Die Hard Guns: Cause or Effect?

[Doc_Glock]

I am watching the most excellent Christmas movie Die Hard, and noting all the most excellent, classic and collectible firearms in it. Almost every gun is a desirable classic.

HK P7
Steyr Aug
MP5s aplenty.

Did the producers of this film cause these to be so collectible or were they already known as just being awesome guns in 1988?

Would they be as collectible without the film?

Either way whomever armored this movie had great taste.

[GardoneVT]

I am watching the most excellent Christmas movie Die Hard, and noting all the most excellent, classic and collectible firearms in it. Almost every gun is a desirable classic.

HK P7
Steyr Aug
MP5s aplenty.

Did the producers of this film cause these to be so collectible or were they already known as just being awesome guns in 1988?

Would they be as collectible without the film?

Either way whomever armored this movie had great taste.

IMO it’s just economics. Stuff from 30 years ago gets trendy again, whether it’s guns/clothes/cars etc. Cool thing is you can get a Beretta just like John McClaine’s if you join the right military branch ;)

[S Jenks]

If you haven’t seen it, Hollywood Weapons Season 1 Episode 4 is available through Amazon. They test shooting out a skyscraper window with M9 and MP5 and shoot ballistics gel through a simulated boardroom table. It’s nothing we don’t already know but entertaining, nonetheless.

[SAWBONES]

No, I don't think so, but the exposure certainly didn't hurt those guns' notoriety, either.

Gun aficionados were already well familiar with the Steyr AUG and H&K's MP5 variants, and the H&K P7M8 had made a prominent film appearance (though not its debut), in Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986), some 2 years before Die Hard.

Not to mention that John McClane's Beretta 92F was already popular since it was well known as the US military's new sidearm for some three years by the time Die Hard came out.



I do agree that the film's armorer made good choices.

[sparkyv]

I am watching the most excellent Christmas movie Die Hard,

Indeed. We're watching it tomorrow. :cool:

[FNFAN]

Not to mention that John McClane's Beretta 92F was already popular since it was well known as the US military's new sidearm for some three years by the time Die Hard came out.


Yes, but Martin Riggs made the Beretta cool!:cool:

[JSGlock34]

In the book (Nothing Lasts Forever), the inspiration for McClane (retired NYPD Detective Joe Leland) carries a Browning Hi-Power. Considering the book was written in 1979, I'd say Roderick Thorpe was still ahead of his time, as most police were still armed with revolvers until the later 1980s.

Awesome movie fact - one of the 92 prop gun used in Die Hard by Bruce Willis was previously used in Lethal Weapon by Mel Gibson. It is currently on display at the NRA National Firearms Museum.

The NRA National Firearms Museum is home to a 92FS that was not only used by Willis in “Die Hard,” but was also on screen with Mel Gibson. “Every film’s propmaster has several pistols available for filming if any go down,” explained Doug Wicklund, senior curator, NRA museums. "Ours has the serial number shown on a poster, and it was also used in 'Lethal Weapon.'"

[SAWBONES]

Yes, but Martin Riggs made the Beretta cool!:cool:

Yeah, except when he held up and described one of his gun's 9mm cartridges as "(it's) got a hollow point", while displaying a FMJ round.

Guess JHP ammunition was considered by Hollywood to be too radical to show on the screen back then. :rolleyes:

[Cypher]

Yes, but Martin Riggs made the Beretta cool!:cool:

That was a Christmas Movie too

[Maple Syrup Actual]

This is just a guess but I would say "indirectly yes".

My belief is that one of the key drivers of gun... collectability? Collectableness? Desirability for the purposes of collectors.

My belief is that one of the key drivers of DFTPOC is now whether the gun has been featured in hugely successful video games. A lot of games are pretty specific about what gun your character is using; we all recognize stuff in movies but you can be totally new to guns and still read the "you have found an MP5" alert in a game.

So I think a lot of today's collectors were influenced by whatever was featured in GoldenEye etc. They buy up the guns, and that creates a feedback loop of price increases and the perception of desirability.

And I think the guys who programmed those games WERE directly influenced by movies like Die Hard.

I don't know any games enough to know what guns were in them but I bet you could go back and find that the cool guns in Die Hard make a lot of appearances in video games five years later.

This is just my theory, I have never tested the hypothesis.

[10mmfanboy]

Those movies made me buy a Glock 7. It's made of porcelain and it had taken 2 damn months to save up for.

