The day of Jackal - Melons

[casual shooter]

Please identify the caliber of the gun i think its .22 hornet

[shooter]

looked like a .22 wmr. I could be wrong but shy away from .22 hornet for 2 reasons:

the case has no slight taper, itis straight cylindrical.
there is no groove above the rim.

[hamiclar01]

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/%22Day_of_the ... iper_Rifle

[timmy]

I think .22 Mag is the best guess. I've watched this movie many times (we have it) and, besides the fact that it is a good movie, it reminds me of the old Paris I visited when I was young.

There are a lot of errors in the movie, such as when people get shot, they go flying about like a leaf in the wind, and it's obvious that Edward Fox knows nothing about sighting in a rifle. But none of this detracts from the movie for me.

I have long wondered about the gun -- as have many others, if you search on google for this subject. Clearly, the movie prop people took a bolt .22 Mag rifle and adapted it. But I've always wondered, which one? In the movie, there are scenes that clearly show that it has two rear locking lugs on the bolt and that they are opposed -- there's no bolt handle at all. Edward Fox uses that large knob at the back to work the bolt. I can't figure out if it is added on or part of the original gun.

[TwoRivers]

looked like a .22 wmr. I could be wrong but shy away from .22 hornet for 2 reasons:

the case has no slight taper, itis straight cylindrical.
there is no groove above the rim.

Shooter: It is a tapered case, quite a bit so. When it's straight cylindrical it is the wildcat .270 REN. And why would a rimmed case require a groove above the rim? That's a manufacturing expediency, nothing else.

[timmy]

The whole movie is on youtube here:



The scene where Fox picks up the gun from the gunsmith starts at 45:00, and this scene shows the ammunition pretty clearly as a rimfire round and much longer than a .22 LR.

The scene where he sights in on the melon begins at 58:13

WARNING!! If you have never seen "Day of the Jackal" DO NOT WATCH THESE SCENES!!!

This is a great movie, one of the best, and if you enjoy movies at all, you owe it to yourself to watch it from the beginning -- don't cheat by picking out clips and scenes! The tension and the twists in the plot make for a superb story, and it will take you several viewings before you actually grasp all the intricacies of the plot, and how Zinnemann weaves the ebb and flow of the story together.

[hamiclar01]

Errr, what am I missing? Why are we talking about a movie prop?

If you are really interested in the gun, why don't you read Fredrick Forsyth's work himself. Chapter 4 deals with the Jackal's specification, and 6 with Goossen's finished design.

Forsyth gives meticulous descriptions of the customised gun, though I think he suggested the calibre, but did not define it.

As is usual, the film does not do justice to the book, which is (I hate this cliche, but am forced to use it), mind blowing

[timmy]

hamiclar: I know about that description, but it does not say what commercial gun was used to accomplish the end result. The scenes in the movie do clearly depict what I can see to be a modified commercial barreled action that would actually work. The prop in the movie does not use a washer with a threaded hole in it to mount the strut, nor does it have a second, bracing strut. Also, the book doesn't really mention anything about the cartridge, but the movie does seem to show .22 mag ammo, as best as I can tell. Of course, the book can talk about custom made ammunition, but the movie, needing a real prop, is either going to have to come up with something or accept an off-the-shelf item, which it appears that they did.

Since my interest was in the gun and how one could be adapted from something readily available, I tended to follow what the movie has already suggested by its depiction. It does seem workable to me, tho I will admit that I'd also be more interested in a .22 Hornet than I would something in .22 Mag. Some bolt action .22s, like the old Remington bolt with 6 locking lugs (sort of a smaller version of the 788) seem pretty strong. Also, Winchester and Savage made bolt action .22 Hornets with very slim receivers. Actually, the Savage didn't even have a receiver proper, since the receiver in this model was actually part of the barrel - one piece. But neither gun was very good and tended to shoot loose.

I guess it is all a mental exercise and therefore a curiosity, but judging from posts that pop up on the web here and there, it seems as if a number of people would like to have a gun similar to what is shown in the movie.