#DirtyHarry

There's something about certain firearms in movies that just sticks with you long after the credits roll. These aren't necessarily the best guns in real life - hell, some of them are pretty terrible choices for actual use - but they became legends because of how they were used on screen. I'm not claiming this is the definitive list or anything like that. There are probably fifty other guns that could make a case for being here. But these ten? They changed how we think about firearms in movies, and some of them even influenced the real gun market in ways that surprised everyone.

Welcome back to Guns of the Decades. Here, we’ll pick a firearm from a decade, and briefly talk about where it was at the time. It’s not meant to be an all-encompassing detailed record of the firearm or a claim that it was the best firearm of the decade. It's a fun read with a different take on a gun at a specific time. In this week’s article, the decade will be the 1970s, and the firearm will be the Smith & Wesson Model 29. The Model 29 is a .44 caliber handgun, made incredibly popular by the films of the time. The most notable film the Model 29 appeared in was the Dirty Harry series of films, but it also appeared in several other movies including Taxi Driver.