Rossi Ranch Hand

shafter

New member
Does anyone have or used the Rossi Ranch Hand? Looks like a poor rifle and a worse handgun. How do you aim the thing? The price looks decent for a new gun but I'm not going to rush out and buy one. I'm mostly just looking for thoughts on the gun. It's kind of interesting to see one offered after watching Steve McQueen in Wanted Dead or Alive.
 
It looks like an 'interesting' gun but I'm hard pressed to see what purpose it serves other than being a conversation piece.
 
They are really pressing the laws. Since it was manufactured that way, I guess it qualifies as a handgun, and not a sawed off rifle that would violate federal law.
 
It is Rossi copy/clone of a Winchester 92 Mare's leg ( a cut down 92). I wonder how many if any 92's back in the old west days were actually cut down by blacksmiths and gunsmiths? Maybe it was just a Hollywood make-believe. I dont think any ever left the Winchester factory that way. I've been told also that any Winchester with a big hoop lever was a custom job and not a factory option

I have my great-great-grandpa's model 92 octagon 44-40 (made in 1895) and would be very unhappy if anyone sawed the barrel off to make it a 'Mare's leg' .... but a real one modified 100 years ago would be a prize.

Anyone ever seen a real Mare's leg from days of old?
 
I was going to ask about that gun. Is it a handgun or a carbine? It's called a handgun but I assume that's legal mumbo jumbo, and if you actually were shooting it you'd think different. This is interesting because you can't have a loaded rifle in your car in CT, but you can have a loaded handgun with a pistol permit. So it seems like you could have one of these in your car, loaded and still be within the law.
 
ranch hand

What can you do with it ? Aiming for accuracy is a joke. Another hollywood mistake. Gun sales must be down so they come up with this OH WELL...
 
It is just a fun nich market, I would like to have one just for fun but that would be about all. I'm just glad to see that someone has come out with one that does not cost an arm and a leg. I would get one if it found me for a good price.
 
They are manufactured and classified as a "handgun" by law.

Handgun laws are usually more restrictive than firearm laws in most states (definition of a firearm being a rifle, shotgun, long gun, ect that is not a handgun). Your above reference to a rifle being illegal in the vehicle but a pistol being legal is interesting. I am sure it mainly is about the "permit" .

An example of Texas law is that a "rifle" must have a barrel of at least 16" and a "shot gun" must have a barrel of 18"(Texas Penal code 46.01-10 definitions). The overall lenght of both must be 26" or greater. Something manufactured as a "firearm"(long guns) cannot be later reclassified as a handgun.

Any shorter than those numbers and it is called a "short-barrel firearm". Short-barreled firearms are one item on the list of "Prohibited Weapons" in Texas (Texas penal code 46.05) and thus are illegal.

On the side of the road during a traffic stop, the new Mare's leg that was manufactured as a handgun might be mistaken as an illegal short-barreled rifle. I guess all the old original Mare's leg cut-off 92's (if there are any out there) are now illegal short-barreled firearms if they were cut too short to meet that particular state's law about prohibited weapons. The new clones are legal handguns.
 
At the J. M. Davis gun museum in Claremore, OK...

I saw three or four displayed in the museum,,,
They were all different from each other.

If I recall correctly there was no information on whether they were manufactured or cut down by the owners.

I once had a Winchester expert tell me that Winchester never made them,,,
But it's hard to prove a negative in any case.

I too am curious to know the facts about them.

The only manufactured one I ever knew about,,,
Was the Mattel one I wore as a little kid,,,
Josh Randall was so danged cool!

wanted_dead_or_alive-show.jpg


.
 
Thanks for the link twobit,,,

When I was looking for that picture of Josh Randall,,,
I came on an E-Bay auction for a Mattel Mare's Leg set.

They were asking $175.00 for it.

.
 
There are four (toy version) on ebay right now ! $89 to $255 wow! I'm still upset my mom gave away all my Matchbox and Hot Wheels in the early seventies! do the ebay search without the apost. in the toys catagory
---- Mares leg -----
 
If I had all the toy guns from when I was a kid,,,

One Christmas I got pretty much every TV Cowboy gun there was:

The Rifleman,,,
Wanted Dead or Alive,,,
Have Gun Will Travel,,,
Bat Masterson,,,
Roy Rogers two gun set,,,
Wyatt Earp Buntline,,,

And one other I can't remember the show,,,
But it was a fancy small revolver, a dagger, and a deck of playing cards.

My older sister still has her Dale Evans outfit,,,
Skirt, shirt, scarf, hat, and gunbelt,,,
Still in the original box.

It was appraised a few years ago as worth 750 to 900 bucks,,,
That woman has lived in the same place since 1963,,,
I don't think she ever threw anything away.

.
 
My brother had one

The toy version anyway. He got it for Christmas and the rest of us brothers were so jealous;)

For the TV series, notice McQueen wears a belt full of 45-70s or possibly 38-55s. I have the first year on DVD. He gives consistant good performances except for the scene, I am telling the truth here, where he pulls one of those monsters from the belt and starts to feed it into that '92.

Unfortunately (or gratefully), the camera went 'stage left' before he could accomplish the feat!

When will we see 'Johnny Yuma's' rig offered?

I think this Rossi would be the most fun unpractical pistol you could ask for.

JT
 
I wonder if this is being targeted at other than a U.S. market? I've read comments elsewhere that in the UK handguns have to have at least a 12 inch barrel and have an overall length of at least 24 inches. No semi-autos allowed other than .22lr. This gun would fit all those requirements nicely unless there's an issue with the lever action.
 
Does anyone have or used the Rossi Ranch Hand? Looks like a poor rifle and a worse handgun. How do you aim the thing?
Because it's cool. That's really justification enough sometimes. :)

I don't know why, but I've always wanted a Mare's Leg. I don't see that it'd be any harder to shoot reasonably well than those pistol-grip shotguns that are all the rage.

I'd have to heft one, but I'm thinking of it as a really long-barreled one-hand pistol.
 
It seems obvious to me that Rossi is going after the Cowboy Action Shooting Market

I suspect they've already done the research and are pretty confident in the number they will sell... then the little pistol rifle will just fade away.
 
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