Those of you at least as old as me will remember TV's Wanted: Dead or Alive, where Steve McQueen portrayed Josh Randall, a bounty hunter who carried one of the more memorable firearms of western fiction, the "Mare's Leg."
Starting with a Model 1892 Winchester, the gunsmith cut the barrel back to 12", removed most of the buttstock and re-shaped the lever to a larger more triangular affair. While he was at it he also increased the power significantly by converting the .44-40 to the larger and longer .45-70.Every month I link to a cool and unique feature on the GUNS website, the issue of their magazine from 50 years earlier. It invariably invokes nostalgia for a simpler time, particularly an era when "gun control" laws were far less onerous and pervasive. Taffin's article reminds us of a stark reality of the time:
The Mare's Leg...was highly illegal by federal standards and required special agents on the set while being used.So how does JB Custom produce a modern equivalent?
While it is illegal to turn a rifle into a handgun as done by Randall it is not illegal to produce such a firearm as a handgun original.Yeah, I guess. At least until some evil traitor starts screaming "Loophole!"