True West Magazine - Logo

Was the large-loop lever rifle featured in John Wayne Westerns ever used in real life?

by | Feb 13, 2011 | Inside History

  John Wayne used the large-loop lever on his rifles in several movies, and TV’s Rifleman used one as early as 1958. Was it ever used in real life? Ron Thomas Phoenix, Arizona I’ve never seen or read anything in my research on Old West firearms that mentions those large-loop levers. Gun and Westerns expert Jim Dunham concurs, saying: “I know of no historical use of the expanded size rifle levers. The story I heard was that it was the idea of famed stunt man Yakima Canut


Already Signed Up? Log in here.

Read this article now for Free!

Ready for a third free article? Create a free account by entering your email address and a password below.

— OR —

Sign Up Now for $29.95 a year and have immediate access to all of True West content, including the complete True West Archives dating back to 1953!

SIGN UP NOW or SIGN IN

This digital subscription is in no way connected to your Print Subscription. They are totally separate and cannot be connected. If you have a Print Subscription with True West, you will need to pay for a separate subscription to access this website and will receive a totally different Log In password. If you have an existing digital component to your Print subscription, you'll need to Sign In and request a new password.