[JSGlock34]

I don't think Beretta needed much help selling pistols after the M9 contract, but I remember walking into a Florida gun store in 1989 and seeing this poster plastered all over the sizable Beretta section.

https://d3tudoxwnizvk7.cloudfront.net/gallery-jpeg/lethal_weapon_2_posterlarge_0-343271431.jpg

On the other hand, I always thought this fan poster would've worked...

https://i.imgur.com/dQ7iDIG.png

[Cypher]

I knew a girl who absolutely had to have a Colt Python because she saw it in The Walking Dead

[Balisong]

In the book (Nothing Lasts Forever), the inspiration for McClane (retired NYPD Detective Joe Leland) carries a Browning Hi-Power. Considering the book was written in 1979, I'd say Roderick Thorpe was still ahead of his time, as most police were still armed with revolvers until the later 1980s.

Awesome movie fact - one of the 92 prop gun used in Die Hard by Bruce Willis was previously used in Lethal Weapon by Mel Gibson. It is currently on display at the NRA National Firearms Museum.

The NRA National Firearms Museum is home to a 92FS that was not only used by Willis in “Die Hard,” but was also on screen with Mel Gibson. “Every film’s propmaster has several pistols available for filming if any go down,” explained Doug Wicklund, senior curator, NRA museums. "Ours has the serial number shown on a poster, and it was also used in 'Lethal Weapon.'"

That's an interesting and ironic fact about that gun being in a NRA museum considering how at least one of the Lethal Weapon movies very directly bashed the NRA.

[Hieronymous]

Yes, but Martin Riggs made the Beretta cool!:cool:

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve tried to shoot smiley faces more than once :)

[fly out]

They're universally cool guns.

I've posted the link to the helicopter mag dump in LW before, and I have it on my phone. We all know it.

If a new shooter is doing well, at the end of our session I'll remind them of the scene (generally that means I'll play it on my phone), and then tell them to pull the trigger as fast as they can. Big smiles.

[Hambo]

The two pistols that were hot in that era were the Glock 17, which was new, and the Beretta 92F, which had been adopted by the military. You could say that Hollywood used them because they were already the hot guns of the era. The P7 was nowhere near as popular. P7s bring big money now because they're no longer in production.

I think the credit for making firearms part of the story and character goes to Miami Vice. Diehard and Lethal Weapon used guns that had been in Vice for years.

[Wondering Beard]

So I think a lot of today's collectors were influenced by whatever was featured in GoldenEye etc. They buy up the guns, and that creates a feedback loop of price increases and the perception of desirability.

And not just guns.

Golden Eye essentially made the Omega Seamaster Diver 300 and, arguably, helped the company be profitable again.

People like to be part of a certain image and the props that made it get desired now, then become part of the culture, then become collectors' desires.

[echo5charlie]

I am not ashamed to admit that Die Hard did influence my interest in the 92-series and MP5. I bought my M9 Limited Edition back in 2000 to practice for quals when I was in the Marines. The MP5 is a POF MP5 pistol I SBR'd about 5 years ago because reasons, mostly Die Hard reasons. FWIW, I do have actual trigger time on real MP5s, I just can't justify the cost of a transferable setup and if I *really* wanted to I could just get one on a demo letter.



46365

[Baldanders]

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve tried to shoot smiley faces more than once :)

This, and Dale Cooper's "two through the eye sockets, two through the nostrils," are the most memorable fictional scenes at a gun range.

[Baldanders]

The two pistols that were hot in that era were the Glock 17, which was new, and the Beretta 92F, which had been adopted by the military. You could say that Hollywood used them because they were already the hot guns of the era. The P7 was nowhere near as popular. P7s bring big money now because they're no longer in production.

I think the credit for making firearms part of the story and character goes to Miami Vice. Diehard and Lethal Weapon used guns that had been in Vice for years.

We didn't have the phrase "gun hipster" then, but they still existed, and they all lusted after the P7M13.

[Kyle Reese]

Those movies made me buy a Glock 7. It's made of porcelain and it had taken 2 damn months to save up for.

https://youtu.be/ecwK3UMxoxQ


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Maple Syrup Actual]

And not just guns.

Golden Eye essentially made the Omega Seamaster Diver 300 and, arguably, helped the company be profitable again.

People like to be part of a certain image and the props that made it get desired now, then become part of the culture, then become collectors' desires.

Christmas vindication!

I didn't know that about the Omegas but there you go, the principle is sound.

[DC_P]

On Netflix there is a series called ‘The Movies That Made Us’ about 80s films, one of which is Die Hard. Very little if any gun talk, but still entertaining.

