The Chuck Connors Mod ...

The Rifleman Theme



Some Trivia ...

Rifleman's Winchester Rifle - Known as the "gun that won the west," the Winchester rifle was the star of the western adventure THE RIFLEMAN/ABC/1958-63 about Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors), a tall, rugged widower raising his son, Mark (Johnny Crawford) on a ranch near North Fork, New Mexico in the late 1860s. At the beginning of each episode Lucas, with rifle in hand, walked down the streets of North Fork, and quickly emptied the chambers of rifle at an unidentified menace. He then recocked his rifle and reloaded amidst the blaring TV theme music composed by Herschel Burke Gilbert.

(According to Guns and Ammo, 1995 edition, he actually only fired ten shots; the eleventh had to be dubbed in to time out with the music.)

The Rifleman's weapon was "in actuality " an 1892 .44-40 Winchester carbine specially modified with a large loop and metal tab to turn his rifle into a rapid firing machine. It was fitted with a large loop lever that enabled it to be spun and cocked in a dramatic fashion. The trigger guard incorporated a screw that tripped the trigger every time the lever was closed. In the words of Chuck Connors "We decided to take the rifle; take off the regular lever and put this round lever on so I could get my hand through it." McCain's proficiency with his rifle earned him a reputation and nickname of "The Rifleman" when he lived in the Nations. He reportedly could squeeze off a round of ammunition every three-tenth of a second and fire eight times in two-and-a-half seconds. Lucas spent more time fighting criminals than ranching on the show, often helping Micah Torrance (Paul Fix), the aging town Marshal. The Rifleman and his trusty Winchester resurfaced on the made-for-TV-movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (11/3/91) where Lucas McCain (in a cameo) saved gambler Brady Hawkes (Kenny Rogers) from a group of corrupt Mexican police officer. TRIVIA NOTE:. Reportedly, there were three carbines used in the show: a primary Winchester, another identical gun for backup, and a third version that was made from an El Tigre, a Spanish copy of the 1892 Winchester. There were also two other loop lever Winchester 92 carbines that were used by Chuck in later years during his personal appearances. Chuck Connors owned and kept his famous rifle at his home ranch in Tahachipi, California. His guest house was modeled after Lucas McCain's house in North Folk, New Mexico. Chuck Connors died of lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in November of 1992. The 71-year-old actor (and lifetime smoker) had previously been diagnosed with pneumonia three weeks earlier at his Tehachapi Mountain ranch near Bakersfield, California. In his early career Connors played basketball for the Celtics from 1946-48 and first baseman briefly for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. His other TV credits included the western adventure BRANDED/NBC/1965-66 and the supernatural drama WEREWOLF/FOX/1987-88. The original .44-40 rifle used on THE RIFLEMAN series was loaded with silver bullets and used on the WEREWOLF series to kill werewolves. A toy replica of the legendary rifle was made by Hubley and a real version was created for $2,400 by Northfork Productions at 3206 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA. The Winchester rifle was prominently featured in the western film Winchester '73 (1950) starring James Stewart. John Wayne, as Marshal Rooster Cogburn, toted a large loop model '92 Winchester rifle in the climatic shootout scene in the western motion picture True Grit (1969). The Winchester rifle was invented by Oliver Winchester (1810-60).

[ 08-02-2003, 09:21: Message edited by: The Birth Controller ]

Mattel had a toy rifle with the "secret" Rifleman feature too.

http://users.rcn.com/ed.ma.ultranet/mattel.html

Had one as a kid...killed a pile of bad guys and Injun's with it as I recall. (In those times and place it was okay to shoot make-believe Indians and bad guys, couldn't get away with it now! I guess we'd need to shoot amorphous non-pigmented blobs to be PC...??? But didn't Steve McQueen do that in a movie?

Adding that pin to a gun nowadays would probably get you thrown into the slammer.

True, true.

quote:

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Originally posted by rootbeer:
Adding that pin to a gun nowadays would probably get you thrown into the slammer.

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JOHN BROWNING HAD ALOT TO DO WITH THE WINCHESTER RIFLE. THEN SOLD THE PATENTS TO WINCHESTER

Man, such memories. Fanner 50s, greenie stick-um caps, a Johnny Reb cannon that shot tennis-ball sized cannon balls, a B-52 Ball Turret Gun... and I 'm still an honest, upright citizen!

The Birth Controller: That was a great post, except Oliver Winchester didn't invent the 1892 Winchester. John Moses Browning invented the Winchester 1885,1886,1892,1893,1894,1895,and 1897. These models were bought from Browning to keep the designs away from their competitors. John Browning also invented Browning Auto 5, Superposed,9mm Hi-power, BAR, 30 & 50 BMG, 37mm Aircraft cannon, and the 1911 Colt 45 acp. John Browning is considered to be the greatest firearm inventer ever. This information was taken from 2003 Browning catolog. Ken

Story goes that the first prototype of the 1911- which Browning fabricated and fitted totally by hand- fired several thousand rounds without a single malfunction.

That's neither here nor there-but an interesting example of the genious of the man.

I liked The Rifleman, too. I used to go out and shoot at flowers with my 9422 like he did in the intro.

And I just thought it was the film speeded up, the opposite of slow motion!

Plus just recorded Boom Boom Boom.

After all, it is still Hollywood, then and now.

Although every season you hear some old farmer half in the bag, that can shoot off that many shots just as fast as he empties his 30/30 at some deer, 500 yds away.

Wow! thanks for the old memories, I used to think that show was pretty cool.

About the designs, John Browning also designed my "Remington" woodsmaster, has his patent #s right on the bbl. He was brilliant.