Any original lever-action Winchester rifle is cool, be it the Model 1873 that “won the West” or the more powerful Model 1886, 1892, 1894 or 1895 long guns by prolific firearms designer John Browning, is covetable on its own accord. But one wielded on-screen by none other than the so-called “King of Cool”–legendary actor Steve McQueen–is a truly grail-worthy gun by any estimation.
Rock Island Auction Company (RIAC) is selling the OG Winchester 1892 “Mare’s Leg” from the 1958 CBS Western show Wanted: Dead or Alive—arguably the most famous firearm McQueen ever carried on-camera. According to the auction house, producer John Robinson set out to find an attention-grabbing primary gun for McQueen’s bounty hunter character. With that mission in mind, McQueen himself sought out the talents of Kenneth Robert “Von Dutch” Howard, the accomplished gunsmith, artist, mechanic and countercultural icon whose nickname would spawn the eponymous clothing line.
In The Life of Steve McQueen by Dwight Jon Zimmerman, McQueen is quoted as saying, “We took a Model 92 Winchester lever-action rifle and turned it into a belt gun by sawing off most of the barrel and fitting it with a special stock”—giving its silhouette the shape of a mare’s rear leg. “This gave us the power and accuracy of a rifle with the mobility and easy handling of a revolver. And it looked fierce!”
The exact model, serial No. 852678, was the very first Mare’s Leg that the public had ever seen. It debuted in the Wanted: Dead or Alive episode “Trackdown,” in which the colloquialism “mare’s leg” was coined by McQueen’s bounty-hunting Josh Randall. The magazine tube and forearm have both been shortened to match the 9-inch barrel length. The stock has been shortened to a grip length and fitted with a handmade brass butt plate. Crucially, the lever’s large tear drop-shaped loop allowed McQueen to pull off the famed flip-cock technique that’s been seen in countless Hollywood productions featuring lever-action firearms, from 1939’s Stagecoach starring John Wayne to 1991’s Terminator 2 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even with a custom fast-draw leather holster—notably outfitted with cartridge loops for most imposing .45-70 ammo than the .44-40 the gun was actually chambered for—McQueen put in serious time to get the aesthetic action manipulation down pat.
“I drew and fired that gun until I had blisters on my hands,” McQueen said in a June 1959 issue of TV and Movie Western Magazine. “I can outdraw an average fast man with a revolver, and at least tie with the fastest, and without the aid of camera tricks.” Even so, recoil proved to be another beast. “The first time I took the gun on location, the gun was pointed toward the camera,” McQueen added. “The blast nearly knocked me down, blew the hat off of the cameraman’s head, and knocked all of the pages out of the script girl’s hands. After that, we attached a plastic shield to the camera and returned to quarter-powered blanks, even for outdoor scenes.”
McQueen and his producers couldn’t have known just how a influential gun from an early TV western could become. Homages and recreations have appeared in a long list of media, including the films Once Upon a Time in the West and Zombieland, the TV shows Archer and Westworld, and video games Resident Evil 3 and Metal Gear Solid V and Battlefield 4, to name but a few.
McQueen’s Winchester Model 1892 Lever Action “Mare’s Leg” and its holster are expected to sell for for between $50,000 and $75,000 at RIAC’s August 15 auction in Bedford, Texas. Tap here to learn more.