• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

Zoes Carbine

Zoe's... dare-I-say signature weapon is modeled after a Winchester M1892 lever action carbine with shortened stock, magazine, and barrel. It also features a dovetail mount for a scope. The weapon's presence is an obvious tribute to Steve McQueen.

Zoe's gun is called a Mare's Leg. The large loop was not designed for smacking people (though it's very handy for that). It was designed so the rifle could be twirled, thus allowing it to be levered, and a new cartridge chambered using only one hand. This was first done by John Wayne as Ringo in the 1939 Western, "Stagecoach," and then popularized by Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain in "The Rifleman."

The larger loop's main purpose is to allow one to work the action while wearing heavy gloves. Spin-cocking a lever action rifle is a very good way to accidently shoot one's self and greatly increases the wear on the action; however it looks impressive.

The Mare's Leg was created for and originally used by Josh Randall (portrayed by Steve McQueen) in the 1960's television western series "Wanted: Dead or Alive." It is technically not a carbine (a rifle with a 16 inch barrel), as it has a 12 inch barrel. It is considered a pistol. Most folk consider it a six gun as it's magazine holds six rounds.

The Mare's Leg is very impractical, in reality. The sawed-down stock makes it very difficult to use the sights for long-range targeting, while the weapon's relatively large size makes it slower to draw than a conventional pistol.

The traditional name for a weapon in this configuration is a "Hog's Leg". On the set of "Wanted: Dead or Alive", Steve McQueen called the weapon a "Mare's Leg", saying it was "like a Hog's Leg, but not as wild". Thus, the name was born.

Steve McQueen went from TV fame to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars with "The Magnificent Seven". In the nineties, a television series based on that movie included a character whose weapon was a Mare's Leg, another tribute to Mc Queen?.

It is illegal in the US to modify a carbine into a Mare's Leg configuration without paying for a BATFE "short barrelled rifle" tax stamp (about $200 presently). Most urban areas will have a specialty gun store that can provide you with more information.

There are a few legal copies on the market that are manufactured using original Winchester parts from 1894. For the gun to be legal in a short-barrel configuration, these parts must have never been used in a long-barrel rifle. This restriction makes the Mare's Leg a very rare collectible. The weapons generally sell for around $3,000 and can be found online.

Above paragraph is incorrect. The "no new ones" laws apply only to fully automatic weapons. The "must never have been a long-barreled rifle" applies to making a pistol from a rifle -- a concern with making AR pisols from AR rifles, but not applicable here. Legally, the Mare's Leg is a "Short Barreled Rifle" Shortening existing rifles is totally legal with the proper paperwork and tax stamps. There is one gunsmith online who builds "Mare's Legs" only from original 1892s, but his reasons are aesthetic rather than legal.

Further, Zoe's Mare's Leg is based on a Winchester model of 1892, not a model of 1894. Look at the bolt lockup. A '92 has two vertical locking bars at the rear of the bolt. A '94 has a single plate across the back of the bolt. Zoe's is an 1892 -- an action designed specifically for revolver cartridges such as the .44, which is considerably shorter than the .30-30 the 1894 is typically found in.

Category Weapons