Guns ‘N Ammo

As reluctant as Calendar seems to be to have anyone on its staff who would be uncool enough to actually know anything about firearms, it is hardly any wonder that it has compounded Jack Matthews’ Aug. 21 misidentification of “Dirty Harry’s” “piece” as a .357 Magnum by letting letter-writer Russ Hale inform us with utter confidence that that bulge beneath Eastwood’s jacket is none other than a “.45 magnum,” whatever that may be (Calendar Letters, Aug. 28).

Before ol’ Elmer Keith, who developed the gun, starts turning in his grave, let me suggest that the revolver in question is a Smith & Wesson Model 29 chambered in .44 Remington Magnum caliber, and is, in fact, no longer “the most powerful handgun in the world,” that distinction, as far as revolvers are concerned, being held by the .454 Casull.

Of course, I could be wrong about all this.

THOMAS McINTYRE

Hunting Editor

Sports Afield magazine