Does anyone have or used the Rossi Ranch Hand? Looks like a poor rifle and a worse handgun. How do you aim the thing? The price looks decent for a new gun but I'm not going to rush out and buy one. I'm mostly just looking for thoughts on the gun. It's kind of interesting to see one offered after watching Steve McQueen in Wanted Dead or Alive.
Rossi Ranch Hand
- Thread starter shafter
- Start date
It is Rossi copy/clone of a Winchester 92 Mare's leg ( a cut down 92). I wonder how many if any 92's back in the old west days were actually cut down by blacksmiths and gunsmiths? Maybe it was just a Hollywood make-believe. I dont think any ever left the Winchester factory that way. I've been told also that any Winchester with a big hoop lever was a custom job and not a factory option
I have my great-great-grandpa's model 92 octagon 44-40 (made in 1895) and would be very unhappy if anyone sawed the barrel off to make it a 'Mare's leg' .... but a real one modified 100 years ago would be a prize.
Anyone ever seen a real Mare's leg from days of old?
I have my great-great-grandpa's model 92 octagon 44-40 (made in 1895) and would be very unhappy if anyone sawed the barrel off to make it a 'Mare's leg' .... but a real one modified 100 years ago would be a prize.
Anyone ever seen a real Mare's leg from days of old?
stargazer65
New member
I was going to ask about that gun. Is it a handgun or a carbine? It's called a handgun but I assume that's legal mumbo jumbo, and if you actually were shooting it you'd think different. This is interesting because you can't have a loaded rifle in your car in CT, but you can have a loaded handgun with a pistol permit. So it seems like you could have one of these in your car, loaded and still be within the law.
They are manufactured and classified as a "handgun" by law.
Handgun laws are usually more restrictive than firearm laws in most states (definition of a firearm being a rifle, shotgun, long gun, ect that is not a handgun). Your above reference to a rifle being illegal in the vehicle but a pistol being legal is interesting. I am sure it mainly is about the "permit" .
An example of Texas law is that a "rifle" must have a barrel of at least 16" and a "shot gun" must have a barrel of 18"(Texas Penal code 46.01-10 definitions). The overall lenght of both must be 26" or greater. Something manufactured as a "firearm"(long guns) cannot be later reclassified as a handgun.
Any shorter than those numbers and it is called a "short-barrel firearm". Short-barreled firearms are one item on the list of "Prohibited Weapons" in Texas (Texas penal code 46.05) and thus are illegal.
On the side of the road during a traffic stop, the new Mare's leg that was manufactured as a handgun might be mistaken as an illegal short-barreled rifle. I guess all the old original Mare's leg cut-off 92's (if there are any out there) are now illegal short-barreled firearms if they were cut too short to meet that particular state's law about prohibited weapons. The new clones are legal handguns.
Handgun laws are usually more restrictive than firearm laws in most states (definition of a firearm being a rifle, shotgun, long gun, ect that is not a handgun). Your above reference to a rifle being illegal in the vehicle but a pistol being legal is interesting. I am sure it mainly is about the "permit" .
An example of Texas law is that a "rifle" must have a barrel of at least 16" and a "shot gun" must have a barrel of 18"(Texas Penal code 46.01-10 definitions). The overall lenght of both must be 26" or greater. Something manufactured as a "firearm"(long guns) cannot be later reclassified as a handgun.
Any shorter than those numbers and it is called a "short-barrel firearm". Short-barreled firearms are one item on the list of "Prohibited Weapons" in Texas (Texas penal code 46.05) and thus are illegal.
On the side of the road during a traffic stop, the new Mare's leg that was manufactured as a handgun might be mistaken as an illegal short-barreled rifle. I guess all the old original Mare's leg cut-off 92's (if there are any out there) are now illegal short-barreled firearms if they were cut too short to meet that particular state's law about prohibited weapons. The new clones are legal handguns.
aarondhgraham
New member
At the J. M. Davis gun museum in Claremore, OK...
I saw three or four displayed in the museum,,,
They were all different from each other.
If I recall correctly there was no information on whether they were manufactured or cut down by the owners.
I once had a Winchester expert tell me that Winchester never made them,,,
But it's hard to prove a negative in any case.
I too am curious to know the facts about them.
The only manufactured one I ever knew about,,,
Was the Mattel one I wore as a little kid,,,
Josh Randall was so danged cool!
.
I saw three or four displayed in the museum,,,
They were all different from each other.
If I recall correctly there was no information on whether they were manufactured or cut down by the owners.
I once had a Winchester expert tell me that Winchester never made them,,,
But it's hard to prove a negative in any case.
