The TV Show "Wanted Dead or Alive"

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Colt Gen 2 Buntline Specials had 12" barrels.
In the day, they would make whatever you asked for, no nonsense about barrel length with a stocked pistol. Real ones had folding ladder sights set into the top strap and were cut for stocks.

One version of the Buntline legend said that the recipients of the dime novelist's guns had them cut off to more convenient lengths.

John Payne, in 'The Restless Gun' seemed to find time to unscrew his revolver's barrel, turn in a longer one, and mount a shoulder stock when a long shot was called for.

Kevin Costner shot about 15 times with that 6 shooter before shoving anymore ammo in it.

In an interview, he said he did indeed reload but like a lot of other dull passages, it ended up on the cutting room floor.

Winchester 1892. The 92s mechanism would never accept 45-70 cartridges, the rifle was in what we call pistol cartridges. .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 cartridges were the type of rounds it would come in.

Almost certainly a .44-40 or .38-40. There is a "Five in One" blank that will chamber in .38-40 and .44-40 revolvers and rifles, and .45 Colt revolvers.
John Taffin wrote of thinking it cool to buy a movie gun at a prop department sale... until he go it home and found the barrel and cylinder were not the same caliber. The blanks didn't care.
 
Heck, I watched “Wanted Dead or Alive” just this weekend. It comes on one of the cable channels.
I had a toy Josh Randall mare’s leg and holster when I was a kid.
Yeah I had one too like a fool I sold it back in the 1970s for $10 to get money for a date and yes you younger guys you could go on a date for $10 in 1974
 
Part of TV Westerns back then was to give the hero something that gave him a distinct persona-and could be merchandised. I had a Bat Masterson cane, and a Mare's Leg, though I never watched that program. I had Old Betsy from Davy Crockett.
 
In an interview, he said he did indeed reload but like a lot of other dull passages, it ended up on the cutting room floor.

Same for the lead actors in the detective series 'Simon and Simon'.
They insisted on firearms reloading for scenes, but the final cut rarely showed it.

I still recall a scene from the 'Wanted' show, first year, where Steve pulls a 45-70 from the belt
and begins to attempt to load it before the film shot cuts back to the damsel in distress.
Saved by the editor.

JT
 
Those members of a certain age may remember a TV show that ran from 1958 to 1961 called Wanted Dead or Alive starring Steve McQueen.
Steve played a Bounty Hunter who carried a very unusual gun that they called the Mare's Leg.
Was this just the invention of the show's producers or did such a weapon actually exist?

You younger guys will forgive me you have no idea what I'm talking about!:cool:

:) The only thing I recall about that was, McQueen managed to get off far more shots than the cut down magazine could possibly hold.
 
Part of TV Westerns back then was to give the hero something that gave him a distinct persona-and could be merchandised. I had a Bat Masterson cane, and a Mare's Leg, though I never watched that program. I had Old Betsy from Davy Crockett.
I remember "Paladin" had a Derringer hidden behind his belt buckle, I don't know if the time line coincides, but they used to sell belt buckles with toy derringers in them. Some of them would pop out and fire when you pressed a button. Later, NAA would sell belt buckles with real guns in them.

Wonder what it was for the "Jim Bowie" show? lol
 
Never mind Yancey Derringer's small pistols in his hat and up his sleeves, I want Pahoo's sawn off shotgun that will make a dinner plate size pattern on the wall at any range. On the wall because you can't have the sidekick actually shooting the assailants that the hero must deal with.
 
And the best thing about those Hollywood westerns is they never ran out of bullets! I don't think I ever saw anyone reloading a pistol not even John Wayne:eek:
My mother would send me off with a sandwich and some candy money to the movies on the weekend, 2 full length cowboy movies, news reels, shorts including Abbott & Costello or The Three Stooges, and several cartoons. Probably 5 hours she didn't have to worry about me.

All a cowboy had to do was fire a gun over his shoulder, one or two Indians would be sure to fall off their horses, dead. Never had to reload. Over the course of several years, between those movies and Sat. morning westerns, I probably saw thousands of Indians killed. Don't recall ever seeing a reload.
 
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How can you talk about a Mare’s leg without mentioning the TV show Firerfly or the movie Serenity. No offense to anyone but Firefly is one of the greatest all time westerns and it’s set in the future and in outer space.


OMG! Has to be the worst show/movie ever!!!:what:

Nathan Fillon is such a bad actor. Can you say CASTLE?

Only good part of Firefly was Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite!

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OMG! Has to be the worst show/movie ever!!!:what:

Nathan Fillon is such a bad actor. Can you say CASTLE?

Only good part of Firefly was Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite!

