The SPN gun meta post no one asked for

[niche_pastiche]

The SPN gun meta post no one asked for

One fun tidbit from SPN is that everybody has symbolic guns except Cas. Who doesn’t use guns. (Except for once, but we’re getting to that.)

So, right. Starting in season 1, we see that Dean props the truck of Baby open with a shotgun. The contents are the messiest in the first season. 

(I’ve gone ahead and put the rest under the cut because this post gets kinda long. Seriously, I’m pretty sure guns are this show’s love language y’all.)

The gun he uses to prop open the trunk to be able to sort through his baggage is the sawed off Ithaca 37 shotgun that Sam eventually develops a preference for.

(Okay, so quick side note. After season 2 they got a different armorer and that’s when the consistent purposeful gun symbolism starts to really take shape. Season 1, they’re just kind of stumbling into it by sheer luck.)

The Ithaca is Sam in the visual language of the show.

The two shotguns we see the boys welding the first few seasons are Sam’s Ithaca, and the side by side sawed off. 

The side by side sawed off is something all of them use (until Dean gets his own unique shotgun) but it’s something that the show uses to symbolize family, safety, home, and Bobby Singer.

Right so lets dig into this some more. We’ll start with Bobby Singer.

The shotgun he is most closely associated with a sawed off double barrel shotgun. Which is interesting because that’s usually a redneck-villain/cold baddass gun. It’s the gun you’d give to the scary redneck character. Or like… Generic Action Hero McStubble face.

BUT that’s just because it’s sawed off. The sawed off part is what adds the hollywood action movie layers. And season 1 was very much only drawing from movie short hand. But later seasons build on it. 

Because regular shotguns are for stuff like hunting and home defense.

Providing and protecting.

And this gun comes to have that connotation too within the visual language of this show. It’s used by the boys a lot too. This is a little family-unit symbol of a gun. It’s also The only gun we ever see Cas use in the show. It happens only once. And it’s one Bobby gives to him.

EXT. BOBBY’S YARD
BOBBY: What’s your problem?
CASTIEL: This is what they mean by “the 11th hour,” right?
BOBBY: Pretty much.
CASTIEL: Well, it’s the 11th hour, and I am useless. All I have is this. ( Castiel waves a shotgun What am I even supposed to do with it?
BOBBY: Point it and shoot.
CASTIEL: What I used to be –
BOBBY: Are you really gonna bitch –to me? Quit pining for the varsity years…And load the damn truck.

And later, Cas shoots this symbolic gun, rescuing Sam while fighting alongside Bobby. And Cas is like “Family. A father figure that cares. Interesting.”

Okay, what Cas really said was “Actually, these things can be useful.” but the symbolism is there.

It’s important to remember that Kripke describes this show as a Midwestern. So it uses the visual language of westerns.

And it has gun culture running through its blood.

Guns are shown as noble here. There was one episode with a clear anti gun message in it, but it used a knife as a stand in for Jack playing with a gun and getting a friend shot. 

Knives carry all the symbolism that an anti-gun piece of media would give to guns in this show. Which is REALLY interesting because guns are given all the nobility a fantasy nerd would expect from swords.

And that is very much how folks like the Winchesters would think of their guns. Like swords, passed down from generation to generation.

Anyway. I got off track.

So Bobby’s shotgun is a classic sawed off. But his signature sidearm is a Colt Single Action Army, which tells us a lot about Bobby.

That is THE Colt Peacemaker.

You have to pull back the hammer manually each time you want to fire it. (Which is why people in westerns do that funny thing with two hands to “fan the hammer” to fire in quick succession in like… a saloon shootout)

Bobby’s old fashioned. He’s classic. He’s got an old fashioned gun which has… IDK how to explain this but it’s a gun that has soul to it. (I’ll come back to this)

it’s unadorned but it’s still got soul and character and you adjust the sights by filing down the hammer and like… It’s everything Bobby Singer in gun form.

Since we’re talking about revolvers, lets talk about “The Colt” for a second.
(A Colt Paterson 1836.)

Actually, let’s talk about the Winchester Family Tree first.

It goes Henry Winchester>John Winchester> Dean (& Sam but Dean’s the first born and thus inherits the guns and the car.)

John’s got a BUNCH of war vet and/or POW symbolism, Vietnam specifically but also just in general. (and some of it’s just plain text)

His symbolic gun is The Colt. (Though Dean’s 1911 started out as his too in the same way Baby did. But that was season one before they really ironed this stuff out and it’s just in one flashback so feel free to ignore that if you want.)

The Colt is a war trophy of sorts, having been taken from a vampire nest. Which instantly catapults in to Significant Family Heirloom status. And it’s also the property of John’s deceased mentor, Danny Elkins. Which would honestly be enough to give it that status on it’s own.

And it’s meant to kill Azazel and then John’s ghost comes back from hell and helps Dean use it to kill Azazel.

It’s also a colt single action.

