A tale of three SIG STGW57 “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” battle rifles
ppw3o6r
Great BritainPosts: 2,280MI6 Agent
This article was intended to be included in Mark Hazard’s OO7 The Armoury however the resin/wood stunt proved to be too illusive to meet the final print deadline and I didn’t think EON would give me access to theirs!. Back in 1969, the SIG STGW57 battle rifle was the chosen weapon to arm Blofeld’s orange jacketed henchmen. This made perfect sense because at the time just about every household in Switzerland had one as part of the Compulsory Military Service (Conscription) so ready to serve their country in times of war. The rifle itself is considered to be the Rolls Royce of 7.62mm battle rifles and is still in service today however to ski with one may have proven difficult? Or downright bloody dangerous so enter the late great John Stears and his team who took a clay mould of the live fire weapon from which a three component (weapon, carry handle and bipod) solid resin stunt could be cast. These casts then had their frames extensively modified losing their ejection ports and bolt cocking levers in the process to be able to include a hidden battery box to power a gas/pyrotechnic special effects charge and lights encased in an oversize bespoke steel muzzle which could be operated by a pressure switch behind a sprung trigger and another pressure switch situated below the trigger guard for light effects. Speaking to Mr Stears back in 1989-90, he informed me at a JBIFC event at Pinewood studios that four SFX rifles were made along with 3 triggerless rifles (as with the Moonraker laser rifle props, impossible to have a trigger within the trigger guard wearing heavily padded/insulated ski gloves!) with wood barrels and muzzles for the stuntmen/Swiss rescue team who portrayed the orange jacketed henchmen. When asked if there was an obvious significance of only 07 rifles being created? Mr Stears informed me the 7th prop pulled from the mould was heavily distorted meaning the mould was just about knackered!.
Until this time, three of the SFX rifles have surfaced at auction, two of which originally belonged to Mr Stears, one he auctioned and one he gave to the JBIFC who in turn sold it to Peter Nelson who auctioned it back in 2022 for a whopping £14000. The first rifle was sold through Christies back in 1989?, was purchased by Planet Hollywood who later auctioned it through Profiles in History for just $2500. A third SFX rifle sold through Heritage for $9000 (which may have been the PIH prop making a profit?). The triggerless stunt rifles: an all-black example has been archived by EON (as they were used for night or distance shots, they did not require a two-colour paint finish). Interestingly, if you watch the sequence when Blofeld discovers Tracey's Mercury Cougar in the barn, all the skiers are carrying black/dark grey rifles and at times you can see they are without a trigger! A gunmetal/dark grey painted example is owned by Michael 007Collector.com Hackl in Switzerland who obtained it from a Swiss local who picked it up on set so to speak! Or to be exact the stunt team were having a break and left their skis and stunt rifles outside the café when a local walked past, saw the rifle, shouldered it and legged it with his misappropriated souvenir. This left one SFX and one wood and resin triggerless stunt unaccounted for, until now! Upon the release of OO7 TA in softcover, I was approached by an ex-Bond armourer who wanted to know if I would be interested in a Moonraker laser rifle? Too bloody right I would! He knew it was in his shed somewhere so would I like to have a rummage? We could not find the blasted thing but while discussing the book and his memories of working on Bond the subject of the OHMSS stunt rifles was raised and the values they achieved at auction and the fact that after filming back in 1969, the three SFX rifles which had been used for rear projection filming at Pinewood Studios were repurposed/refurbished along with sections of the Piz Gloria set in 1971 for Alistair Maclean’s When Eight Bells Toll where Anthony Hopkins character, Philip Calvert, a Royal Navy Commander seconded to the British Secret Service (so James Bond all but in name) helicopter was shot down by 3 thugs armed with said weapons. One, being closest to camera, having a very distinctive deformity in the barrel, this being the last prop which was cast from the knackered mould. I told him of my previous conversation with Mr Stears and the fact that there was believed to be one of each variant still out there somewhere and he said have a look in that post sack ...... and the rest is now history! ..... or nearly!
One of the rifles had a rusty metal muzzle and a dark grey/ gunmetal paint job. The other was a dirty matt black with some pretty substantial cracks, was missing the battery box cover panel (my sincere thanks to Mr Hackl of 007colletor.com who provided photo reference of his prop so the missing part could be recreated) and weighed an absolute ton, as heavy as the live fire battle rifles. That’s the rifle which went over the precipice. We had to hollow out the stock and fill it with lead shot so it would fall straight and not spin too much. It spun like a propeller on test drops before we weighted the bugger down.
It worked well but the impact broke it in three, amazingly, somehow it stayed together when it impacted the soft snow. I retrieved it and the dummy because jackets were also in short supply and no, I did not get to keep the jacket Mr Hazard Sir!
EON's example of "the black rifle" from The Japanese Archives book of 1995
The armourer's "Murren" crew souvenir
Illustration from Mark Hazard's OO7 The Armoury featuring the three stunts from When Eight Bells Toll and the now deceased rifle no:07 😥
Comments
Amazing story and find as usual! To have them sitting there, stored away for years until a chance encounter reveals them to the world once more is a rather glorious kismet and evolution to their legacy.
I feel this particular firearm is overlooked or not as discussed throughout the Bond fanbase, in contrast to the highly regarded film & ski scenes it features in. Certainly one of the more unique rifles in the series. As a strictly-toy gun collector who has especially enjoyed adding vintage models from the '60s films, the battle rifle is one I can't imagine ever getting into my sadly lacking OHMSS display and can only marvel at the photos above and work put in to restore them. Were they found with the original slings?
Amazingly yes. The practical rifle SN: PO00057 used by George in publicity images sling is dated 1964. The sling on the stunt is dated 1965. Yes indeed the STGW57 is an incredible piece of kit with many unique technical inovations which quite frankly like a fine precision timepiece, only the Swiss could come up with 👍❤️
A great on location publicity image 👍
Many thanks for the story & photos, Donk 🍸
That's really interesting, thanks. I always thought there was something a bit odd about the muzzle flashes of the rifles that fire as they ski (from memory they're quite red/smoky aren't they?) so that explains it!
Always a pleasure to hear the stories behind the incredible weaponry. I had a good look over the one that went under the hammer at Propstore. Fan-bloody-tastic!
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Can confirm the rifle with the "deformity" no longer exists as it was destroyed by US Customs.
This is an absolute bloody travesty! What is it with these whack jobs? There is no way in hell they could have thought it was a real firearm! 😪
Can tell you from experience "looks real enough to me" is enough for them.
Excellent, I have only ever seen a Stg 57 once, around 1995 I was involved in a search of a block of flats in Lenadoon, West Belfast, initially nothing was found but in the stairwell a patch of new plaster and paint was noted, we pulled it away and in the space there was a rifle wrapped in plastic. Once ATO and CSI had cleared it it was identified as a 57, the only one ever found in Ulster. It was put in the station armoury for a few days before it went of to the forensic lab for tests. It was a beast of a thing, certainly heavier than the SLR and G3.
Quite an amazing story, it never ceases to amaze me how props like these are created and used on camera and then used again in different film/ television productions as the need for them arises. @emtiem: Yes, the last few times I have watched OHMSS on DVD/ Blu Ray I have noticed the firing effects of the Sig STG 57 look really different from your standard blank adapted firearm props. Thanks to 007 magazine special OHMSS 25th Anniversary issue, I knew why these visual effects had the look that they did.