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I was going to put you on my ignore list for posting such nonsense. Only the photos stopped me :)

Seriously, Nathan Fillion’s poor acting skills didn’t lessen my enjoyment of Firefly at all. It was such a strong ensemble cast the rest saved him. And it remains one of the most quotable shows ever, especially for one that only lasted one season.

“I aim to misbehave.”
 
I was going to put you on my ignore list for posting such nonsense. Only the photos stopped me :)

Seriously, Nathan Fillion’s poor acting skills didn’t lessen my enjoyment of Firefly at all. It was such a strong ensemble cast the rest saved him. And it remains one of the most quotable shows ever, especially for one that only lasted one season.

“I aim to misbehave.”


They are the only reason I made it through the TV show and movie:rofl:

I forgot Gina Torres

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It’s a mare’s leg and a product of the show. His gun belt has 45/70 ammo in it which wouldn’t do him much good.
Visual effect was all that was about. It's like Saving Private Ryan where the sniper landed on the beach with a Lyman Alaskan M81/82 and then from the church belltower had a Unertl. Why? Big scope for visual effect.
 
They actually showed him taking off the M81 and attaching the Unertl in a mount kluged to adapt the target type scope to the Redfield base.
The 1942 Marine sniper rifle was originally equipped with an 8X Unertl.
 
"...Prop gun[edit]
The term "mare's leg" was introduced in 1957 in the TV series Trackdown, where Steve McQueen first appeared as a bounty hunter.[3] Steve McQueen and his Mare's Leg went on to star in the CBS TV series Wanted Dead or Alive.[4]

Designed by Kenny "Von Dutch" Howard, an experienced artist and gunsmith,[5] the original Mare's Leg was made by cutting down a .44-40 caliber Winchester Model 1892 rifle to a size that could be worn in a large leg holster and used with one hand. The barrel was cut to a length of nine inches,[1] and much of the butt-stock was removed. The original Mare's Leg did not have sights. McQueen was involved in the final design, suggesting the duck-bill hammer and enlarged lever loop, and initiating a redesign of the custom holster.[1] The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was not consulted before the program aired and producers had to pay taxes totaling $1,100 in connection with the National Firearms Act of 1934.[1]

During filming three guns were made, each with an enlarged loop on the cocking lever. After filming started, the size of the levers was made smaller on all 3 guns. The second and third guns bore octagonal barrels instead of a round one. In a continuity oversight, a gun sometimes changed partway through a given scene. While the guns were chambered for the .44-40 round, McQueen wore more impressive looking .45-70 rounds in the loops of his gun belt. In season one a doctor, after removing a bullet fired from the Mare's Leg from the back of a criminal, identified the removed bullet as a 30-30 round.[6]

As of the 1980s, one of the original guns was on display at the now closed Spaghetti Station Restaurant and Museum (999 Ball Road, Anaheim, California).[7] Another is in the Autry National Center of the American West.[8] In 1964, french singer Gilbert Bécaud auctioned off one of the Winchester Mare's Leg used by Josh Randall. This auction took place in Paris in the presence of actor Steve McQueen, and the money raised was donated to the French Movement for Children's Villages (a association renamed in 2013 "Action Enfance").[9]

There have been a number of toys based on the Mare's Leg, from small cap guns to larger detailed toys complete with a holster."

From Mare's_Leg Wikipedia
 
"...McQueen’s original Mare’s Laigs had 9-inch barrels and measured 19 inches overall length. Being a cut-down rifle, they had to have BATF approval, and McQueen was arrested in New York City while on a publicity tour because the studio had failed to obtain the required paperwork..." From https://www.tactical-life.com/firearms/hollywood-shootin’/

This was a long time ago. I can't find any other references. I don't know if he was arrested for not having BATF approval to cary it across state lines (if that was the law then) or if he was arrested by the NYPD for not having a NYC Pistol License.
 
Just more proof of Henry and their faux history with a faux rifle. What purpose could such a thing be? Maybe there is?
Ummmm.... People are willing to spend money on it? It looks cool to some people?
The same people who thought that Bama McCall's shotgun was cool in the movie Gator. Note the picture of him firing the gun, that'd be really humorous if it was a real load of buckshot being fired.
Bama 1.jpg

Bama 2.jpg
Pure Hollywood, all of it.
 
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Clearly those 45-70 bullets will not fit in that loading gate.
 
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Clearly those 45-70 bullets will not fit in that loading gate.

Well, not only that, the mechanism inside would not accept them, it would get all jammed up even if they could enter the gate. I suspect you would need to remove the magazine's end-cap and spring/follower to clear the gun.
 
Am I the only person who would happily buy a mare's leg if it doesn't need a tax stamp?
357 with a offset suppressor, and I would have a cool jeep gun.
 
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