Inventory of firearms in The Thirty-Nine Steps
In the 70s and 80s of the last century, with the reform and opening up, many excellent foreign films were introduced into China. Among them, there are suspense films represented by "The Hunt", disaster films such as "Cassandra Bridge", and anti-special films such as "Thirty-Nine Steps".
"Thirty-Nine Steps" tells the story of the British engineer Richard Hane and the German spy who fight wits and courage to cooperate with the police to catch the enemy. Among them, British police and German spies used a variety of firearms, mainly pistols and sniper rifles.
One. Manlisha-Schönauer sniper rifle
In early 1914, the clouds of the Great War were over Europe. A family living in London received a coded telegram that, after deciphering, contained only one sentence: to awaken a sleeping man.
The family's real identity is a German spy lurking in Britain, and the owner, Epton, has even infiltrated the british government. Epton and the others, who received the order, immediately began to act, but the British intelligence officer Skeed preemptively learned of their plan and informed Sir Hale of the relevant departments.
Apparently, Sir Hale underestimated the German spy gang, let alone that his friend Epton was also a spy. Soon, at a rally, the German sniper Marshall killed Sir Hale with a Manlischer-Schönauer sniper rifle.
The Manlicia-Schönauer sniper rifle dates back to 1903 – the earlier rifles of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were large-caliber rifles, but with the development of smokeless gunpowder, the caliber of the rifle began to be reduced. The Manlicia-Schönauer sniper rifle is a collaboration between Ferdinand Detel von Manlija and his friend Otto Schönauer, and manlicia's last work, manufactured exclusively by the Steyr Arsenal. The gun uses the famous Manlysia straight-pull bolt, is fitted with an optical sight, and is manually loaded.
Two. Colt Model 1908 automatic pistol
The intelligence officer, Skender, knew that the situation was not good, so he decided to pack up and flee for his life, but the German spy had already followed him. In desperation, Skender fled to Hane's house in the same building and asked for help from his neighbors. After explaining the situation, Hane reluctantly agreed to help, but to protect himself, he quietly unloaded the bullets of Skender's Colt 1908 automatic pistol.
The Colt 1908 automatic pistol, on the surface, resembles the famous FN 1906 Browning automatic pistol. In fact, the former is the American version of the latter, both from the same patent from John Moses Browning.
This is a small-caliber automatic pistol that fires .25 ACP pistol cartridges, with a full gun length of 114.3mm, a barrel length of 51mm, a capacity of 6+1 rounds, and a free bolt-style automatic mode. Due to the low weight of the bullet, the small amount of gunpowder and the short barrel, the Colt 1908 automatic pistol is basically only used as a self-defense weapon.
The German spies who pursued Skeed had also locked Skeed in Hane's house after Hane left. When they opened the door with the master key, they were discovered by Skeed. Skeed wanted to pull out his gun, but found that Hane had unloaded his bullet and had to flee.
Three. Webbley-Bulldog revolver
Skeed remembered that Hane was going to the train station, so he quickly arrived at the train station and was killed by German spies inside the station. Hahne, who was unlucky, hugged Skeed, but was mistakenly arrested as a German spy.
Hane was speechless and was soon sentenced to capital punishment. On the way to the execution ground, a real German spy suddenly appeared, created chaos, and kidnapped Hane. In order to make Hane "honest", the spy pulled out a Webbley-Bulldog revolver.
The Webbley-Bulldog revolver was trademarked by Webbley in 1878, but in fact, this revolver was available as early as 1868. Just as the Colt Special Detective Revolver is synonymous with the short-barrel revolver, the Webbley-Bulldog revolver is also representative of the small revolver with a fixed reel nest.
The Webbley-Bulldog revolver fires .45 Adams bullets, with a full length of 152mm, a 64mm barrel, and a fixed nest of 5 rounds. Because the nest is fixed, the gun's rear cover has a trap for loading and unshelling. Of course, it is also possible to unplug the hinge and replace it with a new rotor nest.