[GardoneVT]

On Netflix there is a series called ‘The Movies That Made Us’ about 80s films, one of which is Die Hard. Very little if any gun talk, but still entertaining.

They did talk about some of the gun stuff, like filming the shooting scenes while other parts of the building were open for business. The thought of a vapid corporate meeting being interrupted by full auto MP5 fire from the floor above is just too hilarious for words.

[JSGlock34]

I've been thinking about trading my Steyr AUG...towards a P7...the Die Hard equilibrium must be maintained.

[Hambo]

We didn't have the phrase "gun hipster" then, but they still existed, and they all lusted after the P7M13.

Some of us carried a P7M13. ;) They were good guns, but the hype was just that. I shot my P7s a lot, I repaired them a lot, and I don't miss them at all.

[JSGlock34]

Some of us carried a P7M13. ;) They were good guns, but the hype was just that. I shot my P7s a lot, I repaired them a lot, and I don't miss them at all.

What was prone to breakage?

[Hambo]

What was prone to breakage?

Mainly TRS and striker collets. Collets were quick and easy to replace, TRS not so much. I had spares of those plus 1-2 other parts (can't recall those now).

[farscott]

What was prone to breakage?

The drop safety spring broke on both of my P7M8 samples. That breakage meant the gun was not drop safe and the drop safety catch could cause move around causing the gun to not fire. So it was possible the pistol would fire if dropped or not fire when the trigger and cocking lever were depressed. I also broke a firing pin bushing. Parts availability is much better now that it was in the middle 1990s. Back then HK took months to fill parts orders.

A good spare parts kit has the drop safety spring, trigger spring, extractor spring, extractor, firing pin spring, firing pin rebound spring, firing pin, firing pin bushing, sear lever spring, sear, recoil spring, and magazine springs.

[Duelist]

The drop safety spring broke on both of my P7M8 samples. That breakage meant the gun was not drop safe and the drop safety catch could cause move around causing the gun to not fire. So it was possible the pistol would fire if dropped or not fire when the trigger and cocking lever were depressed. I also broke a firing pin bushing. Parts availability is much better now that it was in the middle 1990s. Back then HK took months to fill parts orders.

A good spare parts kit has the drop safety spring, trigger spring, extractor spring, extractor, firing pin spring, firing pin rebound spring, firing pin, firing pin bushing, sear lever spring, sear, recoil spring, and magazine springs.

So, the equivalent of a Glock rebuild kit, plus a few things?

[Baldanders]

Some of us carried a P7M13. ;) They were good guns, but the hype was just that. I shot my P7s a lot, I repaired them a lot, and I don't miss them at all.

Overhyped and prone to breakage? Perfect hipster gun!

I have never shot one, but was convinced they were awesome when I didn't know shit.

I wish I had shot one on a rental range when I had the chance though. The only guy I know who has owned one was lukewarm about it and sold it. "Great gun, but it requires a different skill set than all my other pistols," paraphrasing him.

[Det1397]

Merry Christmas! The Paramount Network is running Die Hard straight for the rest of the day! yippee ki yay

[CCT125US]

Merry Christmas! The Paramount Network is running Die Hard straight for the rest of the day! yippee ki yay

Thank you! Just set the DVR. For some reason I don't own this DVD.

[Colt191145lover]

Defenitly made a impact, my 8 year old picked out the shirt for me.

46373

[Bucky]

Die Hard or Lethal Weapon never hooked me on the 92. I somehow fell into the crowd that thought Berettas were junk and the P226 should have been the M9.

Fast forward many years and I needed a 9mm for the then new production division. I rented every 9mm they had and the Beretta love affair began.

[GardoneVT]

Defenitly made a impact, my 8 year old picked out the shirt for me.

46373

BATF has entered the chat

[MistWolf]

I am watching the most excellent Christmas movie Die Hard, and noting all the most excellent, classic and collectible firearms in it. Almost every gun is a desirable classic.

HK P7
Steyr Aug
MP5s aplenty.

Did the producers of this film cause these to be so collectible or were they already known as just being awesome guns in 1988?

Would they be as collectible without the film?

Either way whomever armored this movie had great taste.

Everyone I knew at the time hated the Beretta when Die Hard and Lethal Weapon were released.

[Drang]

Everyone I knew at the time hated the Beretta when Die Hard and Lethal Weapon were released.

Me, too, but that was probably due to the pretty much universally poor performance when they rolled them out at Ft Ord; IIRC, the qualification rate for officers was approaching zero...

[Hambo]

So, the equivalent of a Glock rebuild kit, plus a few things?

But unavailable.