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How big is the hand cannon Hellboy calls the Samaritan? He uses an arsenal of weapons in the franchise, but his personal favorite seems to be the Samaritan. Where did he get it and what caliber shell does it take?

Samaritan

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He got the pistol from the Torch of Liberty, a WWII-era character created by John Byrne.

SEED OF DESTRUCTION, page 28

EDIT: According to the Hellboy wikia, the gun holds four 22mm rounds.

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    In case anyone else is confused: note that 22mm >> .22 caliber. I knew this, but because .22 caliber is such a common real-world size for handgun rounds my brain was just silently making the substitution every time I read it. And it made no sense because .22 caliber is teeny-tiny, which doesn't jibe with the depicted size of the weapon or its bullets. But 22mm totally does; .22 caliber is about 5.6mm, and 22mm is more like .87 caliber.
    – Mark Reed
    Commented Feb 8, 2021 at 14:50
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I do believe you are looking at a Hollywood-romanticized version of the Gilon revolver, which was chambered in .577 Boxer (also called .577 Webley) indeed the cartridges were so large the cylinder was chambered for 4 rounds. The real bullets were nowhere near as long and pointy, being regular LRN (Lead Round Nose) typical of the latter 1800's, as all calibers were.

The short and squat cartridges you see throwing large pieces of lead were made that way because that's the best use of black powder, which was quite low pressure. if Hellboy had modern technology and smokeless powder (nitrocellulose) he probably would have preferred something in .500 S&W which would have been a lot more effective for his purposes.

There were other revolvers chambered for that cartridge but the Samaritan most closely resembles the Gilon. Yes, there were actual guns like this but not beefed up weighing 10 pounds.

this guy has one although he says it's actually .600 caliber. (it's not) here you go... huge bullets, 4 round cylinder and all.

enter image description here

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  • While this addresses the issue of what caliber shell it takes, it ignores the central question of how or where he acquired it.
    – phantom42
    Commented Oct 27, 2016 at 13:27

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