, and in my opinion a 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun probably would be the first thing to come to my mind if I had a choice to grab something quick to fight those sneaky raptors(The SPAS can be fired semi-auto and pump action). An AR-10 would probably be second.

Thinking back to Jurassic World, I watched it in theaters, and I recall him working the action(very quickly) then too. I guess he didn’t have a .50 cal to lug around. XD
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Old April 7, 2021, 12:30 PM   #3
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You ever see anybody but Eastwood reload in a movie? Ever see Roy, Hoppy or Gene fire more than 5 or 6 rounds out of an SAA without reloading? Ain't nothing real in a movie. Even gun shot sounds are added in editing. No such thing as a living dinosaur either.
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Old April 7, 2021, 01:25 PM   #4
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When L. Sprague deCamp wrote the time travel adventure 'A Gun for Dinosaur' his PWH recommended .500 Nitro Express.
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Old April 7, 2021, 02:26 PM   #5
Paul B.
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I always thought the gun was in the .450 Marlin. That made a bit more sense to me. Maybe I have a slow DVD player as I had no trouble seeing him work the lever.
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Old April 7, 2021, 04:07 PM   #6
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Quote:
I always thought the gun was in the .450 Marlin. That made a bit more sense to me.
It may well have been.

450 Marlin is just a 45-70 loaded to full potential from the factory with a rim so it can't be loaded in just any 45-70. When 45-70 is loaded with the hottest loads suitable for a lever gun they are exactly the same. For a long time the only option for hotter 45-70 ammo was to handload. Ammo manufacturers didn't want to load it hot in case someone used it in a gun unsuitable for it. The 450 Marlin was intended to offer that power level with factory loads.

Quote:
CARTRIDGE SELECTION: Owen should use something more powerful than a 45-70 for a T-Rex sized dino!
I'm in this camp. Owning a 45-70 for over 40 yeas I can say the round is quite over rated. 45-70 loads come in 3 levels. The loads that duplicate original 1873 black powder levels are safe in any gun. But power wise are a step down from 30-30. About the same as a 45 caliber muzzle loader, which is the minimum for deer in most places and not legal for elk size game in most places.

Mid level loads that are safe for any of the lever actions move it up a step making the round suitable for anything in North America. But there is nothing I'd shoot with a lever action 45-70 load where I'd not rather have a 30-06 with heavy loads in my hands.

The hottest 45-70 loads are only safe in some bolt actions and some single shots. But those loads are significantly below 458 WM. Those 45-70 loads will shoot a bullet 100 gr lighter than 458 WM to about the same speed. And in the real world 458 has earned a reputation as borderline on the really big stuff.

A more realistic firearm would have been a compact bolt gun with an extended detachable box magazine chambered in 460 Weatherby or 458 Lott.
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Old April 7, 2021, 07:46 PM   #7
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Quote:
A more realistic firearm would have been a compact bolt gun with an extended detachable box magazine chambered in 460 Weatherby or 458 Lott.
I suppose that would be a reasonable choice if one were hunting dinosaurs. Jurassic Park wasn't about hunting them.

I always thought the portrayal of firearms in the Jurassic Park/World was pretty good, other than that "20mm" that looked awfully like a Barrett .50BMG.

In the Park, the dinos were expensive assets, real guns were very few, and a last resort they never really expected to use.

I was pleased to see the SPAS-12 jam in Jurassic park. It was totally "right". Not because of anything about the gun, but because it was Dr Grant who used it. In the book and in the movie (though not explained) Dr Grant was one of those people who have a gremlin in their pocket. Any/everything electronic or mechanical tended to screw up for them. The ground penetrating radar mapping the dino boned frizted out when DR Grant was near it. He couldn't get his seatbelt fastened on the helo ride to the island. and when he needed the gun to hold the raptors out of the control room, he got off one shot and it jammed. Totally in line with the character as written by the author.

I totally agree with the choice of the Marlin for the Raptor Wrangler. They aren't HUGE, but they are fast and tough and a heavy lever gun is just a tiny bit faster than a bolt gun in skilled hands.

On the other hand, the guy manning the mini-gun on the helicopter was, despite "military experience", particularly inept. But it was scripted that way so...
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Old April 8, 2021, 02:33 AM   #8
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Quote:
Owen Grady's Rifle Usage in Jurassic World
1- It's a movie, it's fake.
2- it's fake, it's a movie.
3- It's a movie and movie people don't know squat about guns so it looks fake to people who know about guns.
4- It's fake, it's a movie. He doesn't really shoot dinosaurs.
5- it's a movie, and movie people think a big number is scary.
6- It's a movie, get over it. It's all fake anyway.
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Old April 9, 2021, 07:14 PM   #9
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Quote:
3- It's a movie and movie people don't know squat about guns so it looks fake to people who know about guns.
Apparently you have never heard of John Milius who was very good about getting it right in his movies featuring guns. He was/is a very active shooter too. A list of his movie credits.

https://www.google.com/search?q=john...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Does anyone remember the article by Brian Pearce where he used a 45/70 in Africa and killed two Cape Buffalo with one shot?
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Old April 9, 2021, 08:16 PM   #10
Jackal11
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Quote:
You ever see anybody but Eastwood reload in a movie?
LoL, you are so right, not much! That being said Chris does reload in Jurassic World, and one of my favorite reload scenes is John Wayne's Cole Thornton reloading for Robert Mitchum's shaky JP Harrah in El Dorado.
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Old April 10, 2021, 03:04 AM   #11
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I remember an episode of Bonanza were they were reloading a cap and ball revolver with cartridges. I suppose we weren't supposed to notice they switched guns along the way.

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