Most Famous Guns in Movies and TV

In “First Blood,” Stallone plays Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient John Rambo. Haunted by his war experience and harassed by a corrupt local sheriff in Washington state, Rambo is pushed to violence. In the film’s climax, Rambo goes on a rampage in town wielding an M60 machine gun.

The 23 pound M60, also known as “The Pig,” is a belt-fed automatic weapon capable of firing 600 rounds per minute. Officially adopted by the U.S. Army in 1957, the M60, chambered for 7.62 NATO ammunition, was used widely in Vietnam and is still carried by armed forces around the world.

The Dirty Harry series of five films began with the 1971 film “Dirty Harry” and ended with “The Dead Pool” in 1988. The series stars Clint Eastwood as the title character, Inspector Harry Callahan, a hard-nosed San Francisco cop who is unafraid to circumvent his inept department’s bureaucracy to deliver his own brand of justice – often from the barrel of a Smith & Wesson revolver.

In the series, Callahan carries a .44 magnum Model 29 S&W, which he famously claims is the most powerful handgun in the world. At the time of the first film’s release, this may have been true, but in the decades since, more powerful handguns have hit the market. The Model 29 revolver was introduced in 1955 and remains in production today.

The crime drama “Scarface” tells the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana, who rises from criminal henchman to international drug kingpin, trafficking cocaine from South America to the streets of Miami – burning bridges and making enemies along the way.

In a climactic, drug-fueled shootout, Montana introduces an advancing hit-squad to his “little friend,” an M203 grenade launcher attached to a Colt AR-15 assault rifle. The M203, which fires 40mm grenades, was introduced in 1969 and was widely used by American forces in Vietnam.

The John Wick series of action movies began with the 2014 release of “John Wick,” and now encompasses three additional films, the latest of which is 2023’s “John Wick: Chapter 4”. The series begins with the title character, a legendary hitman who comes out of retirement to seek revenge, using both the skill-set he developed in his career and a Heckler & Koch P30L pistol.

The P30L is a longer barreled version of the P30 pistol, introduced in 2006 as the P3000 and carried by police departments around the world. The P30L has a maximum magazine capacity of 17 rounds in 9mm and 13 rounds in .40 caliber.

Over the course of 26 films spanning more than half a century, British secret agent James Bond (007) has saved the world from threats that few outside the intelligence community were even remotely aware of. Throughout the series, Bond has been portrayed by no fewer than six actors, to varying degrees of acclaim. But regardless of the era, or who portrays the hero, Agent 007 uses his expertise – invariably consisting of intellect, charm, and more than a little luck – to accomplish his mission. Secondary tools, including high-tech gadgetry as well as firearms, also have a role to play.

The Bond films that do not feature the PPK as his weapon of choice are the exception, making the gun, without question, the most iconic firearm in the franchise – and perhaps in the history of cinema. A compact, concealable pistol ideal for undercover work, the PPK was first released in 1930 as a scaled down version of the Walther Police Pistol, or PP. The PPK is semi-automatic and available in several calibers, including .32 and .380 ACP.

Adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, “No Country for Old Men” took home multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem’s performance as a Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic killer tracking down millions of dollars from a drug deal gone wrong.

The film received little praise for its historical accuracy, however, as the gun wielded by Chigurh for much of the film – set in 1980 – was a 12 gauge Remington 11-87 semi-automatic shotgun, which did not hit the market until 1987.

Set in the antebellum South, director Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” tells the story of Django Freeman, an enslaved man seeking to reunite with his wife after they were separated at a slave auction. In true Tarantino fashion, the film is violent and features a high body count, often from the business end of Django’s six-shooter – a Remington 1858.

The .44 caliber single-action revolver was widely used by Union troops in the Civil War. The gun featured an octagonal barrel and had an effective range of about 75 yards.

The Dollar Trilogy is a series of three Spaghetti Westerns – “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” – starring Clint Eastwood as a drifter and gunslinger. In “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” the final and most acclaimed film of the series, Eastwood’s character, who goes by the nickname Blondie, carries several iconic firearms – the first of which is a 1874 Sharps Rifle.

