Frank Buck's pistol

[BlueTrain]

This may sound like a movie trivia question and it is, sort of, but I hope to generate a little serious discussion on the topic.

Frank Buck was a real life "adventurer" and animal trainer/catcher. In the style of Marlin Perkins (nothing to do with the rifle) and all the guys on Animal Planet, he also made a few movies. In one still photo of him I have seen, he is armed with a 1911 .45 (presumably-maybe a .38 Super). Although some of his movie adventures were somewhat staged, perhaps the gun he is shown with was his personal choice for a handgun and perhaps not.

I personally have my doubts, though the .38 ACP and .38 Super had their fans. Not so sure about the .45 as a gun to carry in the jungle. I think most of his exploits were in southern and southeastern Asis. He also started doing that well before the .357 came out and I'm sure he pretty much ceased his overseas activities when the war started. He died around 1950.

Would Frank Buck have carried a 1911? None of the current crop ever seem to but I did spot a backup with some character armed with a G3, so it isn't as if they ignore the obvious.

 

[RJay]

Before 1950 , the 1911 was as good as any thing available. Remember you are refering to the 1930s before the 357, 44 mag or any of the other super guns. Most of his movies were staged just as Perkins TV show was ( as we later found out ).

 

[Handy]

G3s weren't on the scene until the early '60s. When were these films made?

 

[BlueTrain]

I noticed the G3 in an episode with Jeff Corwin, which is this decade, this century. That may have been the first time I've ever noticed a firearm in a recent wildlife or nature program.

I was aware that the Zoo Parade programs had staged action but you will pretty much have to do that to produce a television show, in the same sense that the Olympics that you see on TV are a television show and not an athletic event, if you follow me.

Judging from the photo, Frank Buck must have had huge hands, by the way.

There was another similiar individual who also made a few movies in the '30's or '40's(Buck was only in four or five) but I can't think of his name but he was later associated with circuses, I believe.

Today I suspect that many might have suggested the .45 Colt revolver, either the SAA or the New Service. Some very early outdoor writers (including advertising copy writers) apparently believed a handgun was an essential item for last ditch defense against dangerous animals and nearly always recommended a revolver. Elmer Keith could be said to be among them, I guess. Colt, of course, made a pitch for their .38 Super and earlier for the .38 ACP, presumably the long slide model. I wouldn't feel uneasy with a .45 Government Model.

 

[Handy]

I'm confused. Are we talking about a figure from the 1930s, today, or both? Note the dates in Rjay's post.

 

[GeorgeF]

Well, you're in luck. I happen to own two of Frank Buck's books (very entertaining), autographed to my grandmother. I've read them quite a few times and any time a pistol is mentioned, it is a revolver.

Remember, he trapped wild animals for zoos, so killing them wasnt his focus. Majority of the time whenever a firearm is mentioned in the book it is a rifle. But there are those rare occasions where a pistol is used.

I will dig up the books and see what I can find.

 

[BlueTrain]

To answer Handy's question, Frank Buck was a writer, film maker and trapped wild animals. He did most of his work in the 1920's through the 1940's. He died in 1950. Seeing a (posed) photo of him with a jungle background and a Colt automatic in his hand prompted me to wonder what he may have actually used and whether or not a Colt automatic, particularly a .45 ACP, would have made sense and if it still would.

I made reference to later personalities for comparison because they present, well, a kinder, gentler and frankly, riskier approach to nature or outdoor documentary films. Along these same lines, I am reminded of a recent film I just saw on TV about a guy who went to Alaska in 1968 and built a cabin in what in now Lake Clark National Park, on Twin Lakes. He was certainly of the latter mold but nevertheless took along a .357 revolver and a Springfield .30-06.

 

[Handy]

Ah, the G3 was with someone else.

Back then, .45 ACP, the ballistic equivalent of .45 Colt, was a pretty heavy duty caliber. I think it would have been a realistic choice.

 

[45-70]

Bring 'Em Back Alive

... If you are old enough, that's what you think when you hear someone say "Frank Buck." I think we used to have one of his books around the house, and I think that was the title.

 

[Dfariswheel]

I once read that Buck sometimes carried a Colt Super .38, as it was then known.

Back in the pre-war days the Colt Super .38 was a favorite of some big game hunters and trappers due to its reputation for penetrating deeper than most any other round.

 

[star9mm]

here was another similiar individual who also made a few movies in the '30's or '40's(Buck was only in four or five) but I can't think of his name but he was later associated with circuses, I believe.

You're probably referring to Clyde Beatty, ace animal trainer and animal capturer, who appeared in a couple of Mascot serials in the mid Thirties as well as a few films here and there, and later ran his own circus. He was the genuine article.

 

[BlueTrain]

Clyde Beatty was indeed the other fellow I was thinking of. Good picture of him, better than the ones I've seen of him.

Some of the very early travelogue and outdoor "true-life" adventure filmmakers were real adventurers in every sense of the word. They went to exotic places before world travel became a common thing and before exotic places became, well, less exotic. I suppose most of them went well armed and some of them mentioned that fact in passing in their writings, though none of them ever had Indiana Jones style gunfights, evidently. In fact, the wife of one early filmmaker who traveled extensively by airplane in Africa and Asia (and whose name also escapes me) listed in her book "I Married Adventure" (naturally) the guns they usually took and seemed almost embarassed about it. I'm embarassed than I can't remember their names and I even have an autographed copy of the book. Unfortunately, he died in a plane crash and that was the end of their filmmaking.

OK, here we go. The other couple I was thinking of were Martin and Osa Johnson. She was from Kansas. They have a little corner in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where you can also see Lindberg's rifle.