High-Tech: The Mummy

On By Hans-Christian Vortisch

Did I miss something? Are we going into battle?

‒ “Evie” Carnahan, The Mummy (1999)

 

Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy (1999) is one of my favourite pulp fiction movies. It combines a great story with lovable characters, mummy-hunting, and lots of period equipment. Professional treasure hunter Richard “Rick” O’Connell alias “Ricochet” O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) is so adept at monster-hunting that he carries a dedicated kit bag stuffed with weapons with him around (GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters, pp. 8-9). Let’s take a look at what he has in there.

SD_HT_Mummy

Stop reading if you want to avoid SPOILERS.

Tools of the Trade

  1. Two Chamelot-Delvigne Mle 1873 revolvers in 11×17mmR (GURPS High-Tech: Adventure Guns, p. 14). [This is a weird choice for 1925 due to the low-powered cartridge and the old-fashioned gate-loading, but O’Connell might have stuck to it from his service with the Legion Étrangère in 1923.]
  2. Colt Government semiautomatic pistol in .45 ACP (11.43×23mm) (GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns 1, pp. 17-18; Investigator Weapons 1, pp. 37-38). [Probably the best handgun available in 1925, but O’Connell does not seem to trust it as his primary weapon. At the time, many people still harboured prejudices against semiautomatic pistols compared to revolvers.]
  3. Winchester Model 97 Riot pump-action shotgun in 12-gauge 2.75” (18.5×70mmR) (High-Tech: Pulp Guns 1, pp. 22-23; Investigator Weapons 1, pp. 84-85) with take-down option. [Very sound choice.]
  4. Two 25-round bandoleers (GURPS High-Tech, p. 54; Investigator Weapons 1, p. 103) with 12-gauge 2.75” shells. [Half of these have all-brass cases (High-Tech: Adventure Guns, p. 21; Investigator Weapons 1, p. 76), half of these have anachronistic red plastic hulls (High-Tech, p. 164).]
  5. Hunting knife (High-Tech, p. 197; Investigator Weapons 1, p. 104).
  6. Balisong (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 213). [This is not visible, but since O’Connell uses it later, presumably in there. This in combination with the karambit allows the conclusion that O’Connell almost certainly spent some time in the Philippines before 1923.]
  7. Karambit. [“Evie” Carnahan examines this when O’Connell first opens the kit bag, but it never appears again.]
  8. Six dynamite sticks, fused (High-Tech, pp. 184-185, 187; High-Tech: Pulp Guns 1, pp. 32-33; Investigator Weapons 1, pp. 108-109). [These are not visible, but since they are explicitly mentioned in the script and O’Connell uses at least four of them later, presumably in there.]