I mention Henry Winchester because the granddaddy of modern repeating arms was the Henry repeating rifle which was later succeeded by the Winchester carbine.

“Nicknamed the "Yellow Boy” for the characteristic hue of the receiver, the Winchester Model 1866 was an improved version of the Henry 1860, “

Somebody in season 1 (before the armorer from season 2 onwards was the LEAD armorer) realized they forgot to give him a winchester and threw it in last second even though there’s no space for it.

That’s John’s trunk.

Everybody’s got guns with soul. Everybody. Even Sam’s Taurus PT92AFS, (which is basically just a little off brand Beretta) gets nickel plating and pearl grips. I like to think Dean did it as a gift. Because it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing Sam would do.

Anyway, The Colt. Significant Family Heirloom Gun. Obviously goes to either the spouse or if the spouse is dead, the first born son. Right? 

Guns are basically swords. Like Aragorn gets the sword of Isuldur, Dean should get the colt. If he were a young child, it’d go to his guardian to keep for him until he was old enough but Dean’s old enough for guns.

But… It goes to Bobby instead. Who cares for it. And maintains it. Even though it’s dead as far as the magic goes and "only good for seeing what made it tick” at this point.

This kind of thing is an important mourning ritual, y’all. And there’s no reason for Dean not to be the one doing it.

Here’s Bobby test firing it.

And here he is adjusting the sights.

And like… I legit have thousands of words written about the potential love story hidden in the subtext there. Single action’s aren’t a practical gun y’all. They’re sentimental and old fashioned. There’s love in this.

But I’ve gotten off track again.

The point here is that good guy’s guns have soul in this show.

But some guns don’t.

In order to have a soul it needs artistry and craftsmanship. It needs to be at least a little old fashioned or decorative or just classy.

Gordon’s guns are soulless.

Heckler and Koch. Mass produced and unfeeling.

Heckler and Koch. Modern. Cold. Not tied to any kind of American gun mythos.

Gordon is not about art. He’s not about family. And neither are his guns. It’s about killing. Brutal, ruthless, and wrong. There is nothing noble here.

I’ll come back to this.

Okay so Sam has his nickel plated pearl grip offbrand Beretta. It’s important to note that the Beretta is a pretty standard police side arm. So it gives Sam like… a noble sheriff vibe but modern. Jody Mills carries a Beretta. 

(I get that the idea of a sheriff who keeps the law in a lawless town is problematic but the show is using the language of westerns and thus I have to use it to explain what’s going on. I’m not saying I like the trope.)

Anyway, this cheeper off brand cop gun has been given soul (despite not being the more expensive brand name option) by being customized to match Deans. It’s had love put into it.

Both boys start out the series using the same shotgun as Bobby but eventually gravitate towards shotguns that become uniquely theirs.

Dean’s is a beautiful sawed off Winchester Model 1887 which Jo hands him when she dies in the hardware store.  

From pretty much that moment on, that’s Dean’s shotgun.

And shotguns in this show are consistently for protecting family.

They use them to fight ghosts in haunted houses for goodness sakes. There’s just a wealth of metaphor to it.

And they’ve also got their whole “rock salt” whatever going on so they’re effectively the gentlest option too. (Please don’t try that at home. No clue what would happen but assume the worst.)

Sam’s shotgun is the Ithica that Dean uses to prop open the trunk. To help him sort through all the baggage he’s carrying around in there.

The SEASON that convinced me I’d found something here and wasn’t just imagining things was Season 6.

Souless Sam uses almost exclusively Heckler and Koch.

Endverse!Dean used almost exclusively Heckler and Koch stuff too.

Pretty much everybody in the Croatoan future used heavily military, mass produced, black, large, high capacity, high rate of fire stuff you might expect evil gangster villains to use.

Soulless. All death and violence. Just like Sam in Season 6. And at no point while soulless does Sam use his nickle plated gun. Instead, he uses this monstrosity.

A Heckler & Koch Mark 23. And the camera lingers on it. We’re meant to notice something’s wrong.

When he’s fighting himself in his head in “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. Souless Sam is still using the soulless guns. And our sam is using his nickel plated gun. (And the Sam that contains his memories of being tortured in hell uses a knife.)

Souless/evil Sam uses a Heckler & Koch Mk 23 whilst pursuing “good” Sam in “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (S06E22).

Good Sam IMMEDIATELY switches back to using his Taurus PT92AFS with pearl grips after he gets his soul back and continues to use it while fighting his Evil/Soulless self in in The Man Who Knew to Much.

And guess what Sam uses to prop open the trunk in The Man Who Knew Too Much? An episode where Sam is literally woking through his trauma and baggage? His big brother Dean’s Winchester Model 1887.

Just like Dean uses Sam’s Ithaca.

And in the one episode where Ben has to fight? What does Dean hand his own kid to defend himself while they get Lisa to safety?

If you guessed his Winchester Model 1887, you guessed right.

There’s still so much else I didn’t cover, but I’m gonna end it here because it’s already way too long. Hopefully someone finds it interesting.