In the film, Blondie uses the rifle to shoot through a hangman’s rope at distance to free Tuco, a man with whom he has a short-lived partnership. The Sharps Rifle was available in both .45-70 and .50-70 caliber. The gun featured for most of the film is a muzzle-loading .36 caliber 1851 Navy Colt Revolver.

The Desert Eagle is a Hollywood favorite, reportedly featured in over 500 movies, television shows, and video games. One of the biggest films in which it appears is “The Matrix,” in which Neo, a computer hacker played by Keanu Reeves, is exposed to the disturbing nature of reality. Neo becomes a man hunted by a team of agents armed with Desert Eagles.

The Desert Eagle is a semi-automatic pistol that was developed and produced by Magnum Research and Israeli Military Industries. A large-caliber weapon, the pistol is sold today in .50 caliber and .44 magnum caliber variations.

James Cameron’s highly acclaimed sci-fi action movie “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” featured Schwarzenegger as the T-800 “Terminator,” a robotic assassin sent back in time to protect humanity’s future savior from another, more advanced Terminator. The movie features the use of multiple firearms, but one of the most memorable is an M134 Minigun, which the T-800 uses to fend off police while his human accomplices attempt to destroy the offices of Skynet, the company that will be unwittingly responsible for the collapse of society.

Though typically mounted on small aircraft and ground vehicles, in the film, the Minigun is carried by the T-800. The Minigun features six rotating barrels and a 4,000-round magazine of 7.62x51mm NATO cartridges, which it can fire at a rate 50 rounds per second.

In the earliest films of the Star Wars franchise, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker carry futuristic blasters to fight against Imperial Forces under Darth Vader. Though fictional, these guns were nothing more than Mauser C96 pistols, modified with a barrel shroud and a scope.

Carried by future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the 1898 Battle of Battle of Omdurman, the Mauser C96 was a semi-automatic handgun introduced in 1896, available in either 7.63x25mm or 9mm, with a broomhandle stock.

Clint Eastwood’s final western was the widely acclaimed “Unforgiven.” True to form, Eastwood’s character, William Munny, is out for revenge, dolling it out with an assortment of iconic firearms from the Old West. For much of the film, Munny is docile and reluctant to resort to violence, but that all changes when his partner is killed by a corrupt sheriff and Munny takes to drinking – an old habit that begets others, including gunslinging.

The firearms wielded by Munny include a Starr 1854 Army percussion revolver and a Spencer 1860 repeating rifle. The Starr was a .44 caliber double-action revolver, widely used in the Civil War. The Spencer .56-56 caliber rifle was an early repeater, also used in the Civil War, and capable of firing up to 20 shots per minute.

In this classic crime drama, an aging mafia boss, Vito Corleone, hands over control of his criminal empire to his youngest son, Michael Corleone. While many firearms feature prominently in the film, perhaps the most iconic is the Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver. Each of the three Coreone brothers is seen carrying the Model 36 at various points in the movie – most notably, when Michael retrieves the gun from a restaurant toilet stall to avenge his father’s assassination attempt by executing another mobster and a police captain.

Known as the Chief’s Special, the Model 38 was introduced in 1950. A small gun, chambered in .38 special, featured a five-shot cylinder and a barrel just over two2 inches long. The gun was discontinued in 1999 but reintroduced in 2008.

The first film in the Mad Max franchise, from which the series derives its name, is set in a dystopian future and finds Mel Gibson’s character, (Mad) Max Rockatansky, seeking revenge against a motorcycle gang.

In that film and its first sequel, Max’s favored gun is a VG Bentley, while in the third, he uses a Rossi Overland. Both are break-action 12 gauge shotguns with sawn-off double barrels, making them illegal in the United States – but apparently not in Australia in an alternate universe.

