Own a 11mm Mauser used in the movie “The Last Samurai”
The Last Samurai remains one of my favorite movies, although Tom Cruise's antics in recent years make me cringe every time I see him on tv or in a firm. AIM Surplus is selling the 11mm Mauser M1871/84 rifles used in the movie. After being used on location in New Zealand, they were shipped back to the US and have been stored in studio warehouses for the past five years. Who knew Warner Bros. had their own antique arsenal!
The guns are selling for just under $400 and come with signed certificates of authenticity.
More information about them can be had at the Weapons Cache Forum.
[ Many thanks to Matt for emailing me the link. ]
Time to reload. The dies are available from Lee. I think I would try casting or buying a 45 caliber lead bullet and then running it through a bullet sizer to get it down to 0.446. My first instinct is to try the 300gr .452 bullet mold intended for the 454 Casull. They also make 340gr and 405gr molds for the 45/70 in .457. Lee will make you a custom Lube and size kit for 30 dollars in any size you want,so getting a .446 sizer should present no problems.
Second those comments on last Samurai. One of the main reasons Saigo Takamori mounted his rebellion was because he thought Japan should invade Korea. If he could have gotten more firearms and ammunition, he would have fielded them, but as it happened, government forces had superior logistics and greater materiel.
Pretty much trying to clear a warehouse full of tied-up money. If I remember right, DocAV from Australia (a regular on Gunboards) was involved in the refurb of these, and he mentioned blank-firing guns don’t need good bores.
But “who knew Warner Brothers had an antique arsenal” is ridiculous- they had huge warehouses full of stuff. All those old war movies were filmed with legit equipment because it was bought wholesale right after WW2, either from Interarmco or other commercials channels, as well as straight from the government. They sold some in the late seventies and that’s where a ridiculous amount of WW1 military firearms entered the market.
For me this is one of the worst movies of all time. The Japanese spoken was totally wrong for the period (nor was it always correct even for modern Japanese.) A samurai woman addressing a stranger with “anata”? One scene where Tommy wants to tell soldiers to stop, but actually tells them to shut up? There are so many other errors in it, I don’t even know where to start.
A Hollywood take on samurai. Of course everything is wrong in it. Wait, that’s not correct. There is something right in it: there was a Meiji emperor, there were samurai. That’s about it.
The only worse movie I can think of was “Memoirs of a Geisha.” That was truly horrible.
Let me just add this: in reality, the Satsuma rebels were defeated because they were simply outnumbered, and because they made some horrible mistakes during the siege of Kumamoto castle, which allowed the imperial army to deploy. The rebels, in reality, fought with modern weapons. Same during the Boshin War. Both factions fought with modern weapons. The sword, the bow, they were irrelevant. During the Satsuma Rebellion Saigo carried his two swords only as an insignia of rank.
This movie just added to the retarded myth that samurai loathed guns. Samurai quickly realized the potential of guns when they were first introduced, but the Chinese versions were unreliable. The European arquebus and matchlock musket changed that. It is said that for the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 one third of all firearms in the world were built.
Any random jidaigeki (period drama) from Japan is a million times more accurate when it comes to the use of guns.
Mountainbear, Memoirs of a Geisha was awful!
we have a shotgun based on this rifle
Old West Scrounger, an appendage of the Val Forgett / Gibbs Rifle / Navy Arms complex of companies, has been selling these rifles for a while now. AIM’s price is lower though, so I wonder if OWS got tired of sitting on them and decided to part with a number of them at a reduced price tag.
I read through both jumps on a fairly cursory basis, but couldn’t find confirmation that they actually shoot. Did anyone catch what I missed? Do these things work?
I really wish I were a fan of this movie or this particular rifle. Great opportunity for those who are. Really too bad no one makes .43 Mauser ammo at a halfway sane price, though.