PATTON PISTOLS
All photographs courtesy of the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor, Fort Knox, KY.
GEN George S. Patton pistols and holster.
Above: GEN George S. Patton pistols.
Above: The lower pistol is the authentic Patton SAA. The upper pistol is a prop used in the movie “Patton” and carried by George C. Scott. The grips on the prop gun are painted wood with crude initials carved in. One can only wonder what other actors carried this gun in other films.
Above: The lower pistol is the authentic Patton S&W .357.
In this side by side comparison the authentic Patton weapons are on the left.
posted by Couvi | 5:47 PM
7 Comments:
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Nice work! General Patton also carried a Colt M1903 .380 ACP (and even a borrowed M1903 in .32 ACP from General Bradley.) But I doubt he took them very seriously.
He competed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics and in the Modern Pentathlon and blew the pistol course (although he insisted his larger .38 Caliber round passed through one of the other holes. At the time his assertion was ridiculed, he could not replicate the feat.) He placed 5th over all. His revolver was a Flat Top Colt Target model, later to be designated the Officer's Model .38 Target.
There was a Snub Nosed Colt in .38 Special that had three Ivory stars inlaid in the plain walnut grips that made the El Paso/Ft. Worth/Dallas Gun Shows for years that was claimed to have belonged to Patton, but this could never be proved and of course General Patton would have had it revamped for five stars when he attained that rank.
However a very early Colt Match Target Woodsman that was stationed at Fort Riley for many years did turn out to be a private purchase made by Patton while stationed there (He was the school's Master of the Sword and taught swordsmanship.) It had the less desirable low speed mainspring and was never modified. It disappeared shortly after the George C. Scott effort debut in 1970. Then President Nixon watched the film repeatedly and quoting Patton's "That is why America has never and will never loose a war" phrase drew up the plans for the invasion of Cambodia, the day before May Day the Communist holiday. After the May 4th Kent State protest and shooting and despite being a huge success on the ground, the invasion was heavily scaled back and many U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were left to fend for themselves and find their own way back across the border with Viet Nam. I was unfortunately one of those individuals.
Thank you for the Site and the opportunity to air my useless knowledge!
Jerome Scott Larochelle
Seems like quite old version of these Guns, but it looks classy as ever.
Didn't Patton lose a pistol in Europe?
Email me the answer. Thank you.
Didn't Patton lose a pistol in Europe?
I just completed a long article on Patton myself, as a former equestrian and freelance tack cleaner / repairer at horse shows. Thank you so much for sharing this information and these photos!
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