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Rossi ranch hand (mares leg)

67K views 53 replies 21 participants last post by  Turtlewolf 
#1 ·
#4 ·
It's really cool but not practical . If I remember correctly , in the tv show McQeen would fire it from the hip . How many of us are good enough to be acurate shooting from the hip . With the cut down stock , how would you put it on your shoulder to aim ?
But if I had money to burn I might get one just for the cool factor .
 
#7 ·
In Ohio, it is legal to hunt deer with a handgun, it has to be over 5" and .357 or large caliber. We cannot use rifles except black powder (mostly shotgun is used)
This might be just the ticket for hunting deer in .44 magnum. I am thinking you can use both hands to hold it, one on the forearm. 44 magnum out a 12" barrel ought to be pretty cool.
What would be really cool, since they already make the 92 rifle in stainless . . . .
I wonder if it is drilled and tapped for a scope?
 
#10 ·
In Ohio, it is legal to hunt deer with a handgun, it has to be over 5" and .357 or large caliber. We cannot use rifles except black powder (mostly shotgun is used)
This might be just the ticket for hunting deer in .44 magnum. I am thinking you can use both hands to hold it, one on the forearm. 44 magnum out a 12" barrel ought to be pretty cool.
it would be the perfect skins hunter on the res,they just shoot from the drivers seat;)
 
#8 ·
I like the looks, and the nostalgia, I really do ...

... but it's a firearm that only fires pistol calibers and cannot be fired (easily) like either a pistol or rifle. I wouldn't think it would be fun after 100 rounds of .44 mag at the range holding your wrist like that without having a shoulder stock to take some of the recoil.

If there had never been a Steve McQueen/Josh Randel/Wanted Dead Or Alive TV show would there be any interest in this?

Sure, you have a long barrel, but since you can't hold it like a pistol, and I can't imagine you would hold it like a rifle, how exactly "should" you fire it, and what would be the resulting accuracy? I'll keep my L-frame .357, thank you, with better portability, concealability, and accuracy.

Maybe I'm just being too hard on this innovative design. Maybe someone here will buy one and write a good review and I'll eat my words. But from my desk, like the "revolver rifle" in that same article, I have to ask if this is a case of it being an answer to a question no one ever asks?
 
#9 ·
well...it comes in .357 and 45 colt aswell as for the 44 mag chambering that doesnt bother me at all it was my pet cartrige at one time and i loved the recoil....as for exactly how one should fire it or handle such a piece i suppose i could dig out my 20 episode dvd collection of wanted dead or alive for a tip or two :D:
 
#11 ·
I just got off the phone with Braztech. I was wondering why the Ranch Hand was not showing on the website. The guy in customer service told me that they had just received word today that the Ranch Hand will not start shipping until third quarter of this year. He also told me about a fellow that is making the sling-type holster that Steve McQueen carried in "Wanted Dead or Alive" but that it was crazy expensive.
He was surprised that many people were interested as the show was over 50 years ago. I told them that my kid's generation(s) recognize the pattern from one used in the movie ZombieLand. (I guess they have been getting a lot of calls) Hopefully it will be up on the site soon. He assured me that it is not 'vaporware' but in production now.
I can't think of a better pack gun if it turns out as cool as it looks. The 92 has already got a pretty good reputation and the tooling should be the same.
 
#14 ·
Actually, as far as a backpacking gun goes, it seems very practical to me. I was originally thinking .44 but I read that the 12" barrel gives a significant increase to the performance of the .357 Magnum so that looks like the one for me. It should be available right around my birthday so I am dropping hints to the kids already.
 
#15 ·
Fun? Yes.
Practical? No.

They're unweildy, hard to aim and cycle.

For little more than that, one could pick up a used Puma or Marlin, pay the $200 tax and have it cut down ala John Wayne to 12 or 14" (SBR) and have a true Trapper model that's eminently more useful and practical.

Or pick up the Ranch Hand and pick up the parts to put a butt stock on it, after paying the appliciable tax again. (SBR)

The lack of a butt stock really limits the "Mare's Laig" both in use and abilities.
 
#27 ·
I like it.

:)The Rossi Ranch Hand is made to be used within fairly short distances. For example, you are charged by a bear, you don't have time to aim a rifle anyway. You need to swing into action FAST!

Speaking of unwieldly, which is most unwieldly, a full-length rifle or a mare's leg? Try wielding a rifle around in a tight situation in which you have to move fast. Sure, a revolver would be even faster, but a .44 mag or .45 Colt out of 12 inches will do more damage than the same caliber out of a 4-6 inch bbl. If you carry a revolver longer than with a 6-inch bbl you might as well go ahead and carry the mare's leg. I carry a revolver, too when fishing or when any bigger firearm is clumsy to carry.

Uses for a mare's leg: We intend to use our on our ATVs. We offroad and fish in the Montana high country by going in on our ATVs, and sometimes our 4WDs. This is Grizzly country. The mare's leg in a scabbard is much easier to carry on an ATV than a full-length rifle. There are other scenarios where the mare's leg is better than a rifle, too.
 
#28 ·
Maybe I'm not seeing something right, but it appears to me that it has just enough buttstock to shoulder and fire like a short rifle. I love the looks of it. It would be worth buying just from a collector's standpoint,but I can see how for some people the mare's leg would truly serve a purpose. Like others have mentioned, it's essentially a holster-able carbine. Way cool.
 
#31 ·
bring one arm crossed in front of you to rest the forestock aim very much like a sidelock purcussion pistol an 50 yrds are no problem its a 12inch ballelled 44mag in all respect we used everleverlotion type bullets redtipped 44mags to be exact an talk about accurate, i just wish ATF wasnt so strict we;d like to use a full lenth 92 stock to see how that does id say 100yds could be accived
 
#33 ·
From what I gathered, talking to the CSR at Rossi, they had no idea it would generate the kind of response they are getting. The guy told me that if he had a dollar for every call about the Mare's leg, he could retire at the end of the week. So there must be a lot of folks champing at the bit. Two of my sons already want one and a third will probably join them if it every really arrives.
 
#35 ·
From what I gathered, talking to the CSR at Rossi, they had no idea it would generate the kind of response they are getting.
with two movies, featureing them (ir ones that look like them) in teh last five years, adn one cult hit tv show a bit frther back. combined with half the cost of other makes of the pistol, they should have known it was going to be big.
they tied up three diffrent genres of fans (old westerns, sci-fi, and horror).
 
#34 ·
I want one. Any recoil it might have will be much less than my little 30-30 Winchester has, and I have shot it with one hand. Just hard to hold the muzzle up for any length of time.

I think it will be much easier to shoot than what most here are thinking.
 
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