The TV Show "Wanted Dead or Alive"

[Kleanbore]

If I had one I would divest it.

There are plenty of replica firearms that would not be be useful for serious work today--a matchlock rifle, a blunderbuss, dueling pistols, a Paterson Colt--and so on--but their design does not embody so many compromises as to make them a bad idea.

As a firearm, McQueen gun was considered a bad idea from the get go. The thing was dreamed up solely to give McQueen a trademark.

It had one purpose: to increase ratings. Steve himself didn't like to shoot it.

 

[Tommygunn]

Ah...here we go...




The Mare’s Leg is what I consider a “Novelty” gun. It wasn’t designed for anything but that. This isn’t about “Tacti-cool” or “self defense”. Give it a break...

Yea, "novelty gun." Of course, if it WAS the only gun I had, then if cretins busted in on me then I'd have no choice BUT to use the Mare's Leg. But, atleast in my case, I have a number of other choices. Ones that are much easier to use accuratly and safely under duress (let's not forget self defense against home invaders involves stress, adrenalin, and grave risk the target shoots at you as well, unlike a black dot at the range), and I'd choose a good handgun, even a 50 year old Police .38 special. Or a Glock 9mm. How about a good AR-15 with good sights?
Love any novelty gun you want, but IMHO if you're serious about self defense you would be much better off with the Glock or the AR-15 than with some trick gun based on a tv show prop. But that's just me being me .....

 

[Roknstevo]

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.

Me, too....it was bad news on my dirt road.

 

[czhen]

Lucas McCain was way better with his Winchester than Josh Randall ever was with that abomination he used!

God made Lucas taller so he could spin his rifle and since Randall came shorter from mom's factory God mandated Browning to short the Winchester inventing the first SBR-rc (rc for rifle carbine) so he could spin and handle it.
All the stories above were told by aunt when I couldn't sleep.
Lol.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I find it interesting that you can buy a copy of a firearm featured on a TV program that ended production 60 years ago.

 

[Dunross]

No lack of Boomer nostalgia and discretionary income in that market. Good on Henry Rossi, etc for realizing it.

 

[welldoya]

I was watching one of the old westerns the other day.
There was a shootout involving several people, most shooting Winchesters.
One guy shot and cocked his rifle. He then ran, jumped a fence and cocked it again before shooting.

 

[Jim Watson]

Typical movie fare, there is a lot of shotgun pumping and pistol slide racking, too.
Got to show he is READY!

 

[Brubz]

Typical movie fare, there is a lot of shotgun pumping and pistol slide racking, too.
Got to show he is READY!

It's interesting that the westerns have always been so casual about issues like round capacity and reloading. cop shows, detective shows and action dramas are much more realistic.remember in Dirty Harry where the famous scene " did I fire six shots or only five"which they did twice! in the same movie. And then you have the John Wick movies where they're almost obsessive about his ejecting clips and reloading. And when I say realistic I mean relative to westerns

 

[Rule3]

Novelty guns??

Just think of the first Glock or a AR with everything including a coffee maker hanging it.

Many guns are Novelties until it wears off.

 

[FlSwampRat]

What? It looks like a 410 dbl barrel.

Not a .410.

 

[doubleh]

I watched "Wanted Dead or Alive" and enjoyed it because I was a Steve McQueen fan and I found the stories in the episodes interesting but I thought the mare's leg was silly, even back then.

 

[Jim Watson]

There was a TV show portraying Johnny Ringo as a good guy.
He carried a LeMat "grapeshot revolver" described as having a .410 shot barrel under the revolver barrel.
Real LeMats had a 20 or 28 ga shot barrel, excepting the rare Baby LeMat whose shot barrel was .41".

Another TV show's lead character was armed with a Marlin Model 90 combination gun. Most were in small calibers but they made a few 20 ga/.30-30 that might work somewhat.

 

[Uffdaphil]

Josh Randall first appeared in Trackdown starring Robert Culp. Must have impressed someone to get his own series six months later.

it’s funny how your age affects categorizing tv shows. Shows from the early fifties to ones starting in 1958 were my era. 1959 westerns and up for me are the modern group with more drama and less action.