I too am curious to know the facts about them.
The only manufactured one I ever knew about,,,
Was the Mattel one I wore as a little kid,,,
Josh Randall was so danged cool!
.
I wonder what a Mattel's Mare's leg is going for now days? 
Could be a rare item. I remember those as a kid also.
Here is an interesting Wiki discussion on the Mare's leg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare's_Leg
Could be a rare item. I remember those as a kid also.Here is an interesting Wiki discussion on the Mare's leg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare's_Leg
Last edited:
aarondhgraham
New member
Thanks for the link twobit,,,
When I was looking for that picture of Josh Randall,,,
I came on an E-Bay auction for a Mattel Mare's Leg set.
They were asking $175.00 for it.
.
When I was looking for that picture of Josh Randall,,,
I came on an E-Bay auction for a Mattel Mare's Leg set.
They were asking $175.00 for it.
.
aarondhgraham
New member
If I had all the toy guns from when I was a kid,,,
One Christmas I got pretty much every TV Cowboy gun there was:
The Rifleman,,,
Wanted Dead or Alive,,,
Have Gun Will Travel,,,
Bat Masterson,,,
Roy Rogers two gun set,,,
Wyatt Earp Buntline,,,
And one other I can't remember the show,,,
But it was a fancy small revolver, a dagger, and a deck of playing cards.
My older sister still has her Dale Evans outfit,,,
Skirt, shirt, scarf, hat, and gunbelt,,,
Still in the original box.
It was appraised a few years ago as worth 750 to 900 bucks,,,
That woman has lived in the same place since 1963,,,
I don't think she ever threw anything away.
.
One Christmas I got pretty much every TV Cowboy gun there was:
The Rifleman,,,
Wanted Dead or Alive,,,
Have Gun Will Travel,,,
Bat Masterson,,,
Roy Rogers two gun set,,,
Wyatt Earp Buntline,,,
And one other I can't remember the show,,,
But it was a fancy small revolver, a dagger, and a deck of playing cards.
My older sister still has her Dale Evans outfit,,,
Skirt, shirt, scarf, hat, and gunbelt,,,
Still in the original box.
It was appraised a few years ago as worth 750 to 900 bucks,,,
That woman has lived in the same place since 1963,,,
I don't think she ever threw anything away.
.
JT-AR-MG42
New member
My brother had one
The toy version anyway. He got it for Christmas and the rest of us brothers were so jealous
For the TV series, notice McQueen wears a belt full of 45-70s or possibly 38-55s. I have the first year on DVD. He gives consistant good performances except for the scene, I am telling the truth here, where he pulls one of those monsters from the belt and starts to feed it into that '92.
Unfortunately (or gratefully), the camera went 'stage left' before he could accomplish the feat!
When will we see 'Johnny Yuma's' rig offered?
I think this Rossi would be the most fun unpractical pistol you could ask for.
JT
The toy version anyway. He got it for Christmas and the rest of us brothers were so jealous
For the TV series, notice McQueen wears a belt full of 45-70s or possibly 38-55s. I have the first year on DVD. He gives consistant good performances except for the scene, I am telling the truth here, where he pulls one of those monsters from the belt and starts to feed it into that '92.
Unfortunately (or gratefully), the camera went 'stage left' before he could accomplish the feat!
When will we see 'Johnny Yuma's' rig offered?
I think this Rossi would be the most fun unpractical pistol you could ask for.
JT
There's a bit of background in an article here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_8_52/ai_n16498974/?tag=content;col1
Apparently it is a pure Holywood invention to provide Josh Randall (Steve McQueen) with a distintive weapon. Apparently too, the original being a cut down rifle needed special police supervision on the set.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_8_52/ai_n16498974/?tag=content;col1
Apparently it is a pure Holywood invention to provide Josh Randall (Steve McQueen) with a distintive weapon. Apparently too, the original being a cut down rifle needed special police supervision on the set.
I wonder if this is being targeted at other than a U.S. market? I've read comments elsewhere that in the UK handguns have to have at least a 12 inch barrel and have an overall length of at least 24 inches. No semi-autos allowed other than .22lr. This gun would fit all those requirements nicely unless there's an issue with the lever action.
Because it's cool. That's really justification enough sometimes.
I don't know why, but I've always wanted a Mare's Leg. I don't see that it'd be any harder to shoot reasonably well than those pistol-grip shotguns that are all the rage.
I'd have to heft one, but I'm thinking of it as a really long-barreled one-hand pistol.
OkieCruffler
New member
I think sometimes we lose site of the fact that some guns exist just for the fun factor. I'd love to play with one of these.