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Steve McQueen TV Rifle Now for Sale
http://www.neatorama.com/2011/05/26/steve-mcqueen-tv-rifle-now-for-sal
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By John Farrier on May 26, 2011 at 4:43 pm



Wanted: Dead or Alive was a half-hour Western television show which ran from 1958-1961. It starred Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. The character was noted for wielding a modified Winchester 1892 .44-40 lever-action rifle called the “Mare’s leg”. With a reduced stock and a barrel cut down to less than a foot long, Randall could carry it holstered on his hip. It was his signature piece, and now gunmaker Rossi is selling it in .44 magnum, .45 Colt, and .38 special/.357 magnum.

Of this design, Tamara Keel writes:

When I was younger, I used to think cut-down lever guns, a la Steve McQueen’s “Mare’s Leg” were just the coolest thing ever.

Now that I am older and actually know a little bit about firearms, I think they make about as much sense as a kickstand on a tank.

They still look cool though, and, y’know… Firefly.

It probably wouldn’t hurt their sales for Rossi to come out with a Firefly special edition.

http://www.rossiusa.com/product-list.cfm?category=17
http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-dont-get-it-either.
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Originally posted by Hardware:
Kickstand on a tank. ROFL!

Yeah, if I had the spare cash I'd think about it.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by Hardware:
Kickstand on a tank. ROFL!

Yeah, if I had the spare cash I'd think about it.

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Kinda brings to mind Anthony's discussion of rifles chambered for pistol rounds. And I find myself actually wanting a pistol-chambered rifle! :)

Probably not terribly accurate, but probably more accurate than a pistol, just by dint of the longer barrel. And the prices aren't prohibitive, either - around $360-380.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
seems like I remember seeing a story on here somewhere, in one of the discussions of this piece, that it kicks like a ... well, a mare's leg. They supposedly gave one to McQueen on set one time, with a real but reduced powder load, he fired it, and it knocked him on his ass.

Also, with the cut off tubular magazine, what does it hold? 3, maybe 4 rounds ?

But it does LOOK REALLY BAD-ASS...

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Originally posted by Hardware:

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
seems like I remember seeing a story on here somewhere, in one of the discussions of this piece, that it kicks like a ... well, a mare's leg. They supposedly gave one to McQueen on set one time, with a real but reduced powder load, he fired it, and it knocked him on his ass.

Also, with the cut off tubular magazine, what does it hold? 3, maybe 4 rounds ?

But it does LOOK REALLY BAD-ASS...

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If it was an original chambered in 44-40 I expect the kick to be less than a 44 magnum. If it was chambered in 45-70, then the kick would have been apocalyptic. Approximately that of a Mosin-Nagant carbine. Or a single barrel break shotgun firing a slug.

The real fault in these guns is that in pistol calibers they hold 6 shots. Exactly that of a revolver.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

...and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luke 22:36

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Kinda brings to mind Anthony's discussion of rifles chambered for pistol rounds.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Heh. I've got the "short-barreled" Mosin-Nagant.

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Originally posted by Moose:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Kinda brings to mind Anthony's discussion of rifles chambered for pistol rounds.

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Got a link to that?

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Heh. I've got the "short-barreled" Mosin-Nagant.

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Just reading that makes my shoulder hurt...

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
This is the one that gives me the shivers. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... the Mosin-Nagant PISTOL!

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by Moose:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Kinda brings to mind Anthony's discussion of rifles chambered for pistol rounds.

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Got a link to that?

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I do.

http://beta.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=48524

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Heh. I've got the "short-barreled" Mosin-Nagant.

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Just reading that makes my shoulder hurt...

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Yeah, but it's still a fun li'l gun. They're still $100 out the door at just about any gun show, and decent-quality milsurp ammo runs about $140-150 for 880 rounds (two big 440-round "spam cans" of the stuff).

It's the kind of thing that pretty much anyone should have around in case of zombie apocalypse. I keep thinking I'm going to soften up the buttstock with a pad, but then I forget. Until next time. ;)

This is the one that gives me the shivers. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present... the Mosin-Nagant PISTOL!



That thing would likely sprain your wrist, I'm betting. And yet, curiously, I find myself wanting to pick up another Nagant and cut it down and try it. 7.62x54r, bolt-action pistol. Yowch.

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Careful, you can't make a pistol out of a rifle. Although you can make a rifle out of a pistol. Unless of course, you're registered as a manufacturer by ATF.

Ah, conforming to BATFE regs is like hitting a moving target.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Russians used female soldiers to amazing effect, both physically AND psychologically, against the Germans. Part of it was ideological - the "everyone is equal, we are all the same" ideology of Communism demanded that female soldiers do what male soldiers did, while the Nazi Übermenschen ideology intrinsically believed that the male was at the pinnacle of all "manly" tasks, and uniquely suited to them, and the female's main "job" was to raise loyal, obedient children and support their man.

So when the Russians employed female snipers against the Germans, it wasn't simply a matter of using women to deadly effect; it was as well a matter of using women in a role that they KNEW would freak the German male completely out, in a sense short-circuiting his sense of not only right and wrong, but even of what was possible!

And the Russians knew this; they didn't do it blindly or without forethought. They also used a group of women in outdated biplanes as night-bombers. The tactics were freakish enough - fly high over the German lines, cut the engines, dive down through the dark, drop bombs in the lines of infantrymen (at night, remember), and then pulling up and restarting their engines. The bombs would hit about the time anyone heard the planes in the first place.

That part freaked out the young German conscripts, but when it was publicized that this was being to them BY WOMEN, it really shook many of them.

Things on the Eastern Front were like nothing you could imagine. For more, check out Dan Carlin's Hardcore History ( http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive ). Look for the 4-part podcast series "Ghosts of the Ostfront (I-IV)". I promise you'll learn some new stuff!

As for why "Enemy At the Gate" didn't show more of the female roles, it seems to me that we in the West still tend to hold more to the old-fashioned male-dominated ideas of soldiering, and it was probably decided by a studio suit that a strong female role would make the movie "unbelievable" to Western audiences. Just a guess, though.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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