“Bonnie and Clyde” tells the story of the infamous Depression Era criminal duo, played by Beatty and Faye Dunaway. The film was not always historically accurate, however, and many of the firearms featured in the movie were not necessarily the same models used by the real-life robbers. One inaccuracy was the Barrow Gang’s use of the Thompson M1928 submachine gun. In reality, the gang preferred to use the much larger and more powerful Browning Automatic Rifle.

On the other hand, Clyde’s use of the Colt M1911A1 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol was one detail the movie got right. The pistol, adopted by the U.S. military in the 1920s, is one of the most enduring pistol designs in history. Between the years immediately before and after World War II, an estimated 1.8 million 1911M model pistols were manufactured by Colt and other gun makers.

Set in New Mexico in the late 1800s, “The Rifleman” followed the exploits of widower Lucas McCain as he assisted law enforcement in maintaining order while raising his son and looking after his ranch. The title of the series is a reference to McCain, a man of few words who often lets his modified Winchester Model 1892 carbine do the talking.

The Winchester Model 1892 lever-action rifle was manufactured until 1941, with more than a million produced. The gun was available in three chamberings. The M1892 featured in the show fired .44-40 caliber ammunition, the largest available. In real life, the 1892 was used by legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

“The Searchers” tells the story of Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards, who spends years looking for his niece, who’d been captured by a party of Comanche raiders. The movie, though a classic, is also well-known for some notable errors. For one thing, it was obviously shot in Utah’s Monument Valley though the story takes place in Texas. Additionally, the Colt Single Action Army revolver wielded by several characters in the film, including Ethan Edwards, did not come out until years after the film supposedly took place.

The Model 1873 Colt .45 single action revolver was adopted by the U.S. Army in July 1873, and made available for civilians before the year was out. Widely used in the Old West, it earned the nickname “Peacemaker.” Though replaced by the Army in the 1890s, the Peacemaker was an iconic weapon, famously chosen as a personal sidearm by General Patton throughout his North African and European campaigns in the Second World War.

Clint Eastwood portrays the title character in “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” a Missouri farmer in the Civil War era avenging the murder of his murdered family, only to be pursued in turn by bounty hunters.

Wales employs multiple firearms at various points in the movie, including a Colt Walker 1847 and a Colt Army Model 1860 revolver. The .44 caliber Walker revolver, widely used in the Mexican-American War, is reportedly the most powerful sidearm ever issued by the U.S. military. The six-shot .44 caliber Army Model 1860, meanwhile, was the primary handgun in the Union army during the Civil War, with over 200,000 produced between 1860 and 1873.

“Have Gun – Will Travel” concerned a San Francisco-based gentleman gunslinger for hire, known as Paladin. Paladin employed the use of multiple firearms at his clients’ bidding, including a Colt .45 revolver and lever-action Winchester rifle. But the most unusual firearm that made multiple appearances in the show was a Remington Model 95 derringer pistol, which Paladin often kept in his belt.

The derringer had two three-inch nickel-plated barrels and fired .41 short rimfire cartridges. Likely the most popular derringer style pistol ever made, the Remington Model 95 was introduced in 1866 and remained in production until 1935.

In the Lethal Weapon film franchise, two cops who could not be more different – Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh – are forced by their department to partner up. Riggs, a suicidal loner, and Murtaugh, an aging, level-headed family man, even have starkly different tastes when it comes to their service weapons. Riggs, played by Gibson, carries a semi-automatic Beretta 92, while Glover’s character, Murtaugh, chooses an old-school S&W Model 19 revolver.

In the first film, Riggs uses a 92F model, and in all subsequent films, a 92FS. The two guns are in the same family and have only minor differences. Introduced in 1976, the Model 92 is a 9mm pistol, a variation of which was the official sidearm of the U.S. military from the mid-1980s until 2017. Meanwhile, though slower firing, with a smaller ammunition capacity, the S&W Model 19 is chambered for .357 magnum rounds, and is far more powerful than the Beretta. First introduced in 1955, the Model 19 went out of production in the 1990s, but re-emerged in 2018.