The Rifleman tv series

[shorthair]

I was watching The Rifleman yesterday and saw how he fired so fast from the hip. I never saw that episode before. Part of the title was the name Berti.

She asked to see his rifle in the stagecoach. He said it's loaded and didn't let her touch it. She said what's that for, looking at the loop lever. He said it allows me to fire automatically!

It was a screw that went through the lever and when it reaches the closed/cocked position with the round chambered the screw hits the trigger at the right moment so he never touches the trigger. Might be a set screw with a stop that he could back it off for shoulder fire.

No wonder he was a bad ass. I'll bet Chuck Connors loved shooting that rifle. There could be an episode that had the North Fork Gunsmith installing it.

[imanaknut]

From what I read about Chuck Connors he was really into firearms and I believe he is the one who deviced that automatic trigger engager thingy.

[Full Otto]

They play the reruns here all the time I watch them over and over.
I remember that one with Berti she was a bounty hunter.
The actress was also Endora on Bewitched
You're thread got me searching just for fun.
Got a couple links with some pretty good stuff on it

http://www.tv.com/shows/the-rifleman...59478-1047516/
http://www.americancowboychronicles....him-today.html

Never considered a couple of things after seeing it so much:

The 1892 Winchester is a top-eject rifle as the top is open when the lever is cocked forward. The empty shells are ejected straight up when the lever is pulled towards the shooter.
When the rifle was spin-cocked down to Connors' side, the cartridges would have fallen to the ground. Therefore, the rifle was modified with a plunger which would hold a round in place.
...................................
So how does an 1892 Winchester lever action rifle make it into a television show that is supposedly taking place 12 years before it was invented? Friends, its Hollywood!

[alismith]

They play the reruns here all the time I watch them over and over.
I remember that one with Berti she was a bounty hunter.
The actress was also Endora on Bewitched
You're thread got me searching just for fun.
Got a couple links with some pretty good stuff on it

http://www.tv.com/shows/the-rifleman...59478-1047516/
http://www.americancowboychronicles....him-today.html

Never considered a couple of things after seeing it so much:

The 1892 Winchester is a top-eject rifle as the top is open when the lever is cocked forward. The empty shells are ejected straight up when the lever is pulled towards the shooter.
When the rifle was spin-cocked down to Connors' side, the cartridges would have fallen to the ground. Therefore, the rifle was modified with a plunger which would hold a round in place.
...................................
So how does an 1892 Winchester lever action rifle make it into a television show that is supposedly taking place 12 years before it was invented? Friends, its Hollywood!

The same way they can play a song, as being current to the time, in a movie set in 1963 (I've Had The Time Of My Life), that was written, recorded and on the charts in 1987.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(I%27v...ime_of_My_Life

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Dancing

Timelines don't mean much in Hollywood.

[shorthair]

Thanks for that. I was just six when Mark was ten.

[Richard Simmons]

They play the reruns here all the time I watch them over and over.
I remember that one with Berti she was a bounty hunter.
The actress was also Endora on Bewitched
You're thread got me searching just for fun.
Got a couple links with some pretty good stuff on it

http://www.tv.com/shows/the-rifleman...59478-1047516/
http://www.americancowboychronicles....him-today.html

Never considered a couple of things after seeing it so much:

The 1892 Winchester is a top-eject rifle as the top is open when the lever is cocked forward. The empty shells are ejected straight up when the lever is pulled towards the shooter.
When the rifle was spin-cocked down to Connors' side, the cartridges would have fallen to the ground. Therefore, the rifle was modified with a plunger which would hold a round in place.
...................................
So how does an 1892 Winchester lever action rifle make it into a television show that is supposedly taking place 12 years before it was invented? Friends, its Hollywood!

IIRC Agnes Morehead played Endora.

[Full Otto]

You're right Richard here she is at 60. Made her up to be a ways older though

[alismith]

I was watching The Rifleman yesterday and saw how he fired so fast from the hip. I never saw that episode before. Part of the title was the name Berti.

She asked to see his rifle in the stagecoach. He said it's loaded and didn't let her touch it. She said what's that for, looking at the loop lever. He said it allows me to fire automatically!

It was a screw that went through the lever and when it reaches the closed/cocked position with the round chambered the screw hits the trigger at the right moment so he never touches the trigger. Might be a set screw with a stop that he could back it off for shoulder fire.

No wonder he was a bad ass. I'll bet Chuck Connors loved shooting that rifle. There could be an episode that had the North Fork Gunsmith installing it.

Mattel made a Rifleman toy gun when I was growing up. It had a small, flip-out lever on the regular lever right near the trigger so that when it was flipped out, it would engage the trigger and fire the plastic, spring loaded bullets (with Greenie Stick-um Caps in place) as fast as you could cycle it.

Here's a pic of one like it:



Notice the little lever (in folded position on this pic) just below the trigger at about 7:00. Folded (like the pic), it shot when your finger pulled the trigger, but when extended to engage the trigger, it caused the trigger to fire as soon as the regular lever was closed. As fast as you could cycle it, it would fire.