 

[.308 Norma]

Shows from the early fifties to ones starting in 1958 were my era.

Did you like Hopalong? On DVDs, my wife and I have every Hopalong movie and TV show ever made.
Hoppy could shoot the gun right out of the bad guy's hand every time, and he never hit a single one of the onlookers standing around in the background.
Steve McQueen could have probably beaten Bill Boyd in a motocross though.

 

[GEM]

I recall Ringo. Trick guns were the rage in Westerns. Yancy Derringer had his Sharps. Paladin had a Remington derringer under his belt buckle. Bat Masterson his old time 'snubby' and cane fighting. Wyatt Earp's Buntline. Chuck Connors, his rifle and then in a later series his broken coward's sword. Johnny Yuma and his shotgun. James West had a sleeve derringer, IIRC.

 

[Uffdaphil]

Did you like Hopalong? On DVDs, my wife and I have every Hopalong movie and TV show ever made.
Hoppy could shoot the gun right out of the bad guy's hand every time, and he never hit a single one of the onlookers standing around in the background.
Steve McQueen could have probably beaten Bill Boyd in a motocross though.

Hoppy was my main man. Circa 1953 I had a pair of his chrome six-guns in black leather holsters. I love to listen to his old radio shows on road trips. Have Gun Will Travel with John Dehner and Gunsmoke with William Conrad are also great.

 

[Jim Watson]

Right, William Conrad just SOUNDED right. Probably looked the part, too; short and portly with a heavy mustache.
I liked Frontier Gentleman when I could catch it.
And was always ready for the comedic conclusion "Oh, Pancho; oh, Cisco."

Warner Brothers had a flock of hour long TV shows ca 1960 and I watched a lot of them, but only 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick stuck with me much.

 

[GEM]

When I was a child, many years ago, I was watching Hoppy. I was wearing my cap guns. The bad guys said they would ambush Hoppy. I shouted " Don't" and pitched my gun at the screen. This horrified Mom as a 1950's tube might just blow up.

 

[Kevin5098]

Lucas McCain was way better with his Winchester than Josh Randall ever was with that abomination he used!

Since The Rifleman was set in the 1880's, the Winchester Model 1892 was an anachronism, but it was a great show. As a Confederate veteran, Josh must have been in his 50's when the 1892 went into production.

 

[stonebuster]

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.

Pahoo was pretty good throwing that big knife of his too.

 

[Tommygunn]

Since The Rifleman was set in the 1880's, the Winchester Model 1892 was an anachronism, but it was a great show. As a Confederate veteran, Josh must have been in his 50's when the 1892 went into production.

Um .... the 1892 model was nearly totally ubiquitous throughout Hollywood westerns, tv or cinema. I saw a Civil War movie once with Union soldiers carrying 1892 Winchesters with the forends removed to mimic Henry Rifles.
I've seen a few Marlins (Paladin carried one in HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL) but .... Winchester 1892s, here .... there .... most everywhere.

 

[Speedo66]

I recall Ringo. Trick guns were the rage in Westerns. Yancy Derringer had his Sharps. Paladin had a Remington derringer under his belt buckle. Bat Masterson his old time 'snubby' and cane fighting. Wyatt Earp's Buntline. Chuck Connors, his rifle and then in a later series his broken coward's sword. Johnny Yuma and his shotgun. James West had a sleeve derringer, IIRC.

Lash LaRue with his bullwhip was another character defined by his weapon of choice.

 

[Speedo66]

Hoppy was my main man. Circa 1953 I had a pair of his chrome six-guns in black leather holsters. I love to listen to his old radio shows on road trips. Have Gun Will Travel with John Dehner and Gunsmoke with William Conrad are also great.

"Here he comes, here he comes,
Blare the trumpets, bang the drums, here he comes,
Hopalong Cassidy, Hopalong Cassidy..."

 

[Speedo66]

And then you have the John Wick movies where they're almost obsessive about his ejecting clips and reloading.

Magazines. lol