Four. Martini Henry lever rifle
German spies interrogated Hane, but found nothing. So they decided to let Hane go and follow him. Hane "logically" escaped and came to the train station in search of clues. Hane finds a notebook that Skeed has left behind, but it is empty, and the police are coming! Hane had to manage to get on a train and continue on the run. Halfway through, Hane once again evaded the police and stole a homeless man's clothes and fled in disguise.
After receiving the report, the police quickly rushed to the investigation and conducted a search. During the manhunt, the police carried a Martini-Henry lever rifle. It was a single-shot rifle introduced in 1871 that used the principle of lever for loading and shelling. The gun was designed by Henry W. Thompson. O. Peabody and Friedrich von Martini collaborated and used polygonal rifling designed by Alexander Henry. Compared to the previous Schneider-style single-engine loading rifle, the Martini-Henry lever rifle has a larger capacity, a faster rate of fire in combat, and a longer effective range.
In the movie "Thirty-Nine Steps", the Martini-Henry lever rifle appears as a .577-inch caliber model, which is 1245mm long, 840mm long and 3.9kg full gun mass.
Five. Mauser 98 sniper rifle
Although Hane escaped the police, he was once again targeted by German spies. Two spies track Hane to a private garden and clash with the foresters. After shooting and killing each other, German spies also spotted Hane and shot with a Mauser 98 sniper rifle, but fortunately did not hit.
The Mauser 98 sniper rifle is based on the ordinary Mauser 98 rifle, selecting individuals with better accuracy and installing a scope. Designed by Paul Mauser in 1895, the gun defeated the Type 1888 rifle in 1898 and became the standard weapon of the Wehrmacht and remained in use until The Second World War. Its full gun length is 1250 mm, the barrel length is 590 mm, the whole gun mass is 4.09 kg (with an empty magazine, not counting the scope), and the capacity is 5 rounds. It is worth mentioning that in the trenches of World War I, a number of Mauser 98 rifles were replaced with 25-round trench magazines and periscope scopes. The Mauser 98 sniper rifle used by German spies, because of the unreasonable setting of the scope, blocked the loading/ejection port, and could only be loaded one shot at a time. After a shot was deflected, the German spies could only watch as Hane fled.
Six. Webbley MK VI. Revolver
At the other end of the forest, Hane meets the girl Alex and her boyfriend, who invites Hane to dinner. Through the exchange, Alex learns about Hane's situation, and she does not believe that Hane is a spy. With the help of Alex and the others, Hane found the real notebook with the words "39 Steps/Ari Ali's Line/11:45" written on it. At the same time, the police also found that Hane was wronged and revoked his arrest warrant.
Officer Hane and Officer Lomas took over, and through a series of visits and investigations, they discovered a huge conspiracy: the British Parliament Building had exactly 39 steps, and at 11:45 that day, a meeting on peace was to be held here! And the German spy leader Epton impersonated and signed a document to "repair" Big Ben!
Everything understood, and Lomas and Hane immediately rushed to Big Ben with a large number of policemen. British policemen armed with a Weberley MK VI revolver burst into Big Ben's machine room and engaged in a fierce gunfight with the Germans.
The Weberley MK VI revolver is a folding revolver introduced by the British Webbley Company in 1904. Unlike common revolvers, the revolver nest of this gun is not opened from the left side, but folded down. When the reel nest is opened, there will be a star-shaped shell ejector to throw the shell shell out, without the need for manual shelling. However, the general strength of revolvers of this structure is not very high, and the adaptability to bullets with higher chamber pressure is not enough, and it is eventually replaced by a left-sided revolver (that is, a revolver). The Weberley MK VI revolver has a caliber of 0.455 inches, a full gun length of 285 mm, a barrel length of 152 mm, a total gun mass of 1.077 kg, and a capacity of 6 rounds.
Seven. finale
While the police and the German spy were engaged in a gunfight, Hane managed to grab Big Ben's hands, making time "slow down." Soon, the police eliminated the German spy and brought back Hanella, who was hanging outside. Soon after, World War I broke out, but thanks to Hane's contribution, Britain was given valuable time to prepare for war.