MovieChat Forums > The Big Valley (1965) Discussion > Wearing Those Gunbelts in the House!

Wearing Those Gunbelts in the House!

posted 6 years ago by [email protected] (6248)
3 replies | jump to latest

Bonanza was guilty of this too. Sometimes the guys wore their guns in the house (expecting trouble from Hop Sing? lol)

But one instance was really silly on The Big Valley. I was watching "My Son, My Son" on INSP yesterday. Never thought about this scene before. Heath was shot in the arm by Audra's old friend. The guy was clearly mentally ill.

In a later scene, Heath comes into the room with his right arm in a sling. And he's WEARING his gunbelt. Aside from the question of why is wearing it in the house, why is he wearing it at all? His arm is in a sling. How was he going to shoot if he had to?

Sometimes westerns overdid the whole "wearing a gun" scenario!

[–] wanton87 (934) 6 years ago

Oh absolutely pj. Most of those guns were colt peacemaker’s, with either 7.5” or 5.5” barrels, so they were heavy enough to be downright uncomfortable if you were wearing them on your side all day. A shoulder holster would have been far more comfortable, as I know from personal experience. I’ve actually done a fair amount of research on this topic in the past, and most civilians that felt the need to carry, usually carried something small and concealable, such as the 1849 Colt Pocket Revolver, which was the best selling Colt gun at the time, for the civilian market. Even the Mormon missionaries would carry the low profile and concealable “Avenging Angel” pistols, as to not stand out in any way from the rest of the populace.

By the way, from what I have gathered, very few folks actually carried the Colt model 1873. They were a whopping $26 according to my 1897 Sears And Roebuck catalog. A much more likely situation would have been to convert the old “cap and ball” revolvers to cartridge, with an upgraded cylinder that would have cost around $10.

[–] [email protected] (6248) 6 years ago

Oh thanks, I didn't know what type of guns the cowboys in those shows wore. I don't know much about guns, just that they look awfully uncomfortable to be wearing around the house!

I can understand wearing them into town or out on the range, but did men actually wear them at home or is it just a Hollywood trope?

[–] wanton87 (934) 6 years ago

I can understand wearing them into town or out on the range, but did men actually wear them at home or is it just a Hollywood trope?

Not sure about that one pj, but my guess is that they did not, unless they lived in a hostile region that required it. Some might have always kept a small pocket pistol, or a derringer on hand, since they were light, and not too cumbersome. And after all, it couldn’t hurt. The old west was a pretty rough place!