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Padeen's Replies
I think your right. There was no magazine on the rifle now that I think of it. I have a couple pictures of the rifle that the director sent me when I inquired. If you want to message me your email, I can forward it to you.
We don't know the exact dates except that it takes place late in the 19th Century.
I've never heard of semi-smokeless powder either. Smokeless powder was first invented by the French in 1884, was adopted by their Military in 1887 and most European Countries followed this example. My Argentine
Mauser was built for smokeless powder and shoots modern factory ammo just fine.
I don't totally understand what semi-smokeless powder is, but I keep coming back to this response for an explanation:
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"I'm not sure that semi-smokeless is actually mixed black and smokeless powder."
It wasn't.
King's Semi-smokeless powder was based largely on nitrated wood pulp, giving it roughly 20% nitrocellulose.
Lesmoke powder actually had charcoal as part of the mixture and contained only 10 to 20% nitrocellulose.
It was the filler components that gave much of the smoke in these, and similar, powders.
Apparently they also left a fair amount of barrel residue, as well.
Solved. Got an email back from the director.
'"I can remember talking about it with the art departement and the people providing the guns. I remember I said it should be an old rifle (also in the story which is set late 19th century) and how many times it should be able to fire.
If memory serves right we settled for an old Hungarian rifle. Can’t remember the exact type, though."
"I think the guns and rifles in the movie are correctly dated, except for the captive bolt pistol that is used to slaughter the pig. I knew I was using something that was invented a few years later, but I figured we could get away with that."
So with that said, I'll assume its a Mannlicher M1888.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannlicher_M1888
Here's my theory. I think it could have been a Dutch Beaumont M1871. There were lots of Dutch settlers in that area and time period, so it wouldn't be far fetched to bring a rifle since most were farmers or agricultural laborers. Not to mention the Liz's family and the whole Church Congregation were Dutch as well.
The director Martin Koolhoven has a website, so I sent him a message. I will post his reply if he responds.
I've got to admit I loved Papillon, both the book and movie. I'm looking forward to the remake with Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek. I think they nailed the casting on this one.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5093026/
For a more off beat prison movie, what about "Bronson"? That was one crazy flick. If I had to name one more classic, it would be "In the Name of the Father". For a lesser known prison movie, check out "Dog Pound". It's an intense movie about a Juvenile Prison in Montana.
Yup, your correct. I actually own both an 1891 Argentine Mauser Carbine and an 1895 Chilean Mauser Carbine. Both are totally functional and are amazing rifles for the time period. There are still plenty for sale on Gunbroker and Empire Arms, which is a great site for old rifles.
About the rifle used in the movie though, I'm surprised its not listed on Internet Movie Firearms Database yet. I'm sure at some point someone will and the mystery will be over!