Author Topic: Wanted Dead Or Alive's 'Mare's Leg': How Effective Is It Really?  (Read 651 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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American Rifleman by Rick Hacker July 23, 2022

Those of us weaned on TV westerns during the Golden Years of television in the 1950s and '60s, or who are just now discovering “…those thrilling days of yesteryear” (to quote from announcer Fred Foy’s opening monologue of "The Lone Ranger"), have long been fascinated by the rifles and revolvers packed by our tall-in-the-saddle heroes. I’m not just referring to their ubiquitous Colt Single Action Armies and Winchester lever actions. I’m talking about those specialized guns that still capture our attention after all these years, such as Hugh O’Brian’s Buntline Special in “The Life And Legend of Wyatt Earp,” which ran from 1955 to 1961 on ABC. Or the ultra-fast-shooting, loop-levered Winchester Model 1892 carbine so deftly wielded by Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain in "The Rifleman," which was originally shown on ABC from 1958 to 1963.



But perhaps no TV western captured not just the bad guys but our imaginations as vividly as the dramatically cut-down Winchester Model 92 saddle ring carbine that was so menacingly carried in a spring-clipped, break-open belt rig by Steve McQueen, as bounty hunter Josh Randall in TVs “Wanted Dead Or Alive,” which aired on CBS from 1958 to 1961. With a 9" barrel (thus reducing the magazine capacity to five rounds), no sights, a wide “Rifleman-styled” D-loop lever and a stock cut off just behind the comb, it was one of the most impractical yet unforgettable firearms ever depicted in a western–or anywhere else for that matter.

Nonetheless, it was mesmerizing to the point that famous toymakers such as Marx made cap-gun replicas of what became known as the "Mare’s Leg" – so-named by McQueen because “…It’s kinda like a mare’s leg, only not as mean….but if I have to use it, I want to make sure the message gets to where’s I’m pointin’.” Later in the series–in keeping with the practice of always having three of any necessary prop in case one of them got damaged–the carbine was augmented with two octagon barreled cut down rifles sporting teardrop-shaped loops for easier handling in action scenes and widened hammer spurs for occasional fanning (after all, this was Hollywood).


One of the two “teardrop” lever-action Mare’s Legs used in the “Wanted Dead or Alive” TV series. This gun is now on display
at the Autry Museum of the American West (theautry.org) in Los Angeles, Calif.

Of course, McQueen’s sawed-off Winchester 92s never existed before, in either the real or the “reel” West. Rather, the gun was conceived by series producer John Robinson, who wanted McQueen to pack something so unique it would set his upcoming "Wanted Dead Or Alive" series apart from every other western airing at the time. In order to help bring this non-existent gun into reality, McQueen enlisted the talents of a reclusive, desert-dwelling Southern California friend, a multi-talented, gunsmith-mechanic-custom car artist named Kenny “Von Dutch” Howard, who thus transformed a standard Winchester Model 92 saddle ring carbine into what became the Mare’s Leg.

The accompanying holster (if it could be called that) was fashioned by Hollywood fast draw leather craftsman Andy Anderson, who used a metal hook to secure the saddle ring of the carbine to a wide gunbelt, while a leather-covered steel clip held the barrel against the rig’s leather drop-down skirt. Adding to the distinctiveness of this atypical rig was the fact that even though McQueen’s Mare’s Leg was chambered in .44-40 (thus enabling it to fire 5-in-1 blanks), the gunbelt sported much larger .45-70 Gov't cartridges. Of course, they could not possibly be chambered in a Winchester Model 92, but that didn’t matter, as series producer John Robinson felt the bigger cartridges were much more impressive-looking on television. (No one ever accused Hollywood of being influenced by reality.)

More: https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/wanted-dead-or-alive-s-mare-s-leg-how-effective-is-it-really/