The Rifleman

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rmocarsky

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I was just wondering if any manufacturer at anytime actually did produce and sell a lever action carbine that actually fired live ammunition and operated the same way that Lucas McCain's Winchester did on the old TV show?

And if so who, when, how much, for how long and any reviews of them?

Rmocarsky
 
I doubt they ever came from a factory that way. Liability and all, but Lucas Boy told us how he did it in episode one or two: drilled and tapped and a brass screw positioned to activate the trigger when the lever is pulled in.
 
I was just wondering if any manufacturer at anytime actually did produce and sell a lever action carbine that actually fired live ammunition and operated the same way that Lucas McCain's Winchester did on the old TV show?
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A Winchester 1892 (or clone) that would fire when the action closes? Never seen one offered commercially. Lawyers would have had a heyday with that one (even back in the 1960s)! I have seen a prop gun set up to fire like that, but never a "real live" one. Kinda like the "Mare's Leg" rifles that sprung up about 5 or 6 years ago, the original was "made for TV" to amaze the unknowledgeable audiences.

Add to those guns the full auto Mini-14s from A-Team, the takedown silenced P38 from The Man From UNCLE, all the Colt Peacemakers in old TV Westerns set in the 1860s, etc, etc, etc.
 
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I read an article quite a few years back, that discussed the Lucas McCain rifle, and I think too, the stubby John Wayne carbine as well. Maybe it was 2 separate articles, too long ago to remember.

Yeah, I'm with Scorch, out of period firearms in flicks annoy me. I even watched something that had full auto fire running in the background that was time period War Between the States.

There was a full auto Mini14, the AC556, overseas and LE only. Not sure how the A-Team got them, but ...."pity the fool" that tried to take them from the Team.
 
The great FBI Miami shootout involved a Mini14. The movie about it had the M14 full auto when it was actually a standard Mini14. And one wouldn't need a trick screw placement to shoot fast with a 92; TV, you know.
 
I can't say it was a production rifle but my brother had a Marlin? 30-30 that had a toggle that could be flipped up to fire the rifle as it closed. The toggle was just a piece of steel folded over the lever and pinned with a detent of some kind. That was a LOOOONNNG time ago. It also had the big loop lever. He used to swing it just like the Rifleman to cock the action. He found it was a lot slower than doing it the normal way, but it did look kool.
 
He found it was a lot slower than doing it the normal way, but it did look kool.
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Similar to how TV/movie heroines are a MUCH harder target to hit if they cross a room doing hand flips instead of just running across the room.
 
Look at the opening scene from :once upon a time in the West", Jack Elam, Woody Strode, I think itwa s Strode that had a 1892 type rifle, with a curved addition to the inside of the trigger groove , that actutatedd the triiger as the lever closed.

Never saw it further in the movie.
 
Hey jroth,
Come to think of it, we never see Jack Elam or Woody Strode again either.:eek:

And one wouldn't need a trick screw placement to shoot fast with a 92
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No arguments on that.
Charles Bronson - Bernardo O'Reilly - in 'The Magnificent Seven' works a '92 in
several scenes like he was a real gunhand.

JT
 
It would seem that it would be easier to cycle the Mare's Leg the
way Lucas McCain used the full sized Winchester. I just have to wonder
if Chuck snapped or bent many levers during the shoots on that show,
with the fancy rifle slinging.

As to the A-Team, Face was the team accountant, and at the end of the
show, while discussing expenses, he mentioned "gun rentals" with Hannibal
a couple times. While it was pretty clear that Hannibal favored a M60, it's never
made clear whether he kept it.
 
John Wayne used a large loop lever action long before Connors(born in Newfoundland.)did on TV. Used one in Stagecoach in 1939.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031971/mediaviewer/rm3051837952
You can buy one and install it on your rifle, be it a Winchester or a Marlin. None of 'em are cheap though. They start at ~ $150USD.
Winchester made M1892's. So does/did Henry and Marlin. Doesn't take much to put a trigger actuator on. Had one on my toy Winchester(that fired plastic bullets) eons ago.
 
Kinda like the "Mare's Leg" rifles that sprung up about 5 or 6 years ago, the original was "made for TV" to amaze the unknowledgeable audiences.
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Yep, it always cracked me up to see Steve McQueen in the TV show 'Wanted Dead or Alive' with his mare's leg like chambered in 44-40 but with 45-70 ammo on his belt.

west2_wanted_dead_alive_rifle.jpg
 
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