In a strange twist of fate, a sawn-off lever-action cowboy rifle that drew the close attention of federal agents in the 1950s and went on to arguably become a star of the small screen, was for a princely sum in Paris last week.
From 1958-61 CBS ran an Old Western TV series called Wanted: Dead or Alive as part of the overall trend at the time in shows of that period, such as Gunsmoke and Bonanza, being extremely popular. After all, the days of Tombstone and the O.K. Corral were only just a few generations past.
The series, which ran some 94 episodes, featured Steve McQueen as a Civil War veteran Josh Randall with a sawed-off rifle as a holstered weapon makes a living as a bounty hunter in the Wild West of the 1870s. The SBR, known popularly as a “Mare’s Leg,” was a shortened Winchester Lever Action.
According to the Internet Media Firearms Database McQueen’s prop gun was a chopped-down Winchester Model 1892 saddle ring carbine in .44-40 with a large lever ring.
In a funny twist of fate, the gun was made without adhering to the National Firearms Act requirements of the time for Short-barreled rifles, which led to Treasury agents showing up on set the day after the first episode aired. After some good-natured explanations and $1,100 in licenses and fees paid by producers (about $9300 in today’s cash), the ATF went away and the studio had an FFL with a SOT to produce more guns if needed. Hey, it was a simpler time back in 1958!
At least three different versions of the gun were used in production and studio imagery and one made it into a European auction last week.
How did it make it there? Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk
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