For this installment of Plastic Armory, we’re going to up the scale and visit NECA’s Hall of Warriors and see what kind of artillery these ’80s titans of cinema are carrying….
We’ll begin with the biggest action hero from one of the biggest action movies of the decade, Major Dutch Schaeffer from Predator. One of my favorite movies, and now one of my favorite action figures to date, Dutch oozes classic tough-guy cool, and thanks to his web gear, fatigues, and weapons, you could almost count him as a Commando figure too! Predator is very well-known in the gun world and has been for years, although allegedly the over-the-top firefights were a bit of social commentary by the director on the futility of firearms. Suffice to say, I don’t know if that’s the message he got across. Maybe someday, like when NECA does the impossible and gets “The Body” to sign off on his likeness, we can talk about ridiculous cool, like the hand-held mini-gun. But the Governor is busy making conspiracy junk and suing the widows of war heroes. Moving on…
Dutch and crew use a mostly standardized loadout, like squads do, with rifles and sidearms, and then specialists with their designated guns. Interestingly enough, I didn’t realize that Dutch’s squad were mercenaries until I was an adult; as a kid, I saw the fatigues and the M-16s and just figured them for American soldiers. Still, at least as rifles go, they wouldn’t be out of place in a battalion:
M16A1/AR-15
Dutch and Billy use these as their go-to guns while humping it through the boonies for the majority of their screen time. Dutch’s rifle is equipped with the M203 30mm launcher, while Billy prefers the “master key” Mossberg 500 12-Gauge under his. I’ve “researched” this movie lots of times, and it’s tough to tell whether these are really M16A1s, or AR-15s made up to look and shoot like them, but my guess is they are converted ones. Without getting too technical, there is a big ol’ difference between the two: the M16 is a select-fire assault rifle, where as the AR-15 is just a semi-auto rifle. For that reason, the M16 is restricted to LE/Military and very wealthy collectors, so most movie guns are usually the civilian market versions converted and mocked-up to look like the real ones.
The M16 is almost as famous a movie star as Schwarzenegger is, and it has been in the business probably as long or longer, first showing up on film in the late ’60s. It has become synonymous with the American soldier, and, while somewhat notorious in its early use in Vietnam, it has become a staple of the US and her allies for nearly six decades. Its civilian version (AR-15) is built by dozens of companies and is one of the best-selling rifles in the country.
I think they’re okay.
IMI Desert Eagle
Dutch doesn’t mess around. Forgoing the standard US sidearms, like the Beretta M9 or the Colt 1911, Dutch, Mac, Billy, and possibly Poncho all holster DEagles. It’s a shame they never get used in the movie, but NECA’s got that covered toy-wise. THIS is how you work a “close encounter.” Because they don’t get to give the Predator any business, though, I’m not sure which ones these guys prefer: the 9-round .357 Magnum or the 8-round .44 Magnum.
Outside of the 1980s and film, the Desert Eagle is kinda like one of those actors that everybody recognizes, and nobody knows jack about. While seen often in the hands of soldiers and warriors of all kinds, Desert Eagles are really more of a weekend warrior, not fielded officially by any military. So why are Hollywood and gun nuts so horny for this thing? Big damn bullets. DEagles are chambered in Magnum calibers that are generally exclusive to revolvers, making them pretty unique in the handgun world in terms of look, function, and caliber. And yes, they do make them in .50 caliber (.50 AE), which, like aloof actors, sounds really cool til you try and shake its hand.
Next up, we’ll visit with the Colonial Marines from the other half of the franchise. The Marines also carry similar loadouts to each other, and theirs is another squad I hope we can fill out so I can talk flamethrowers and smart guns.
M41A Pulse Rifle
The Colonial Marines’ battle rifle is a high-capacity powerhouse that uses 10mm caseless ammuntion from a 99-round box magazine, and it also incorporates a pump-action 30mm grenade launcher. I love this stupid beast. It has a great militaristic look, a little “futuristic” for its time, but not ridiculous, and it apparently has great ergonomics.
Even better, under the movie magic this thing is really a M1A1 (or maybe M1) Thompson SMG, my favorite gun of all time. In fact, if you watch Aliens closely in the firefights, you can see them spitting .45 blank casings — despite the whole “caseless ammo” thing. If you ever watch the behind-the-scenes features, you can tell the armorers love these things too. I’ll hopefully get an excuse to get into the Thompson on its own another time, but for now let’s just call it one of the most iconic, feared, respected, beautiful weapons ever designed. As Hudson said, I’d carry one “anytime, anywhere.”
“Close Encounters” Ithaca 37 Shotgun
I would bet there’s a cool story about how this relic ended up in Corporal Hick’s gear locker. Starting production in the 1930s (hence the ’37), these were “stakeout” guns intended for Police use. Twelve Gauge, bottom loading and ejecting, and equipped from the factory with a shorty barrel and pistol grip, these are a good choice for tight corners and cramped quarters, and probably not a bad back-up piece for a Marine who likes to cover his bases. I’d wear gloves if I were him, though — damn stockless shotguns hurt like a bitch. In fact, just for the record, pistol grips without stocks on most guns, other than pistols, obviously — they suck. Oh sure, they’re certainly better than nothing, they’re handy in the aforementioned close quarters, and they make storage and concealment easy (if you like giant overcoats), but if you can legally put a stock on the weapon, you are much better for it. Three points of contact (shoulder, grip, and foregrip) will trump holding a weapon like an angry fish any day of the week.
And lastly, we’ll check in with John Rambo from First Blood. It’s a little ironic — for a character that has become infamous for his overkill and over-arming, John really only upped the ante in the last part of the movie, and mostly for property damage. He spent most the show using whatever weapons he could find, along with his killer instincts and cunning.
M60
John pilfers this pig from the back of a National Guard truck before he heads off to confront Will Teasle — maybe to argue about who’s better at pretending they were in ‘Nam — and uses it to surprisingly measured effect, taking out power poles and lights, as well as suppressing any would-be opponents. At least where First Blood is concerned, you could make the case that John understands how to properly use the M60, firing from support when he can, feeding the belt rather than letting it rattle around, etc. Too bad he forgets all that in later movies.
The M60 is a true Vietnam veteran, used on helo gunships, tanks, transports, and just about anything else with a vehicle mount. It was a favorite of special forces, who generally chopped and customed the gun to fit their needs. It is not a light machine gun by any standard, but it is not so heavy as it can’t be used effectively by one person, and the cartridge (7.62x51NATO) is akin to hunting rifles (.308Win) so it can be managed fairly well. I had the chance to fire one prone at a machine-gun shoot a while back, and it is a life-affirming, Rambo-esque experience, but it was a lot more tame than I was expecting, I think.
That clears and locks us for this installment! Thanks for all the kind words and responses!